What we didn’t plan for: our US filming trip

We’d gone to a park in Chicago to film Amanda Nadig on a hill, because we knew there was a slice of skyline behind her - a nice backdrop, a known quantity. Then Gary sent the drone up. It found Amanda on the hill, climbed, and kept climbing, and suddenly the whole city was spread out, not a slice of it - all of it. 

Nobody asked for that shot. The last shot of the last day, and it was better than anything we’d anticipated. That’s more or less the whole trip. The best moments weren’t the ones we planned for.

Jo Wright, Creative Director

Cranbrook, and a new Take Two friend

We started our trip outside Detroit, on the Cranbrook Academy of Art - the kind of place where the legacy of so many incredible artists and designers from decades past makes you want to be the best possible creative, yourself.

We were there with Julian Jamaal Jones, an emerging quilter whose quilts carry real, tangible feeling.

The course we filmed teaches that transfer: how to turn emotion and memory into marks, and marks into fabric, and fabric into a finished quilt.

What we didn’t expect was Jules. Over the week, he grew from someone finding his footing in front of the camera into a genuinely confident teacher, a great presenter - and somewhere in there, a friend. His course is going to be incredible.

Chicago, and a different kind of discipline

Then onto Chicago, and Amanda Nadig - a quilter working in a different register. No machine. Slower. Just found fabric, a needle, and thread.

In fact - how did we go three weeks filming quilting without touching any rulers or rotary cutters? I suppose you’ll find out over time!

On a personal level, listening to Amanda’s ideas about freedom during the filming of her course deeply resonated with me, and I'm not even a quilter. Yet!

Anna Pik, Head of Production

Amanda and Julian make work that looks nothing alike, but they share something underneath: generosity, sensitivity to their craft, and a hunger to pass on the joy of making. They are also so true to their own way of making. Spending a week with either of them would have been a privilege. Spending three weeks with both was a complete blast.

The crew that made it work

None of this happens without the people behind the camera. In Detroit, Katie - one of our account managers, based in Canada - finally met the rest of us in person, and alongside Gary, the four of us turned into a hard working, genuinely funny, sweaty, and slightly feral unit who loved every minute on that campus.

In Chicago, we picked up Mia, an up-and-coming quilter in her own right currently deep in her MFA - equal parts obsessed with sewing and quilting, but also the World Cup matches running in the background the entire time. Both got the attention they deserved. And keep an eye on Mia - her work is wonderful!

And then, the skyline

So much goes into planning our trips. They’re a huge investment in all ways. And I’ll admit I had reservations about traveling to the US right now. I didn’t know quite what to expect.

But the trip unfolded the way that last shot did - not always according to the plan, but better - over and over - until by the end I couldn’t imagine it having gone any other way.

That’s the thing about certainty: it’s tidy, but rarely the best version of the story. Leave a little room for the drone to keep climbing.