On Location

This weekend, I felt like a professional director. I always aim for professionalism, but I often cannot help but feel like a young theatre artist who is playing “theatre company” with his most talented friends. This weekend, shooting the trailer for Medea down on Long Beach Island, my friends became professionals, and I was inspired.

Perhaps it was because we were on location, with perfect weather and knew that the cameras were rolling. Perhaps it is because many of us had worked together before, and we are getting a few steps closer towards an ensemble of actors that is happy to work with us on whatever kooky project we propose next. Or maybe we are simply growing into ourselves as people and artists and there’s a certain maturity that comes with age…although I would like to stay young and idealistic for another year at least.

When we came back from the beach one of the actors said, “It was an incredible experience, seeing artists creating the kind of art that you yourself want to be creating, and then also getting to be a part of it.” It was funny to hear this, because I felt the same way…I thought “yes, this is the quality of work we should be creating all the time”. Now, I have not seen any of the edited footage, and who is to say what the final product will look like, but even the clips we saw from each day (those are called dailies from what I’ve heard), I found myself taken aback. Much of the professionalism and tone of the weekend came from our unbelievably talented and professional film crew, which consisted of Danny Caporaletti and Dylan Frayser. These two film makers are not only talented artists, but some of the best collaborators I have ever worked with. The actors were all phenomenal and the beach was a star performer. I honestly could not have had a better introduction into film directing, I’ve caught the bug and you should keep your eyes peeled for even more. We will post some pictures of our shoot soon, as to whet your appetite for the finished trailer, which is slated to be released before the holidays take over!

-Ryan Emmons