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Back in August I flew to Texas with a video camera and a suitcase. I spent the next four days driving from Dallas to Austin to Huntsville and back Dallas. In between my travels I conducted interviews with Toronto's former attorney, the former warden at the prison where Toronto was executed, a criminal court judge, the District Attorney and a group of concerned Dallas community members who recalled the trial. It was an ambitious journey.

My aim was twofold. I'd written the manuscript based on my memory and was aided by the wonders of Google Maps. The technology was incredibly useful. Still, I always knew I needed to go to the territory and walk the streets and look people in the eye.

My second aim was to capture as much footage as I could. Before I left Mike - who I wish I could've afforded to bring along - gave me a crash course in DV shooting. When I returned with over six hours of footage we immediately sat down and began the process of sifting through the raw material for the nuggets of gold. Mike envisioned creating four to five short "reporter's notebook" videos.

These videos run no longer than 5 minutes each. They contain insightful, provocative sound bytes by the "experts" along with B-Roll, stills and, when prudent, narration. For example, if the video is about "capital punishment," then my was to orient the viewer to the different perspectives offered by the experts.

These shorts are not at all intended to be documentaries. They will be brief behind-the-scenes glimpses into a journalist's journey to deepen his own understanding of the issues he's written about. Mike Hull's powerful creations can be found below.

From Fifth Column on Vimeo.