At the end of the spring 2024 semester, Dr. Justin Bergh, an assistant professor of Communications and Media at BHSU, began production on the first episode of a new documentary series.
“Chasing Tables”, the first episode of the series, features Jordan Taylor, a chef and restaurant owner in Sioux Falls, S.D.
“Jordan and I are super good friends,” Bergh said. “I think he’s really talented at what he does, and I don’t think he gets enough credit.”
Taylor has found success in the food industry after completing culinary school to become a chef. Today he is a co-owner of Bread & Circus, Pizza Cheeks and En Place Catering. In 2021, Bread & Circus was featured on Food Network’s Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.
Due to his successful endeavors both in the business world and in the kitchen, Taylor was offered the opportunity to host his own cooking show. However, he was uninterested and turned the offer down. Then, Bergh presented Taylor with another opportunity to share his talents.
“I was like, ‘Hey, I started doing some documentary work back in Alabama. Why don’t we do something cooler than a cooking demo and try to make South Dakota better’ because both of us are from here,” Bergh said. “We complain about the lack of culture here. One of the reasons he came back to open [a restaurant] is he wanted to make the food scene in Sioux Falls better.”
After Taylor agreed to the proposal, Bergh, along with Skott Chandler, an assistant professor of Mass Communications at BHSU, presented the project to South Dakota Public Broadcasting in the hopes that the company would agree to air the episode after its completion.
At the time, the production crew consisted only of Bergh and Chandler.
“When we pitched [the documentary] to South Dakota Public Broadcasting, we knew we were going to have a small crew,” Bergh said. “Given the amount of time we had to do it, we were working sixteen-hour days.”
The two-man team knew they needed to expand their crew if they were going to finish their production before the deadline. And, as educators, they felt they could find a way to create an academic opportunity for their students and find the help they needed.
“We talked to a couple of students who are interested in filmmaking, and we were able to turn those [positions] into internships,” Bergh said.
Bergh and Chandler secured summer internships for two students who would accompany the professors and assist with the production process.
“My role was basically just to capture footage that captured what the story was about, and trying to tell the story through visual qualities, “ said Alec Butterfield, a junior majoring in photography and multimedia journalism, and recipient of one of the internships. “Also, setting up interviews and lighting and audio recording. I think it was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. I learned so much about filmmaking in general.”
The interning students also had the opportunity to speak with sources and learn about the contractual side of film production.
After two months, thousands of miles of travel and hours of audio and video content, the first phase of the production process was complete. But “Chasing Tables” was far from finished.
“The editing process was a beast,” Bergh said. “We had like three hours of interviews just with [Jordan Taylor] alone, so cutting the story down to forty-five minutes was difficult. But I think we captured the essence of Jordan’s story really well.”
Postproduction on “Chasing Tables” took around seven months to complete. However, the finished product exceeded the expectations of the crew and many of those who were able to watch the episode before its premiere.
“Honestly, I think the documentary turned out as well as I anticipated, in some ways probably better,” Bergh said. “It was a lot of work, but we got to travel all summer, so that was super exciting.”
Although Bergh’s original idea for a documentary episode featuring a professional chef had expanded into an educational journey for two of his students, the meaning behind the production was not lost on anyone involved in its creation.
“It’s about education,” Taylor said. “Any way that you can move the dial and educate some people on something as simple as food sovereignty, or actual local foods or actual chefs is worth a shot. It’s just [the matter of] getting it in front of them. In the long run, I hope that it turns a couple more heads. There’s a lot more involved in [making good food].”
Regardless of the public’s reaction to the message within the film, the “Chasing Tables” crew believes that their production should bring positive recognition to the BHSU media department.
“I think [some] people are going to love it, and other people are going to disagree with the message behind it just because it is very polarized here in some areas,” Butterfield said. “But I think overall, people are going to be thoroughly impressed with what the minimal crew and minimal budget was able to create. It feels professional when you watch it, even though it was basically made on a shoestring budget.”
“Chasing Tables” is set to premiere Jan. 16, 2025, at the Mathew’s Opera House starting at 7 p.m. The event will include a full showing of the film, followed by a Q&A.
