Por Una Mirada

After the success of our StarWars spoof, I invited some of the same actors–Kelvin and Meagan–to be part of a three year project. The artistic sense of it was to limit all spoken word to poems written by the famous Spanish poet Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer. We then removed all sound in an effort to require the audience to become more immersed in recalling the soundtrack of their own lives. Both Seniors and Juniors greatly related to the film because it captured so many moments from their high school years, along with so many local locations.

For three years we met every 2nd or 3rd month to spend a few hours filming, often doing the same take 4 or more times so as to have options. The editing process took well over 200 hours. The musical score came in reverse order. Vocal melodies were composed, words were written in Latin, and then the vocals were recorded with the intent that there would be no orchestral accompaniment, just voices. However, once Jesse Dunn–a friend and enthused supporter of the project–sang the opening melody, I knew his operatic voice was too full to stand alone (if that makes sense). The orchestral accompaniment came quickly after that, two months. Sadly, Jesse Dunn was killed in a work-related accident a few weeks after recording. This film is dedicated in his memory.