Gryphon Strings
From the beginning repair work just seemed to stream in, and by 1972 Gryphon was spending more time fixing old guitars than building new ones. Once they opened a storefront in 1973, Gryphon quickly became the San Francisco Bay Area's leading source of mandolins, banjos and acoustic guitars.
"I first met Gryphon String's founders, Frank Ford and Richard Johnston while doing the 'Stillmotion' filmmaking program. The ‘Stillmotions Evo’ program takes people from all levels of filmmaking, from experienced directors to people who are just starting out in the industry. The aim is to help them to become even more creative when it comes to their story telling technique. So when I did the program, I had my pick of the companies we could feature and Gryphon Strings was the one I really wanted to do."
"The two owners, Frank and Richard are lifelong friends and I thought this was a compelling story. With it being about a legendary music repair shop, I figured it would photograph really well too. It was a really neat store and the instruments looked amazing to shoot, so you can see why this was the project that I really wanted most."
“The assignment was to do a 30sec TV commercial on the shop. But by the end of the project, I felt really unfulfilled and wanted to take their story further. I wanted to give the guys their own short film about what Gryphon Strings means to them.”
“With this project we were shooting for about 2hours. With the 'Stillmotion' program, the whole thing is about being on the boil and working super fast. So I literally had an art director chanting in my ear, 'next shot', 'gotta do the next shot' the whole time we were there. It was an interesting way for me to work as I don't usually have an art director working with me like that. I was also getting hounded for shooting too much footage! With digital, I don't think you can ever shoot too much, because at the end of the day you will always get that one shot that no one ever expected."
“To be honest, I think I was shooting so much because I always knew I was going to make more out of this story than a 30sec spot. When we finished cutting the 30sec spot, I was really disappointed, because there was much more to their story that really could have be told. So I specifically asked Patrick Moreau at 'Stillmotion', if could I turn all of the footage we shot for the TV commercial project into a miniature short.”
“When I finally sent the final piece out to Frank and Richard, Frank said when he saw it, it made him cry. That is what's really cool about the projects I am doing as Cinema Mercantile. The people whose stories I tell never find the time to look inwards and appreciate what they have achieved. These people are all so busy running their businesses that they don't ever really think about what their business truly means to them. I guess that is what my work does for them. It captures the meaning of their work and love for what they do and plays it back to them. And so it was for Richard and Frank at Gryphon Strings.”
