Montage

I made reference to this impending post weeks ago, but, as with so much of my life lately, I failed to follow up in a timely fashion. Routinely I keep making vows to simplify my life and therefore get more productive, and then inevitably set about creating new challenges for myself.  On the recent trip to Jordan my excellent friend Cyndi and I brought the students to Rainbow Street and spent several hours at Books@Cafe, which they dearly loved.  My student Ashley and I, however, mainly because I think we were both exhausted by the noise inside the bar, ended up going for a walk.  I volunteered to buy her a cup of coffee of what appeared to be a coffeeshop down the street, but which proved to be so much more.  Montage has a coffeeshop,  but a coffeeshop attached to a film school, which we didn't know until we stumbled into it. We settled down with a couple lattes, and then quickly figured out that they were setting up for a shoot.  We sat there and tried to look photogenic, hoping that they'd ask us to serve as extras, but no such luck.  To be fair, shooting a scene wherein you had what appears to be an American college student and her grandfather having a couple of coffee in the background is probably not the best approach to keeping the focus on the four young Jordanians discussing life at the center of the scene.

Ashley was a bit too excited when she realized that they were setting up for a film. It is only a testament to my great love for Jordan that kept me from stealing a Montage coffee mug.

And, of course, the requisite Champlain College shirt.  You can get a sense of how the coffeeshop slid effortlessly into becoming a set.

Having acted (poorly) in several student films - and generally being an unrepentant film whore - I found the entire process fascinating. 

I love those tracks that allow you to run cameras back and forth during a scene.

I did manage to find the bathroom, which was over near the film library.  Obviously, I almost didn't come back.

And I don't think we even need to discuss the importance of this shot.