Home: A History filmmaker Thomas Bloom, Drakewise,
View From the Filmmaker’s Lens
Our hosts and guests were dressed to the nines in stylish mid-century fashion around me, wearing drab working clothes fit for a hard day’s labor ordering people across the room. Fur shawl, tuxedo smoking jacket, designer suit, martinis in hand, their chic attire matched their glamorous demeanor. My presence was out of place, temporally offset amidst the martini party hosted in a mid-century modern home. As the day’s last rays of light spoked through the bay windows across immaculately curated décor, there I stood baking. Wearing the smell of an arduous day of work beneath a load bearing vest and forty pounds of camera equipment, the pain of jumping from helicopters in a past life had come back to haunt me. Grinning through sleep deprivation, scar tissue and battery acid coursing my veins, I channeled my inner performer to portray the composed, polite film director they needed me to be. These moments, I would never trade for the world. It was bliss.
Every now and again a filmmaker will find themselves working on a project that reminds them their love of the craft, the spark that pushed them down the path. For me, Home: A History is just that. On set, I was in my element. Personified by film equipment, costumed reenactors, a dedicated crew, the passion I had been chasing was before me.
Any filmmaker’s prerogative in the industry is to educate or entertain. If skilled and lucky, both. Home: A History is just that – both – a blend of rich cultural knowledge and art. I have no need to explain in words the value this production gives you the audience. In fact, my job is to create that value. To show you instead of tell you. To educate and entertain you. With that, through our passionate efforts, it is my wish that Home: A History is a delightfully informative experience leaving you a little smarter and inquisitive for more.
