Faded Love

The responsibility of making a film based on real people is daunting, but to make one about the writer’s own family is even more so. Faded Love centers around a poem written by the woman who lived this story; the grandmother of Kelly Tinsley, who wrote and produced the film and is our lead actress. It was imperative to me to get it right, to stay true to the original spirit of the poem, and also to honor the woman who lived this life.

We started work on the film in the summer of 2016. Being struck by the personal story behind the script. It seemed very real and raw. The wife character was a woman in a hard place who takes a significant risk. I was excited by the possibilities of portraying her journey on film. Being a short film with very little dialogue, I knew we wouldn’t have much space to suggest the deep history the woman and her husband had and our style of shooting needed to close the gap. But rather than try to fit too much exposition in a short time, from the outset I felt that we needed to simmer in her life a bit, to have a slow, atmospheric vibe in all things, sound, and image. An influence was some of the scenes in Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive, scenes where the two main characters looked at each other for long moments; each small movement elevated in importance. We chose to shoot in a fantastic period cabin in the woods near Asheville, North Carolina. On our first day of shooting at the cabin, a thick fog rolled in over the nearby mountains, creating the perfect tone for our opening shot. Our cinematographer Kevin Burroughs did a great job of carrying that tone throughout the entire film.

Early on the script had a voiceover that represented the voice of the poem, but during editing, we decided the film did not need it. We felt that we had captured the tone of the poem and Kelly's grandmother’s struggle without relying on the voiceover. Sound played a massive part in telling the story. Early on in prep, we were spitballing about music, and Kelly noted the song “Wildwood Flower” by the Carter Family was an important aspect, as it reminded her grandmother about the relationship hardships and it being that is was in the poem on which we were basing the film. We quickly decided that our good friend Terri Binion should record a version of the song for our movie. Happily, Terri said yes, and when she sent us the demo she and music producer David Schweizer put together we were just blown away!

I am very proud of how Faded Love turned out, and I’d like to think that Kelly’s grandmother would be pleased with how we portray her story. I was honored to be a part of this film.

--Michael Finn