Pages

0

Media Type

Moving Image

Physical Location

Stacks DCV Box 3

Number of Media

1

Language(s)

English

Format

16mm

Time - Hr:Min:Sec

3:15

Digitized in HD?

No

General Note

From Adams' own description: Labeled 'Test Film - Flowers.' Once at DASPO, I was assigned to Sgt. Lawrence Windon for orientation and in-house training. Internal Politics were not in his favor after my first trip - to Thailand. He was accused of failing to train me properly for team assignments. I challenged the commander to give me an assignment - if I completed it successfully, charges against Windon would be dropped and I would be assigned to a team. The assignment was to shoot an entire story on one 100' roll of film, in an Arri-S (silent camera), at one location with no other equipment or assistance. The entire story had to be shot in sequence - editing was not permitted - and the story had to be compelling. I composed a story of a woman pulling petals from a daisy DEL easily recognized as a 'he loves me, he loves me not' close-up sequence. As the camera pulls back, we discover that the woman is deeply saddened and crying. The camera pulls back even further to reveal that she is kneeling on a freshly dug graveDEL in the Punch Bowl on Hawaii. In the final scene, it is clear she is crying for her fallen lover - another victim of military service (Vietnam). I won an award for that little film. Copies were sent to every DASPO unit in the world. Windon's job and reputation were saved, and I got assigned to Team X. Hopefully, a copy of that film is on this reel. If not, it is the test - shoots I was permitted to do to prepare for the final shoot. By the way, the X in Team X stood for the X in Exlax - we were the team always on the run.