David Licata | October 11, 2011
Dear Filmmaker, Were you nervous before your first interview with Paolo Soleri? I mean, he’s kind of a rock star, isn’t he? R.C. in AZ Dear R.C. in AZ Yes, I think he is, and yes, I was nervous before I met Soleri for the first time. And the second time. And the third, fourth, [...]
David Licata | May 27, 2011
Documentary filmmakers frequently encounter a dilemma: how do you know when to say, “production is over.” You can always shoot more, especially now with video. For Grey Gardens, a film I reference frequently, the Maysles shot more than 70 hours of footage over the course of six weeks. That’s film, not video. And film stock [...]
David Licata | May 17, 2011
In previous posts, I wrote about other people and projects I considered for A Life’s Work and why I chose four subjects instead of three or five or twenty-seven. But neither of those posts address why I chose these four people. A Life’s Work is very simple, really. It’s me searching for an answer to [...]
David Licata | April 29, 2011
Here’s a clip I put together just for Arbor Day. The bulk of this clip was shot on our first visit with the Milarchs in 2007. (Please pardon my little artsy interlude which was shot elsewhere.) This is one of my favorite bits of footage and I’m so glad cinematographer Wolfgang Held kept rolling, even [...]
David Licata | March 22, 2011
What is it that makes us look up? We look up at trees, at buildings, to the sky to see clouds, stars, planets. If we are inside and we’ve been asked a question, many of us look to where the wall meets the ceiling, as if there’s a clue there, before we articulate our answer. [...]
David Licata | March 14, 2011
Yesterday the Associated Press ran a story about the Milarchs efforts to clone the biggest and oldest trees for reforestation projects, and now it’s everywhere. Here it is on the NPR web site. I thought this might be a good opportunity to revisit a clip from A Life’s Work, so here you go: David Milarch [...]
David Licata | February 18, 2011
Four years ago this week Wolfgang Held and I ventured to Michigan to interview David and Jared Milarch. It seems like both yesterday and a lifetime ago. I hear you: “David, Michigan in February? Why didn’t you go in May?” We had shot Soleri in the desert the previous fall, now I wanted contrast. I [...]
David Licata | February 1, 2011
I recently went to my doctor and we got to talking about A Life’s Work. He asked me if I knew Cicero’s treatise, On Old Age. I didn’t. He paraphrased a passage about trees. “Oh, that’s good,” I said. “I’m going to use that in my blog.” When I came home, waiting in my inbox [...]
David Licata | December 31, 2010
What were the most viewed posts on the A Life’s Work blog? Glad you asked. The list is a little misleading, because some posts have been up for a lot longer than others, and so naturally will have more views. Still, a few posts are telling, like 2 and 13, which lit up the stats [...]
David Licata | October 22, 2010
I put “trailer” in quotes because that word suggests something this three-minute piece isn’t. A trailer suggests quick cuts, the best shots and soundbites from key moments in the film, a sales pitch to the general public that’s longer than a commercial but under two minutes, This isn’t a trailer for A Life’s Work then. I edited [...]
