The November 2018 Shoot: The Burn of the Run (2nd NYC Shoot)
Photo by Jared Verdi on Unsplash
Our 2nd shoot in New York took place over the weekend of the TCS New York City Marathon. And the similarities between running a marathon and making a film, especially a documentary, resonated with us.
Every marathon runner has a first marathon story. They may have run other races and might forget the details, but the first marathon will live in their mind indefinitely—each and every mile.
Our Pace
When researching funding options, we decided very early on that keeping an appropriate pacing strategy was vital to the project. To always “move forward” was, and remains our motto as difficult as it can sometimes be. Depending on our funding or lack there of, this, the hydration of our film production is one of the biggest challenges marathon runners and filmmakers have to overcome.
For a start, by the time the interview subjects are scheduled (which is no easy feat in itself!) the preparation is already in full motion, much like the casual joggers we see weaving their way through the streets of the city, at almost any time of the day or night.
The motivation continuing to energize us, is the renewal of friendships, the new friendships formed over the course of the interviews and the determination to reach the ultimate goal, our finishing line — seeing the history presented in our film on the big screen.
We devise the questions we ask based on the films’ structural narrative ARCS; and begin the research into the job descriptions of each and every interview subject, whether an ex-employee at Charivari or the expertise of a designer, historian or fashion-related personality. This enables us to refine the questioning to best get the answers which explain Charivari's rise to such retail heights.
As designers have said, inspiration comes from the most unexpected places. And every time we meet with Jon Weiser our imaginations soar! We spent the better part of a beautiful day before our shoot, on Long Island’s South Shore with Jon; keeping him updated and welcoming his advice as we go forward. What a resource he IS—a true treasure trove of memories, and suggestions for future interview subjects. Our appreciation is unending, and keeps us steady for the course!
From the Sidelines
Manhattan, vibrant at anytime during the year, we notice the autumn colors all around us as we pass the halfway point for shooting our interviews. And from the sidelines we give a special shout out to Elizabeth Fillmore who has generously offered her showroom as a possible shooting location when next we are in New York as a donation to the production; and to Cynthia Jones who has donated her legal expertise in terms of helping us insure our practices remain sound.
All of the participants in any of our shoots are invaluable to the film, however, there are key figures or frontrunners who provide vital information or actually took part in certain events that we must include in the telling of our story.
The Front Runners
Fern Mallis, the former executive director of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (1991–2001), has an extensive history in fashion and created the New York Fashion Week as it is known today. She was also senior vice president (2001 to 2010) of the fashion related arm of the International Management Group (IMG); and enlightened us in terms of the relevance of fashion weeks, the impact of social media on the industry, and the methods used past and present day, to promote designers and their brand collections.
His bio reads, Kenneth Jackson "has lectured at hundreds of colleges, universities, civic groups, and historical societies around the world, and he has been a featured guest on the NBC Today Show, ABC World News Tonight, ABC Nightline, CBS Evening News, CBS Up to the Minute, CNN, the History Channel, East West Television, and more than sixty documentary productions. And so we add to the count to bring it to sixty-one with good reason! As a New York City historian, he was able to explain aspects of the city which led to it being the platform upon which Charivari flourished.
Richard Kirshenbaum, the man behind the clever Charivari Ad campaigns. What can be said of such witty copy? His sense of humor and closeness to Selma, Barbara and Jon served him well when devising his sometimes controversial concepts, and for steering his very successful career.
Cathy Hardwick, designer, entrepreneur, great cook and great friend of Selma Weiser. She added details of the early days of their friendship and how it evolved through the years.
Former Charivari employee and designer, Tracy Reese continues a long tradition of famous designers creating stylish uniforms for the world's airlines. Edith Head was amongst the first back in 1959 (for Delta, and 1975 for Pan Am). Designers who are given the honor of flying their aesthetic sense to the four corners of the World are given a tremendous task and a prestigious platform. Air France, has commissioned French couture designer, Christian Lacroix. Vivienne Westwood, is behind the uber feminine Virgin Atlantic Airways uniforms for women and dapper designs for men; just to name a few… Tracy will design the new United Airlines flight attendant uniform for women to be launched next year in 2019; and she relayed to us her challenging course from studying at Parson's (with her BFF, Marc Jacobs) to working at Charivari, launching her successful lines and creating her critically acclaimed clothing brand.
And notably, we filmed the woman called, the Godmother of 7th Avenue, Veronica Jones. We were captivated by her account of women's roles in the fashion industry and how they've changed through the decades; and still, the lengths they have to run before achieving the recognition that men seem to receive with less effort...
To and from the studio, day-by-day we witnessed the outside temperature alternating between pleasantly warm to New York autumn brisk, all the while gradually growing colder. The time came, fortunately, for it to fall back an hour, affording us the advantage of an extended night’s rest, if only for the day ahead; and It gave us anotheropportunity to appreciate the making of our film, like the joy of running—being part of a project bigger than ourselves, the taking-in of our surroundings at every moment, and although sometimes feeling the burn, however physically and mentally stressful the course, we never lose sight of the fact that this is our first marathon—a beautifully, challenging first feature film..
Again our special thanks goes out to Our Faithful Crew:
Trevor Zhou – Cinematographer
Michael Muchnij – Assistant Camera
Michael Logan - Still Photographer
Malory Rodriguez - Hair/Make-up
Iliana Gauto - Hair/Make-up
Richard Baldomero - Sound
And Thanks to our Interview Subjects: For sharing your time and participating—candidly in our film. For all of your anecdotes & all sorts!
Fern Mallis, Richard Kirshenbaum, Hilary Rovins, Genaro Otero, Kenneth T. Jackson, Cynthia Jones, Mark Testa, Kevyn Jennings, Joe Oppedisano, Dan Shaw, Elizabeth Fillmore, Veronica Jones, Deborah Miliotto, Vincent Boucher, Cathy Hardwick, Tracy Reese, Evelyn Von Gizychi & Zari Awodein.
*Keep an eye on this page to see where & when our next shoot will be*
If you want to participate please send us an email via this site.
Thank you
The Draft Productions Team