15 Dec A Word From The Director of A Bird’s Nest

Director of A Bird’s Nest talks about life On Set…

I often tell people that filmmakers are crazy. Only filmmakers will spend hours in the rain and mud, brave poison ivy and spiders, and completely rearrange an entire house in order to get one perfect shot. I am one of those people. For me, the final product is just the icing on the cake. The best part about filmmaking is the process.

The time leading up to the final finished product of “A Bird’s Nest” yielded some of my most vivid memories. I can still remember the moment my co-producer, Adam Duncan’s eyes lit up when I told him about my friend Eric Hwang’s short story. “I can really see it in my head,” he said. We knew that this was a story we had to tell.

From there I wrote and rewrote until we had something we could start to storyboard. And storyboard we did, on yellow lined note pad paper with Adam’s very professional stick figure drawings. Though I already knew who would be my lead actor, Deke Garner, way before I started writing the script, casting the lead actress was an experience itself.

We wanted a girl that the audience could immediately fall in love with… a girl whose very presence on screen screamed innocence. When Gracie Grenier skyped with us for our audition, Adam and I fell in love with her. “Can I use my dog? Her name is Sadie” Gracie asked with her toothy smile.

Getting the equipment and team to our filming location in Shreveport was yet again another adventure. Because all of us are broke artists, spending time in Shreveport scouting locations was unfortunately not conducive economically. As a result, Adam and I decided to show up just a few days before the crew, with a trunk full of equipment, to explore and discover where the magic would happen.

Upon arrival to our first location, Adam’s parent’s house, we “pre-acted” out the script and created a photo storyboard. Afterwards, we off-roaded in Adam’s uncle’s 4-wheeler Kubota deep into the woods to find the perfect spot for a child’s fort. Adam got poison ivy and a million spider bites. I just laughed. Everything was becoming a reality right before our eyes and I loved every moment.

Then it rained and rained and rained. The forecast said it would rain for the entire week. We couldn’t possibly try to reschedule. Everything was set. So we adapted. I called my director of photography, Alex Walker, and asked him what equipment we needed in order to shoot in the rain without getting electrocuted. After countless runs to Home Depot, Walmart, and even the liquor store, we were ready.

The tiny crew of three other people (Jason Cates, Alex Walker, and Roxy McDanel) plus whatever remaining equipment, came in our makeup genius, Roxys mommy van on March 7. The next day bright and early at 6:00 AM in the morning, we were up and about converting the entire house into the set we saw in our heads. This process included removing all of the photos from the living room, emptying out the entire fridge (which was filled to the brim by the way) twice, and bringing in two cars full of equipment.

The first day was a slow start, but after we all learned how we all worked and bonded through lunch, dinner, and filming… by day 3 (we had to shoot an extra day), we moved like one single unit. That is the best feeling… when the team can trust each other.

Some of my favorite moments:
1. Adam creating a shitty rig out of a 1K Arri light duct taped to a ladder that went up to the second floor of the house (in order to get light through the top window in the attic).
2. The neighborhood kids sitting on the lawn watching a “real movie set” and marveling at how real Gracie’s skinned knee looked (Roxy’s handiwork)

3. Farm chickens chasing Gracie around the house.

4. Adam falling asleep for reals while we were filming HIS scene.
5. Our final whiskey toast at 8 pm on the last day of filming.

I recall looking on the screen after one of our most epic shots in the woods, and marveling at what we had accomplished. “Wow!” I said. “This is going to be something.”

I was so excited about our footage that upon returning home, had a finished cut within a week. After that the post-production team took over. This is the first film that I had ever experienced doing foley. It was amazing to watch Alex Covert in his element. He would get so excited that he got the footsteps through the woods perfectly. We even discovered that real branches actually don’t make good sound effects for branches on screen (who knew).

During the sound process was scoring with Nick Longoria. I enjoyed having such an emotional and open conversation with him about how to best translate the emotions I wanted, through music. We tried different instrumentation, took out layers, added layers, and more.

All this work for 15 minutes. Can you believe it?

Like I said, this is my favorite part of making “A Bird’s Nest.” But of course, finding out we made Top 20 at the Louisiana Film Prize then premiering the movie with a packed audience was the icing on the cake. Experiencing and seeing how the film affected people emotionally was incredible.

It is projects like these that remind me how lucky I am to do what I love. It is the process of taking a concept and making it a reality that I enjoy the most. It is the melding of ideas, of every team member making the film their own that makes the project so special.

We cannot wait for you to watch “A Bird’s Nest.”