The full story

Original Song Credit: This is Me’ from The Greatest Showman, written by Pasek and Paul

For as long as I can remember I’ve been going to my sister Sheri’s dance recitals and shows, dressing up in my Sunday best and cheering her on with the rest of the family from the audience or, if I was lucky, backstage!!

We’re in our 40’s now, and I’m still going to her shows. She performs with her awesome dance troupe, Stop/Time Dance in central CT. Their sold-out shows at the Playhouse on Park theater run for a couple of weeks every year and are a staple for theater/musical fans in the Hartford area… and beyond!

SIDE NOTE: A few years back I had the amazing luxury of actually BEING in one of the shows (y’all didn’t know I can sing, dance, play music AND be a cinematographer did ya!)  Getting to PERFORM in a show with my sister after so many years of watching her was, I thought, the pinnacle of my career as her longest running fan. However, getting to shoot this video may very well be the best blend of both of our talents and passions.

About a year ago I had pitched the idea for this video to Stop Time’s amazing choreographer, Darlene Zoeller, we chatted a bit in the weeks that followed, and left it in the air as something we’d try to do sometime.

That ’sometime’ came around almost exactly one year later. FIVE DAYS prior to the launch of their upcoming show this year, Darlene reached out asking if I wanted to come down and shoot this video as a promo for their theater. I hadn’t heard the song before, nor did we have time to do any rehearsals, it was a hit the ground running sort of shoot.

I wasn’t worried about the dancers, they are all pros and only needed a little direction. I was worried about having the time to learn and unfamiliar song, getting my cues for the camera work, having time to augment their lighting and not falling down while filming since I have to traverse the entire shoot backwards, without a spotter…. in the rain.

In the time I had before we were scheduled to shoot, I listened to the song as much as I could to get an idea of what we might do, practiced in my sisters yard over and over again the night before, and, the next day, an hour or so before their performance, the dancers and singer came early and we were able to make this video happen on our third and final attempt… all in under an hour.

It came out as close to the original vision as I could have hoped.

The song, as you may know, is from The Greatest Showman, and the singer in the video (and the actual recording on this video!), is Amanda Forker.

I love doing these one-take videos, they are often a lot of work, pre-production, and planning… yet with pro’s like the crew at Stop Time, we crushed all that work into a matter of hours and ended up with something that was sincerely so much fun, and really captures the spirit of Stop Time and the Playhouse on Park theater.

I’ll admit, I strongly thought about NOT doing this shoot since we had VERY little time to prepare.

I was attached to what I wanted it to be, how it would come out, and mapping out all the technicalities.  But… sometimes, you need to make the jump, take the chance, and just do the damn thing.  It doesn’t always work out the way you would’ve planned, but sometimes it works out even better.

If you’re wondering who my sister is, she’s the beautiful one whose smile lights up the world… and who is wearing purple).  🙂

Hope you enjoyed the video! If so, please share!