Andrew Brame
“ON YOUR RADAR” IS A WEEKLY GRAD FILM NEWS SEGMENT THAT FEATURES A STUDENT PICKED AT RANDOM.
ANDREW IS CURRENTLY A 3RD YEAR STUDENT AT GRAD FILM. WE ASKED HIM A FEW QUESTIONS, AND HERE’S WHAT HE HAD TO SAY:
Where do you consider home and what is it like there?
I’ve had three homes. The first was a barn in New Hampshire. It had been crudely transformed into a house with the addition of paint and a potbelly stove. It was a beautiful place to grow up. As a kid, I remember looking forward to the first warm day of the year. The termites in the log foundation would hatch and march to the door in long columns. Our door faced southwest, so when the termites took flight, their white wings were backlit by the afternoon sun. It looked like thousands of fairies.
The second is Greer, South Carolina, where I attended high school and college. The things I remember most are unbearably hot nights, the sound of cicadas, and the good-natured hooliganism of country kids with nothing to do.
My last home was the U.S. Navy. I’d enlisted to get the G.I. Bill to pay for NYU. It was hot. Or cold. Never in between. Loud. Sleepless. Cramped. I loved it. It was a close-knit family with a high-tempo lifestyle. We were always hustling out on little adventures with a few hundred sweaty, stinky siblings. The perfect preparation for filmmaking.
What is currently inspiring you as a filmmaker?
The thing that makes filmmaking a singularly enjoyable experience for me is the collaboration. Knitting brains with someone – firing ideas back and forth – laughing at the bad ones – getting wide-eyed about the good ones. What could be better? And the collective flow state of a well-run set? The best. So yeah, the collaboration inspires me. And sweaty, stinky siblings.
What has been your most rewarding experience at NYU Tisch Grad Film so far?
Happily, the most rewarding experience in Grad Film happens often. When all the writing and rewriting, and the meetings, and the storyboarding, etc. become an actor stepping into the light, the whole set becomes one organism. Sometimes I disappear into it and forget that anything else exists. I like it when that happens.