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 National Geographic presents "LEWIS & CLARK: GREAT JOURNEY WEST". Destination Cinema, Inc. is proud to offer this large-format film depicting one of the most compelling and heroic adventure stories in history. The film chronicles a group of explorers - the Corps of Discovery - led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark into uncharted territory to find a water passageway to the Pacific Ocean and describe for science the wonders of the West. The expedition encountered and conquered an endless series of physical challenges as they traveled through raging rivers, buffalo-filled prairies, sub-zero temperatures and rugged mountains on their 8,000 mile journey to the Pacific Ocean and back. The generosity of Native Americans in helping the explorers is detailed, including the story of Sacagawea, a teen-aged, Native American girl who accompanied the group and whose contributions were invaluable to the success of the expedition. With careful research and meticulous recreations, this scientific expedition lives again on the big screen. In "LEWIS & CLARK: GREAT JOURNEY WEST", movie-goers will go back 200 years to experience this monumental quest - the journey of Lewis, Clark and their Corps of Discovery - through the adventure, danger and beauty of the unmapped West.
QUICK FACTS
At the dawn of a nation, two courageous captains of the U.S. Army led a mission of 31 explorers from the mouth of the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean and back. Scientists, naturalists and adventurers, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark pushed their Corps of Discovery - which included an heroic Native American woman, Sacagawea, and her infant son - to the limits of physical endurance to expand the boundaries of human knowledge 200 years ago. Theirs was a grueling journey through thick forests and raging rapids, over towering peaks and plunging precipices - a treacherous 8,000-mile trek that was survived thanks to the grace and generosity of the Native Americans who inhabited this unmapped land.
LOGLINE: In a dramatic telling of a sweeping epic, the story of the first American overland expedition to the Pacific Ocean comes vividly to life in Lewis & Clark: Great Journey West.
NARRATOR: Jeff Bridges DIRECTOR: Bruce Neibaur PRODUCERS: Lisa Truitt and Jeff T. Miller DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: T.C. Christensen EDITOR: Stephen L. Johnson, A.C.E. WRITER: Mose Richards COMPOSER: Sam Cardon ASSOCIATE PRODUCER: Erica Immucci LENGTH: 42 minutes
Q & A
1. How much time did it take L&C to prepare for the trip?
Over a year and a half of preparations preceded the expedition's departure up the Missouri River in May 1804. President Jefferson informed Meriwether Lewis that he would be commanding the expedition sometime in the late summer or fall of 1802. Lewis began drawing up plans for expedition and studying for the trip under Jefferson's tutelage shortly thereafter. In the spring of 1803 Lewis traveled to Harpers Ferry, Virginia (there was no West Virginia at this time), Lancaster, PA, and Philadelphia, PA to purchase supplies and to study for the trip with some of the United States' leading scientists. After a brief return to Washington, D.C., Lewis set out for Pittsburgh, PA where he supervised the construction of the expeditionÕs keelboat. Upon completion, he sailed that boat down the Ohio, meeting up with Clark and his slave York in the Indiana Territory. Selecting men for expedition along the way, Lewis and Clark proceeded to a spot near the junction of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers where they established camp for the winter of 1803-1804. During the winter their preparations continued. It was from this camp the following spring, that the expedition set out up the Missouri River and into history.
2. The fact that the film uses Native Americans from the authentic tribes; they were brought in for the appropriate scenes.
We did not use "generic" Native Americans for the extras in the film. Instead the production team hired members of the specific tribe(s) featured in each scene to portray their ancestors. (We might need to mention that Alex Rice (Sacagawea) and the guy who plays Cameahwait, her brother, are not Shoshone? Erica knows their backgrounds, I don't.)
3. The correct pronunciation of Sacagawea, and how we know it?
The pronunciation of her name, "Sah-CAH-guh-WEE-uh" or "SAC-uh-jah-WAY-uh," is largely dependent on tribal affiliation. The Midwestern Mandan and Hidatsa tribes, with whom she was living when Lewis and Clark met her, would pronounce "Sacagawea" with a hard /g/ sound. In fact, scholars point out that those tribes have no /j/ sound in their vocabulary. The Shoshone, who lived farther West, near todayÕs Idaho, would have pronounced her name with the /j/ sound.
The issue is complicated by the unpredictable spelling habits that were common at the time. "Most people in those days spelled phonetically," says Lisa Truitt, producer of Lewis & Clark: Great Journey West. "In every reference in the journals, her name was spelled with a /g/ in the third syllable and in nearly every instance in their journals, a /g/ meant a hard /g/ sound. So for us, we felt the journals were the best indication of how they were pronouncing her name at the time."
Another clue found in the Captains' journals is the translation of her name as "Bird Woman," which is the Hidatsa interpretation of "Sacagawea." The Shoshone interpretation of "Sacajawea" translates into "Boat Launcher," an appellation that never appeared in either of the captainsÕ journals.
4. What type of dog was Seaman?
Seaman was a Newfoundland. Lewis purchased him for $20 while preparing for the expedition in 1803 - possibly during his stay in Pittsburgh. The dog is first mentioned in Lewis' journal on 11 September 1803 for ability to catch the many squirrels that were swimming across the Ohio River. The dog's name appears in the journals for the first time in William Clark's July 5, 1804 entry.
5. Who portrayed the Corps of Discovery in the film?
White water rafting guides recruited from the Jackson Hole, Wyoming area.
6. Why are there two different flags in the film?
The Expedition brought U.S. flags of three different sizes on its journey. There was apparently one large flag, several middle-sized flags, and at least nineteen small flags intended as gifts for Native American leaders. As part of his drawings of keelboat in his journal, William Clark drew two pictures of one of the flags. This flag was designed as an elongated pennant.
Interestingly, there was no set convention for the arrangement of the fifteen stars on the U.S. flag in 1804. Even though there were seventeen states at this time, the tradition of adding a star for each member of the Union also was not yet established. Clark's drawing and surviving examples of other flags from this period indicate that there were several variations in the arrangement of the stars. To reflect the diverse flag designs of the period, the two flags depicted in the film feature different sizes, shapes, and star arrangements.
7. Why did they get home so much more quickly?
It took the Corps of Discovery almost exactly six months to return from the Fort Clatsop on the Pacific Ocean to St. Louis. The relative speed of the return journey is generally considered the result of two main factors. First, the homeward leg of the expedition had the advantage of travelling downstream on the Missouri River. On their way west, they had to travel against the current for the river's entire length. Traveling with the current greatly added to their speed. Secondly, they were traveling, for the most part, through country they had already explored. As a result, the Corps could afford to take less time to observe and map the land, and meet the local inhabitants. |
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