No Expectations

I’m about a week out from shooting my next short. It’s a sad romance called “Slow River”.

This one has me pretty excited. The production is small by design, both to ease the work and add to the story’s intimate feel. The actors are two very talented friends (Jim Dougherty and Rhonda Tinch-Mize) who I’ve been wanting to work with again for a while. My partner Randy DeFord will be manning the camera, allowing me to work more closely on performances. I’ve even brought my lovely wife in to work as my script supervisor. Also, we have photographer Polina Osherov joining us for the still photography. I recommend that everyone check out her work.

But I do need to address my expectations with this one. After the problems we ran into on the feature we were doing earlier this year, I discovered that I was basing my happiness on the success of the project and when it all came to a halt, I was pretty bitter.

I do believe that we’ve taken as many precautions as we can to ensure that this one goes smoothly but I need to caution myself against getting my hopes up. Not because something could go wrong but because even with great success, I shouldn’t be any happier. There’s a big difference between being happy with your work and being happy because of your work.

And that is all today. No “what have I learned”. I’m just watching my thoughts.

Maybe that’s what I’ve learned.

“Songs For Daddy”

A number of people have asked me why I didn’t just post the video here, rather than provide a link. Honestly, it hadn’t occurred to me.

So, by popularish demand, here it is:

more about ““Songs For Daddy”“, posted with vodpod

Bad News, Good News

So the grinding halt alarm went off on the full length film my partner and I have been working on since late December. Our lead actress injured herself at her day job. She’s OK but her doctor put her on restrictions for limited movement until further notice. This was the night before we were to spend the entire weekend shooting a number of important and physically testing scenes, including the film’s climax.

Due to the limited availability of some of our main actors and the change in landscape at our location when corn gets harvested, we’re done. Done for this year, anyway.

This was a real kick in the short hairs, to mix a metaphor. The progress on this film was amazing. We were getting great results every time we shot. Having to stop now really took the wind out of our sails.

Fortunately, one of our actors and a very good friend of ours had already arrived in town when we got word. He ended up staying overnight and helped us tear down our locations. Afterward, the three of us had lunch together and were able to talk about the projects we have going and ones we’d like to do together. We walked away from the day with big plans and I think we’ll see a lot of good come now that we’re able to focus on other things.

As an example, I spent this past week ironing out a number of rough edges in a short that we hsot last fall and it has been released. The film is called “Songs For Daddy”. Here’s the release announcement:

25 North Filmwurks is pleased to announce the release of “Songs For Daddy”.

In this short film, a young woman must choose between pursuing her music career and caring for her aging father.

Starring:
Desiree Conn
Don Becker

Cinematography:
Randy DeFord

Written and Directed by:
Adam Shephard

You can view a low-res version of “Songs For Daddy” at the 25 North site: http://www.25north.net/projects.html.

“Adam Shephard” is me, by the way. I don’t believe I’ve ever said that here.

So what have I learned?

Well, it’s one of those impermanence lessons, isn’t it? I had my hopes and dreams all wrapped up in this one project and just like that, it all came crashing down, as things can do.

But not only should I not have been so centered around this one thing, it’s clear now that my time would have been better spent on other projects. Yes, one big film would have been great. But five or six or seven short ones would have, make that “will be” just as great.

Of course, the “greatness” of those projects are not what I should focus on. The focus should be on the work itself. Although we were focused on making a great film, a great film didn’t get made.

The perfection comes from the work not the end result.

Anyway, enjoy the show.

We’re rolling

Well, it’s underway. The big project. El Filmo Kahuna Grande.

I spent the weekend with my partner Randy and a couple of our actors getting some scenes in the can. We’re taking a purposely slower pace on some of these just so we don’t wear out our actors. We realize that talented actors are gold and we want them to be happy.

When we finished our last scene on Sunday, we were pretty excited until someone (yeah, OK,it was me) said, “three down, eighty-four more to go”. Still we got some great stuff and the film is off to a hell of a start.

This weekend, I’ll be conducting rehearsals with three actors (one of which, The Drama Queen Mother, is blogrolled over on the right – check her out, she’s awesome) on what are my favorite scenes because of the level of character interaction. This is a thriller but these scenes set up the friendships in the film and even touch on the transience of friendships. There are some great moments between the women in this film and I know our actresses will impress.

So what’s to learn here?

Well, although all things should be this way, film making is very much a Middle Path thing for me. When I write, I get caught up in the emotions of each character. I need to do that to make the story work. I feel that if it doesn’t work for me, it’s not going to work for anyone else. So I laugh and cry and ache and fall in love right alongside my characters. But when it comes time to commit it to film, all that has to go. It’s about understanding the story and knowing what must be done at any given time. Little in the way of wasted movement. No emotional involvement. Randy is good that way. When I do pull one of those “I have an idea” things, he’s good about grounding everything quickly.

I need to learn to put into practice the ideas about practice that I’ve been able to pick up and abosrb. Actually, I need to learn even more basic things than that. Like how to better appreciate people. Making a film is the most non-solitary sport I can think of. It’s ALL about teamwork. Everyone has to work to make it all come together. You simply can’t pull someone else’s weight. In the case of Microcinema, where everyone works for the fun of it, the exercise itself – where everyone works for free – all of the people you work with deserve as much kindness, respect and compassion as possible.

And food. Lots of food.