Past Filmmakers

Jason Middleton
Postindustrial Symphony 16:17

1. How did you come up with the idea for the film?

I came up with the idea through my lived experience of being in Durham. Of wandering on foot and by bicycle downtown, exploring the old tobacco production factories after they closed down, climbing over fences or through windows to discover these abandoned spaces. Urban spelunking. I remember when the smell of tobacco filled downtown. Then it was gone. Then I began seeing signs of and hearing about these old buildings being renovated, or, in the case of the Heart of Durham Motel, demolished. I felt the need to record something of downtown Durham as a physical and emotional space as I had known it, before it was transformed into something different. Part two of the film stemmed from my experiences of confusion and alienation, combined with a certain fascination, upon getting lost while driving in RTP.

2. How long did the production process take?

The actual production (shooting) lasted about two weeks, on a schedule of two days on, one day off. Post-production took a long time because I was finishing to film, made the titles myself with lithographic negatives, etc. Also I was teaching full time while editing so I really only worked on it about one day a week.

3. What challenges did you experience in the creation of the film?

There was the matter of simply getting access to some of the sites, in particular the American Tobacco Factory, for filming. But through the generosity and cooperation of Michael Goodmon at Capitol Broadcasting Company Real Estate I was able to gain full access. And then there was the guy who lived in the abandoned Heart of Durham Motel, who didn't take too kindly to the presence of me and my friend Alex Maness as we wandered around filming in his abode.

4. What is your favorite memory from creating the film?

The obvious answer is when I got the dailies back and it all turned out well. But as far as shooting, probably the most fun part was getting into the American Tobacco Factory, which I had been dying to do. My friend and crew member Nayeli Garci-Crespo and I were able to spend full days there, exploring the endless corridors, rooms and stairways of the old office buildings, boiler rooms, warehouses. I actually did a few dangerous things in the course of getting some of those shots, but that only added to the excitement.

5. When someone has finished watching the film, what do you hope they take away from the experience?

If he or she likes it, maybe just an awareness that it's shot on and normally screened on 16mm film. If you like the look of this film, seek out screenings such as Chapel Hill's bi-monthly Flicker Festival where work originating on, and sometimes screened on, super 8mm and 16mm film is shown. The physical experience of looking at light projected through celluloid is extremely different from watching projected video and something that we should care about sustaining.

6. What type of reaction has your film received from viewers?

I've had many wonderful conversations with people at festivals about the film. One person said I should blow up some of the shots in section one into still photographs and exhibit them or make a book of them. Another said that he liked part one better than part two, because the visual cues were based upon leading the viewer's eye across the forms from shot to shot, whereas in part to, the subject-ground relationship created a more conventional and limiting way of directing the viewer's eye. Some people, to my great satisfaction, picked up on the references to The Wizard of Oz in the title of part two and the switch from black and white to color. It's been great when people have talked to me about the metaphorical and allegorical qualities of the film, such as the abandoned instruments toward the end of part one, or the failed attempt to map and navigate RTP that is the subject of part two. One person described part two as “haunting”; another person described it as “droll.” I've also had some very insightful criticisms of the film, such as my failure to better establish the spatial relation between Durham and RTP for viewers not from this area. One pretty funny comment I once received was when a 23-year-old woman told me that she really liked my film, and then added that it reminded her of stuff she did “when [she] was first starting out.”

7. What advice would you give to aspiring young filmmakers?

Whether or not they're young, I would advise them to see as many films as you possibly can outside of the multiplex. For people in this area, attend and get involved with the many local venues and organizations for the exhibition of independent, documentary, and experimental film: Flicker, the Hi Mom! film festival, the Ms. Films Festival, the Full Frame Documentary Festival, the Center for Documentary Studies, and so on.

8. Please tell us about the next film you plan to work on.

It will probably actually be a music video for the local band Cantwell, Gomez, and Jordan, shot on super 8 and/or 16mm film.

9. What are your thoughts on the film industry in NC?

I'm not personally too invested in film as an industry, as a for-profit enterprise. What excites and moves me is making, seeing, and helping others to make amateur films, home movies, experimental and truly independent work.