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The Legacy of Robert Hall
Robert Hall's influence on American aviation is prominent from the late twenties, all the way through the 1980's and beyond. Few people in aviation have impacted the world like Robert Hall. Mr. Hall and the Hall Bulldog are well deserving of our attention for this amazing film project.
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The Hellcat, Tiger and Gulfstream I are just a few of the highly influential Robert Hall aircraft designs.
Cleveland Municipal Airport, 1932
Aircraft designer Robert Hall is the reigning "General Tire Cup National Air Race Champion", having flown his Gee Bee Z design to victory the previous year. After a falling-out with his employer, Hall has returned to reclaim victory in his own airplane, the Bulldog.
The story of the Hall Bulldog is filled with intrigue, money, fame, murder, jealousy and a surprise ending. The original aircraft only existed for 3 weeks and logged about 10 hours before it was (deliberately) destroyed by Hall. Following this pivotal event, Hall would go on to be the chief engineer and chief test pilot for Grumman Aviation. There he would create and fly some of the most important military aircraft in American history.
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Corvallis, Oregon 2020
With no original plans in existence, the organization building the replica of the Bulldog is using sophisticated computer technology to solve many mysteries about the plane. The Bulldog is an extremely complex airframe. No one has been successful in their attempts to recreate the aircraft previously. This team is highly experienced and determined. They are confident that they will be the first.
This film will tell two compelling stories.
Film Concept
A feature length documentary re-tracing the dramatic and influential history of aircraft designer, air racing champion and controversial American aviation pioneer Robert “Bob” Hall. In parallel, a secondary storyline following the development, construction and initial test flights of the first ever replica Hall “Bulldog” racing plane. Functionally, this will also be a retrospective on American air racing and the development of American airpower pre-WW II and beyond.
Style
Beautiful, cinematic visuals. Detail rich interviews with the builders of the New Bulldog and Hall family members. Historic footage and photos from the 1930's help us look back. Modern day experts tell the stories that Robert Hall and his peers from the golden age of air racing can no longer share with us. The film will have the feel of a National Geographic documentary with a bit of “Top Gear” irreverence. New content will be acquired in Cinema 4K+, with great attention to detail and immersive sound. We will use functional computer generated models for an accurate illustrated representation of build progress and aircraft design.
Contemporary Comparisons
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A few films that we would compare to the Bulldog Movie in content and style.
Production Timeline
The first flight of the New Bulldog is planned for August 15th, 2022 - the 90th anniversary of the debut of the original Bulldog. This date represents the end of an aggressive build schedule for the replica and gives us a concrete production timeline. We can pick and choose milestone construction events to cover and spend a good bit of time developing a unique look for the historic scenes that will need to be shot. Jim Bourke, the builder of the replica, is dedicating a great deal of his time and resources to uncovering the history of the aircraft, which goes hand-in-hand with our efforts. We will enjoy full cooperation from the build team. We’ll need to acquire or build and fly high quality scale models to go with our history lessons. Next summer, we’ll be visiting the National Air Races in Reno, NV for some modern day perspective on air racing and its impact on commercial/military aviation. The final, ready for distribution film will be completed by the end of September, 2022. During the build, extensive "raw" content will be released to supporters of the documentary.
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The Bulldog Movie production team has a multitude of film, commercial and network productions to their credit. The film will be shot on digital cinema cameras from RED, Sony and Canon. Mastered in true cinema 4K with 5.1 surround sound and a warm, genuine film look, this will be like few other aviation documentaries ever undertaken.
Forrest Fox - Producer/Director. Twenty-five years of broadcast television experience. Extensive network credits including fifteen original series and countless commercial projects. Adventure travel and documentary specialist. www.forrestfox.com
Scott Hoffman - Cinematographer/Field Producer. One of the best. Extensive world-wide cinematography and camera movement experience. www.hoffmanmediaranch.com
Chris Becerra - Cinematographer/Field producer. Outstanding event and documentary storytelling.![]()
Historians/Hosts/Guests (Work in progress)
Jim Bourke - Pursuing his dream of re-creating the Bulldog for thirty years. Bulldog Project
Eric Hall - Robert Hall's son. After some time with Grumman Aerospace, Eric went on to become one of the world's most prolific builders of high-performance sailboat components. Eric is very excited to share his father's story. Hall Spars History
Kevin Kimball - Aircraft designer and builder of one of the finest Gee Bee Z replicas on the planet. Jim Kimball Enterprises
Tony Horvath - Engineer and aircraft builder extraordinaire. Specialty Aero
Matthew Lawlor - Air racing historian and Robert Hall authority
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Funding Goals
The current turn-key budget for a feature length documentary, ready for network or cinema delivery is $193,000. What we need to get started is just enough to get the attention of a network or distributor that will fall in love with the project. We're breaking initial production funding down into three phases:
Phase One - Short Trailer: $15,000. A 2-3 minute trailer that can be used to introduce the movie to potential investors, supporters and networks. We'll meet the main contributors to the Bulldog Project and get a taste for why it's such an incredible undertaking. We will film the very first days of construction and share the content with all of our supporters.
Phase Two - Cinematic Trailer and Core Historic Production: $56,000. We develop the production model for the "historic" footage required and continue with ongoing construction shoots. We can now develop a comprehensive cinematic trailer that will show audiences exactly what we're striving toward. Achieving this phase will mean we can start aggressively pursuing distribution for the film by February 2021. Content keeps going out to supporters: Behind the scenes, construction details, time lapses and more.
Phase Three - Core Production Completion: $118,000. Phase three funding would get us near the finish line for content acquisition and put us in position for finishing the documentary with the support of a network or distributor. Supporters will have an exclusive look at the rough-cut of the movie.
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In the event that we do not reach the Phase One goal - funds would be used to develop whatever trailer content might help us secure investor funding. If we don't reach a minimum of $5,000, all funds will be returned to supporters.
In the unlikely event that we can fund the entire project through this campaign, we will enjoy the luxury of being able to focus on the project from start to finish, without the distraction of additional financing efforts. We'll be able to turn out an outstanding documentary and have much more to say about how the film is finally distributed.
