Second Day of Shooting And The Portrait Revealed

The second day of the shoot began at Billy's parents' house in Baltimore, where Checkoway interviewed Billy's mother, Cookie, as she baked her famous poppyseed cake.  Later that evening, the crew would head to an Italian restaurant where Billy had once been a waiter and interview Billy side by side with Larry Link, Billy's so-called impresario.

In the meantime, however, Billy agreed to take the portrait out for the crew to see. He set it up in the basement of his parents' house and the crew took turns coming close to look at it, wearing surgical masks that Billy provided for them, because the portrait, in pencil, was fragile and had not yet been framed.  After some discussion, Chisolm was able to persuade Billy to let him film the portrait. Billy was initially and understandably vehemently opposed.  After not having revealed the portrait to anyone, why would he let a camera crew film it now?  Was this the right moment?
           
Even the crew wasn't sure that the footage would make it into the final film. After all, the resolution of the shots wouldn't be high enough to capture the resolution of the portrait itself, and Checkoway wasn't certain if she would even reveal the portrait in the final film, leaving it perhaps a mystery to the viewer, something spoken of yet never seen.

In the end, Billy relented, and Chisolm filmed for about 15 minutes, up as close as he could get without his lens touching the camera's surface, and Billy at his elbow, nervous, directing him to certain parts of the portrait he felt were worth the close scrutiny.

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A Film by Julie Checkoway. A Littlest Birds Films Production.