Six months of shooting followed, with only Martin and his camera taking initial footage and the camera's built-in omnidirectional mic capturing audio. “I made the decision to do this guerrilla-style because of the circumstances down there,” Martin explains. “I wanted to become close to my subjects and knew I could do that better alone, plus there was nowhere for me, let alone a crew, to stay.” He settled at a motel in West Baton Rouge and drove the 170 miles round-trip to and from East St. John High every day, sometimes more than once.
The football team took on 20 displaced players from 20 different high schools, and the unique assimilation triggered remarkable results in that '05 season.