Shared Excitement... The Down Side

In my previous post I mentioned the critical moment in my life where my passion for filmmaking was expressed in my wife's excitement for my achievement.

She has also felt the downside of my passions. You see, ignorance is truly bliss. The more you know about filmmaking and television, the more critical you are of films you see. You're no longer watching with a passive eye, but with a critical one.

This was never more evident than about a year into my stint at Nickelodeon. My wife had been on set numerous times watching the taping of Clarissa Explains It All and had seen how the show was put together. One of the daily challenges for the lighting and sound crew are what are called Boom Shadows. On a sitcom, there are Boom Microphone operators that move the mics around the set, anticipating which actor will speak next and move the microphone into position accordingly. It's kinda cool to see finely tuned Boom Operators at work.

However, the lighting guys also have to light the set correctly. And the thing they often have to watch out for is that their light won't cause a shadow of the long boom microphone to show up against the set wall.

Well, one day, my wife and I are on the couch watching Roseanne on TV and during one scene we notice a Boom Shadow against the Roseanne set. My wife quickly blurts out "boom shadow"... then, realizing that the magic of television had been stripped from her, turned toward me and said in a slow, even voice.... "I hate you."

Her shared excitement of my filmmaking passions had led her down a path where the work behind the magic had been exposed and she could not help but watch television and films with a critical eye. That "loss of innocence" was palatible at that moment and her cinematic ignorance was lost forver.