On a Wire and a Prayer

The action wasn’t what I’d unreasonably anticipated watching the wirework demonstration, On a Wire and Prayer, but the practical information was off the charts. Sherril Johnson, our principal guide through the program, quickly pointed out that a movie will use just a moment of the wirework in an edited sequence, framed in the lens of the camera. Obvious, but it was good she told me so I could get over the “I’ve seen Jet Li do wirework and you’re no Jet Li.” attitude I was feeling. Not that they weren’t doing amazing things, but seeing the whole process without it being edited together in a sequence kind of kills the magic of it.

I was prepared to be a more cynical wirework watcher after the demonstrations, but I wasn’t prepared to start writing wirework into my scripts and short movies. But that was the point of the forum, Sherril told us, asking how many filmmakers and screenwriters were in the room. And when will I consider myself a filmmaker? Not yesterday apparently as I kept my arm down and looked around the room at all the real filmmakers raising their hands. I kept hoping she’d ask again so I could raise my hand.

Sherril and her mentor Bill Boggs, a well spoken hipster veteran of special effects, broke down the basics of wirework and the equipment, slowly adding components to a move to show how it works and is coordinated. Both narrators are instructors at the International Stunt School (www.stuntschool.com), right here in Seattle, and Sherril also runs a martial arts studio, the Ying Yang Arts Studio (www.yyac.com) with her partner, Restita DeJesus. Restita demonstrated today, showing great grace on the wires as she did a spin up into the air a la Ziyi Zhang in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (though Sherril was quick to point out that Ziyi Zhang held onto the wire).

Between Bill’s canny veteran stories about the industry and Sherril’s deconstruction of the process, I left thinking that wirework was a viable option for the independent filmmaker. Imagine all the scenes that can get a little bigger, a little more poetic visually. I really enjoyed it as they took us from huge mechanical systems flying whole families through McDonalds, to small productions removing wires just by choosing a background that obscures the wires. Wirework, it’s not just for Wushu anymore. So thanks, International Stunt School and SIFF, for bringing wirework out of the fantastical and into the small filmmakers palette.