Scanning and scripting

We are now well into post-production, and among our many tasks is completing the scanning of the many great photographs we have of Eileen and her family and friends over her long life. This is a black-and-white of her with her sister, Phyllis -- undated, but looks to be circa World War II.
Meanwhile, I have completed a very rough draft of the screenplay. Rough -- but I am pleased. The structure looks good, with a nice narrative arc. I am particularly happy with the beginning, which will bring the viewer quite literally (and dramatically) behind the hedgerow, into Eileen's mansion and world. And the supporting cast is just marvelous, with one-of-a-kind performances of people who have rarely, if ever, been put on camera, among them the fabulous Betty "Boop" Blake and Yusha Auchincloss.
-- Wayne, on a frigid January morning.
Image courtesy of Margy Slocum Quinn

RICH Grantees pose in Statehouse

After the Statehouse ceremony Wednesday at which the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities announced its major 2010 grantees, the group posed for a photo. I am second from left, Dave is in the back, sixth person from left.
Photo by Jori Ketten, image courtesy RICH.
-- Wayne

Hedgerow wins major grant!

Dave and I went to the Statehouse today for a press conference announcing the winners of the major 2010 grants from the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities. We received one to help with the post-production costs of HEDGEROW, which will have its world premiere at the 2010 Rhode Island International Film festival. We graciously thank the Council for their continued support -- this is the second grant for HEDGEROW that they have awarded us, and these two grants follow one that helped push ON THE LAKE toward its completion in early 2009. Thanks also to George T. Marshall and Flickers Art Collaborative, which serves as our fiscal sponsor.

Cold winter shoot

We were back at 459 Bellevue on Saturday to photograph more interiors of Eileen's mansion and to scan photographs of her, her family and her friends. It was a snowy day -- quite beautiful in Newport -- and Dave got some nice shots of the exterior of the estate, dressed in winter. We will have use for these as part of a narrative device. Then I thought: We need to visit Eileen's grave. We need a shot of her tombstone with the snow falling. So we hopped in Dave's car and rove to the cemetery, about ten minutes away. This is Dave with one of our interns, capturing the scene. This shot, and the scene in real-life, and for the movie, had a beautiful surreal quality. Unbroken, fresh-fallen snow, and only the three of us there amongst the dead. Almost got stuck getting out -- no snow tires on Dave's car, and nothing was plowed. But well worth our while. Back at 459, we put beryl on camera again, wrapped up our scanning and departed into the evening...

BTH IN THE NEWS AGAIN

A nice story about documentary filmmaking, with reference to Eagle Peak Media, ON THE LAKE, and BEHIND THE HEDGEROW appeared in the Dec. 13 issue of DocumentaryTech magazine. Check it out!

One of the best, one of the last

We returned to 459 Bellevue yesterday to put Jerry Slocum on camera. Jerry is Eileen's oldest child and only son -- and he was outstanding, filled with wonderful stories and insights about his mother that we had not heard.
We are nearly through production, with one or possibly two more shoots to go. And then we begin editing.

Falling leaves

Spent the morning in Newport, first on a visit with Nuala Pell to the cemetery where Claiborne Pell and two of his and Nuala's children are buried, and then I stopped by the cemetery where Eileen and her husband John lie in rest. Here is a shot of the Slocum plot, the mid-November leaves scattered among the yews. Eileen and John's stone is second from the right.
We are nearing the end of principal photography, with a major shoot this coming Monday at 459 Bellevue with Eileen's son, Jerry.