wangpictures

Director's Notes
The heart of this film lies with its exploration of grief. What interests me is the universality of human emotions. Film is a powerful medium that transcends cultures, races, languages, and borders when it deals with stories and themes that we all relate to. It is this commonality that binds us.

While writing Still Life in 2002, I drew inspiration from events in the world that had changed our global perspectives on life and our freedoms. I wanted to take the theme of grief to a more personal level. Not all of us have experienced deep grief, but we can all sense it, and fear it. The protagonist in Still Life is a man who feels a deep fear and responsibility toward his family. There are things that are beyond his control and his realization of this manifests itself in grief for things that may or may not have yet come to pass.

During casting, I invited both Robert Vernon Eaton and Deitre Courchesne to audition separately, before discovering that they are husband and wife in real life. When I learned this, I knew I had chanced upon something incredibly special. As actors, Robert and Deitre bring tremendous experience and insight to their work. As partners on and off screen, they add to that an invaluable quality that comes from a deep personal connection. The results are performances that are moving and empathetic.

The third cast member, Evan Ridley, who was only four years old at the time, completed this on-screen family. His professionalism, astounding at his age, and precocious intelligence, made working with him a pleasure.

Shout	The Sound of Movies	Still Life

Still Life was an Advanced Film made at the UCLA School of Theater, Film & Television, as part of the M.F.A. program in directing and production. Crewed by an all student film crew, the film was shot over five days on location in Pasadena and Los Angeles, California. It was shot on Kodak 16mm color negative film with a 1.66:1 aspect ratio.
Director's Notes The heart of this film lies with its exploration of grief. What interests me is the universality of human emotions. Film is a powerful medium that transcends cultures, races, languages, and borders when it deals with stories and themes that we all relate to. It is this commonality that binds us. While writing Still Life in 2002, I drew inspiration from events in the world that had changed our global perspectives on life and our freedoms. I wanted to take the theme of grief to a more personal level. Not all of us have experienced deep grief, but we can all sense it, and fear it. The protagonist in Still Life is a man who feels a deep fear and responsibility toward his family. There are things that are beyond his control and his realization of this manifests itself in grief for things that may or may not have yet come to pass. During casting, I invited both Robert Vernon Eaton and Deitre Courchesne to audition separately, before discovering that they are husband and wife in real life. When I learned this, I knew I had chanced upon something incredibly special. As actors, Robert and Deitre bring tremendous experience and insight to their work. As partners on and off screen, they add to that an invaluable quality that comes from a deep personal connection. The results are performances that are moving and empathetic. The third cast member, Evan Ridley, who was only four years old at the time, completed this on-screen family. His professionalism, astounding at his age, and precocious intelligence, made working with him a pleasure.