Documenting the Camino: Q&A with Comstock ('09)

During the summer of 2008, Trey Comstock ('09) made his second pilgrimage along the Camino de Santiago. The second time, he took a video camera.

Comstock, who served as a video-producer intern in the Office of University Relations at the College during the past academic year, filmed the pilgrimage from the perspective of young people. His documentary became the featured piece of his senior honors project. He also cut the shorter segment that is presented here.

In the following Q&A, Comstock explains his growth as a scholar and as a pilgrim.


Q: Why did you get involved with the pilgrimage?

Comstock: I got started on the Camino more by accident than anything else. I found out that Professor George Greenia was doing a class on the Camino de Santiago and that it involved walking 500 miles across Spain. I had never heard of the Camino before, but I had been a Boy Scout and thought that I knew about long hikes. So, I signed up. I was not motivated by anything particularly deep. I was interested in a fun adventure, something along the lines of a boyhood wish to be Indiana Jones. However, as I walked the Camino, it transformed for me into a different journey. I walked with 11 other people from William & Mary, and being young people, we noticed that there were fewer other young people than we expected. Also, there was nothing out there that captured the voice of young people on the Camino. This was the seed that was planted while I walked to the Camino that eventually turned into the documentary project.

Q: Can you describe your relationship with professor George Greenia?

Comstock: I met George through his prep class about the Camino de Santiago. He has an energy about him that is altogether intriguing, and the fact that he wanted to hike 500 miles with students astounded me. However, it was not until we got out on the pilgrimage trail that I truly got to know him. On the Camino, there is a lot of time for personal reflection and conversation with other pilgrims. Not only did Prof. Greenia require us to call him George, he was quite open to conversations on a deep level as we passed the days and miles. We both shared more of ourselves along those 500 miles than one normally could in a classroom setting. I consider Prof. Greenia to be a connection that I will keep long after I graduate.


Q: What stands out in terms of making your documentary?

Comstock: The process of making the film took two years. I spent about 18 months gathering funds and planning the logistics. I recruited Elena Lower, who walked the Camino with me in 2006. She acted as cultural and linguistic interpreter. I also recruited Bryan Hoffman from Texas A&M University. He acted as production assistant, helping with logistics and finances. We got camera equipment from the Swem Media Center at the College and received considerable funding from the Monroe Scholars program.

By the beginning of June 2008, we began shooting the video footage. We stayed in a different cheap hotel every night. We jumped around to different points on the Camino to improve our results. During the day, one or two of us would be in the field walking the Camino with the camera equipment set up between backpacks. The remaining person would drive ahead to the next town, get things set up for the evening, and handle contingencies. While out in the field, we would find young pilgrims, walked with them and asked them to be interviewed. Unlike most documentary work, we had to keep our interviews short and could hardly control our circumstances, but we still got over 30 total interviews during our month on the trail.