Funny Things Can Happen When You’re Making a Documentary and You Work From Home and You Have Two Kids

One of the great things about making this documentary is what I’ve learned about the human ear. In the beginning, right after Allison told me she was getting a cochlear implant, I started reading “Rebuilt: My Journey Back to the Hearing World” by Michael Chorost. His situation was very similar to Allison’s, and he ended up getting an implant, too. As I read this, I also began researching cochlear implants – how they worked, how they were developed, who benefited from them. It quickly became apparent that in order to understand how the implant functions, I needed to understand how the human ear works. And to understand how the ear works, I needed to understand (at least on a rudimentary level) how sound works. And understanding how sound works is really just the same thing as understanding what sound is. Wow.

It’s absolutely fascinating, and there were many times I was tempted to make a documentary about just this: sound and ears and implants. Instead, I found a way to work short scientific sections into the larger, narrative story about Allison and my parents. To do this, I called upon my friend Kate Diago. She’s an artist and an incredible illustrator, and we worked together to come up with a series of drawings to animate my explanations.

Using watercolor to represent sound and its path through the ear, we would paint on the black and white drawings, taking dozens of pictures along the way.

Here’s an example of a picture we’d start with, before watercolor:

There were many times we messed up. There were many times we’d finish a sequence and then I’d decide that the wording of the explanation (voice-over) needed to be re-written, which meant we needed to re-paint and re-shoot that sequence. Other times, I’d decide that the way I’d originally conceived the sequence wasn’t really the best way, and she’d need to completely re-draw the set. Kate was very patient. Thank you, Kate.

I was working this last Saturday, painting and shooting the very last sequence. Kate had given me a few copies of the drawing of the ear, in case I messed one (or two) up. I was absolutely sure that this time I wasn’t going to mess up – I knew what I was doing and I knew I wouldn’t change my mind about anything. But I did mess up. And I changed my mind. And then I had painted on every one and I needed more.

Luckily my sister was having a party that night (my sister who lives across the street from me) and Kate was coming and she said she’d bring a few more copies. Phew. I could get the copies at the party and re-do everything Sunday morning before Hannah showed up to edit.

Sunday morning the kids get me up early and we go down for breakfast. Before I can make them anything to eat, though, my dog tells me she would like to go out, please. My kids are old enough that, so long as someone is in the house (like their dad, upstairs sleeping), they don’t mind my taking Nina for a walk without them. So they stay put in their pajamas while I circle the block with my very slow dog.

Coming back in the house, I can see that the kids are sitting nicely at the kitchen table, drawing. I’m thankful they aren’t arguing, that one of them isn’t crying. This is great, I think.

But as I get closer, I think, Shit! (i.e., this is not so great).

They’ve found Kate’s drawings and decided to color them in themselves – my son with crayons, my daughter with watercolors.

In any case, they’re beautiful. And since their versions will not end up in the movie, here they are:

Many thanks to my amazing children for all their love and support during this process, 

and for reminding me of what's really important.

Long overdue update on documentary.

Perhaps, before I started this project, I should have asked someone who’d already made a documentary how long it usually takes. But I didn’t, and it’s probably a good thing. Had I known I’d still be working on it three years later I might have been scared away. As it is, here I am. I am very close to finishing, which is the truth, but I’ve said that before, and it was the truth then, too.

Late last spring, I finished a very respectable rough cut. I had two screenings here in Brooklyn for friends and a few professional filmmakers who also happen to be friends, and the feedback I got was extremely helpful . . . which meant that I realized how much work there was left to do. Then I took about eight months off to mitigate the damage done by a lousy, dishonest contractor and finish our house renovation. And I trained for and ran my first (and probably only) marathon – the NYC marathon – go New York! And moved into said house and unpacked and did all the rest of the things a mother does who has two young kids who start school and get sick and need to be fed and watered and dressed and undressed and bathed constantly.

A few months ago I picked up where I’d left off, and it’s been great. The break gave me a new sense of clarity and perspective, and renewed my determination. I’m back working with my editor, Hannah Vanderlan, who is the absolute best (she’s bound to win the MacArthur Fellowship any day now), and what we’ve broken apart and put back together a dozen times is beginning to take shape yet again.

I will not hazard a guess at when this will be finished, but when it is, I will shout from the (virtual) mountaintop, “I’m done! It’s finished! Come gather ‘round people, wherever you roam, and watch the magical intersection of life and technology!”

For now I’ll simply share random thoughts about both the content as well as process of making the documentary.