Growing up, Sanford’s Jake Ouellette said he always loved the Boston Red Sox. He watched as many games as he could and traveled to Fenway Park as often as his budget allowed.
Now Ouellette, along with three college friends, is making a documentary on Fenway Park, celebrating its 100-year anniversary.
He is drawing on his love and affection for one of America’s most storied baseball homes and said he hopes to capture that feeling in his film.
“We really want to look at the emotional appeal behind it,” said Ouellette via telephone. “The park has seen millions of fans and we want to be able to tell their stories about what the Red Sox and Fenway means to them.”
Ouellette, a sophomore broadcast journalism major at Emerson College in Boston, is the executive producer of the documentary. He is working with Luke Fraser, Kyle Brasseur and Biddeford’s Kelsey Doherty on the project. All four of them are Emerson sophomores.
Ouellette got the idea to make the documentary after seeing Emerson alum Shawn Jensen speak at the school in November. Jensen is a freelance producer who has worked with the Red Sox, NESN and the New England Patriots. He and Ouellette spoke after Jensen’s speech and Ouellette said Jensen inspired him.
“You hear people talk about doing something like this and then I realized that I could do it,” Ouellette said. “We spoke and I decided I wanted to do something to tell Fenway’s story.”
Work on the documentary started slowly, Ouellette said. In November, he said, it seemed as if it weren’t going to develop.
All four friends found life tugging them in different directions. That caused planning to halt and work to almost stop. Then winter vacation came and everything changed.
“All of a sudden everything started coming together,” Ouellette said. “Something happened during break and we were finally getting to where we want to be.”
The project is also helping all four students gain practical experience that involves their majors, Doherty said. Ouellette started a small production company called Red Seat Productions to help the project along, which enhances his broadcast training.
Doherty is a marketing major and is responsible for the marketing and promotion of the project.
“This actually isn’t a class project. We’re doing this on our own,” she said. “My part comes in a little later, but I am learning a lot through the project that will hopefully help me in my career.”
The project is in the preplanning stage and the group is trying to develop a story board, which is difficult since they haven’t started the interviews, Ouellette said.
Interviews should start in the spring and then the film will be edited during the summer. Ouellette said he hopes to have the project completed by the end of September. The Students are also raising money for the project and have set a goal of $5,500. People interested in donating money can Google Kickstart Red Seat Productions. That will take them to a web site that describes the project and where people can pledge.
Why money is a necessity to complete the documentary, the ultimate goal is to tell Fenway’s story through the hearts, minds and eyes of the fans who have enjoyed the park during its 100-year history, Doherty said.
“We want to capture the way fans feel about being there,” she said. “We want to put their stories into the film and reflect their emotions.”
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