After A Movie Wraps

I just arrived home after being on-location for 4 months working on a feature called "Nebraska." 

When they make the final call, "That's a wrap!" everyone involved in the making of the film has mixed feelings.  Usually those feelings are a combination of elation, relief, and sadness.  I know this was true for me.  As a tribute to my fellow cast and crew members and to the collaborative process of it all, I wrote the following...

Cinema

An idea, a character, a journey

A writer wishes upon a star

A director takes the wand

We all come together now

Hoping to tell a story,

Bring it to life in all its glory

Mold a script into something

Everyone can see—

Beauty and reality,

Emotion and heartbreak,

Moments that matter,

Opportunities that scattered—

In dust along a gravel road

Costumes, Construction, Art

Locations, Casting locked,

Actors become characters,

It’s more than fiction now

Black and white we see—

The shadows and the light

Truth and human failings,

Relationships worth saving

Before we know it,

The journey for us ends

Now it awaits the theater,

Awaits the crowd,

This film to share—

That will make us proud

There’s no recipe to create—

A movie with a blessed fate

Worth the heartache and the pain

We did it all together

To create this story,

Told within the frame.

© 2012 by KLiedle

All rights reserved

On Location: Home Away From Home

 [My dresser adorned with postcards from my collection in L.A.]

What’s beautiful about filming in an area outside the norm of New York or Los Angeles is that people are generally excited about the movie-making process.  They’ve never seen it in process.

Watching a movie being made is not as exciting as you might expect.  Basically, it’s just watching a surprisingly large number of people stand around.  Most of them are grumpy by the end of the day because our days are extraordinarily long and by then no amount of caffeine helps anymore. 

Every now and then, of course, the film crew has a hustle and bustle of activity.  Then, it’s like watching an aerial view of an ant colony at mealtime.  It’s a sight to be seen, I suppose.  Even when there’s absolutely nothing going on, I’m always surprised at the number of people who watch and stare at the film crew—as though they’re completely in awe. 

We begin filming in a few short weeks… the days are long and the weeks much too short.  I’ve now become a resident in this small community far away from L.A.  I am starting to feel more at home though even if I’m still essentially living out of the suitcase I brought with me a month ago.  I have spread out a little bit.  My clothes are on hangers now and I’ve put most of my items in dresser drawers.  Things like that go a long way.  (Right:  a photo of my home away from home.)

 I will say, the people here have made a huge difference.  They aren’t jaded.  They say ‘yes’ more often than they say ‘no.’ And they’ve been genuinely friendly and accommodating.   With the long hours and the exhausting and all-consuming nature of filmmaking, that helps a lot.  In fact, the crew has felt welcomed in town and the surrounding areas of this place we’re calling home, at least temporarily.

Copyright © 2012 by KLiedle