The Small Stories
I didn’t always have such a fascination with the small everyday stories of life. For a long time I thought that the grand and expansive ideas of blockbuster films were as good as you could get as far as storytelling goes. However, as I’ve thought about it more, and as I’ve gone through the process of filming Sci-Fi T.V. pilot episode and then a documentary about one of those down to Earth stories, I’ve realized that the down to Earth side of things is far more interesting to me.
Now don’t get me wrong, I love to watch shows like Game of Thrones and movies like The Lord of the Rings trilogy, but as far as my own work is concerned, it’s not the direction that I feel the most pull towards. I like to think of it a lot like Andy Warhol’s art (no I’m not saying I’m on the same level as him). He could take an everyday ordinary object like a Campbell’s soup can and make it into a work of art that rivals that of the great Renaissance painters of old. This mentality of shining a light on the everyday and the small stories of regular life is what really interests me now and is what I hope I did with my first feature documentary film, The Life of a Painting. The film, without giving too much away, follows Kendall, a friend of mine who is pursuing a career as an artist. More specifically as a painter. At first glance it might not seem like there’s much of a story there, but the world of being an artist is a cutthroat and unforgiving world that doesn’t have any room for someone who is not completely set on being an artist no matter what is thrown their way.
I was lucky enough to catch Kendall’s journey in a pivotal moment. We had both recently graduated from college and were wondering what’s next. For the first time in almost 17 years, there wasn’t a next assignment to complete or a clear path to take. In front of us was just the open expanse of adult life. If I’m being honest, it’s terrifying when you are so conditioned to just do what you are told for so long and not really think for yourself about what direction you want to move in. Now that has a story in it. The doubt, the struggle, the eventual acceptance and, hopefully, success has all the key ingredients of an interesting story. Not to mention this was amid the first pandemic the world had seen for nearly 100 years. Yet somehow I din’t recognize all these elements and my documentary was originally just going to be an artist highlight video no longer than 15 minutes. It was only because of Kendall that it grew into the story that it is today. Her process flipped the original video on it’s head and helped it blossom into a story about the struggle of an emerging artist, not just a video of a painting.
I use this example to show that there are stories of real and intense emotion in the lives of everyday people. You don’t need to try to create a world like Middle Earth or a universe like in Star Wars. It may be the case that all you need to do is have a conversation with a neighbor to light the spark of an engaging and powerful story. If creating grand worlds and and expansive universes is where you feel the strongest pull, I hope you pursue it without hesitation, but for those of you like me, just know that there are equally interesting stories to be told in everyday life.
- John
Here are a few stills from the doc.
P.S. The documentary is getting mixed and mastered right now and soon I will have the final film! I can’t wait and I’ll share more as the process continues!