Premiere
As the lights went down in Studio 28 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and the picture came up, I'm certain I audibly gasped. There on the big screen, larger than life was my old friend, the curmudgeonly octogenarian bachelor, Al, who I had spent so much time with, sitting in his armchair in front of his television, his squalid bachelor apartment filled with flickering blue light. Then my name came up: Written By Angelo Eidse.
There were moments during the screening that I had to remind myself that I was watching a film -- the picture so closely resembled the images in my mind's eye that I had seen a thousand times before, that it felt like I'd already seen it and knew it intimately. I think that testifies to the great power of a meaningful and successful collaboration.
Collaboration is a film industry buzzword, but more often than not it is only paid lipservice, and we've all heard the horror stories, tales from the trenches of the movie industry, where collaboration devolves into a mire of self-interest and clashing personalities.
When I visited the Flickering Blue set in June I witnessed none of that; everyone from the fabulous student crew members like Patrick Priest (1st A.D.) to visiting Hollywood D.O.P. Jack Anderson, director John Harper Philbin and even the star, James Karen, constantly consulted one another to ensure the best possible frames were being captured. It warmed my heart then and again last night. We were all reunited at the Philbin home, (sans Jack Anderson, unfortunately), where we celebrated James Karen's 80th birthday. Late into the night John pulled out a tape of on-set outtakes and clips from a documentary on the making of Flickering Blue, and we all relived the wonderful joy of filmmaking done right.
There were moments during the screening that I had to remind myself that I was watching a film -- the picture so closely resembled the images in my mind's eye that I had seen a thousand times before, that it felt like I'd already seen it and knew it intimately. I think that testifies to the great power of a meaningful and successful collaboration.
Collaboration is a film industry buzzword, but more often than not it is only paid lipservice, and we've all heard the horror stories, tales from the trenches of the movie industry, where collaboration devolves into a mire of self-interest and clashing personalities.
When I visited the Flickering Blue set in June I witnessed none of that; everyone from the fabulous student crew members like Patrick Priest (1st A.D.) to visiting Hollywood D.O.P. Jack Anderson, director John Harper Philbin and even the star, James Karen, constantly consulted one another to ensure the best possible frames were being captured. It warmed my heart then and again last night. We were all reunited at the Philbin home, (sans Jack Anderson, unfortunately), where we celebrated James Karen's 80th birthday. Late into the night John pulled out a tape of on-set outtakes and clips from a documentary on the making of Flickering Blue, and we all relived the wonderful joy of filmmaking done right.
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