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I picked up my first motion picture camera, a Chinon Super-8, during seventh grade in San Antonio, Texas. One Saturday morning with nothing to do I teamed with my best friend, Wayne, in making a backyard movie; a collection of jokes and sight gags we'd always entertained friends with. Later that afternoon we raced our bikes through the neighborhood to the tiny, yellow-topped Kodak booth in the grocery store parking lot. Out of breath, we emptied our pockets for enough change to develop the 50' reel. We returned every afternoon, crossing the busy streets we were never allowed to cross, to see if our film was ready. When it finally arrived, we projected it on a white bedroom wall. All of our friends laughed at the funny parts even though they'd heard the jokes a hundred times before. I had my first taste of the power of cinematography. Wayne and I continued to make short films: comedies, horrors, westerns. One Sunday morning a few even aired on a local kid's TV show. The next Tuesday I was getting my hair cut and I asked my barber if she had seen our film, Captain Stiles (Wayne's last name - in the starring role as a super hero). She said she didn't get up that early on Sundays. But the barber next to her leaned over and said, "You made Captain Stiles? My kids and I saw that. We loved it!" Fame at fourteen. Every time I step behind the camera I try to remember that magical feeling; working with friends, creating something new, telling our stories. I hope it shows through in these spots and images. Copyright © 2002-2005 RSWCine, Inc. All rights reserved. |
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