THE STORY OF CLOSED FOR STORM
HOW IT BEGAN
I'm Jake Williams and for over 7 years, I have been creating short documentaries on Youtube. I created a series called 'Abandoned' in 2014 covering the history of all types of abandoned places I found interesting. However, as of recently, I have had aspirations to take on a bigger project, and cover a topic in even more depth. In July of 2018, a New Orleans local reached out telling me to look into filming at the park. I knew it would be interesting to produce a professional documentary at the park, but only if I would be able to obtain the proper legal permission to do so, unlike others in the past. Fast forward to when the permits were finally in my hand and the project was a go. Closed For Storm - The Story of Six Flags New Orleans was born!
PRODUCTION
Filming began in June 2019, over three grueling hot days inside the abandoned theme park. We filmed every inch of the park, including areas and rooms never before captured in high quality. We returned to New Orleans in September of that year to do our interviews. We sat down with a range of fascinating people, all with a unique connection to the park. We interviewed architects, upper management, theme park fans, and future developers. They all gave a detailed and unique insight into the park as well as helped us piece together the incredible true story of Six Flags New Orleans. Finally, we traveled to New Orleans one last time in January of 2020 to get the last few b-roll shots we needed to make the film even more cinematic. We brought what we had to Los Angeles and together with my friends and colleagues, created something that is truly special. Showcasing never before seen footage, taking viewers on an emotional rollercoaster of hard facts, gripping nostalgia, and future hope. Closed For Storm has been my passion project for the last two years, and I truly hope it reflects the hard work and love that went into the film.
ABOUT BRIGHT SUN FILMS
Bright Sun Films was created for fun in July of 2012, by me, Jake Williams. I was just entering high school in Ontario, Canada when I launched the channel with no real direction. In 2014, I started a series called 'Abandoned' which detailed the history of abandoned locations around the world that I found interesting. This type of content resonated with viewers and suddenly the series and channel began growing in popularity. Later on, I started other series on the channel as well as branched out to other non-series tied videos and short documentaries. By my 7th year on Youtube, the channel was nominated for the 2019 Shorty Awards, as well as featured and sourced in various publications including the New York Times. As of Spring 2020, Bright Sun Films has over 1,000,000 Subscribers and over 150,000,000 views overall.
After almost two years of Closed For Storm in production, we are unbelievably excited for everyone to watch it. The film was created and directed by me, Jake Williams, but also joined by amazing and talented people. Dan Bell from the Youtube Channel 'This Is Dan Bell' and the creator of 'Dead Mall Series', joined the film early on as an Executive Producer. Also as an executive producer is Darren Mercer, who stayed behind in New Orleans to gather together rare, exclusive, and never before seen early footage of the park. John Shaw, a Louisiana local, supplied a tremendous amount of time and equipment to the production. Nicholas Novak, a Short Form Producer at Mythical (Good Mythical Morning), post-produced the film, overseeing a huge amount of work and making sure each detail was just right. Matthew Jordan Leeds wrote an incredible score that was recorded live by a 21 piece orchestra, amplifying the heart and emotion of the documentary. This is just a handful of the talented people that worked on this huge project.
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