"Sweetwater" © 2001, empower.

Writer/Producer/Director: Marci Winters Allen. Director of Photography : Scott McGregor. Assoc. Producer: Tom Hester. Lead Editor: Matt Kordelski.

(Personal notes from editor Matt Kordelski.)

Jenna Leigh Evans as "Brady Grey"xxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxTommy Hancock as "Pops"

I had almost nothing to do with the actual production of this "dramedy," but I was lucky to be chosen as editor and did some "second unit" shooting. It's the story of Brady Grey, an 11 year old girl in the fictional hill country hamlet of Sweetwater, Texas. With her parents on the verge of divorce and her friends splitting up into rival cliques, Brady thinks shes seeing visions of the spirit of her beloved Grandfather, "Pops" who passed away the year before. The spirit of Pops comforts and guides her through moments of despair.

It was shot on a DV Camera by Scott McGregor, and as I sifted through the raw footage I was astounded at the quality of "cinematography" that he got considering the cast was mostly pre-teen girls having to act in the heat of a Texas summer in various outdoor locations.

Marci W. Allen, (Director) and Matt Kordelski (Editor)

Comedian Tom Hester, mentioned to me that he was helping to produce a childrens film called SWEETWATER. I wanted to be in on the production, but they were shooting on the kids schedules, so I missed all of the shooting. I loaned them my "Parks-Dolly" and I was amazed at all that DP Scott

McGregor was able to get on a DVCam. When I sifted through all of the raw footage, I came to a new appreciation for what Scott and Marci were able to pull off: dolly shots in a rocky riverbed, overlapping dialogue in strong wind, and above average performances with amateur child actors. The scenes where they staged two actual little league tournaments gave me a stress headache just watching it. Some of the scenes set in the backwoods of Sweetwater were doubly impressive when Marci revealed to me that they were mostly suburban backyards cleverly framed by McGregor to look rural.

We transferred the Mini-DV footage to 90 minute Betas and started the laborious cutting process. At first I was "pre-cutting" the footage, putting only the good takes on the Betas', but Marci pointing out that I was being pennywise/pound foolish with our limited time, so we started to put everything on beta. It cost her a little but more on tape stoock, but saved us time, and we would up using some bad takes as B-Roll for other scenes.

Many feature length movies start off as 3 hour epics and then get whittled down to a watchable length. Thankfully Marci knew what she wanted and we made the film in small pieces and then stitched the off line segments together. Once we had our first rough cut, Marci, Tom Hester, Scott McGregor and some of the cast critiqued it. Marci listened to our suggestions and added some more of Bradys diary and shot a new scene of Brady pondering her life as she meanders down the tracks.

From the SWEETWATER PRESS RELEASE by Marci Winters Allen:

"SWEETWATER appeals to young audiences, and there is no violence at all depicted in SWEETWATER. In schools and throughout society, violent behavior has increased at an alarming rate. My intention is to empower children. I believe boys and girls ages 8-12 will identify and feel empowered by Brady Grey and her friends. Reaching children on an emotional level, supporting their growth & nurturing their spirit is SWEETWATER's intention. My motivation for making this film is simply to make a difference in children's lives. As a teacher, I was saddened by the suicide of a sixth grader that affected many of my students. I wish to create a world through film where faith, support, and friendship change and heal lives."

Sweetwater screened at the Alamo Drafthouse, Sunday October 12th, 2002. Director Marci Winters Allen, Producer Tom Hester, Some of the cast.

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