Filmography

Starring

Carey Wodehouse, Laney Simmons

Synopsis

Botany is a short film produced in the summer of 1991. It was shot entirely on location at the Virginia House in Richmond, Virginia.

Botany is the story of a young botanist (Carey Wodehouse) and her assistant (Laney Simmons) entering the field to do some valuable research. When the assistant is asked to take over responsibilities for the scientist, she storms off in a mad rage.

She goes into the forest. Later, the botanist realizes that the assistant is either lost or gone, and decides to go after her.

Along the way, the botanist slips on a log and falls, injuring her head. She is unconscious for some time until the assistant finds her and helps her back out of the forest and guides her home.

Production Notes

Reading the synopsis of Botany, I'll admit that it sounds pretty useless. But I'm really quite impressed by it. Firstly, it is set in an incredibly beautiful place - the location is ripe with lush, perfectly maintained vegetation. Also, due to the pure scope of the location, I was able to set up some really incredible shots, such as my favorite (and if you've ever watched Botany with me, you're very familiar with this shot), an extreme long shot that pans from the Professor fanning herself with her pith helmet and rolling her eyes to the Assistant proceeding down towards the forest. The pure magnitude of that shot just floors me - the incredible depth and scope of it is just phenomenal.

Botany is probably the only movie I've ever shot completely in sequence (with the exception of the very early "Little Red Riding Hood") because, since we were shooting a very short feature it seemed pointless to edit it, too. The experience of shooting in sequence was certainly an interesting one, because it meant that when we cut back and forth between the Professor on the patio and the Assistant going into the forest, the entire production team (all three of us) had to hike from the patio to the forest and back. It gave continuity a new twist, too - although for a project of this length, it was certainly no chore.

Botany was a delight to make and, due to its length, it is probably the easiest of my movies to sit through. I also feel it is the only one that captures what I would like to do with all my films, visually, if I had the resources.

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