Back in November, it proved to be a most marvelous experience to serve as the filming location for The Last Peaceful Year, a Fourth Year production by students from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.
When a Third Year team asked to film here as well, it was an easy “yes.” In the grey chill of an early February weekend, starting around 6:30 am, the house began to fill up with these remarkable young people, full of their dedicated energy, inspiring in their devotion to art and craft, cooperative and careful and efficient and delightful.
Here would be staged the setting for Beaks Bloody. The dining room was transformed into a study, suitable for the unfolding story centered on the reading of a last will and testament, with most unexpected results.
With inspiration from, and in homage to, the unconventional and the grotesque, styled to be a bit avant-garde and boosted with a suitable dose of body horror, this tale of obsession and transformation will be a wonder to behold when it premieres later in the spring.
Speaking of transformation, that’s what the Roediger House underwent as it welcomed the buzz and hum of activity, the enthusiasm of emerging professionals, the expansive array of equipment and materials and cables and set decoration, and the marvel of seeing it all put together so that it would all come together.
It’s appropriate that these endeavors are referred to as productions. It is awesome to see what talent can produce.
The necessary hierarchy of key positions is central to the organization and there is respect and responsiveness and an ever-present decorum. Company members have a sixth sense or a third eye for even the barest hint or whiff of issues to be resolved, given how speedy is their figurative leap into problem-solving stance.
Not as busy-bodies or others-minders, at all: just symbiotic well-tuned cogs in the many gears of the endeavor, a splendid manifestation of the harmonious balance of division of labor, specialization, expertise, and corporate ownership of the overall mission.
The foresight and depth of planning means that so much is accomplished in this incredibly condensed weekend window. But it is also real life, and something unforeseen can still emerge to gum up the works.
There is no shouting; there are no heated debates. There is instead the calm maturity of dedicated professionals who quickly problem-solve, adjust, reset, adapt...and occasionally just figure out how to go with the flow of the universe’s occasional infinite jests.
In what seems to me a reflection of the wise design of this program, older students were here to be very present and attuned mentors, but they do not interfere with the actual crew members’ creative decisions.
What you (over)hear instead is a Second Year saying: “Hey, would you teach me how to…?” and “I tried this several ways and couldn’t get the effect; what could I do instead?”
The students I saw are open to the wise counsel always perched in striking distance, even though it can be impressive just to watch them as they seem already very good at this.
I think back to sitting close by, focused on my laptop, when the third-year who is directing the film sat down at the kitchen table with one of the actors, a seasoned veteran, who’d gotten tangled up by a certain set of lines.
The student director was so kind and supportive and invested in the actor’s success with the performance, working diligently to encourage and adapt the wording so that it felt more natural to the person as that character. It was genuine, generous, and respectful. And it was effective. When they did another take on that particular scene, I think they walked away excited about the punch it packed.
In the hour after the production wrapped, you could see that problem-solving, careful figuring, and teamwork in glorious relief, as the set design, art, and grip staff figured out how to return the two bookcases to the second floor.
Wise trial and error, clear directions, patience, and unity of action governed their joint efforts, with great success in short order.
And I celebrate as well the overheard gems at day’s end, and perhaps if the students noticed me they thought I was texting, but I was using my phone to capture what they were saying to one another:
“You ran a good set.”
“You did a beautiful job.”
“Did I listen to you?”
“Those shots were simply amazing.”
Plus: “Thank you” and “You were awesome” from many a one to many another.
My own vocational work is driven by what happens in K-12 classrooms with kids but I am always dealing with the adults who teach in or lead those schools. These emerging film professionals are neither trite nor gimmicky about praise for their fellow artists. They speak truths and they celebrate and they encourage and they build up—and their eyes are ever on the prize because they are devoted to creation and not destruction.
The common purpose, kindness, professionalism, consideration, collaboration, and support—even in the more fraught moments of filming—would all be a model I’d love to expose my usual audience to!
Previous UNCSA Production: "The Last Time I Saw You"
Next UNCSA Production: "Yes, And"
