Jesseca Kusher

I had my first all Production Meeting today in the safety of my apartment’s sweet living room. In honor of what I learned from visiting artist Micahel Chichetti, I threw a brunch party to invite everyone to my team. I made pancakes and eggs, Devon (my producer) brought muffins, and we gathered the  crew’s information.

After the meeting I talked sound design with John Ortiz Vargas, my sound dude. He had a brilliant idea for making the “memory” (or rather imagined memory of my main character) tie in to the current world. So as the film begins, it will start with diegetic music around the campfire as a the characters play guitar, and then it will stick around as non diegetic music for the grandparents’ kissing scene, then finally become diegetic again as our main character Kath turns off the stereo in her grandmother’s home. I really like the way this ties the world together across timeframes and makes a clear connection between the times.

In other news I have met with the Brown Family Environmental Center (BFEC), specifically I had a very good meeting with Noelle Jordan. She was very supportive of my concept and the film’s emotional ties to my own grandmother’s death. I also met with Maddie Morgan, who is the current BFEC intern. We will be filming in the farmhouse, where she lives. She kindly let us scout her location and take photos of the downstairs.

On Friday this week I have my director’s presentation before the class. Martha has suggested I watch a series of films that I will maybe write about in another blog post– but for now I’m thinking a lot about “Daughters of the Dust” by Julie Dash and “Fish Tank” by Andrea Arnold.

First, I am looking at “Daughters of the Dust” because it is very female driven, nostalgic, and takes place in nature. I like the way she frames her shots with the women in positions of power, and I appreciate the close ties to nature that span the three generations in “Daughters of the Dust.” While I was initially very confused by the cross-generational story Dash tells, “Daughters of the Dust” has stuck with me in a very big way. The way the female characters are portrayed in positions of power on the landscape really moves me. Also, as a South Carolinian, it is so significant in my mind to reflect on the Gullah people and the interwoven message of “Daughters of the Dust:” that it is our choice (but I would argue, our responsibility) to move forward into the future while holding onto the past. This is a message that my film connects to deeply.

The other film I am looking at is “Fish Tank” by Andrea Arnold. Primarily because of the very character-focused narrative and raw way she conveys emotion through the mind of our main character. I appreciate the way she captures family drama in a way that doesn’t feel contrived, but instead makes us as an audience really relate to a teenage girl.