Monday, October 11, 2010

Indian Summer

An Indian summer, to me, is incomparable to any other seasonal phenomenon. Even sweeter than the first hint of spring, an Indian summer is a delicious gift offered by nature before the descent into the deep fall and ultimately, winter. Although technically it's only a true Indian summer if it occurs after the first frost (and I don't think we've had one yet), I would not call the lovely weather we're having by any other name.

For once, we're not rushing to greet the change of colors. During our first film project -- shot over a number of years and with a story and visual theme that takes place in autumn -- we prepared carefully to shoot while the fall colors were at their peak. Now, we were in the opposite situation: rushing to capture a late summer look before the majority of the trees turned. It was a real race; one that we completed successfully. It took ten days of shooting, but we did it. We no longer dread spotting another red or orange tree! Now we're on to the second round of exteriors that do take place during the peak of fall colors and will conclude by our final sequence of exteriors using the late fall look of empty branches.

One place I recently discovered while location scouting: the Clinton River park system in Shelby Township. Did you know Shelby Township has about 1,000 acres of park land, much of it containing wooded natural habitat along the Clinton River? Like my recent discovery of New Baltimore, I was amazed that I've lived in southeastern Michigan just about my whole life and never knew about the Shelby park system. When I called Director of Parks and Recreation Joe Youngblood, he offered to have a park ranger show me some location options for our shoot. A park ranger! Immediately, Ranger Smith of The Yogi Bear Show flashed in my mind. How interesting....was this going to be a real park ranger or just somebody who filled in the title as a formality? Well, after meeting with who has to be the most effervescent park ranger on earth, I can now attest he is the real thing. Ranger Kerry S guided us with enthusiasm, knowledge and wisdom. I felt like a kid on a field trip. I learned to distinguish poison ivy (three leaves) from a natural decoy (five leaves); I saw firsthand the handiwork (or should I say the toothwork) of beavers on trees; I learned how life-giving sap rises and falls in trees. That's a lot for a city dweller/suburbanite to learn in a couple of hours.