I can’t believe this is really happening.
I didn’t sleep well last night. Anytime I have an important event the next day I don’t sleep well. I am afraid that I will over sleep. I don’t trust my alarm clock.
The big event today is the first day of shooting on my short document about the LAM Project. My prior blog details all the events leading up to today’s activities.
The schedule dictated that my camera man Jesse and I meet Peter Haskins (the leader of LAM and sort of my producer) and Mark Goddard (a former LAM participant and current success story) at the Knox County jail at noon. I am writing this blog after the filming.
The purpose of today’s shoot is to capture a speech / discussion between Mark Goddard and the current inmates that are enrolled in the LAM Project.
Mark was in and out of jail for years for drug problems. Then he got into the LAM Project and turned his life around. Now he is out of jail, working steady, living with his kids and he is enrolled in college for the fall semester.
Jesse and I met at my house and we went to the jail. On the way we had a talk about what type of camera set up’s we wanted to use and what shots we needed for the film. All this talk seemed surreal to me. I had thought about this for years, and now it is coming to fruition.
Once at the jail we met Mark and Peter (he was on time this time). We went into a back room and we had all of our equipment searched. This was like something out of a cop movie. My hands were shaking like crazy.
Once we were allowed to enter the main area we came upon a group of 16 men sitting in a circle inside a large concrete room. They were all dressed in black and gray striped jump suits. They all had on black Croc’s. The entire group had buzz hair cuts. The ages ranged from roughly 18 to 55. I was intimidated as hell. It was at the moment that I walked into the room where I realized that I was putting my safety are risk. These are convicted felons. These are men that spend months if not years behind bars.
Peter quickly went to work. The room was eerily quiet. The only noise was a humming from an air conditioner. Peter grabbed a couple more of the burgundy plastic chairs and added them to the circle. Mark had a seat and they began some small talk between everyone in the circle.
Jesse and I used this time to set the camera and mini audio recorder up. At this point I worked up the courage to speak to the inmates. I introduced myself and Jesse. I explained what the purpose of us being here was. I said that we hoped to be in many more sessions. I passed around a release form for those who were interested in being a part of this film project.
There were some rough looking fellas in the group. So many different emotions were going through my head. Fear, anxiety and excitement are just to name a few. At this point Mark began his speech. Jesse was behind the camera. His opening shot was a mid shot of Mark. I sat down on the floor and started listening to Mark. I didn’t know what to do. I made notes of what he was saying and sketched shot ideas on my notebook. After a while I went to Jesse and we moved the camera and got some really great footage of Mark and the other inmates.
I was looking for detail stuff to get close ups on. This is hard to do when everyone looks the same, is dressed the same, and is sitting in a room with no particular style. Eventually I found a guy nervously tapping his foot on the floor. Also we got a great shot of the issue number written on the jumpsuit worn by one of the inmates.
Mark was fantastic. This dude is REAL. He didn’t hold back at all. He made comments about how he had threatened to stab a guard in the neck! I made notes of things he said like “out of options”, “So much hurt and pain”, “keep moving forward” and “it’s never over”. These sounded like things that I would hear in a fictional movie but Mark meant everything he said and he had the experiences to justify these comments. The things he said that really hit home with me was when he mentioned smelling a “soapy smell” at work and that reminded him of crack cocaine. You could tell that he still struggles and probably always will. But you could also tell that he had the conviction to keep clean.
The one comment that ne made that was like a slap in the face to me was when he said “I didn’t want to be buried by the state”. That was a totally reality check for me. That is a thought that I am grateful that has never gone through my mind. I can’t really comprehend what it must be like to have to contemplate that.
After the meeting I thanked everyone for their participation. All 16 people signed release forms. Several inmates came up to me afterwards and thanked me for sitting in. Once they all put the chairs up they were marched down the hall back into their cells. Mark, Jesse, Peter and I then went to a small conference room and I conducted a brief interview with Mark on camera. You could tell that he was nervous, but he did a great job. I did my best to put him at ease.
To wrap up the day we all went down by the river where there is a railroad track bridge. We got some fantastic footage of Mark walking down the railroad. We then we to the bridge and we got more great footage of Mark staring out over the river and reflecting. I would be shocked if some of the exterior stuff doesn’t make it into the final film.
Mark had to get back to his house arrest so Peter took him. Jesse and I went out to lunch. During lunch we patted ourselves on the back and breathed a breath of relief.
Next up is the interview portion of the filming. I need to get with Pete and set up a schedule of when and where we can start the interview process. We have about 15 administrator and law enforcement officers to talk to. Then we have the inmates of both the male and female divisions of the LAM project. I went on line last night and researched music. Peter needs to come listen to that and decide what he thinks works best. Hopefully by that time Jesse will have the video and audio off the camera and I can see what I have to start working with. My audio and editing equipment should be here next week.
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