The first time I saw the House of the Temple of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, Southern Jurisdiction USA, I was amazed by the imposing, majestic and gorgeous building that arose out of nowhere in the middle of 16th Street, NW. Once I entered this temple, designed by John Russell Pope, I felt struck by a second wave of amazement. The interior design of the building is just breathtaking. I could spend the entire day roaming through the many hallways and rooms.
Maslow Media Group hired Double R Productions to produce this second video, “Symbolic Journey through the House of the Temple,” to accompany “Welcome to the Scottish Rite House of Temple,” a promotional video MMG and Double R collaborated on last fall. After the first meeting I attended in February, I knew I would like this project a lot, and that it would be fun and very informative!
I already knew a little about masonry from what I learned through some history classes, but in Belgium you don’t just see temples in the middle of the street and people won’t just say they’re masons, rather they’ll try to keep it “secret”. (Or at least try to keep it on the “down low.”) So, for me this project was really exciting.
First up: taking the tour myself to research the building before the crew entered it. I joined Double R Associate Producer Catherine Baum on a one-hour, fifteen-minute tour throughout the entire Temple. We learned about the Atrium, the Temple Room, the Executive Chamber, the Philanthropy and Americanism rooms, the Library and plenty of prestigiously decorated hallways.
Second: the Double R crew shot a whole bunch of interviews with people that knew a lot about Freemasonry, each of who specialized in a different room or part of the Temple. I really enjoyed listening to these people and learned a lot! That made the actual work I had to do during the shoot so much more fun (which of course it already was).
But the most fun part about this video was yet to come: On Thursday, March 21, at 7:15 a.m. I arrived to at the Temple to assist the crew in recording the actual tour. I served as a production assistant again and learned once more from our Director of Photography, Gino Bruno. Moving the gear from one room to another wasn’t always easy as it was heavy work, but it was totally worth it!
I’ve learned so much about the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry in the past couple of weeks that I am starting to feel like a Freemason myself!
— Laurence Blondeel
