Transformation: Words Into Images

There comes a time in the life of every movie when the words of the script start to become the images the audience will ultimately experience. This is an incredibly exciting time for us. Up until now each person who's read the script has conjured up his/her own movie-in-the-mind. The most important of these preliminary visions is that of the director. It is his/her version of the script that the cast & crew will attempt to create. The director, with significant contributions from the movies-in-the-head of his collaborators, brings all of the elements of the film together into a cohesive and (hopefully) coherent piece of cinema.

PITIT MWEN has 101 scenes taking place in 29 different locations to be completed in 24 shooting days. Do the math and you'll see that we have what is basically an impossible task. Since one location will be the setting for 8 days of shooting, it means we'll have to move to 3-4 different places in one day on many occasions. Every film ever made goes through the process of seeming to be impossible at first. Those who are discouraged by this will never make a movie. Those who make movies see this as merely the start of a long, strange trip.

Let me go over the organization of personnel for our film so you can see how we've begun to push this enormous boulder up a steep hill. Sacha (our director) has been working with Marlie, a 24 yo Haitian woman who was the voice of Victoria in SKIN DEEP, Version Haitienne. They are translating Sacha's English rewrite of the script into French & Creole. Meanwhile, my production team (me, Regi, Paul-Henri and Carine) has been collecting information for cast & crew selection, attempting to secure sponsorships for our many production needs, and scouting potential locations. Once it has been established that a particular location is available to us, we show it to the director to see if it works for his "vision."

This is the point in the process when the real movie begins to come alive for those of us on the creative team. Each location and actor that we secure for the film adds another piece to the puzzle. Needless to say, this is a critical period in the filmmaking process. Time spent wandering the mountains and forests in Furcy (which we did on Mardi Gras) is, in fact, productive creative time. My job now is helping Sacha to "see" the movie. If a particular location doesn't work for him, it's back to the drawing board. Fortunately we're on a roll. As I write this we have over 1/2 of our locations decided upon.

Casting has been held up while our 17 year old leading lady decides if she can fit in PITIT MWEN while she is finishing her senior year of high school. The casting of many other roles depends on her decision. One potentially insurmountable problem is the fact that she has her senior trip during the Easter break--which is her character's big week for filming if she decides to get on board. Senior trip is a big deal for Haitians going to to private school. They head off to places like the Bahamas or Jamaica for a week with their classmates, and it's one of those cherished memories that define one's youth. The choice we are asking her to make is difficult and I certainly wouldn't blame her if she decided to pass. The film will take a significant hit if she does.

Our other lead female decided that the mega low budget wage we're willing to pay her is insufficient. This is a bit surprising, especially since this person has never appeared in a movie before and has no discernible fan base. I also believe she doesn't realize there's not much money to be made in making movies in Haiti, so there's really not much available to anybody working on PITIT MWEN. Our offer to her reflects a fair & equitable portion of the budget for a cast member. She doesn't love the script, so maybe her hesitation is a sign for us to reconsider her as well. When Sacha asked her what wage she would prefer to receive, this actress wanted a few days to think about it. On va voir.

Our lives here have been made even more difficult by the fact that Regi, one of the producers, crashed our car and rendered it inoperable. Unfortunately, he was not injured. Now, instead of the 2 cars we had last week, we now have none. Edner promises to do the best he can, but we're not able to do too much if we can't get around. It's not like public transportation is an option, even though tap-taps are only 5 gourdes per ride (see Haiti photos at
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph//my_photos for a view of some tap-taps).

I'll check back in during the weekend and give you a pre-production update.