Mental health is a serious issue, especially with all the COVID that’s causing mental problems. Hard to talk about, but still important to discuss regarding scenarios. Sometimes the best way to shed light on the situation is to showcase it as a series so people can get a little better understanding how serious it can be as an issue. A series like Something Undone definitely focuses on that as well as some other issues. Recently released a couple weeks ago, the series is worth checking out. I had a discussion with Michael Musi and Madison Walsh as they told me all about the film, and even what it focuses on. I feel I have learned a lot more because of these two.
HNMAG: So it’s interesting that you acted as well as came up with the concept. What was it like to balance multiple jobs at once on set?
Michael: Well, it was a lot trickier for Madi, she’s essentially in every scene, the story is all about Jo. Madi had to put all her trust in me and our director Nicole. We were kind of all involved in areas of making the show, but Madi had to take a step aside and focus on the acting when the cameras were up.
Madison: Yeah. It was really rewarding in the end, very stressful at the beginning. But putting so much on our plates made it so rewarding.
HNMAG: What was it like having someone direct you through your own story instead of doing it yourself?
Madison: I’ve never directed, I don’t know how to.
Michael: We were able to hand over our script to a director that we really trusted. Nicole was incredible and we were all on the same page with our story.
HNMAG: And what inspired you to come up with this story? I understand it’s based off concepts you have experienced?
Michael: I think it’s based loosely on different parts of our lives. As for me, it’s based off my experience of losing MY mom, cleaning up her things after she passes away, and learning about her past life. That was kind of something I put into the show, but the idea came from Madi and a family secret that she learned about.
Madison: Definitely don’t want to go into it, but just some stuff that I kind of talked to my parents about. Old family lore. I sure we all have different things that we discover from our parents that are kind of shocking. I thought, that would be kind of a neat idea to elaborate on it. My imagination kind of went wild, and that’s how we came up with it. Then we also really love sound, so we decided to base it around a foley artist. We thought we could really geek out with the idea of just making everything in her world of sound.
HNMAG: And do you feel the series will raise awareness? It does talk about some pretty serious subjects.
Michael: Yeah, we hope so. We do hope it de-stigmatizes mental health a little bit, We do talk about it, and we also hope if just kind of gets people talking, especially families where mental health isn’t a subject often talked about. I think we should be talking about our mental health.
HNMAG: Aside from mental health, and the effects of isolation, what else does it talk about?
Michael: It certainly talks about the death of a parent, and the fear of learning where you come from and who you are. It talks a lot about families, and the mother/daughter relationship.
HNMAG: The setup of the location looks pretty basic but very complex. Where did the variety of props and decor come from?
Madison: We have a really good art team. They worked tirelessly with a small budget to really make our vision come to life, and they actually ended up staying in the house for the first few nights so they could work through the night and make the house look just the way they envisioned it. They really came through.
HNMAG: And what about the house? Where did you find that?
Michael: It was bed-and-breakfast in Harrison, Ontario. We did a lot of bed-and-breakfast hopping, trying to find the perfect house and this one was kind of what we pictured when we wrote it. It really felt like a godsend in the moment we saw it. Luckily the two owners, Irene and Ralph were absolutely lovely and supportive of what we wanted to do. They took a mini-vacation while we shot for 7 days in their house.
HNMAG: 7 days? Interesting. So it went by pretty quickly?
Michael: Yeah, it was a lot of content in a short amount of time. We really scrambled together to get it done, but luckily we had a crew of 25 professionals who knew what they were doing and we were able to get the job done.
HNMAG: Where there any other challenges on that set?
Michael: COVID, certainly was a big one. Trying to follow all the rules and create something is always kind of difficult. Plus, sitting with story for long, giving up control was a bit of a tricky thing to a degree. But once we learned everyone was really passionate about the project like we were, it just became a huge collaboration that we were excited about.
HNMAG: With foley and sound being a big part of the concept, how were sounds made? Did you make them yourself?
Michael: We had an amazing post-production house called Eggplant who have a lot of Foley artists on hand. A lot of the sounds you hear were done in foley. Some may sound like they were from a database, but sound is a massive part of our show and we definitely made sure that a lot of care was put into the sound. They did a fantastic job.
HNMAG: How long have you worked with Eggplant?
Michael: This is the first time we’ve collaborated with them.
HNMAG: As executive producers, what were some of your other responsibilities?
Michael: Overseeing it all…
Madison: Creative decisions, mostly. Like everything from hiring the director, and deciding on approving art. Really making sure that it fit our creative vision and then, Mike did a lot of work on set alongside Nicole which I think was a very valuable experience.
Michael: For sure, just sitting by Nicole and being able to kind of see how her mind works and her process was really interesting. Every creative decision that was made, Madi and I made sure we gave our stamp of approval. I would say we had our hands in lots of different jars.
HNMAG: How do you feel knowing it’s part of CBC’s Creative Relief Fund?
Madison: We’re quite proud that we’re the first one to come out of it. It was a real challenge to do it on such a tight time frame, but it’s great that this opportunity came up. Mike and I had as just much of a chance as everybody else and it really came through to us to just take a shot and just go.
Something Undone can be viewed on CBC Gem here.