The (Sometimes Boring) Rhythm of Filmmaking
BY HEATH MCKINNEY, LUSAKA, ZAMBIA – Our Producer, Cyndi Greening, let us all in on a little secret not too long ago. She said, “Filmmaking is a lot like being a Fireman, there is lots of waiting before a brief moment of action.” This is my first film so I’m not too sure of how it all works but everyone tells me there’s a lot of waiting around. To fill up my time, I had Jared Moschcau teach me a little bit about photography. I got it pretty quickly; his trick was that the subject should be two-thirds of the frame and the other third is the background.
I started with simple stuff, I took a couple pictures that really didn’t turn out at all. I quickly erased them, thank you digital photography. My love, as many do not know is nature. So I found myself some flowers I could practice on. There was a small hanging flower with a little dew that I found, and I got to work. For me any angle I looked at it was beautiful, but I had to find a way to make it look great for everyone. I learned to wait for the perfect shot.
It really is just the nature of all things. If you want something great, you need to learn to wait for it. Without any effort we can’t gain any accomplishment. We do wait a lot, Zambian time frame considered. But it’s worth it if that’s what it takes to make a truly great feature film and a documentary. I am more that impressed with what I’ve learned coming here to Zambia.