Prop 8 Re-enactment Trailer Now Online

Film makers John Ireland and John Ainsley have completed the trailer for their series of videos re-enacting the events taking place in San Francisco Federal Court in the landmark legal challenge to California's Proposition 8, Perry vs. Schwarzenegger.

Judge Vaughn Walker had ruled that video of the trial would be posted on YouTube under a pilot program. Proponents of Prop 8 challenged the ruling in the US Supreme Court, claiming pro-H8 witnesses would feel intimidated by public exposure. The Supremes ruled in favor of the pro-H8 side.

Last week Ireland set about assembling a cast and production crew to recreate the trial and has posted the first video on his site, marriagetrial.com and on his YouTube channel. The video features highlights of the opening arguments and witness testimony. It's about 3 and a half minutes long. Like most of us, I'm anxious to see more, but I understand the tremendous amount of work it takes to film and edit. Can't wait to see the rest.

Ireland told On Top Magazine, “People want to see this drama unfold and there is a tremendous narrative that was propelled by that first day of testimony. This is the first time that gay and lesbian people have talked about their lives in federal court. It's historic from that point of view.”

The video is based on transcripts of live bloggers who have been posting details of the proceedings from the courtroom every day since the trial began.

 The video postings are not currently embeddable, meaning I can't post them here, but can be shared via FaceBook, Twitter, MySpace, etc. and e-mail.

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