1. Interpretive Media at the DIA
DATE: Wednesday, March 22, 2006
TO: Steering Interpretive and Tactical Teams
FROM: Lisa Wisniewski, Education Department
Below please find the most recent written report on the state of interpretive media for the DIA’s
reinstallation, which will update you on the dining table and silhouette shoots in New York this past
weekend. I welcome your questions or comments.
Wigboys, Suckling Pigs, and Monkey Musicians:
A weekend of moviemaking in the Big Apple for the DIA
As the month of March 2006 began and I embarked on my brief career as a movie producer for
the Detroit Institute of Arts, my stress levels skyrocketed to new heights. The date of the dining table
shoot was set for March 18th, and both Jiae Kim at Pentagram and I were convinced that nothing should
or could stop it from proceeding as planned: not the wavering commitment of prop lenders, not a major
flaw in the costume designs, NOTHING. Though it seemed the gods of moviemaking were determined to
thwart us at every pass…
Somehow, with the commitment, hard work, and
determination of an incredible crew and support team that
included many DIA and Pentagram staff members, we stuck
it to the moviemaking gods.
As Jiae and I stood in the Pentagram conference
room in New York on St. Patrick’s Day, staring at the spread
of porcelain, crystal, silver, silk, taffeta, and yak hair (yes,
yak hair – that’s what wigs were made of in the 18th
Century) laid out before us, we marveled at the fact that we
had indeed pulled it off. Food, props, costumes, and talent
had all made it there, on time. The team was assembled
and ready to produce what promised to be an exciting new
way of interpreting functional art objects: a project now Props laid out at Pentagram the night before the shoot
almost two years in the making.
So we patted each other on the back, sat down, unwrapped 120 pieces of loaned silver from the
Wallace Silversmith company, then went downtown for some Mexican food before heading to bed,
knowing full well that the day ahead of us was sure to be long and exhausting, though definitely
interesting.
We “officially” started at 8:30 on Saturday morning,
though many of us, including the camera crew, had been
working on Friday night to organize the props and start
prepping the set. The camera crew (complete with
carpenters for constructing the camera rig) were the first to
arrive, led by the videographer, the terrific Mark Van S. The
DIA’s own Carol Forsythe came next, followed shortly
thereafter by our 1763 epergne, via Artex. Then came the 4-
person catering crew, led by the chef, the amazingly
innovative Anne Ferril, and a whole lotta food (including the
suckling pig). Then the food stylist, Rick Ellis, whose credits
include the film The Age of Innocence, who was
Building the camera rig
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2. indispensable in getting the look of things right and in making sure we kept our forks in our left hands, not
our right. And the sound guy, Scott Lehrer, and his assistant. And the costume designer, Katy Whistler,
who is only 17 years old. I didn’t know that before Saturday and Jiae apparently knows me better than I
thought: “I couldn’t tell you, because I thought you’d freak out; you had to see how good she was first.” I
absolutely would have freaked out. But the costumes were absolutely beautiful.
By 11:00 the actors started arriving. Lisa Strausfeld
and I played the female diners. Kurt Koepfle and Drew
Freeman from Pentagram played the male diners. George
Showman from Pentagram and Carol Forsythe—yes Carol,
because she was the only person who could handle the
epergne—played the servants. And what a job they did.
George and Carol were fantastic, all day long. They ended
up with the toughest roles of all. From having to lift
incredibly heavy silver objects, to setting the table with
absolute precision and timing with no markings to guide
them (we shot in high-definition, and the camera would pick
up ANY markings, so there was no cheating), to having to
wear full costumes with wigs, to suffering through multiple Diners rehearsing under the direction of Jiae Kim
takes to get the setting of the tablecloths right, Carol and
George were amazing. They are the true stars of the dining video.
Shooting actually began around 1:30, after lighting
tests had been completed on the table settings for all three
courses. Screenshots on the monitor revealed that it indeed
looked just about exactly as the storyboard depicted, much
to everyone’s delight. But the shooting was rigorous. It took
another eight hours before we had what will amount to no
more than a three- to five-minute video, at most. The food
looked absolutely fabulous, but most was cooked just for
looks and not for taste, and therefore couldn’t be eaten. We
diners did, however, get to eat the dessert. Comprised
mostly of ice cream and pastries, we HAD to eat some of it,
as it started melting on our pretty Limoges dessert plates as
soon as they put it in front of us.
Screenshot of the first course
The most humorous moment of the day probably
came when I accidentally ate the plastic stem and leaf in my
ice cream pear. Since I had to keep my arms and hands free and in the video, I had no choice but to spit
it out onto my shoulder so the cameras could keep rolling, to the snickers of Jennifer, Jiae, and Mark Van
S. Ah, the things we do for our art…
By 9:00 that evening, Mark finally announced that
he thought we had it. And we all mustered whatever energy
we had left at the end of a long day to smile and
congratulate one another. And then we quickly divvied up
what was left of the marzipan, pastries, and cookies from
the dessert course before we went home and collapsed.
Because for some of us, we were only half done…
And, Wigboys = the guys in Petaluma, California
who made the yak-hair wigs for the servants costumes.
Suckling pig = this guy at right, the grand entrement for the
second course. Monkey musicians = odd little porcelain
guys loaned by Meissen to decorate the dessert table.
If only you were cooked all the way through…
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3. And then came Sunday. A new day, a new video. 8:45 AM, and Mark and I were sitting in his
truck again on Fifth Avenue, keeping warm while waiting for Jiae to arrive and unlock the building. We all
decided to indulge in a few extra minutes of sleep after the rigorous day before. Our great idea: get the
antiquity silhouette video done while the camera crew was all assembled and the Pentagram offices were
already torn up.
With a spare set and minimal props in comparison
to the dining table, at 9:00 in the morning we were definitely
up for the challenge of tackling this second video, despite
our exhaustion, though it ended up taking another nine
hours anyway. Our talent arrived in the form of two very
brave and witty young guys named Jack (the slave) and
Dan (the diner), who boldly donned their loincloth and toga
and got up in front of the green screen without any
hesitation. Katy Whistler, the 17-year-old costume designer,
was back to ensure that the loincloth stayed in place on
Jack and to adhere a custom-dressed beard (by the
Wigboys, of course) to Dan that proved the perfect finishing
touch for his ancient-Greek-diner look. Jack in his lighting test
Watching Jack and Dan on the monitor in front of the green
screen proved mesmerizing. It was easy to imagine them transformed
into silhouettes, to see the storyboard coming to life before us. The
forms of the prop vessels, created by an MFA student at the Boston
Architectural Center, were right-on—the cup in particular—which
began to look quite comfortable in Dan’s hands as the afternoon rolled
on. But poor Dan himself was probably suffering, propped up on the
uncomfortable plywood “bed” for a good four or five hours and eating
grape after grape – though he never complained.
We wrapped the silhouette shoot at 6:00 that evening, after
doing several timed solo takes with both Jack and Dan for the
sequences where their bodies overlapped, to ensure that the editor,
Francis Oh, will have enough material to work with should he have to
work some “magic” in post-production. Unlike the dining table, the
silhouette video will require a lot of post-production work, and we only
Dan, the diner
get one shot at filming, so we took extra precautions and captured
what we believe is more than enough footage to cover all our bases.
Looking back on the weekend, I think it was incredibly important for the DIA and the reinstallation
project. We took a giant step toward realizing many of the new interpretive goals for the visitor-centered
museum we’re building. I’m proud of the work we did, as is everyone who was there this weekend. We all
had a real sense of accomplishment, beaming through our exhaustion, and I think we all realize that we
were a part of something truly special and unique in the history of the DIA. I cannot wait to see the first
cuts of both videos; I will meet over the phone with Jiae at Pentagram next week to map out the schedule
for the reviews. And though she is leaving Pentagram as of March 31st, I have been informed that she
intends to work on contract for a while to finish up these projects. So that’s good news for us…
I really would like the Steering and Tactical teams to know that a certain number of DIA staff were
truly critical to the success of this weekend. Carol Forsythe, of course, was not only the hard-working
star of the dining video, but she was also incredibly accommodating with the epergne and allowed it to be
beautifully dressed with real food, as was the Steering team’s desire. Michelle Peplin was tremendously
helpful, prompt, and accommodating in getting the epergne to New York. Meghan Pennisi, the Team 3
research assistant, conducted an incredible amount of research, up until the VERY last minute, for both
videos. Dave Toorongian, on-call staff person from the AV department and cameraman for “In the
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4. Frame,” flew all the way to New York and captured the entire day Saturday and part of the day Sunday on
film for the DIA. And Jennifer Czajkowski and Annmarie Erickson were there in New York both days
and provided a great deal of assistance with everything from handing off props to the servants during
shooting to vacuuming up the mess left behind on Sunday evening.
I really want to thank these folks for being a part of the reason this endeavor went so smoothly.
And I want to invite you to view all the photos from the entire weekend by copying and pasting the link
below into your browser window…
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/lisawiz2000/album?.dir=/47cf&.src=ph&.tok=phkOGmEBzAe4lrwa
I look forward to showing you the first cuts soon!
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