Hole in the Wall

Supporting a Rising Filmmaker: My Niece's Journey

My niece is on her way to becoming a famous filmmaker. Recently, she won a grant from the IFP Minnesota Center for Media Arts, enabling her to film and produce her original screenplay, "Hole in the Wall." It's a short film that explores the intergenerational tension between a father and a son.

I had the privilege of shooting still set photography during the movie production. We shot the exteriors on the first day and the interiors on the second day. The interiors were filmed in a dilapidated house in Minneapolis with extremely small rooms. I used an extremely wide lens and shot mostly from the hip to capture the tightness of the set and minimize camera intrusion.

It was a fascinating yet tedious process. Everything was captured on real film, which presents its own challenges. A single overhead jetliner can ruin a shot, and you never know if there was a light leak until after the film is processed.

In the top photo, my niece Mandy is on the left, reviewing a shot setup. The bottom photo shows the primary room where the father confronts the son.

Writer’s block

Breaking Through Creative Roadblocks

In the creativity industry, there's a tongue-in-cheek rule of thumb: if you hit a mental roadblock, run headfirst into the nearest wall. This jolt will reset your mental wiring, and you'll either cure the writer's block or forget what writer's block even is.

Alternatively, you could simply look out your window and write what you see.

Right outside my work window, there's a small mountain of snow. It has been larger before and was actually completely removed at one point. Now, it'll probably just melt in place for the rest of the year. Melting snow usually isn't pretty.

However, it's a hopeful sign of spring. This winter was unusually typical, with several significant snowfalls and a couple of serious deep freezes. We will have flooding, and it will be a messy spring.

And the weather forecast today? More snow

The paradox of the Minnesota winter

The Love-Hate Relationship with Minnesota Winters

Winter in Minnesota is an emotional roller coaster of love-hate-love.

It begins beautifully, with the whitest, lightest, and gentlest snow transforming the landscape into a fresh and different world. This is the first "love."

This initial love affair with winter typically lasts through December—or until the first day the high temperature doesn't climb above zero, or the first time you have to jump-start your car or change a flat tire.

Enter the first "hate."

For the next six to eight weeks, you need to endure this because there's no escaping it. You can try heading south for a couple of weeks, but you're only running away from reality. And reality will be waiting when you return.

And return you will.

Then, quite suddenly, things begin to feel positive again. Usually, it's a bright sunny day in March or the first time you hear a robin sing—enough to give you a burst of positive momentum. This is the second "love."

Minnesota winters have a sinusoidal rhythm, and there's a certain comfort in that regularity.