A long hiatus, yes. A molting process, yes. A shift in direction, yes. A new career, apparently. Renewed enthusiasm: yes.
In a nutshell, I've become a budding cinematographer... budding at the age of 46. And why not? I'm an admirer of makeovers, especially buildings. What happened? Last summer I took a film lighting course at the Maine Media Workshops and loved it. Since then, I've become involved with Star Trek Phase II helping shoot their one-hour webisodes of classic Star Trek, all for the fun of it. The production values are high and I've learned a lot on the set which operates more or less professionally in an amateur kind of way. Then this summer, I happened to see a course at the Media Workshops and lucked into it via their waiting list. I met some great people and we made some fun little films. After that, I was hooked and declared my intentions to take up filmmaking. It's not like I haven't done it before. When I sat down and figured out how many little films I'd made over the years it totaled more than thirty, a couple are award winners. But, deciding to move further into it is a big break from my prior architectural commitments but it feels right. If there were any place you'd know you weren't supposed to be, it would be a film set, because it can be brutally boring. If you don't have the bigger picture in your grasp it will feel insufferable. I've watched (and filmed) people in this mode and it's not pretty.
Right now I'm working with Tim Wolff, of New Orleans, on his documentary about gay social clubs who spearheaded a unique gay rights movement in the south. I was down there to shoot earlier in the year and Tim is up here in Vermont now as we edit it. I love thinking about the structure of film, how to tell a story.
I'm also working on a short film with Richard Ballon, a playwright and writer, whom I met at CineSlam, a short film festival in Vermont. Also in the works, possibly, is a feature to be shot in Los Angeles this fall or winter and for sure a segment in a documentary project about Vermont. I'll be helping one of the filmmakers I met this summer in Maine complete his project next week. I'm happy with the speed with which things have started rolling.
