A Look at My Town and The Stories That Made it
"A Writer is a world trapped within a person." - Victor Hugo
This quote hangs on my bedroom wall as a reminder of what I'm doing here. As a kid growing up in a beach town, life had a way of cycling around itself. My summers would consist of trips to the beach, walking around the downtown strip for the thousandth time in a row looking for shops that we'd never spend our money at, and taking advantage of the live entertainment known as seagulls taking little kids food.
However, when the summer dwindled, so did the people. The beautiful red hue of fall turned into a very quiet Maine winter. To me, I found it symbolic of the tide. When the tide inevitably washes away, so does all of the creatures it brought in. The only thing left is the sand and rocks that have always been there. These rocks were my friends from school.
These rocks taught me how to be myself. They anchored my interest in making movies. They encouraged me to write.
In a freshman year English class was where I got to know some of my closest friends. Our teacher allowed us to use our creativity to make movies instead of write essays.
I used this opportunity to adapt "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck and "Everyday" by David Levithan into scripts for short films that I worked on with my friends. Even at the conclusion of that class, we used our own time to remake some of our favorite movies.
Although I hadn't written something of my own yet, I worked closely with my friends to make our first original film, "The Syndicates of Chicago".
Deeply in love with Italian works such as "The Godfather", "Goodfellas", and "The Sopranos". My friend wrote a movie that reflected a life of crime that ends in bloodshed and pain.
Today, long after the dust cleared in their world, I return to the location in mine. It hasn't changed all that much. Only the trees have grown taller and the field has seen some overgrowth.
A little after going to college, we kept coming back to do winter productions.
Despite being at school for most of the year and working during our summers, we used the winter breaks as an opportunity to create movies. This Christmas detective movie, "Blood on the Snow", was the first feature length film I've had the privilege to write.
Following the murder of Rosemary, an important figurehead of her company at a party that they attended, detectives Noah Thomas and Jonas Ferrari have to get to the bottom of it.
Considering that the process of making this movie was relatively short considering the timeframe from writing, to filming all took place within the same month, I felt that this was something for us to be proud of. We had a lot of fun during the filming process, as we all had a say in how something was shot.
With the actors all being close friends, I felt it made it very fun to have them improvise certain lines or parts of the movie. The way I see it, the script is only the foundation of the movie. Unlike books where what you see is what you get, scripts are only half of the storytelling. The way the words are said and the movie is shot dictate the rest.
I come back about 3 years later to see only a couple things changed. This place is one of the last to see the summer fade, as the trees stay green and the beach goers remain. It won't be until the winter comes when we see that winter atmosphere our movie had.
Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end.
This was from the last movie that we ever shot together. It was a multiverse film that we used as an excuse to bring back all of our old characters.
We didn't take this one as seriously in hopes of making something that we found to be fun. This turned into an epic story of good and evil that we filled in along the way.
I take a lot of pleasure in writing this one as well, as it gives me a sense of unbridled creativity.
This scene at the beach is one of many memories that I have when I come back to this place. If I were to list them all I'd be here for a long time.
I was very lucky that I had the opportunity to record this one, as most live in my mind. If there's a lesson to be learned from my time at the beach it's this.
Record all the times you have and treasure them forever. Whether it be by taking a picture, listening to a song that takes you back, or writing about your experience. Whatever it takes to remember and enjoy these good times take it. The old person that you'll someday become will thank you.
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