When Jay and I (Vic) planned this opener. We had originally contemplated a “Bag of Beans” emptying onto a black floor spelling out the words “A Bag of Beans” which was actually, the original name of our production company before we elected Aesthetic Vision Productions.
You know, two Latino guys that wanted to “visually” represent their heritage with the soybeans that form part of our ethnic culinary staple! AVPLLC was a good choice but in tribute to our original concept, we left the name beans in the form of our website. Now you know.
Jay’s exhaustive research brought us this amazing talent (Pierre Michel) from Paris, France where I was serendipitously scheduled to be on a business trip! So I hooked up with Pierre. At the time, he was doing some post-production work for non other than John Malkovich. We discussed our needs and he jumped right on it!
Well, after several weeks, that lagged into several months, Pierre came up with this
concept that was just “explosive” and for me, a bit hard to immediately embrace. Before I tell you why, click here: AVP OPENER at Pierre’s website so you can see it for yourself.
My original problem was audience “perception” and “acceptance” of the opener because it was created shortly after 911 and I immediately thought of a jihadist blowing himself up! The reason being, my younger brother, was a junior chef at the Windows of the World Restaurant at the 106th floor of the World Trade Center. A survivor by virtue of fate!
The storyboarding process and the back and forth tweakings, all fascinating. Again, a part of the process that reaffirms why Jay and I love this art-form so very much!
The process did give me a great appreciation for these magic-men/women that truly are the men and women that create the essence of what WE (as the viewing audience) come to appreciate and connect with in films. I just don’t see it as fair, that they don’t get to receive their Oscars in front of the entire world, but then again. If you knew these guys and gals, as we do some of them, they kind of prefer it that way!
However, after much discussion with Jay and countless replays, the opener grew on me and I came to embrace it. For a good while, however, I was about to ditch it and start from scratch but in hindsight, I am happy with the decision. The opener just blows you away for 27 seconds. Yes, a bit long, since most openers run around 15 seconds tops and maybe in the future, we may edit it down. For now, it’s our baby!
Sidebar: Regarding y brother Joe, got a call on the night of September 10th from a fellow
chef who asked if they could switch shifts. As fate would have it, my brother, who was scheduled to be prepping food from five in the morning, took the afternoon shift instead.
To this day, he is haunted by the fact that he was on the phone speaking with not only co-workers, but friends. Friends that ultimately lost their lives. Something he will never and we will -never forget.
It was a festive outing last summer (2010) with Joe at our youngest brother’s house in Pennsylvania. He can cook up a mean steak! -Vic Rosa -
