Idle Mist part VI: The first Shot

Borda, a highschool friend and the bass player who I most often collaborated with, played Polo ("Bud" in Waking Shadows). He was also nice enough to let us use his family's apartment for the first scene we shot for the film. We find Cero, played by yours truly, putting an end to the private guitar class he's teaching. Pedro, the eight-year-old student, was actually a gymnastics student of Juan's, our sound/stunts guy. I was pressed for time when I wrote the scrīpt. I didn't question my reasons or decisions and simply pushed through to the end on instinct alone. But now, in retrospect, I can clearly see the obvious reasoning behind some of the scenes. This early one in particular was meant to give an instant glimpse into Cero's day-to-day life, reveal his carefree, good-natured character and set up a pivotal concert scene with just a few lines and movement.

The end of this scene, like a lot of the early shots of the movie, opens up to establish the world where the story takes place. After gathering up the courage to ask Cero to sneak him into his show, Pedro runs to the window and screams his idea to Cero but it's too late. The engine of Polo's jeep drowns Pedro's voice and he can only watch Cero waving goodbye from the passenger seat. As the car disappears in the distance we get a view of Palermo, an upscale neighborhood where most kids who went to my private school lived in. My dad also lived in Palermo and it was his apartment that doubled for Valeria's, a main location of the film. I don't remember when I said "action" for the first time or anything like that. I was on camera and since we were out of time and needed to move on to the next location, I couldn't check on what we were getting. I was afraid of the tyrannical pitfalls of directing and hadn't struck that all-important balance of creative compromise when time is running out. I was unsatisfied as we shot this first scene, but felt too green to "impose" my will on the crew. Never again I thought, but in next few days I might have gone too far the other way. To be continued...