The April 2018 Shoot: At Last, New York (the 1st of many)
Photo by Bobak Emamian on Unsplash
This one was different. On this shoot we interviewed an authoritative fashion historian, (whom we’ve mentioned in our Seeing Parallel, part 1, D-Source post back in February of 2017), a psychotherapist and leading shopaholic specialist, an Advanced Style-icon, and many ex-Charivari employees, some of whom have gone on to become successful fashion designers in their own right. And a certain gossip columnist, who had his finger on the pulse of the dance club scene, also joined the UPROAR, setting the scene of a Manhattan of yore, which took us back!
Our research left no stones unturned, we renewed friendships, formed new connections and discovered new leads to follow from our research, and from our eager interview subjects.
The week leading up to the shoot was a crescendo of juggling, scheduling and rescheduling interviews, navigating geographic logistics and ensuring our questions pertaining to each subject would cover the scope of our film. And that the pieces of our Charivari-focused orchestration would fit together to produce a seamless piece of work, a harmonious blend of ideas and stories—movements in Manhattan’s history...
Every morning, was the time to contemplate a familiar sonic world of trains on rails rhythmically passing, sounding-off their transit, rush hour cars with frustrated drivers honking horns of various timbre and tempo; while the stop and go of neighborhood buses add their whoosh and hisses to the urban symphony that can only be called New York City.
Yes, this shoot was ambitious to say the least. Our shoots normally take place over the course of a weekend when we hope to accommodate people with busy workweeks. And the most we’ve shot have been between five or six interviews... however over the course of this our 1st NYC shoot, we interviewed seventeen people, between three locations!
Another difference we realized when preparing for the shoot, was that our traditional long-form interviews with ex-Charivari employees were no longer necessary. Through our interviews to date, we’ve established the general gist of what it was like to work for the company, and why it is revered up till today. So we devised what we’ve come to call our snapshot interviews. An interview format we will continue to use in future shoots.
These are interviews that cut straight to the heart of our story. They allow us to document as many ex-employees as we can in a short space of time. And surprisingly, we’ve discovered some whom we might need to contact again for more detailed information that will help us flesh out the full Charivari narrative arc to be an accurate, and truly memorable recount.
after having had drinks with Jon Weiser
Again our special thanks goes out to Our Faithful Crew:
Trevor Zhou – Cinematographer
Alejandro Cortez – Assistant Camera
Sean Byrnes - Sound
Michael Logan - Still Photographer
Malory Rodriguez - Hair/Make-up
Tanya Cabral - Key PA
Juan Carlos Uriszar - PA
And Thanks to our Interview Subjects: For sharing your time and participating—candidly in our film. For all of your anecdotes & all sorts!
Toni Hoard, Michael Logan, Marcus Teo, Pat Poole-Parrilla, April Benson, Mary Purcell, Stacy Moore, Epperson, Christopher Baetz, Kim Spikes-Taylor, Sam Ewen, Lola Faturoti, Deborah Anderson, Aner Candelario, Tziporah Salamon & Michael Musto.
we’ve been asked, when will the film be finished?
Good question…
What an experience. Every day, in addition to being very productive, was a mini-family reunion of sorts, and it was easy to see genuine affection exchanged among the interview subjects…
A Homecoming, and what a homecoming it was,
Thank You for coming out in numbers! We made sweet music!
Photo by Photoholgic on Unsplash
*SAVE THE DATE!
We're London bound - Friday September 14th & Saturday September 15th
Thanks to your support, we are now more able to plan our next shoot.
If you will be in London or the neighboring area and would like to be part of our production, please contact us via this website. Provide your full name, email address and telephone number.
D-Source Note: The 2-day shoot will be comprised of at most 10 interview subjects.
If you are not selected as a participant for this shoot, we will be sure to keep your details on file. And as we continue to raise funds and set dates for subsequent shoots, we’ll contact you with the pertinent information.