Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Two nights ago, I spent a wonderful evening at Riverbend with a great friend, Herbert Kohler. We were doing what we’ve done for nearly thirty-five years on November 1st. We were assembling his New Year’s greeting from inspiring quotations and dozens of photos submitted by amateur photographers in Sheboygan County. Every year it’s different, but always a great collaboration of pictures and poetry. We produce “Great Work in a Great Way”. I look forward to this evening every year.
Not all great things are planned. Some just happen.
This evening Chris Leclerc of Leclerc Brothers Motion Pictures and I took a hike out to Kohler Andrae State Park in search of an epic time lapse shot to open the premiere of “Do More”, a project commissioned by the Sheboygan County Economic Development Corporation. Two hours earlier, the shot hadn’t even occurred to us.
As a matter of fact, I was on my way to Legend Larry’s for a few dozen chicken wings to hold us over till dinner. Blaine, Chris, Philip and I were working a little late. Not because we had to. Rather because we wanted to. It was one of those days, when so much of what you were working for, investing in, was finally taking shape into something wonderful.
For weeks, Blaine has been laboring over a script for “The Promise of Sheboygan County”, a film commissioned by the SCEDC to draw new business to the area. It’s a great script, demanding just the right voice, just the right music....and just the right footage to set the stage for a great story....a story that’s been years in the making.
Fortunately, earlier that afternoon, Philip recieved a voice track from a man we all agreed was the perfect voice for Blaine’s script. It was a victory, because we’d listened to nearly 50 auditions before striking gold. Ironically, enough the guy’s last name was “Gold”. So, with wings in hand to mouth, we were celebrating what we felt was a major accomplishment. The marriage of the right words with the right voice over the right music. We were laughing with joy, and then looked at one another wondering what the imagery might be to make this a 1+ 1+1= 100 moment.
That aside, the day was everything it needed to be to produce great work in a great way....the serendipitous meeting of minds to create something far bigger than the sum of its parts.
So then, Blaine shared his vision for the epic opening shot, and 15 minutes later, Chris and I had no choice but to jump in the car and head for Kohler Andrae Park to make it real.
What a surreal moment...to be so impassioned for the final piece of a puzzle as to leave a tasty plate of chicken wings and in the quiet comfort of Jake’s Cafe for something so elusive as an evening sky over the grassy dunes of Lake Michigan to capture....the perfect moment.
It was so Jake.
