Chad Schoonmaker, a local Louisiana artist, came home one day stressed from the droll of work…and realized he needed an outlet. He needed a way to repurpose all of this pinned up stress into something more positive. On a whim, he rushed to the art supplies store bought some blank canvases, tubes of paint, and brushes. For an entire weekend, he painted away sitting on his living room floor.
He posted his painting online and went back to work. Little did he know that this was what the world wanted from him and they wanted more. Without looking back, he took up the brush and started his new life as an artist.
Q&A with the Filmmaker: Jordan P. Anderson
Q: Besides his great artwork, can you tell us why you chose to tell Chad’s story?
A: Chad’s been through a lot, and his art came out of tragedy. We met Chad at his suburban house in a small town outside of Baton Rouge. Months before our filming, his neighborhood suffered a torrential flood that ruined dozens of homes. We asked Chad about the damage his house had suffered, and he pointed to a painting hanging over his dining room table. It was a painting he managed to save before water levels rose too high. Scarred across it was a watermark of smudged paint.
Q: You said that this was a one day shoot, was there anything about the shoot day that stood as unique?
A: Chad led our crew into his art studio, a small converted bedroom with floors covered in Pollock-like blotches of paint. Our film crew was to film his artistic process in action. To not compromise this process, we knew we had to remain on-lookers outside of this process. We lit the scene and let Chad go to work. We had to film it all in real time, no repeats, no second takes. The working title for this piece: “Watching Paint Dry.”
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You can check out much more of Chad’s work here.
- Director/DP:
- Jordan P. Anderson
- Camera Operator:
- Fred Mince
- Editor:
- Jordan Peck
- Producer:
- Jordan Lewis
- Title Design :
- Andy Lemoine
- Executive Producer:
- Tommy Talley
- Creative Director:
- Erick Martin