Venturing Out

I ventured out of the Swamp House to gather a few pics. I was walking in snow up to my mid-thigh. Now I admit that I am only 5" 3", but it was still quite an effort as our house sits on a hill.

MIA and Cold

I disappeared. First, I was gone because we were pushing so hard to get the website up and I didn't have any news until it launched. Then you didn't hear from me because there was some potential publicity and it didn't seam appropriate to tell you it might happen in case it didn't which would look sad for both the magazine and for us. And now you haven't heard from me because I've been working on a new project and it isn't at a place that I really can advertise what I have.... so more non-news.

What I can say is that Liz Cross, my writer, and I have worked for a month on the new project trying to nail down the time period and the location which we hope to have figured out in the next couple weeks. Then it will be time for me to work on story and characters. This project, although I'm not sure what form it will take, will be more involved than my previous projects. I'm going to need more time to spell out who the characters are and what happens to them.

I'm going to try and keep in touch without sharing the content, so I hope you will bare with me.

Meanwhile I have a toothache that I'm hoping I can make vanish with Sensodyne(TM) toothpaste but, as the day progresses, my confidence diminishes.

The heat has not been working right in our home since we built it. Tomorrow the furnace company is coming to fix it again. We'll see. I've been wearing fingerless gloves and a hat both of which are helping.

I pretty much hate all vegetables, except for potatoes, but I made some darn tasty collard greens the day before last. It is the recipe, not my magic. I got the crazy idea to attempt a bee-bim bop in the memory of not the real Korean deal, but the one made by Blind Faith no longer located in Chicago on Lincoln, but still located up in Evanston, Il. This is the recipe I adapted and the sauce was pretty kick-ass. http://projects.eveningedge.com/recipes/bee-bim-bop/

So for now consider yourself updated.

Actually Between the Shots

After almost two months in Chicago to finish production on We Vow and edit the Making of the We Vow video, I'm back home. In the last month We've launched the new website (http://www.wevow.net), so Dante and I are busy getting the word out though press releases and web links. In January we hope to start a university tour to talk about We Vow, the process of making it, and our support for same-sex marriage.

Although I love to work like a maniac, I know that all work and no play makes Who a Dull Boy? I can't remember – that is telling isn't it? Anyway, I went up to Fox Vespa in Holland, Michigan and recovered my scooter that I wiped-out with in July. It is likely to be too cold to get another ride in before Spring, but a girl can wish.

I promised myself that after I launched I would hit that elliptical machine...

Life has been so intense for so long that I carry around a list of things I want to do or learn to do. For a year now, I've been saying that I'll get to them all "after the shoot." It's "after the shoot" now, but there's still so much to do to make sure that my little boat makes it across the pond... Still I want to do what everyone is trying to do – that balance thing. So, I'm going to take on one of these projects on my list each month for a few months just to get the ball rolling. Actually, I'm going to be brave and jump right in and take one on in December. Now, see, I've gone and said it, so now I have to do it. I'll let you know which one I took on in January ; )

Edit Surprises

David Wittenstein and I met a year and a half ago when I chose to re-edit my behind-the-scenes video for "The Woods Opened and Through: Tala and Louison." We have a funny working relationship, or certainly I've never had one like this. We tend to argue a fair piece. It seems to be our way making sure that we're being understood. No one takes offense, we just keep at it until one or the other of us is convinced, and then as David puts it, "The piece wins." I think that's a bit hokey, but it works for us.

When we began to work together I didn't understand anything about video, and he has certainly taught me everything I know about this medium. It's different than every other art form I've worked in. For example, with video we can only use the footage we have; there's no inventing new material if we decide we need it. This is the reason we chose to have three cameras at the We Vow shoot. There was one on me, one on the cast, and one on the design team and crew. As a result with two days of shooting, we had so much material that it took us four days to inventory it all.

The good news is there are some amazing and beautiful moments of footage. At this point, we have a solid rough draft. Our normal quick cut pace didn't suit the content we were working with, so we both kept being surprised by the longer lyrical visual passages we were creating. Additionally we were surprised in going over the interviews at just how "hard" the political message came through, but that's what everyone was talking about. One of the major debates after sifting through the material was whether or not there would be "a kiss" in the video since I didn't end up using an actual kissing shot in my photographs. After a week of arguing, the kiss won.

"We Vow" has been shot!

Deep into post-production, Ara won't be blogging this week, so I (Liz Cross) am standing in for her today to report on the shoot.

Well, let's get the bad stuff out of the way: It was cold. We stood around for two days straight in the (did I mention cold?) Illinois woods. Many of us got little or no sleep. But it didn't matter.

It was thrilling! As the kind of writer who writes poetry, I've never had the experience of seeing something I'd helped create come to life.

Ari Khatib ("Josie"), Elizabeth Cross (Writer)

And oh boy, did it! It started Friday night, when Helene's (Costume Designer) room was the center of activity.

Below: Aimee Bello ("Cora"), Helene Siebrits (Costume Designer); below right: Kyle Rehder ("Pastor Phillips")

There was a final fitting for the actors, so we had the costume team pinning and tucking, actors coming and going, hair and make-up crew seeing the garments for the first time, prop displaying, Ara making final decisions, all whirling around, and all coming to a complete stop whenever an actor emerged from the bathroom fully dressed. The collective gasp became a joke, but we couldn't stop doing it. The clothes were gorgeous and transformed the actors into their parts. Kyle was our minister. The details were hard to believe–buttons for Samuel's military jacket were from the Civil War, hand made corsets for Josie and Cora, a hat for Josie that changed anyone who wore it into a glamorous 19th horse woman, and miles and miles of silk and wool material that no one could resist reaching out to touch.

Enisa Seric (Second Hair Stylist), Gianluca Mandelli (Hair Stylist), Ari Khatib ("Josie")

Saturday morning at sun rise, Somme Park opened and the two hour set-up began. That's when some of us started. Hair, make-up and acting teams had a 2:30 a.m. call in the RV. The shoot was 200 yards in from the parking lot, so equipment had to be brought in on deer haulers. The logistics of this part of the day alone were mind boggling, but thanks to the individual teams and Dan Miller it went like clock work.

I wish you could see Danelle, our photographer, and Brian, the digital tech, in action together. They're magicians! Telepathic magicians, who never seem to lose focus, or tire, or stop trying for the very best shot. Danelle was often very physical in her work – running, lying on the ground, climbing ladders, all while talking to the actors or shouting "Again!" over and over.

Dan Miller (Key Grip), Danelle Manthey (Director of Photography)

The acting was incredible. The actors were so talented and the casting just couldn't have been better. These four were so connected that the affection was clear both on and off set. (Our floor of the hotel sounded like a French farce with doors slamming and shouting and laughter until far into the night.) As a result, they were able to generate moments that felt powerful and real for the duration of the weekend. Shot after shot it seemed the entire crew couldn't take their eyes off of these characters.
At one point, Ara had to ask everyone to move back to give the actors room. I think everyone took exactly one step back and that was it. No one was leaving.

Ari Khatib ("Josie"), Lia R (Assistant Makeup Artist), Alfred Lester (Makeup Artist)

I'll give you an example of something you won't be able to see in the photographs due to the camera angle. The scene focuses on Cora and Josie's faces as they respond to Samuel's attempt to stop the wedding. In the photograph, you can't really see Samuel's face, but the emotional range conveyed was remarkable. He was frightening (terrifying really), but the expression on his face ranged from anger to shame to confusion to love, and he held it there; they all did. You'll see it over and over again in the shots, just an impressive ability to communicate complicated emotions in order to tell this story.

Ara Lucia (Director/Artist), Matt Devine ("Samuel")

And in the center of everything was Ara. Ara in her giant parka exultant when the shots were good; moving in as close as possible to the actors to urge them on; huddling in front of the monitor with a space heater watching for the right image; making the continuous calculations for time and money and light and ability necessary for each shot. And somehow still talking to all of us to keep us in, keep us focused on the work. In spite of all this, it hit her. And she had to walk off set at one point, weeping, just completely broken up after one shot, because it was so real and so unbelievably beautiful. Ara told me the video documentary guys asked all the rest of the day for her to talk about that shot, but each time she'd start she'd become too overwhelmed to be able to say anything.

Marc Sirinsky (Post Production Translator), Ara Lucia (Director/Artist), Brian Eaves (Digital Tech), Jacob Hand (Lighting Tech)

Aimee Bello ("Cora"), Ari Khatib ("Josie"), Ara Lucia

So when anyone asks me what the weekend was like, I try to stay professional and say it was the best art making experience of my life. What I don't say is that it gave me so much joy that I sometimes had trouble breathing, but only because when I looked around the set those two days, I knew I wasn't the only one.

A Little Truth

Everyone is asking me how I'm doing, and it isn't that perfunctory kind of" how are you doing?" either, but genuinely "how are you holding up under the strain?" kind of question. My pause tells those who know me that the stresses are hitting pretty hard.

We've been at a rough stage for some time now. We (or rather our producer, David Wittenstein) worked very hard to get the location we're going with, and we were sitting on the edge of our seats for weeks waiting for it to come through. In the end, he made it happen in an amazing way (that information will be saved for the Tell All Version). This site has some serious complications, so despite David's efforts I attempted to move us to another location at the last minute. The new site was even more beautiful, but had a host of logistical problems that turned out to be insurmountable, so now we are back to the first site. This meant, among other things, changing contracts back over to the various original vendors.

Meanwhile, there have been a host of other pre-production difficulties. Now, I'm fully aware that these come with the territory, and David and I are pretty darn good at digging into problems and finding clever solutions, but that doesn't mean that after months of work and compounding factors in the final week that I'm not fatigued, wiped out, and partially beaten. That is the little bit of truth I'm willing to tell.

The other side of the coin is that all the creative components are falling into place even better than I dreamed, and this is keeping me going. One of the latest of these happened tonight when Alfred (make-up) and Gianluca (hair stylist) from Ford came to rehearsal. They were able to see the actors move through the scene, and now they're excited, too, about what we'll be creating Saturday and Sunday.

So, how am I doing? I'm really really tired, pooped, and did I mention tired? My fire, however, is still burning, and when it comes time to direct this piece I will be more than ready to go.

Rehearsals are on!

Although rehearsal is a highly protected practice, I want you to get a sense of the excitement that's growing over here. First of all, these actors are so gifted and smart. They are already discovering things about their characters and their characters' world beyond anything I could have expected. It was never my intention to impose characters on these actors. I created (and am still creating!) this rehearsal process so that we can discover the characters and flesh out the story together. This is why we have this kind of rehearsal process. It's intense, challenging, and exciting, and the actors are more than rising to the occasion.

For the first rehearsal, just to help everyone get to know each other, I researched Victorian parlor games. One of the games we played was called "Poor Pussy." I know, I know, but that really was the name of the game. It took the actors a good five minutes of negotiations before they could start, but these are professionals! So imagine one actor on hands and knees playing the kitty for all she was worth, looking forlorn and mewling, and crawling up to one of the other actors who now has to say to her with a straight face, "Poor Pussy, poor poor, Pussy" without laughing. The first person to laugh is out of the game.

In the second rehearsal last night, things were more serious. I began to get a sense of the range of the actors and what they are going to be able to bring to the shoot. One truly impressive thing that is already emerging is the sense of connection between these actors. They don't just show up ready to discover their own characters, they are already learning parts of their own characters from each other. It is amazing to watch this happen.

One of the important things we are doing now is developing the characters' backstories. We began the first night with exploring the forest that is the landscape for the shoot. The second night, we worked to find the significant moments for the characters in the shots we'll be photographing and then going back in time to discover how they became the people they are in those shots. Usually this work is done individually by actors, either in their head or through writing. It's unique to have the opportunity to explore these in a way that makes it concrete – more experiential than imaginary. I'm already looking forward to tonight's rehearsal to see what happens.

Okay, okay, so this is quite late getting up. Since I wrote the first segment, we landed a new location that is uniquely beautiful, but has a whole host of logistical challenges that have me scrambling to get our ducks in a row. Also, yesterday we shot a new video, so you could see the rehearsal process and we will be releasing this before we shoot on Saturday, so ahhhhhhh, I'm swamped --- but excited and delighted with how everything is moving forward.