Ryan Rivard

Tony Falco in the short documentary Living The Falcon.

It seems like yesterday that Jon O’Sullivan and I were seeking out documentary subjects for our thesis film project. It was actually September. After our first option failed to pan out (documenting a startup restaurant in Poughkeepsie, NY), we were scrambling for ideas.

How the project started

I had read about The Falcon, a music venue in Marlboro, NY, about a year ago during my junior year at Marist. Initially, I saw the place mentioned in Hudson Valley Magazine; their brief description of the venue hooked my interest: “Not to mention that, rather than charging for admission, they accept donations — and all proceeds are given to the performers.”

I later found the New York Times article and finally The Falcon website. I never attended a Falcon show that year, but to discover a place like this exists was finding a glimmer of light in the midst of a bleak music industry – especially for musicians that are not mainstream, household names, yet remarkably talented. There are few music venues out there that share much in common with The Falcon. On top of its rare qualities, I also found the venue’s story intriguing with the potential to make a great documentary subject.

A music venue nestled in the Hudson Valley, run by Tony Falco, an environmental scientist who used to host concerts in his backyard; a man driven solely by the arts and music draws some of the best musicians in the world to play for a donation box. It’s an amazing story. When we were stuck, I suggested that we take a chance and contact Falco to see if he was interested in becoming a documentary subject.

We briefly met Falco near the end of September, and before committing to the project, he wanted to see samples of our previous work. The request was entirely understandable, so we emailed links to some samples, but we didn’t hear from him throughout the week. As the time passed, we grew worrisome that this Falcon documentary wouldn’t become a reality. We were nearly ready to abandon the idea of doing a documentary all together and opt to make a narrative short film instead. Our last resort was to approach Falco after a show for a decision. Hardly optimistic, we spoke to him one fall Friday night. He surprised me and Jon when he said, “Let’s do this documentary.” After those words, the project took flight.

Production

Over the course of the two-month production process, the documentary evolved into something larger than we originally conceived. Back at the start, we envisioned a film with a running time of about 10 to 15 minutes. After weeks of shooting, the story of The Falcon started to unravel. Falco and the rest of the staff became more comfortable with the camera’s presence, and in turn, the footage we captured had a genuine honesty that wasn’t apparent in the early stages of the project.

Guitarist Jim Campilongo performs at The Falcon on December 3, 2011. Photo by Jim Rice

We finished shooting in early December and accumulated over 20 hours of footage, which caused an overwhelming problem when it was time to whittle that into a 10 to 15 minute film. From the start of the project, we wanted to represent The Falcon in the best way possible, and be true to its story and vision without sacrificing any attributes that make the place so special. And in order to do that, we had to increase the running time beyond our original 15-minute cap.

Post-Production

We dove into post-production unsure exactly how long the film would be. Prior to editing, we constructed an outlined a list of main topics we wanted to include in the film. Because we made the stylistic decision to avoid using a voice-over, it was important to shape a narrative structure that flowed in an organic, logical fashion. After hours of deliberation and discussion, we started plugging along, and the process went smoothly because of the extra time we took to plan beforehand. It undoubtedly saved us precious time in the long run. Of course that outline ended up being more clay than stone, as it was reshaped and reconfigured during the editing process. After about two solid weeks of devoting absurd hours (more often than not 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.) in the editing suite, we created a lean, swiftly paced 40-minute documentary.

Current status

As we stand right now, the film is 99% complete. Both Jon and I are on a one-month winter break from school, which provides us with an opportunity to put space between us and the film to see how it resonates after some time passes. The plan is to revisit the project in mid-January – most likely making a few alterations and adjustments before planning a formal premiere and submitting the work to film festivals.

The experience working on this documentary has been highly rewarding. This project is truly a culmination music and film, two of my biggest passions. Talking to the musicians, Falcon-goers, and other people making this place happen has been, in way, like creating my own rockumentary. And for someone who enjoys watching VH1′s Behind the Music and great music documentaries, this project has honestly been a dream come true. It’s a story that I hope inspires people to appreciate the arts, support living artists, and maybe even encourage others to create their own music performance space modeled after The Falcon.

Living The Falcon is a story that shows us what’s possible when you have an ambitious vision, passion and a strong will to make that vision a reality. Over the next couple weeks, I hope to do more reflecting on the creative process.

I hope you continue to read more Living The Falcon updates in the near future. This is only the beginning of the adventure.