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Directing on the Beach II — Description
May 2011, photo by Ashyndeton .

In a previous set of pictures, I had mentioned at the time I was in midst of producing a film that I was writing and directing (and basically guided the shooting for) before I left for Portland. It was for a friend's senior thesis film - I had been trying to mentor him in the time past when I had graduated from film school myself, and the best way I could see was to show him how I would make a film - what to do and why. For over a year we tried workshopping different ideas until I ended up writing the script for this film, When We Were Young, in a sleepless night, where, once I finished around 6am, I took a train to the city to both shoot a short video for the actress in the film and give her the script.

The film was a mixture of biographical elements from my own life, mashed up with pieces of other people I've known. The basis of it is about a college-traiend photographer in his mid-20s about to move across the country blindly to go seek something new. If you've read my previous posts and pictures, that may sound familiar. On his second to last day before leaving, he runs into a long lost flame from college and the film follows their interactions. The film is mostly about the nature of decision making, what opportunity means to you, plans vs unexpected surprises and the relationships between photographer and subject.

After writing the script, we had around a month to put the entire film together, and then ended up shooting the 30-ish minute film over the course of only a few days - I think 3 major and 2 minor ones. Our first shooting day got cancelled due to rain, which made our schedule even more condensed. Once we shot, for the first time again, we were kicked out of the location we were at, at sunset, in NYC - a place my friend whose project it was swore he had the permission to be at. We scrambled to find a new location, went with his friend to his apartment rooftop, and suddenly had half the time to shoot all of the scenes during the sunset in a place I had never seen before. It was a stressful shoot, and the film really destroyed me from conception to finish. I've yet to finish it but only really need a few steps to complete it, primarily a sound mix.

I'm pictured here giving some direction on our beach shooting day.