Jennifer Reeder's Production Notes

Backstory: I am still not totally sure how I convinced a bunch of happy people–mostly dudes–to make a movie about sad women.

Prior to this project, not one of us had any experience making a conventional feature-length narrative project from a script and although we are not sure what everyone else in Central Ohio has been doing over this past seven months, we are certain that we made a movie. It's called Accidents at Home and How They Happen and its world premiere is at the Wexner Center Saturday, March 1st.

I began writing the script about three years ago. After several close calls with the Screenwriter's Lab both at the Sundance Institute and at Film Independent, I knew that I had written a decent script and I either had to make the movie or abandon it forever and not think about it or talk about it ever again…I decided to make the movie. When I approached Jennifer Lange, Associate Curator of Media Arts at the Wexner Center, I was not seeking production support. I had a great experience with her previously, completing two other projects in Art and Tech's Media Artist Residency Program (Tiny Plastic Rainbow, 2003 and The Closer Stockholm, 2004) and was interested primarily in post -production support. Enthusiastic conversations about the first HD (High Definition) project coming out of Wexner Center's Art and Tech studios eventually became production support for this movie. Spring of 2007, we posted a call, auditions were held and twenty-five actors were cast in speaking roles. Shortly after, we secured an HD camera and HD post-production equipment from The Camera Department (Cincinnati, OH), Panasonic and AVID. I finished the shooting script in late June and principal shooting began in early July. Myself along with a tiny crew of six visual artists and experimental filmmakers, shot everyday over three weeks. There was an enormous amount of laughing and learning on set. The days were very long but we finished on schedule and it only rained once. The rain footage we shot while waiting for the rain to stop, made it into the final edit.

The end result is a gorgeous 90-minute HD movie with the heart of an indie film and the soul of an experimental video. I am very proud of this project. It is both the hardest and most rewarding thing I have ever done–aside from natural childbirth. Twice.