So, I made a Western..
Last fall I got to travel to Reno, NV to capture a wedding on a private ranch. The sights and sounds were totally different to me. Having mostly shot weddings in Houston, TX and Asheville, NC, the sweeping desert foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains lit me up with all kinds of inspiration.
I never really know what kind of film I’m going to make. I don’t do a ton of pre-production in general, but rather I find the story on the day. My absolute favorite director is Terrance Malick, and it’s often said of his films that for every project he makes the film three times:
The film of the script
The film that’s captured
The film that’s edited.
I feel like I end up approaching things similarly. Certainly Melissa and Darren brought a lot of the Western elements themselves - I didn’t have to manufacture any of that. In my editing process I like to marinate with the footage for a bit - the first day or two is me re-acquainting myself with everything that I’ve captured and listening through the footage for sound bites that will help me craft a narrative.
One of the struggles in wedding-world, as I call it, is that you don’t get to make stories with much variety. Weddings generally follow the same flow - two people gather with friends and family to celebrate their commitment to each other. But I think there is something beyond that. I want my films to be character profiles, arthouse wedding films, diving into who my couples are, what makes them tick, showcasing their personality and fleshing them out as fully formed characters within the film.
These aren’t action films, they’re character driven.
The ultimate test of whether a film achieves something real or not - at least to me - is if it makes you feel something, if it moves you. I’ll dabble with genre and lean into certain elements (I got to make a Western!), but if it doesn’t take you somewhere and make you feel something it’s just a lot of pretty images in a slideshow.
