What is your background in media…where did you get your training…what have you done previously? How did you get connected with City on a Hill and The Song?
I actually started in theater. I had graduated with a theater degree, and I had aspirations to be an actor when a youth minister at my (then) church in Houston, Texas asked if I'd be interested in leading a drama program for some youth who were interested in theater and acting.
I reluctantly accepted, and when it came time to start choosing material for these students to perform, my wife (then girlfriend) and I decided to write our own material rather than select skits from what are typically very cheesy church drama books.
One year, for their church camp, we opted to do videos due to a lack of performance space, and that became a tradition every summer. As ultra-amateur as these videos were, they noticeably improved each year, and my passion for acting in theater began to shift toward writing and directing for film - particularly, because there was a conspicuous absence of quality plays or films written from a Christian point of view.
Eventually, my wife and I (married by this point) decided to try and put together a short film using professional actors whom we knew could handle more challenging material. We submitted that film to a festival, and that's where I met the staff of City On A Hill. We kept in touch for the next few years, and I joined them in 2008. I've done a number of projects with them since, and all of that has culminated in The Song.
The Song is your first feature film. Was that a daunting fact as you approached this project? What was the learning curve?
It really was daunting in the days leading up to production. I was getting nauseous, light-headed, and I could feel my fingers and my toes throbbing. I told someone on the production staff about it, and he said, "Just relax. You're surrounded by a lot of really talented people who really care about this project." And, that proved to be true. I think the jitters went away a few hours into the first day of shooting. There was a learning curve, of course, but I had done many short films and that, and even my theater background, proved very helpful.
The process of creating City on a Hill productions begins with the teaching of Kyle Idleman. Was that the case with The Song? Are there challenges/advantages to this?
It was the case with The Song. We knew from the beginning that the film would be supplemented with a video series and print resources featuring excerpts from the film and Kyle's teaching on "The Song of Solomon." The biggest advantage to this is that, when you know the film will be accompanied by resources, you don't have to make the film itself so message-driven like so many Christian films are. You're considerably more free to be story-driven. I guess the challenges would include having to strike a balance between, on the one hand, the curriculum resources not feeling like an afterthought, which they're not, and on the other hand, the resources not feeling like the tail that wags the dog. Even though a "message" is the genesis of the project, you have to stay story-driven in order to make a good film.
What was the driving artistic vision that guided how you shot The Song?
As we were developing the script, it became apparent that this was a story about a man ultimately torn between two very different lives with two very different women in two very different worlds. So, I wanted to accentuate that in the design elements of the film. And, that included shooting. In most of the scenes with Rose, the shots are very stable – flowing dolly, steady cam, cam tram, etc. With Shelby, the vast majority of shots are handheld. As Shelby's world starts bleeding into Rose's world, the shots become more handheld and frenetic. Also, by nature of her occupation, Shelby is almost always in artificial lighting - interiors like airplanes, hotel rooms, dressing rooms, and concert venues. Rose, on the other hand, works at a vineyard. So, she's surrounded by life and natural light. And, we almost always backlit her. We would, whenever possible (which was often), stage scenes so that the sun was behind her.
The Song features musical performances very prominently. Describe the choices you made in terms of the type of music used, the performances etc.
Having lifelong ties to Kentucky, I’ve always loved roots music. And, in recent years I’d become a fan of the Avett Brothers and other artists in the Americana genre. I’ve also noticed how God is an acceptable topic of discourse in this kind of music -one can sing about Christian themes, and mainstream audiences still dig it. Mumford & Sons is an excellent example of this. Also, audiences intuitively understand that music like this requires genuine skill and depth. So, once I settled on the idea of our modern day Solomon being a singer-songwriter, I thought this should be his genre.
We had a wonderful music producer, Vince Emmett, who had the experience and connections to get fantastic musicians. And, in a sense, I started directing the movie in the recording studio. Most of the songs had to be pre-recorded, but we wanted the vocal performances to really feel live and like they were birthed out of where the characters were emotionally in the story.
Since then, we've been able to add some icons from this genre to our soundtrack… new recordings and songs from Emmylou Harris, Ricky Skaggs, Roger McGuinn...and that's been a dream come true.
How do you hope the audience will be impacted by The Song?
Several things, but mainly I want audiences to take away from the film what Solomon wants readers to take away from Ecclesiastes: “Remember your Creator,” who is the only hope you have that life has any objective meaning, and “delight in the wife of your youth.”
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