Robert asked if I would film this project he had in mind. Covid19 was very fresh in our heads as we’d been in WFH or essential business status for a few weeks. I had worked with him before and he’s just an artist. Literally yes, as a painter. But his approach to film is the same. I said yes not knowing what the idea was just because I wanted to work with him and I had strong emotions with everything going on as well. At the same time as this was going on my grandfather was in a hospital in Knoxville, TN and I wasn’t able to go and see him or be with my family as he passed (not covid related). So it just felt right to go out (safely) and create something about the time we all found ourselves in. The idea was basically to show a city that had come to a crawl. No camera movement. Only a few subjects or background objects moving in the frame. As a filmmaker I’ve always loved this style because you’re letting the image tell the story. We went around Kansas City for a few hours on 3 separate occasions during the course of a week just finding scenes that fit Roberts idea. An appliance store in KCK, a bridge on the west bottoms with a person walking under it, an empty restaurant, a coffee shop with baristas working to-go orders, the reflection of the streetcar moving past in a closed movie theater window. Creating this felt like a release of all the pent up emotion I’ve had sitting around my apartment not being able to work. The other part of Roberts idea was to collaborate with other film freelancers, assigning roles to whoever wanted to help. So it was really cool to see talented people you hadn’t worked with before also involved in the project. The music written by Sam Billen at Primary Colors really elevated the piece. And his wife’s voice over (also appears in the film at the end) was great. I was blown away by the final piece not having seen the footage since I handed it off to Robert. Kind of a neat experiment. Covid obviously has had a massive impact on freelancers in our industry in particular because you can’t really work from home. And I think it shows how much our community is connected. I feel something when I watch it. We didn’t really know what would come out of his idea or what footage we’d be able to get but I think we were both happy with how it turned out and the message it sends. We are all together in this.
Directed by Robert Bingaman
Spoken by: Yuka Naito-Billen
Director of Photography: Andrew Thomas
Music and Sound: Sam Billen
Color: Justin Roberts
Title Design: Jonathan Horst
