A new visitor center film is in the works for the Vicksburg National Military Park.

Expected to be available in January, the film documents city life during the Civil War and the 1863 battles and siege that helped turn the course of the war.

Videotaping began Friday at park monuments and continued in the evening in the National Cemetery. Shooting today and Sunday will include scenes from the park as well as indoor and outdoor locations around the city.

“This new one will be far more comprehensive in its approach,” park chief historian Terry Winschel said Friday evening as the cemetery was being prepared for taping. “We hope to make it more interesting, especially for the young folks who come out here.”

The current movie has been running since the 1970s, Winschel said, and often fails to hold the interest of park visitors.

The new documentary will depict the civilian experience and the fighting of the U.S. Colored Troops at Milliken’s Bend as well as the siege. It will also include maps to help show troop movements.

Winschel wants to “light a spark” in the imaginations of the students who visit the park, to help them become more committed students and stewards of its history. “It’s important that we pass along and perpetuate interest in what happened here. We want to keep it relevant,” he said.

The new film is being produced by Northern Lights Productions of Boston, which has been making documentary films since 1985, said company head Lenny Rotman.

Among Northern Lights’ credits are films about Mount St. Helens, Lassen Volcanic National Park, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Little Rock Central High School and Mystic Seaport in Mystic, Conn.

Rotman said segments of the VNMP film, including the Milliken’s Bend re-enactments, will be shot in and near Richmond, Va., where crews and re-enactors will be filming next month.

Rotman and his staff wrote the script after several meetings with Winschel and other VNMP historians, who had final approval. The finished product will run about 18 minutes, Winschel said.

VNMP chief operations officer Rick Martin said crews are working with a budget of about $250,000, which “is not a high-end film,” he said. “Shiloh (National Military Park) has a film they are currently working on that will cost in the area of $500,000. Movies cost a lot of money, as we all know.”

Friday night’s cemetery scene featured about 250 luminaries placed in front of headstones. Nine scouts from Richard Van Den Akker’s Boy Scout troop 76 helped set up and light the candles, which were placed in glass holders rather than in paper bags with sand, as luminaries usually are.

“In 1999, we had luminaries on every grave for the 100th anniversary of the park’s founding,” Martin said. “Luminaries are a nice way of remembering the veterans who died, and we wanted to replicate what was done in 1999, but the effect they wanted was better with candles in glass.”

“We wanted to build on that because it was so fabulous,” Rotman said. “And because this is not just a story about the siege of Vicksburg. There will be an additional scene at the end of the cemetery, paying homage to those who fought in the war.”

The Scouts spent about five hours at the cemetery — placing, lighting and cleaning up the candles.

“We’re just here to help out,” said Van Den Akker, who will also have a role in the film as Confederate Gen. Henry McCulloch. “Just getting involved in the community. We like to help out.”

Today’s scenes will include cannons being fired at the military park late this afternoon, but most of the work will be outside the park, downtown on Monroe Street and at Riverfront Park this morning, where a tent scene depicting Union Gen. U.S. Grant will be filmed.

The public can watch from a distance but is asked to stay out of the way of film crews.

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FYI

Filming for the new Vicksburg National Military Park visitor center film will take place in various locations around today and Sunday. Times are approximate.

Today

* 8:30 a.m. — Monroe Street behind the Old Court House Museum

* 9:30 a.m. — Riverfront Park

* 2:15 p.m. — Anchuca, indoors

* 4:30 p.m. — VNMP headquarters: 12-pound cannon firing; possibly Union soldiers climbing the hill

Sunday

* 8 a.m. — Some scenes along the river and bluffs

* 1:45 p.m. — Duff Green Mansion

* 6:30 p.m. — U.S.S. Cairo Museum

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Contact Pamela Hitchins at phitchins@vicksburgpost.com