This project was the most difficult workshop we've done. There were so many variables to contend with that were completely unforeseen until they were right on top of us. We were used to making films and the struggles that go along with that but the idea of taking a bunch of high school teachers, administrators and students who have never made a film before and tossing them into important crew positions was pretty unnerving.

"A Kiss Remembered" was the very first of the ISM summer workshop series and was initiated because Chet Thomas and Darrin Fletcher knew that no matter how good ISM could ever be, they could never replace the impact, dedication, and loyalty of a great teacher. Film is too difficult a medium to attempt without someone to guide you. Hence, the birth of the ISM summer workshop series.

Preproduction

With a small grant from the Utah State Office of Education, an old short film project, "Medal of Honor," was pulled off the shelf and brought to the production table. A few close friends and fellow filmmakers were brought in from Los Angeles and the work began.

It was Darrin Fletcher's idea to do a WWII picture for the first summer workshop. "I knew it was going to be hard, war pictures always are," said Fletcher. How hard no one yet knew, no one had ever tried something like this before... anything could happen.

The line producer, Michael King, turned to Fletcher with a white, drawn out face and questioned, "Do you have any idea how hard it's going to be to find Nazi reenactors, WWII era half-tracks, jeeps, American GI reenactors, WWII locations... all in Utah?" Fletcher shrugged his shoulders and returned with, "No idea, but we better find some before Monday, that's the first day of shooting." Well, Michael did find Nazi reenactors and all the other items as well, all in Utah. "Michael King was like Mary Poppins on this project, he just kept pulling things out of his bag," says Fletcher, with a smile on his face. "I don't know how he managed to pull it off."

Monday did finally come and we were as ready as we could have been, considering the short prep time and no one had ever done this before.

The First Day's Shooting

The first setup of the project opened up with a WWII vintage vehicle pulling into a driveway. The first few setups of any picture are always interesting. You find out a lot about how a crew is going to work together in those first few moments. For "A Kiss Remembered," those setups were surprisingly good. Everyone was at the location on time, the vehicle was prepped and ready to go, the actors were in uniform and the home owner of the location was very cooperative. Things looked like they may just start off okay.

The first shot was in the can within an hour of arrival, not too shabby. Our group of inexperienced teachers and students were already catching on very quickly, and within a few more setups we would be wrapping out the Walter Reed House location and be moving on.