For over twenty years, music fans have known Boyd Tinsley as the always energetic, Grammy winning violin player in the Dave Matthews Band. Now, Tinsley is taking his creative talents from the stage to the film making industry with his new film, Faces in the Mirror. The idea for the film came to Tinsley late one night in 2008, and since then, Tinsley has been hard at work producing, writing and creating. The premise of the movie surrounds a man who has to visit his home town for his estranged father’s funeral. The film follows the main character, Ben as he comes to terms with the emotions that surround his relationship with his father as well as himself.

Although production on the film started just four years ago, Tinsley explained the idea of making a movie has been in his head for quite some time. “I first started thinking about making a film when we shot the video for ‘Crash into Me.’ I thought it was a beautiful video. It was haunting and it had so much emotion and you felt so much from it.” Tinsley was unable to ignore the attraction of making a movie, so he started writing the ideas he had on his iPhone. “It was more of a compulsion, than just an idea. I was committed to it as soon as the inspiration hit. I reached out to Ryan Orr, the lead in the film, and Fenton Williams, lighting director for the Dave Matthews Band who is also the owner of Filament Productions.” Fenton went on to become the executive producer on the film. Once the lead actor and production team was assembled, Tinsley enlisted Aaron Farrington to direct.

The process of creating the film was rather unique. Tinsley’s next step was to take a group of talented musicians, such as Dave Matthews, Stefan Lessard, Shawn Smith, and Maktub into a studio to develop a collection of songs for the film. Once the soundtrack was completed, it was up to Farrington to film the movie around the music. Unlike many Hollywood produced movies, there was no working script.

Tinsley explains, “I think people thought I was crazy for the way I made this film, starting with the music and not having a finished script by the time we started filming. This was all on purpose. I wanted this film to unfold and be free to go where it was leading us. Even though, we finished it and made an amazing film, I think some people still think I am crazy. You have got to be a little crazy to create something truly special and unique.”

Boyd describes the process as one of the most creative experiences of his career. “This film is more about emotion than dialogue or plot. There is dialogue, although not a lot. There is a plot, but in many ways it is open to interpretation. I believe words can get in the way of the flow of a film. Words do not always speak the truth. But, dialogue is important where needed. I wanted my actors to not act ; I wanted them to become the character that they played.”

But, with any idea as unconventional as this one, the production of Faces in the Mirror did “face” some trials. “Well, the first challenge was this was the first film we made, so we were not versed in traditional filmmaking, this is one of the reasons the film became a great piece of art. We made it the way I had envisioned, meaning that the end result was to have a film that could be felt emotionally, from the heart,” said Tinsley. One of Tinsley’s fears going into production was if the audience would be able to capture the raw emotion he had envisioned for each scene. “There were moments throughout the process that I didn’t know how we were going to tackle a particularly daunting aspect of the film, but, when we got to that point we always figured it out, and in a way the far exceeded our wildest dreams.”

Lead actor, Ryan Orr, plays Ben Fischer, a man coming home for his estranged father’s funeral. The character Fischer was never close to his father until he became sick, he resented his father for always working during Ben’s childhood. Besides having to deal with his father’s passing, Ben is starting to realize how he views himself. When asked about what it was like working on a film without a script Orr said the following, “The role of Ben Fischer was a unique challenge because of the lack of dialogue. But, for the same reason, was also very freeing. Keeping in mind that most of the film was improvisational; I really wanted to focus on what was happening in the moment, but stay within the parameters of cohesiveness within the story.”

Orr explains that the cast and director of the film, Farrington, would listen to the tracks produced by Tinsley between scenes for motivation. “When we would hit a road block and were not too sure where to go, it always seemed that listening to the music would help us get figure it out.” Although it may have been a difficult while filming, Orr says making a film this way was truly a rewarding experience.

Tinsley handpicked Orr for this part and offers, “The truth can be found in the eyes, from the heart. That’s what Ryan Orr is especially gifted at, expressing many layers of emotion with his eyes. He’s like a modern day silent picture star. We feel what his character feels; instead of just hear what he has to say. To make the character come alive and be as real as possible, I wanted to have a part of the actor’s life or something that the actor could identify with in real life. Not to make the character just like the actor, but, to me, in order to really become a character you have got to have a real connection, in order for it to come across as real. Ryan’s father had passed away a few years before the film, so I included that aspect of his real life into the character.”

Tinsley mentioned that since the film really does not have dialogue throughout the film the viewer draws all of the emotions from the faces of each character, and that is the essence behind the title of the film, Faces in the Mirror. Tinsley wanted views to start to think about the concept of do not just think about how others view us, but also how we view ourselves. Tinsley and Orr both stated the goal of this film is not just for the viewer to watch the film but for each viewer to experience the film. “My philosophy was there were no rules to accomplish this. When I felt chills from the film, I knew we had it. It took three years, but was worth every minute.”

Tinsley has been heavily involved in every aspect of the film, including production, music, and scene selection since its genesis. Although he left the directing to Farrington, Tinsley made it clear to him of what Tinsley had envisioned for each scene. The two men spent many long nights editing the film, and during this process they began to have more ideas for the film so they would call some of the actors to shoot more scenes. “As a producer, I didn’t declare anything finished until I get chills from the beginning to the end.” Tinsley said although it is not ideal to make a film this way, it was part of a learning curve. He is very proud to say they were able to make a film that he and the rest of the cast and crew can be proud of.

Currently, Tinsley is on tour with the Dave Matthew Band but in between shows he has been promoting this film and holding what he calls “intimate screenings.” He invites a small group of fans to view scenes from the film, with musicians joining him on stage to play music from the film. Fans have raved about the filming stating, “It was amazing to get to talk to Boyd and really see his creative side” , and “This movie was like nothing I have seen in the past” The film will be released from SNAG Films on August 30th online through iTunes, Huluplus, Netflix and the SNAG Films site. Finally, Tinsley said he will continue to work on films in the future since making Faces in the Mirror was such a profound and positive experience.