Tag Archives: Pearson’s Falls

Love Heals: Video Production Without a Net

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“Love Heals” is the central concept of Elizabeth Hepburn’s Better & Better Series.

The series contains five, twenty-five minute video (and audio) programs – written and performed by my wife Elizabeth – designed to aid both patients and caregivers in preparation for and recovery from surgery. The principal photography of our first production, Post-Surgery, was shot at Pearson’s Falls, North Carolina.

I (Ben Bryant) got to direct and edit the entire series, one of the great blessings of my life.

As always in video production, there were “bumps in the road”. A potentially big one happened the day before the first shoot.

Production insurance is considerably more costly than regular business insurance. It was the only instance in this entire project where our producer, Eric Brown, tried to save money. Everything else Elizabeth or I asked for was okay with him. Eric opined that his broker, from whom he’d been getting business insurance for years, could provide an appropriate policy. He got one for about 15% the $3,000 cost of a production insurance package. I continued to advise against it but Eric is a smart guy and a lawyer so I figured he knew something I didn’t about his insurance guy, the vaunted Joe Q.

On the day before the shoot in North Carolina we were having lunch with Elizabeth and Peter Longauer (Nature Cameraman) when Eric got a call. He started outside and waved me to follow. The call was from Joe Q. Once it had become clear to the underwriter exactly what Joe was insuring they had declined. So we had no insurance and were going to shoot the next day at a location where a young crew would be carrying heavy, expensive equipment over terrain covered with slippery rocks, streams and a big waterfall. The certificate of insurance – now null and void – had already been filed with the location owner.

The choices were to proceed uninsured – not mentioning this unfortunate turn of events to anyone – or to reschedule the shoot after getting proper coverage. This would not only have been very expensive but probably impossible. We chose to keep the conversation to ourselves and proceed. As soon as we got home an appropriate production insurance package was procured for the remainder of the shoots.

(PS: There were no accidents or equipment losses.)

As you’ll see in the video below, I wrote a book – Waiting for Elizabeth – about our relationship and it includes the entire story about the creation of Elizabeth Hepburn’s Better & Better Series.

Click here for downloads of Elizabeth Hepburn’s Better & Better Series. Once on the page, put your cursor over an image to Id. the program and click for more info and a sample. If you prefer discs click here.

Healing Quality of a Waterfall

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Since her first bout with cancer Elizabeth Hepburn has devoted her life to sharing healing support with others.

Producing Better & Better

In February 2004 Eric Brown committed to produce Elizabeth Hepburn’s Better & Better Series – a set of video and audio healing support “tools”. We’re not certain when the title came into being but we know its derivation. In all the Better & Better programs Elizabeth quotes Émile Coué de la Châtaigneraie the French psychologist who introduced a popular method of self-improvement based on the autosuggestion: “Day by day in every way I am getting better and better”. All five programs – conceived, written and performed by Elizabeth – are designed to support patients and caregivers in preparation for and recovery from surgery.

I, Ben Bryant, am blessed to be married to this extraordinary woman and to serve as her director and editor.

Finding the Location

Since we were in high school Bob Collins (cinematographer) and I had talked about working together, him as cameraman and me as director. The wish finally came true that April when I flew down to Winston-Salem (where BC was head of the North Carolina School of the Arts cinematography department) and we went waterfall scouting for four days.

The location that had looked most ideal on the internet was Pearson’s Falls near Saluda, North Carolina.

We saw it in person on our last day of scouting. This waterfall had the size and beauty we needed and was not frightening as many large waterfalls can be. There was a kind of delicacy about it and its environment was picturesque, offering a variety of beautiful settings: several tiny waterfalls, small and large bubbling brooks and a wealth of flora. It seemed made for our purposes.

Here are two short clips from the twenty-five minute program Post-Surgery for the Patient. (Introduced by Elizabeth)

The entire Better & Better Series is available here for download. Once on the page, put your cursor over an image to Id. the program and click for more info and a sample. If you prefer discs click here.