Hello Ben and thank you for taking the time to talk with Lights Film School blog readers about your two most recent projects “The Reformed Troglodyte” and “The Gentleman Shaver“.

Both of these two shorts are branded shorts sponsored by theartofshaving.com. Let’s take a look at “The Reformed Troglodyte” first:

Many people may not know this, but your short film “Apricot” was also a branded short. Can you tell me a little bit about the differences in the relationship between yourself and the companies from these two projects (Art of Shaving vs. Apricot).

Apricot was a filmmaker’s fund that was sponsored by a brand. The company was interested in supporting a filmmaker with an aesthetic that they like and related to and put their support behind it. A little similar to what Absolute did with Spike Jonze’s short ‘I’m Here’. It was creatively my concept, script and execution. Gentleman Shaver and Reformed Troglodyte are fairly different situation, as I didn’t write them. They were developed by the great team at BBDO NYC and I was brought on board to bring them to life. This structure is much more akin to the typical commercial process. With the Art Of Shaving films, there was a much more hands on approach from those who were investing in the project. Perhaps that is the difference between working in USA and France.

It seems to me that there is some potential for some interesting bridges to be built between the two worlds of short fiction filmmaking and advertising.

Companies that are sponsoring these shorts don’t want their product placement to be too subtle or hidden, but filmmakers don’t simply want to “sell out” by filming a product under a soft-box and throwing a commercial jingle in the background. These ads are somewhere in between those two extremes.

You made a really great point, during one of your other interviews with us when you mentioned that your philosophy is to “point at” the realities of your filming environment. When I watched “The Gentleman Shaver”, you made it clear that it was a shaving product branded short. I didn’t get the impression you were trying to hide that. However, with “The Reformed Troglodyte” the shaving component of the film, although it was present, was not as pronounced as in “The Gentleman Shaver”. Can you tell me how these two films work as one? There seemed to be a totally different narrative approach to both films.

They were simply written that way before I came to them. I think there is a huge danger in these sorts of projects and I am not keen to do them unless I feel like they are being done for the correct reasons. People shouldn’t think of them as 5 minute commercials, because they simply can’t be that. The story telling still needs to be the top priority and if it isn’t, then the project becomes very bland and dull to watch. I have worked on those projects when the aim changes mid stream and it never ends up successful for anyone. I wouldn’t say Gentleman Shaver is product or brand specific, in fact you never really get a decent look at the product at all. It is simply a story taking place around the ritual of shaving. There is no lingering or huge close up of a sparkling razor blade. That would really be pointing the finger at it! Reformed Troglodyte has more of a character arc, more locations and spans a greater length of time so if feels quite different to Gentleman Shaver.

Great point. Thank you. Next, when you start to work on these projects how collaborative and open is the process when working with a company? When you start work on a project like this and you meet the people from the company sponsoring these branded shorts, do you get the impression they are worried that a filmmaker may go too “auteur” with the short? Did you feel you needed to put them at ease letting them know you would be respectful to their desired outcome?

I’ve never met anyone from the brand for any of the project’s that I have completed to date. That is usually managed by my production company producers or the creative agency involved. Sure there is sometimes a push from someone for it to be more like some commercial, but when you do it and show them it the edit it is usually pretty obvious that it ruptures the integrity of the short film world that you are creating. Like anything, sometimes it is a challenge but if they are intelligent and smart people you can be very respectful and explain why you want to do it and they are happy to trust you. On some upcoming collaborations for potential projects I am looking at for 2012 I have met directly with the company, they have actually been craving the creativity and filmic qualities for their projects. You have to pick your battles and I have had meetings where both myself and a brand have realized that we are not right for what each other’s creative visions would be for the project, so you simply don’t do it. If you establish what you do, then people seem to come to you for that thing.

From the company’s standpoint, why do you think a company would rather go this route than a regular 30 second advertising spot?

It’s another way to connect with their audience. It delves into the ideas and philosophy of the company in a rich way that 30 seconds simply can’t. Your emotions are much more alive and stimulated.

Do you feel there is a potential shift in the overall advertising world towards more narrative ads? Do you feel that this is a better way to reach audiences?

It has always gone in waves. The same thing happened in music videos that is now happening in fashion films. Narrative comes and goes depending on what the audience’s current tastes are and what the technology facilitates. The role of Vimeo.com and YouTube has a lot to do with the emergence of current narrative based advertising, the same way MTV had a lot to do with the boom in music videos.

Let’s talk a little more about the specifics of “The Reformed Troglodyte”.

Let’s start by talking about your choice of typography. What inspiration did you draw from to come to this choice?

Ha! That wasn’t my choice. But I liked it. It was masculine, strong and had a nostalgic throw back.

You’ve managed to find spectacular locations for these shorts. How long did it take you to location scout these properties? Did you have the help of the sponsors in securing or looking for these locations? For example I love the wide shot at :09 you opened the film with.

The locations were all found, managed and secured by my USA production company The Institute (http://www.theinstitute.tv/index.php).

I landed in L.A. after flying in from Australia, had a shower, wound my body clock back 15 hours and began looking at locations in the car with my great producer on the job, Kati Haberstock. She knows the town very well and listened closely to what I was wanting to achieve. I am quite specific and vague at the same time when looking for locations so it can be time consuming. I am searching for a ‘feeling’ in the location. This might be found in the architecture, surrounding hills or choice of wall paper. Over 4 days I looked at dozens of file images from a location scout and we drove around looking at them.

Sorry. I know you probably get this question all of the time. But filmmakers are curious and need to know the answer to this question…What camera and lenses were used?

Oddly, that is the most common asked question I get asked. Which I find strange, because it would be one of my last. I guess I am always drawn to the more philosophical and thematic questions for filmmakers. But I certainly don’t mind. On Gentleman Shaver and Troglodyte we shot on the Arri Alexa with Cooke Lenses. Eigil Bryld (DOP) had previously shot some commercials with Al Pacino using digital technology that looked great in black and white. Take a look at it below:

I wanted to nod to the qualities of 1960′s black and white film image, shooting 16mm was out of our budget range, so we tried a few things to get an interesting look. I didn’t want to simply desaturate the image in post and call it ‘black and white’. Eigil used sepia and lime coloured filters to create a monochromatic image that captured a lot of mid-tone detail.  In post we drained saturation from the image. Then I wanted the black’s to be crushed so that the shadow detail was lost. Following this, I raised those crushed blacks so that it was actually a milky grey rather than true black. Lastly an over all sepia tint was subtly added. Old film prints transferred to different formats a few times seemed to get a color (either blue or sepia) creep into them over time. I wanted to try and give a healthy nod to that aesthetic whilst keeping other aspects modern.

How much did you light these shorts vs. using natural lighting? You seem to be a filmmaker with a great eye for natural light. This might be a weird question, but tell me a little bit more about your relationship to the sun.

Life doesn’t give you a nice back light on your head and some soft fill, so I don’t like the way over lighting looks on screen. I don’t quite understand my relationship to the sun, but natural light plays a huge part in driving the narrative. I believe you can advance the emotions of the story by miles with a shot of the light doing something particular versus pages of dialogue. I don’t know how to explain it, maybe I never will, but I am definitely aware of it. I think it came from years of teenage and university film making where we didn’t have many resources, just a couple of blown out windows in the location. So I guess you learn how to make that something you can work with.

Gentleman Shaver was lit through the outside windows with a strong source and then some softer lights rigged above the actors just out of frame. But it was all to simulate natural light in the morning. Reformed Troglodyte was very basic too. Very few lights, mostly bouncing some light around with boards. I really wanted that one to look very unpolished as far as lighting and camera work goes, yet the world itself such as the cars, suits and architecture to be very considered. That was what I loved about Godard and the French New Wave films, everyone was dressed impeccably, yet there was minimal lighting and the camera work was very raw.

Let’s talk about cinematography and design for a moment. I love the shot at :27 (above). I see the vertical lines in the wood panel wall. And I see the strong diagonal lines of the mirrors caused by the camera position. How closely do you work with the cinematographer to draw out these design elements? How collaborative is the director / cinematographer relationship?

I get a strong idea of camera position and the design elements on a location scout. I don’t want to waste time on the shooting day and I need to have a plan before entering the shoot. But then I when the DOP gets involved at the tech scout stage I always want to listen to their suggestions. Often they will listen to what the elements are that I like about that angle I have chosen and sometimes take that and run with it for a while, searching for other angles. Then they come back with some suggestions that might improve on those elements that I originally liked. In the end it is just about hunting for good images that fit our storytelling correctly. This happens often in limited time, so there is no place for preciousness. It also is very important that you have similar tastes to your DOP. You want to make sure they don’t want to do some crazy shot in the middle of the world that you created which doesn’t reflect the personality of you or the film.

You have some great hand-held work. Not just in this short, but in your previous work as well. There is a very subtle and gentle “feather” to the edges of your frame. It stops the image from feeling too static but Eigil Bryld (the cinematographer for the short) controls the camera enough that it doesn’t appear chaotic or messy either. What are you using to stabilize the camera and what, if any, movement techniques are you using to get that gentle feathered look?

The ‘feather’ as you call it seems to put some people off and others really like it. I find you can really feel the personality of the DOP in their handheld work. On Troglodyte and Gentleman Shaver, Eigil Bryld was the Cinematographer. He is a very sweet Danish guy who’s demeanor isn’t chaotic messy, so therefore his work isn’t. He used a simple tennis ball on top of the tripod to rest the camera on for a few of those shots. It just gives a bit of rock and looseness to the frame with out making it hectic. Other than that, it is simply his steady hand and shoulder. I don’t do much ‘feathering’ or windowing to the image in grade for my work. In fact on these black and white shorts I didn’t want any.

How much of your sound came from the actual environment and how much was re-designed from the ground up?

Gentleman Shaver is pretty much how it was recorded on the day. Just volumes enhanced and diminished later.

As for Troglodyte, it just depended on what the quality of the real audio was. I like to over drive some of the more simple elements of my sound design at times. It is just a cinematic thing I like to do. So often basic things like footsteps or engine roars will be there, but i like them loud to emphasis that this is a kick ass car and our character is heading somewhere definite. My editor on the project Michael Saia at Jump (http://www.jumpny.tv/) had a big hand in the design of the audio, which was great because he knew the genre inside out.

Can you tell me specifically about a few sounds. Which ones were added and which ones were actual?

Footsteps at 1:09? (getting into car) – Added

Birds? (driving scene) – Added

Car? (driving scene) – Actual

Atmospheric sound? (on the cliff) – Added

You had a great team for these shorts. For these shorts you worked with costume designer Amy Westcott (Black Swan) and Production Design by Kiki Giet (Mark Romanek music videos). In our previous interviews you talked about how happy you are when you have design and wardrobe departments working closely together helping you achieve a really cohesive look. Can you tell me a little more about your relationship to these departments and their relationship to each other?

I like to have production design on board from a very early stage and with these shorts Kiki Giet was with me from the first day of location scouting. There is a bond that seems to form when you are driving around in hot cars looking at locations. We would just talk ideas, about what we liked or didn’t like at each location and got on the same page as each other pretty quickly. Coming from a music video background Kiki was really resourceful. She brought so much propping to the films that I was spoiled with choices in some instances. But like all my work, I always look for the inherent qualities in a pre-existing location which the aesthetic can resonate from. The references for the shorts is a much loved aesthetic that you rarely get the chance to do, so Kiki really ran with it. Amy Westcott was someone whose work I have admired for a while and loved that she put herself forward for the films. When working with someone at that level, you can talk to them in creative short hand and they just get it. She brought little touches to the films that really elevated it; the fabric of the suit, the style of undone bow tie. She had worked on Entourage, so she was clearly fairly familiar with how to dress men. Overall, there wasn’t so much of a dialogue between those departments as I usually have, but hopefully the vision was strong enough that they feel cohesive.

For filmmakers interested in getting into this line of work how do you approach companies or have them approach you? You worked with BBDO New York (A very prestigious ad company) for these projects. Can you tell us a bit more about your relationship to them and how they factor into the equation?

That is about getting representation. My production company in the USA signed me for commercial work and they had the relationship with BBDO NYC. It is their job to try and generate work from agencies and brands that might fit your profile. To get signed with a company, do the research on the ones that interest you and show ‘em ya reel! You want to make sure their personality suits your own. If you work together and generally everyone is happy then chances are you will do it again on another project and those relationships build!

Thanks for the in-depth interview Ben. As always it’s a pleasure to share your work with our blog readers. Please keep us posted with regards to your future projects!

Ben Briand

http://www.benbriand.com/

Twitter

http://twitter.com/ben_briand

Ricardo de Montreuil (twitter) redefines good worth ethic. At under 40 he’s already accomplished a slew of accomplishments ranging from being recognized by Cannes Lions advertising festival to having his most recent feature film “Mancora” selected by the prestigious Sundance Film Festival. Many of you will know him from his viral short film “The Raven” which can be seen below.

Ricardo de Montreuil was kind enough to chat with Lights Film School and our blog readers and give us insight into the mind of someone who’s successfully bridging the gap between indie ideology and studio production values.

You can find his short film “The Raven” accompanied by our in depth interview below. Enjoy.

The first question I would like to ask you is simply “how”. You’re only 37 years old and you’ve accomplished so much already in many different fields. You have experience in advertising and commercials, print, feature films, short films and music videos. Not only that but you’re also Creative Director at the NBC Universal channel mun2. You seem to be juggling a lot of balls at the same time. How do you manage to successfully multitask all of your different projects? There are a lot of filmmakers out there who are also currently working on their film projects while trying to balance other obligations as well. Can you give any advice to filmmakers looking to make the most of their time?

Well, first of all thanks for your kind words. Let’s say that one thing led to the other. Since I can remember I’ve always wanted to direct films, there was never a second option or back up plan for me. My parents realized that I was very serious about it and I was lucky enough that they were able to send me to study film in the states, right after I finished high school in Peru. I studied film and graphic design at the Savannah College of Art and Design

My first job during school was as Art Director for “Contents” magazine, an art magazine published in Savannah Georgia. The editor trusted me with redesigning the whole magazine, at the time I was a big fan of David Carson (Graphic design guru of the 90s and creator of “Raygun” magazine) so I tried to emulate his work. The magazine was featured in Print magazine and won a couple of awards. The cover featured Beck, it was a still of Marc Romanek music video “Devil’s Haircut”. That was the only issue I designed. The magazine stopped being published a couple of years ago, but it always amazed me that they never changed my design and always used the same grid, and after all these years it still looks good.

Thanks to that issue I was hired as a Marketing Art Director for MTV Latin America, based in South Beach, Florida. Because of my film degree, the Creative Director trusted me to direct a couple of small short films or vignettes (The original RAVEN)”. The two films came out great and I started directing promos for the channel on a regular basis. I ended up being Senior Art Director for the channel; I oversaw the brand from Mexico to Argentina for a couple of years. During that time I started directing music videos, which led to commercials, which led me to short films. The producer of my first short film liked the end result and asked me to direct a film, based on a Latin-American best seller called “La mujer de mi hermano”.

It was a small indie film, it costed of $400k. Somehow, before we finished editing, Fox picked the film for Latin America and Lions Gate picked the film for the US. The film performed great in most Latin-American countries and in the States had the biggest opening ever for a Spanish language film. But the studios wanted audiences to think that the project was a studio film and didn’t let us submit it to any festivals; I was only a director for hire, I had no vote.

In the mean time I went back to my job at MTV, when suddenly NBC offered me a job in Los Angeles, to re-launch a very damaged cable channel called mun2. The channel was targeted to young Latinos in the US. I had worked with MTV for 8 years maintaining a brand created by others; this was a great opportunity, to create a new brand from scratch. So I moved from Miami to Los Angeles. Due to “La mujer de mi hermano” I had agents at ICM who where trying their best to get me a film, while I was trying to prelaunch a cable channel from the ground, but I already knew what my next film was going to be.

I wanted to make a movie without compromises, a movie closer to me. I wanted to go to festivals, to have the experience I missed from “La mujer de mi hermano”. As a teenager I used to go surfing to a beach north of Peru called Mancora, the kind of place where you find people from all around the world escaping reality, looking for paradise. Mancora was the perfect setting for my next film.

So I shot it and it premiered in Sundance in 2008. I still remember the text message from the producer saying that we got in, I was having lunch, on a big table, filled with GE executives (As you may know NBC Universal used to be owned by GE) one of them was Jeff Immelt, GE’s CEO, and I couldn’t tell anyone! (I keep my TV work from my film work as far away as possible) they wouldn’t have cared less, so I contained all my excitement until the lunch was over.

“Mancora” did a year of festivals. We went to Edinburg, Sao Paulo, Stockholm, Mill Valley, Bergen, AFI, etc. It was one of the best experiences ever, being able to share your work with peers and audiences, in a fully creative environment.

I took that out of my system and decided to do what I originally intended to do when I came to the states, to direct the kind of films I love. As a Peruvian, I grew up watching a lot of European, Asian, as well as big Hollywood films. Growing up my idols where Ridley Scott, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. They were the reason I was where I was at that moment, but nobody wanted to give that kind of movies to a guy that had only directed 2 dramas. That’s when I decided to make “The Raven”, a short film that could prove that I could direct action and effects.

I think than more than multitasking is keeping your eyes open for opportunities, looking for projects that keep you excited. As I mentioned earlier, one thing led to the other.

Next I’d like to ask you about the correlation between your recognition and the ease of continuing on with future projects. At this point in your career you’ve been recognized by some of the worlds most prestigious film festivals. Not only that, but 20th Century Fox also picked up your first feature film “La Mujer de mi Hermano”. As you mentioned, your second feature film “Mancora”was accepted into Sundance Film Festival. Lastly, I’m not sure if this is the icing on the cake or the cake itself but your first feature film was also one of the most successful films in Latin American exhibition history and it also broke US box office records for a Latin film. That’s not a bad debut! Have you found it substantially easier to get projects off the ground now than before you had this recognition? Do you have any advice to independent filmmakers at the start of their careers who haven’t had a break through project yet?

I believe that you have to go step by step. Start experimenting with short films, using different formats, learning about light, acting, editing, etc; the moment you have a great piece, people will recognize it and the phone will start ringing, probably not for the $100 million Hollywood blockbuster, but most likely for something bigger and better.

I believe in craft, I believe that the greatest artists were masters in their arts, and one can only accomplish that with experience. The better your craft is, the more people will want to work with you, and you will be able to surround yourself with artist that you like and that like your work; this will allow you to get access to a better crew, better equipment and to get better results. This is not a process that happens overnight (at least not to me) but through years of work, focus and dedication. And if you fail, don’t quit, those are the moments to refocus and look for the best opportunities out there.

You are plugged into the world of TV and because of your proven track record you are in a more likely position to receive funds for a project over someone who is new to the world of filmmaking. That being said, you still seem to have your hand in social networking and audience building activities. When I look at the Facebook page for “The Raven” I notice you have almost 5000 fans. Your Youtube video has over a quarter million views and your Vimeo video has close to a half a million views. How important is it for you to build your own audience? How active are you in this process?

This is going to sound bad, but I had no previous experience with viral promotion. “The Raven” was a phenomenon on its own; it was completely unexpected. Once we completed The Raven, I posted it on Youtube to share it with the team, so that they could watch the final product. That was on a Tuesday night, the following morning it had already 50 thousand hits, and it was getting more hits very fast. On Wednesday, I received several calls and emails from different Hollywood producers, by Thursday my agents told me that WB was sending an offer on Monday. That weekend The Raven was featured in Latino Review, Slash Film, Huffington Post, etc. It was insane. On Monday I received the offer from WB, I met wit them and I was ready to sign, when unexpectedly I received a call from my agents saying that Mark Wahlberg wanted to produce and star in The Raven. I met with Mark that week and we decided to partner. That following week we met with the heads of every studio in town, until it landed in Universal.

Justin Marks is writing the feature, and we hope to have the first draft ready in the following weeks.

You’re also working on a short film again called “Metal Soldiers”. Why are you going back to short format after working on successful features?

Back home in Peru, I used to watch the Robotech everyday after school. I’m a huge fan of that anime series and always thought that it could make one of the most amazing film trilogies ever. I found out that WB was making a film version of Robotech, so I requested a meeting with the producers through my agents; because of The Raven I was able to get the meeting and pitch my version, which they liked a lot. The down side was that they asked me to do a proof of concept, since it is a big property and they don’t want to take many risks. Metal Soldiers is a short I wrote a while ago and that I always had in the back of my mind, and that I’ve wanted to shoot for a while and this was the perfect opportunity to bring it to life.

Metal Soldiers was the prefect proof of concept for Robotech. We raised the money through Kickstarter, shot it and now it is in post production, and is looking amazing. I can’t wait to see it finished.

Your kickstarter campaign for metal soldiers was incredibly successful. You raised close to $10,000 for that film. What helped make this kickstarter campaign so successful? You had numerous small donations but you also had many of the larger pledges sell out as well.

Definitely it was The Raven that helped make our Kickstarter campaign successful. We were able to raise the money in a very short time and not because we received several pledges, but because we received a few substantial ones. Most of the pledges came from people interested in having a producer credit. They want their names associated with the project, assuming that it will receive the same attention as The Raven did.

Let’s talk specifically about “The Raven” now. When I was watching it I was reminded of the first feature film by George Lucas: THX 1138. You have this incredibly aggressive and violent police force yet they have these mechanical, soft, polite voices. The words and intonation thinly disguise the true violent nature of the beast. At one point a heavily armored police vehicle even says “Thank you for your cooperation. Have a wonderful day” after it mistakenly thought your protagonist was turning himself in. Was the automation of policing your jumping off point for this project? Was The Raven a sort of social response to something you were thinking about in the real world at the time?

We live in an extremely passive aggressive society, where people don’t say what they think because they are afraid of getting sued, to offend somebody or to be politically incorrect. We develop this amazing way to be in disagreement or to insult somebody by using very nice and polite words, which I find fascinating. At the same time we are living in a time where we are becoming more isolated. Everything is becoming more automated; we interact much more with machines than with other humans, and unless something happens we are destine to merge with our technology, to become one with it. I think that The Raven was a reaction against those feelings and showed a yearning to want to go back to when times were simpler. It was a way of rebelling against the system.

The Raven is a technically complicated short film. Your chase scenes not only require a strong sense of spatial continuity and logic, but they also required some stunts. How strongly did you storyboard for this short?

I storyboarded every shot and then I made and animatic with it, to make sure it worked. I had very little resources and a very limited time to shoot; there was very little room for improvisation and error.

What software were you using for most of your effects?

The Rumblers (the small flying police guards) and the Tanks (the large bipedal robots) were created using Lightwave. The watch-towers and the spy-spider were created using Maya. I used After Effects to composite them to the footage.

How long did “The Raven” take you to write?

Not long, probably a couple of days, but it had a couple of previous permutations. I based the short on a treatment I wrote for a feature a while ago; what took longer was figuring out what part of that story I wanted to bring to life.

How long did it take you to shoot?

Two days. Since most people worked for free, we had to shoot over a weekend.

How long did it take you to edit?

Editing didn’t take long, maybe 1 to 2 weeks at the most. Since everything was storyboarded it was not hard to put it together. Aaron Burns, our FXs supervisor was editing on set, so right after we finished shooting we had a rough edit.

The cinematography is amazing. Cinematographer Andres Sanchez did an amazing job. What was the Director / DOP relationship like on set?

Yes, he did some brilliant work. I particularly admired his fluid camera techniques. Andres and I have been working together for years, we started our professional careers simultaneously and working together. We know each other’s work well; so can communicate with very little words. He knows the kind of photography I like and I know what Andres can deliver; it is a very stress-free relationship. I think we make a very solid team.

Sound Designer Martin Seltzer did an incredible job of designing the soundscape for this film. Did you work with Martin before you started shooting or were the sound elements thought of only after you got the film shot?

Martin works for Filmosonido, a post-production company based in Chile associated with Technicolor. Martin did the audio for my film “Mancora”, so I knew the quality of his work. Martin was involved in the development of the project and read the script, watched the storyboards and animatics before shooting. I had a very clear idea of how I wanted everything to sound in the film, I think I gave Martin a very clear direction of what I had in mind and he did and amazing job executing it.

You did a great job of isolating your subject by using strong foreground objects. This also helped convey the feeling of “hiding” as well as helping you punctuate the visual effect of being in an already small ally. One of my favorite compositions in the film is actually at 4:18 (above). Chris Black is standing and behind him there is a beautiful diagonal line on camera left and a building with patterned windows that creates a strong sense of pattern in the background. Cluttered exterior shots can really hurt the sense of a strong production value for indie films. Yet, even though you shot downtown in cluttered alleys there still seems to be a strong sense of control and a good eye for the design and balance of your compositions. What were your visual considerations when you were picking these locations?

As I mentioned, I studied graphic design and I started my carrier as a graphic designer. Once your eyes are trained for composition and color it is hard not be conscious of it all the time. For me composition is key in telling a story. It defines how audiences will watch and perceive your shots, and helps you accentuating and hiding elements, depending on what you want to communicate in a certain moment.

You also did a great job of getting a strong sense of contrast in your shots. For example at 1:22 (above) I notice lots of interesting shadow which really gives your composition a strong sense of depth. I see this in most of your shots. I’m assuming you tried to shoot so you could get a nice balance of sun and shade, but when you’re shooting in alleys that wouldn’t leave you with much time. How did you deal with scheduling around the sun?

We couldn’t use many lights because we knew that it would slow us down, so we planned the shoot schedule around the position of the sun at a specific moments during the day, basically we constantly used the sun as our backlight and our fills were just reflectors.

Did you light any of your exterior shots with studio lights? What about your close up exterior shots?

We only used small lights for close ups and interior shots.

I notice from watching your behind the scenes trailer that you’re using flags to cut the light on your exterior shots. What were the main tasks the flags were accomplishing?

The flags were used to draw light away from the subject, to create contrast and volume.

You shot this on the Red Cam. Can you tell us a bit more about coming to that decision of using this camera? What does that camera offer you that other cameras can’t?

I think that even though RED doesn’t emulate perfectly film quality, in some occasions it is a great option. RED footage has almost an amber tint to it, it is subtle but it is characteristic of it. It has a rough look, which compliments post-apocalyptic and dystopian-future films amazingly well.

What lenses did you use?

I used Master Prime lenses. I’m a big fan of them, especially when used with the RED camera. I love their sharpness and the cinematic depth of field they create.

It was a complicate shoot. Did you get permits for shooting?

We couldn’t afford having our production to be suddenly shut down; so most of our budget went to city permits, parking permits, and food. Everybody was working for free; the least we could do is make sure the crew was fed and comfortable.

Can you tell us about your casting process for the film?

At the beginning I was looking for an actor and a stunt man to play Chris Black, until I watched a video online, which featured Victor Lopez showing his parkour skills. The clip had a small interview of Victor, he seemed very jaunty and his parkour was amazing. I told that to one of the producers of the short who contacted him. We sent Victor the script, he loved it and that was it, he was in. Victor is a great actor that can do his own stunts; he was the perfect combination to play The Raven.

You shot this film for $5000. You obviously prioritize your spending in a way that helps you achieve the most professional look for a fraction of the cost. What are some of the most important elements to invest in? What areas in big studio feature productions do you feel are financially bloated which gives you a creative edge as a resourceful indie filmmaker?

The reality is that I designed this short to the resources I had available. I knew exactly the crew and equipment I was going to be able to get, I knew their weakness so I tried to maximize their strengths. If there is one thing that will make a big difference quality wise in any production, are lenses. A lens is what makes a picture, not the camera.

Do you have any final words for our readership of ambitious independent filmmakers out there?

The secret to success is perseverance and the secret of failure is trying to please. Do what you love and what makes you excited and success will come. Please nobody but yourself, it is impossible to please everybody. There will always be people who will criticize your work, but there will always be somebody that will coincide with you. Filmmaking is about communicating, expressing yourself, and to do that you have to be honest and truthful to you and your audience.

Wow! What an incredibly unique story concept told in a clear and concise manner. I have to ask… Where did this story originate?

This story came from just a random conversation with some friends, I think it might have even been at a Chinese restaurant and somebody said ‘wouldn’t it be funny if there was a Chinese restaurant where they had hidden mics under the table and then you got a customized fortune in your fortune cookie based on your conversation?’ I immediately thought what a great film that could make, but it wasn’t til about two years later that I actually did it.

I find that for me the best ideas usually always happen in that way, when I’m out actually living life instead of locking myself in a room and trying my hardest to come up with something.

Can you tell us about your casting process? How long did it take you to find the actors and when did you know you found your team?

Casting was relatively painless and uneventful. I contacted a few of the local agencies and put out a casting call on a few websites. I read about twenty people for each role. The biggest surprise was the role of the recordists, who we cast Isaac Kim in, a young guy who hadn’t really done any acting before. But he had such a perfect look and was really natural in front of the camera that as soon as I read him I knew we had our guy.

You shot on the Red Cam. Can you tell us why you made this decision?

The Red Cam is such an amazing camera that I try to shoot with it every chance I get. I knew I wanted this film to look slick and that we were going to be shooting everything in one day, so it was a no-brainer to spend a little extra money to rent that camera for the day. DSLRs are wonderful, but the Red to me seems to offer a much more cinematic image that gives you more flexibility in post production, so it’s my camera of choice practically every time.

What lenses did you use?

I can’t remember but it was two basic Nikon lenses. A 50mm and a 17-35 or something like that. I find that the brand of lens you use is almost irrelevant since 99% of people can’t tell the difference between a $2,000 lens and a $200 lens. I think what is vastly more important for people to think about is which lens to shoot with (25mm, 50mm, etc) and your lighting setup of course.

What microphone did you use?

Sound was the roughest part of all of this. We didn’t have a sound recordist (a potentially fatal mistake that I never would make again) so all we did was plug in a boom mic into the camera and have a PA hold it out of frame. Luckily enough most of the sound during the close-ups was great, but all the wide shots had to be done in ADR, which was a huge pain!

Your sound design, cinematography and direction is great. But let’s talk specially about the shot at 1:17  (above) – This shot has great lighting. Can you tell us a bit more about how you approached lighting and composing that shot?

Well I knew I wanted everything in the restaurant to look smooth and pretty and everything in the basment to have more of an ominous tone, so the actors in the restuanrant were lit with soft light (an open faced fresnel bounced off of a white bouncecard) and everything in the basement was lit with hard light, again an open faced fresnel, but with no bounce, instead pointed directly at the actor to produce high contrast and strong shadows).

The shot at 1:17 I don’t remember the exact lighting specifics, but I know we had our key, the open faced fresnel off to camera left, and we just flagged it off so it didn’t blow out the wall behind him. I’m not sure if we had any fill camera right, but if we did it was pretty minimal, probably just a bounce card.

How much of your locations were designed? How did you go about securing such great locations? I really love both the basement (above) and the restaurant.

Well we basically just hit the pavement, going around all the Chinese restaurants around town, looking for one that would be big enough to allow us to shoot with a very low depth of field. I knew I didn’t want my actors sitting in a booth or against a wall because that wouldn’t be very visually interesting. Finally we came across this one, which my friend happened to be managing at the time. He said we could shoot there in the morning before they opened so that’s what we did.

The basement was a little trickier because I live in Austin, and here houses don’t really have basements. So we started looking at businesses, theater houses where we could potentially create a basement set, and then we lucked out by finding this amazing abandoned building with this enormous basement. I loved it so much that we came back there a year later and shot a horror short in it.

How much did Table 7 cost to make?

We shot in one day, and the crew all generously donated their time for this and all the locations were free. So all in all what we ended up spending $ on was rental of a dolly and jib, the red camera, food, and a few props we couldn’t find to borrow such as two of the typewriters. All in all it was around $1,500.

Referencing shot at 2:18 (above) – How are you lighting that shot?

That shot is lit with two open faced fresnels, one camera right and one camera left. The one on the right is lighting the actor on the left and is also providing the hair light for the opposite actor. And the other way around for the other light. I believe we also had a soft light lighting up the backgound. My DP was David Blue Garcia and all the credit goes to him for the lighting. I asked him once about his approach to lighting and his advice was “always figure out your key first, use it to light the short side of the face, and then light the background.” Sound pretty simple, but not being a lighting guy myself, that little bit of information greatly helped me in the future.

If you could turn back the hands of time and do something differently what would it be?

Honestly, I’m really happy with how this project came out and is one of the few films that I’ve made that I watch and don’t say “I wish we could change this or that about it.” Production wise, shooting everything in one day made it pretty tough, and towards the end of the day the crew was really starting to feel it. But because of lack of $ that was the only way to do it at the time. Sound was a mess and I would definitely never go into a project without a sound recordist again. Of course in the editing room I was cursing myself for not having certain shots, but in the end, this is a film that I’m really proud of and turned out pretty much exactly how I envisioned it.

What project do you have planned next?

I am currently working on getting my first feature off the ground.

One of the things that jumped off the screen at me right away was your great eye for locations. I was also impressed that you would go to such lengths in securing a location for a short, almost photographic shot. For example your shots showcasing his interests (at a ranch, in a mansion and in a hunting field). Even though each shot is only a couple of seconds long you’ve gone out of your way to ensure a consistent and seamless integration with the rest of your shots. What was your approach to finding locations? What do you look for when you look at a space?

Well first off, thank you for the compliment and for sharing my work. I used the indie film approach: “what can we afford” and “what can we steal?!” But in all seriousness, the devil is in the details. Locations support character as much as anything else. I’m a huge fan of Wes Anderson and PT Anderson. Both don’t mind spending a single shot in a location, but there’s so much information loaded into just that one shot.

How long did location scouting take? How did you get access to such great locations?

Our editor lived near The Association in downtown LA and they were so kind as to let us shoot there during off hours and one day for free I think. My producer literally asked the manager of Cole’s next door if we could film a few shots there on the day of filming! Also for free (or maybe it was if we bought the crew lunch from there.) We stole a shot in the editor’s hotel for the fencing shot and were promptly kicked out. For the horsemanship shot we cut a deal to shoot for literally 30 minutes at Griffith Park Horse Rental. And the courtship shot was done in a friend’s back lawn. It was the same place we filmed young Handsome and his father. We had a general permit for downtown LA that let us shoot anywhere within a certain grid as the permit office called it. So, we just ran around and grabbed some shots on the day. We literally were scouting that last scene on the bridge an hour before we shot it, rushing to fight the sunset. We had to shoot both of their close ups facing the same direction because there wasn’t enough light for a reverse shot. We just made sure to move the camera over a tad to change the background, put them on opposing sides of the frame, and adjusted their eye lines. The sun and a bounce board was all we had. I recommend this trick when you are in a bind.

You start your film off on a technically complicated shot. You pull back and then light Belle while still having your protagonist seen through her tambourine in the shot. This shot really drew me in and made me curious about this project. Can you tell us a bit more about the planning and lighting setup for this shot?

I knew I wanted to visually tie the two characters together, so as often as possible I wanted them to be occupying the same frame. I’m big on having the first shot be really striking and say as much about the theme as possible. The shot was a little tricky. We had the camera on a tripod on a doorway dolly, then the actress held the tambourine still and we had the lens pointing through it with our focus marks set on Handsome at the bar. We dollied back, pulled focus to Belle and hit the light on a cue. It’s definitely my favorite shot of the film.

You also wrote this film. How long did it take you to write and what motivated you to write this particular love story?

Well, I wrote it the day before it was due in to my Project: Involve directing fellowship at Film Independent. I think pretty much in one or two sittings. I was feeling particularly cynical about the prospect of finding romance in Los Angeles and I just poured my feelings onto the page. I tend to start first with a title or theme and everything branches off from there. I think there’s quite a bit of Handsome and Belle in me. When I was done, I absolutely hated it. I turned it in and literally told the program heads that my script was awful. I didn’t show up the evening they announced the selected scripts, then my friend Graciela Del-Toro texted me and said my script was picked and she had to produce it. I’m clearly too hard on myself.

How long did it take you to shoot?

Two days, but then we did a few pick ups shots in an hour at my place a few days later.

How long did it take you from your initial idea to the finalized film?

Well I wrote it in January 2009, shot it in May 2009 and finished it in July I believe. We really took our time making it, but of course we weren’t working on it all the time.

You shot this film on the Red Cam. What made you go with this camera over the other options available?

I had used the Red One on a previous short and prefer it when working in digital. The Red MX wasn’t out at the time or I would have used it. There’s a unique quality to its images that’s quite beautiful. We shot in 4K with one shot in 2K for when Belle is walking in slow motion away from the stage.

What lenses did you use?

Zeiss Superspeeds. I remember reading in American Cinematographer how Jean-Pierre Jeunet used something like only three lenses for Amélie and I tried to model that. I didn’t shy away from the wider lenses, but I’m also a fan of long lens work. We just used primes. I’m not a fan of zooms, unless you are using it for technique like creeping or snap zooming. They do save time, but if you have a fast AC you can stick to primes. I think they look better.

I really liked how you incorporated the narrator into the story. He was both the Doctor and the Bartender. I loved his “matter of fact” approach to the story. He sort of guides you along in this strongly opinionated rant but then, in the end, he turns out to be wrong. Did you have this idea at the beginning of your writing process or was this idea something that slowly started to emerge later on?

I love narrators in films. I think my all time favorite narrator is in Magnolia. We are trained to accept the omniscient narrator as all powerful and an absolute truth. And in Handsome’s case the narrator is literally this presence in his life telling him what he can and cannot be. I wanted Handsome to sort of break the 4th wall in a non-traditional way and say “hey, I know I’m in a movie, but I don’t have to listen to you!” I feel that way sometimes. Like a narrator is dictating my life and I just want to defy it. I also like playing with the audience’s expectations. It’s funny because just a few months after I finished my short, I saw 500 Days of Summer and in a way I consider my film a companion piece. Its narration is similar.

For many of your shots you’re lighting on the “upstage” side of the camera. Was that a look that you’re drawn towards? For example: 1:13 (above) and 1:15 and 1:32 (above).

You know honestly, it didn’t occur to me until you said that. Perhaps that’s more a signature of the DP, Jay Visit. We attended USC’s MFA Film Production program together. We both were in the Project: Involve program and this was our first collaboration. You can check his reel at www.jayvisit.com and see if you spot more upstage lighting! I think the images in those shots are stunning. What I can say is that it was designed so that 1:13 and 1:15 matched up as closely as possible and for 1:32 I was very specific that I wanted little Christmas lights behind her to go out of focus and appear like stars for a little added magic.

1:18 (above) – How are you lighting this shot?

There’s an illusion of greater depth in this shot because there’s a huge mirror behind our actress in the center. The camera team was low to the ground and we did a push in on the doorway dolley. We turned the chandelier on and then added about 8 small practical lamps, one in each corner of the couches. I believe we shaped light from a chimera soft box we rigged overhead for a soft source on the actress and the table.

2:48, 2:51, 3,41 (all above) – You incorporate a strong sense of symmetry to your shots. In fact it’s kind of the visual signature of this short. What was the creative reason behind the stylistic choices you made (in terms of composition and movement)?

Wes Anderson’s “Royal Tenenbaums” and Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s “Amelie” were influences. I like their use of symmetry and wide angle lenses. I’m also a fan of the narration. I wanted the film to have a very storybook quality to it.

Your casting was incredible. How did you find your actors? Can you tell us a little about your casting methodology?

Well I had first seen the incredibly talented Angela Sarafyan in an indie film called Kabluey that I watched as part of a seminar for my Project: Involve fellowship. By coincidence, a very talented indie filmmaker friend of mine recommended her and set up a coffee meet. We had auditioned several girls, but none of them captured my attention. We were very lucky to get Angela and her career has since taken off (not because of me!). She’ll be seen next as a vampire in Twilight: Breaking Dawn.

Jason Stoll submitted on lacasting.com and when I saw his headshots I knew I had to have him. He looked like a live-action version of the human in Ratatouille. I knew I needed an actor who had the perfect look and who could emote without saying much of anything, like a silent film actor. Handsome literally only says two lines in the short and it’s the same line, “Hello, I’m Handsome”, and yet there’s so much to Jason’s performance.

In auditions I like to read actors in pairs. I had the women pretend to be having a drink at the bar and then told Jason to approach them. He really became the character in the room. I can’t wait to work with both of them again.

You have a couple sponsors for this film: Banana Republic and Vanity Fair. What role did they play in helping you get this film made? Is the film a “branded short”? If so, how can other filmmakers look for similar opportunities. Can you outline how this partnership worked?

Fortunately, the year I was in the Project: Involve fellowship we had some excellent sponsors. Banana Republic and Vanity Fair came up with the general theme of “City Stories” and they wanted the French New Wave to be our inspiration. About 40 or so scripts were submitted from the group of fellows. The talent development team at Film Independent whittled it down to 20 or so and from there we pitched our projects. My producer pitched how our budget would be spent and I showed them storyboards and visuals. Luckily my script was selected as one of 10 films to be made.

Reps from Banana Republic flew to LA to oversee the selection of various clothes from their new spring line to be featured in the films. We pretty much got a shopping spree at the BR on the 3rd street promenade in Santa Monica. All of our actors got to keep their clothes as well which was a bit of an incentive for them!

Vanity Fair advertised the short in their magazine and launched a co-branded site with BR featuring the films. People could vote for their favorite and get more info on the making of the films. I had to make a 3 minute version for their site, but on vimeo I put my director’s cut.

Here’s the branded-content site:
http://www.vfagenda.com/bananarepublic/default.asp

The sponsors teamed up with the W-Hotel to have our shorts playing worldwide on a channel in all the hotel rooms and they also threw us a classy party at the W Hotel Westwood. Don Cheadle, Catherine Hardwicke, and Terrence Howard came out to support the program and give awards to the winning filmmakers. (Nope we didn’t win!) But, I considered the whole process a win.

The sponsors were very supportive and made sure not to intrude on the the creative decisions we made. I’d still consider the film a branded content short. A matter of fact, that short lead to me being signed by Partizan (www.partizan.com).

What extra support did NBC Universal Studios provide?

They gave us $2000 in-kind credit to their grip/electric department and $2000 credit for waredrobe/prop rentals. I think we went over a bit, but got away with it.

What was the budget for the film?

That’s tricky. We only had a $2000 budget which was provided by Film Independent, but as mentioned above we also received about 6K worth of in-kind donations from our sponsors.

What is the “Film Independents Project: Involve”?

It’s part of Film Independent’s Talent Development program. I highly recommend applying to it and their other labs.

http://www.filmindependent.org/labs-and-programs/project-involve/

You don’t publish films too often but when you do publish your work it’s great. So what project(s) are you working on now and when can we expect to see your next film?

The last thing I directed was Machinima.com’s “Bite Me” web-series http://www.youtube.com/show/biteme. I’m currently attached to a feature length project that should be filming in the fall and have some branded content work I’m being considered for.

Thanks for taking the time to talk with our blog readers about your film and best of luck on your future projects!

Hello Alexis and thank you for creating “Red Balloon”. In the opening credits I noticed “Hurricane Production”. Is that your production company?

Hurricane Production arrived after the production of the movie, when the movie was done.They loved it and helped us in the distribution of the movie (festival, sells etc).

Damien and I produced the movie, Jimmy Pinto helped us putting the extra bit of budget we needed to hire the RED CAM and we also had the help of Kerri Trounce who was the line producer on set.

For us RED BALLOON is a calling card to get into the world of feature films.

I didn’t see a writing credit. Did you and Damien write the film together? How long did it take you to write?

Yes, Damien and I wrote it together. It’s based on an urban legend, but it took a long time to adapt it to the screen. We actually shot the movie once with a family camera, with Damien and I as the actors to check timing, shots and dialogue. After that we rewrote the next draft. Actually, we were constantly changing little things until the date of the shoot. Red Balloon, is more about atmosphere than dialogue, so it was a really important step for us.

How long did it take from the time you came up with the idea from the time you completed your final edit?

2.5 years! For multiple reasons. The main reason being that we both have very intense day jobs working in the VFX industry on big blockbusters movies. It was also our first live action movie and my first collaboration with Damien. So we spent a lot of time in pre-production. We analyzed and watched lots of movies, tested lots of shots and did few tests on directing actors and not just CG creatures . We also wanted to find a production company to help put the budget together, we lost a bit of time doing this before deciding on putting our own money on the table and finding a crew we wanted to work with.

The Shoot was only 3 days, which ran quite smoothly because of this preparation. But it took another year of post production and doing VFX. When we are just 2 people, it is way more complicated than when there is big team involved in the same shot. We also had help of great compositors. The editing was also a long process, and we really wanted to work with Jean Clement Soret for color (Danny Boyle’s colorist, someone we admire and a former colleague of ours from MPC) and as you may imagine, he is a very busy artist, so it was all about finding time slots for us, as he worked on the movie for free.

What was the budget for this film?

A bit less than 6000 GBP ($9,700 USD), mainly spent on the location of the house, the red camera, the lighting  as well as things like the generator and van. The whole cast and crew worked for “expenses only”.

You didn’t require a huge cast for this film, but your cast played their roles very well. Did you find it difficult working with a child actor? What lessons did you take away for when you work with children in the future?

It was a true pleasure to work with Rachel Bright (Julie the babysitter in RED BALLOON), and she was great at every step , rehearsal , shoot and ADR!

Yes it was difficult working with the child actor, specifically when you are working in a very tight schedule and budget. We initially wanted Dorothy to be a bit older or at least take someone older that looked younger. But it was very difficult to find an actress to play a no budget thriller genre movie. For the most part, parents tend to prefer fairy tales for their children.

Niamh Palmer Watson (Dorothy in RED BALLOON) was 4 years old during the shoot ! We loved her look and took her almost just on a picture, because the shoot was set up for the week after!

The first difficulty was that we only had access to her for less than a day, so we had to change the whole schedule, in order to shoot every sequence with her at the same time, which means you can’t do all the sequences in the living room first, then the dark living room, then all the sequences in the bedroom. We had to move the lightning and remember exactly the lightning used for each sequence.

Niamh was great in the morning, where she was very focused on everything, but as time passed, she became less and less focused and less and less interested like any child with a new activity. So my advice would be to try and do as much rehearsal as possible before having the child on set.

It was also a challenge for actors that play with her, Rachel is in the majority of the shots speaking alone (there was not the little girl in front of her since Niamh was not there for many of those shot). But when Niamh was there, everyone was focused on her, so Rachel needed to give her top performance each time to ensure we got strong shots.

I guess what we learnt was that it helps to work with slightly older children, try to work with them in rehearsals as much as you can before shooting and keep the number of people on set to a minimum. Also you need to think of your shooting schedule with them in mind. Also, and bit of editing can help polish it all together.

The film is beautifully shot. Nathaniel Hill and his entire camera team Andy Clifford (camera operator), Pete Rowell (Focus Puller) , Simon Wood (steadicam operator), Gille Malard (Crane operator) and of course Jean Clement Soret (Colorist) did an an amazing  job with the lighting, movement and composition of your images. Did you strongly storyboard for this shoot?

Yes it was strongly storyboarded, The whole movie had been shot and storyboard more than once ! We also did some concepts for lighting references. Everything was prepared, as we knew we wouldn’t have time for surprises on set.

In fact, we’ll provide the Lights Film School blog readers with the first release of our storyboard. Click here to download the storyboard.

How much of your environments were designed? For example the shot at 4:36 (above) with wallpaper covering the walls? Was that part of the charm of your location or did you need to add extra design elements?

We had a pretty good idea, of what kind of house and furniture we wanted, so we looked for a house that was similar to our original thought. But of course we were open to alternative ideas , as the budget for the film was tight.

For the steadiCam shot 4:36 in the corridor, we just wanted stairs that go to a corridor that lead to the room, the wallpaper was already there and as you say, “that was the charm of the house”. The same goes for the great sofa in the living room. That was also part of the house. However, there was no children’s room in the house, so we entirely built it from scratch (mainly with actual stuff from Niamh’s bedroom). We also moved a lot the furniture and removed many pictures and stuff but “shhhh” we had our deposit back

Speaking of the design process, what role did color play in your film? I noticed the use of lamp shades in a few of your shots (see above) and was wondering how you made decisions about color.

Color played a  big role! We didn’t want a cold and American night atmosphere (moon light), so we decided that the light, when it’s all dark, would come from a yellow street lamp. We really wanted to have a warm home atmosphere (strangers was a good reference movie for us). We felt it was more real and even a little scarier. We also played a lot with the color at the grading stage with colorist Jean Clement, and really quickly decided to keep a yellow/orange atmosphere for the beginning. However, as we go into the movie it becomes colder and colder into the dark blues.

How long did it take you to location scout to find the house for the film? What drew you towards this location in the first place?

Well, we looked into normal house rental website to search for a big house where at least 12 people could sleep into, we wanted a garden , a corridor, rooms upstairs and not too expensive. So we quickly selected 5 or 6 houses, and then we took the first one that agreed for us to shoot a movie inside. A lot of people were afraid we would do a porn movie, make too much noise or move/ break all the furniture (…hum… not true, everyone knows a movie crew is very carefull ). So it was resonably fast to find it. It took about 2 weeks.

5:28 (above) you’re really drawing attention to the area around the bed. How are you lighting that shot?

There is a main light in the corridor that bounce into the wall. And then we vignette it mostly in grading with a shape that looks like an open door.

5:38  How are you getting your camera up that high? Where the lights not he house in that shot already there or did you place them there? Did you light any of your exterior shots (i.e. 8:42 – Above)?

We used a crane for the shot at 5:38, and we placed the lights there, with lots of cables! We were supposed to use the crane for the big pull back shot 3:33, but we ended up doing it full CG. But we took the advantage of having it by shooting a few others shots, this shot is one of the 2 shots with the crane.

To answer your next question. Yes there is one big 5K behind her, and actually as the camera is moving, sometimes it was in the shot, so we just croped it (as the footage from the redCam is 4K). There is also a smaller light in front of her. It was total darkness outside otherwise.

You shot on the Red Cam. What made you pick that camera over the other options?

When we shot Red Balloon, the Red Cam was the most talked about camera, Arri didn’t release the Arri alexa. We didn’t want to shoot 35mm because of the cost, and the VFX. So we tested and read a lot about the Red Cam. We loved it straight away. It was giving very similar results in term of Depth of Field as a35mm camera would. It’s also a great camera in low light and a very easy pipeline for VFX, editing and grading. We managed to motivate all the crew with the concept and script, but the use of RED CAM was also a big PLUS, as the majority of our team wanted to try and test it!

9:56 (above) – The camera was handling really well in low light. What lenses were you using for this shoot? What made you choose those lenses over the other options available?

We used the set of Red Cam prime lenses Zeiss superspeeds 18, 25, 35, 50, 85mm T1.3. Nat was in charge of choosing the lenses.

There were two Directors that worked on this project: You and Damien Mace. Why was that decision made and how did that collaboration work? What were the benefits of having 2 directors work on this project and what did the division of responsibilities look like?

Damien brought the coffee and I did the rest…. I am of course joking!

We didn’t make the decision of having 2 directors for this movie. From the beginning we decided to direct together, as we have a complementary profile, and we believe there is a very good emulation between us. We met at Moving Picture Company during the post production of Tim Burton’s movie Sweeney Todd, he was the Lead concept/matte painter artist, and i am a Lead Fx artist (more technical 3d).

There was no compromise between us. I simply had to convince him (or reverse) in order to have an idea approved. We are doing every step of the production together, so we didn’t split any task (apart from the vfx), the advantage of being 2 was more the emulation, and we believe, if we are already pleasing 2 different people, we have a greater chance at pleasing a wider audience!

On set, we naturally split some of the tasks. Damien was maybe more with Nat speaking about lighting, and i was more directing the actresses -> But this does not mean, that i didn’t speak to Nat or Damien didn’t direct the actresses.

I’m sure it was valuable having two Directors share the responsibility of managing a team of 30 people!

Yes it is ! 2 brains is better that one, but honestly, it was really 30 brains on Red Balloon, everyone knew their job and was motivated to do the best movie possible.

So what’s next for your team?

We are currently writing, pitching some feature films, finishing writing an other short on the side, and why not start with few commercials? We will take any good opportunity to direct together!

MORE INFORMATION:

redballoonthemovie.com
imdb.com/​title/​tt1653053/​
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I read on to discover that the JAK Art Department dreamt up ideas throughout Lucas’ screenwriting process, influencing the story as it was being written. “This is my favorite part of the process,” Concept Design Supervisor Iain McCaig said in reference to the team’s unique collaborative approach. “Since we start before the script, anything we draw or imagine could possibly be in the movie. George is open to everything. Nothing is set in stone.”

That first encounter with McCaig’s team’s work was six years ago, and I since have come to appreciate the extent to which concept and other instances of fine art influence the look and feel of films. Concept artists like those at Skywalker Ranch must be able to interpret and build upon ideas articulated by a film’s script, director(s), production designers, costume designers, and effects artists, helping especially in the early stages to flesh out convincing characters and worlds. Digital matte painters create environments that are otherwise too expensive to create or simply do not exist in our world; their paintings feature in many science fiction and fantasy productions and are often standalone accomplishments (consider Dylan Cole’s Mordor). Storyboards – graphic organizers that represent a film in comic book-like panes or are extended into more intricate animatics and 3D mockups – enable directors and cinematographers to plan and test the interactions of shots, the specifics of visual effects scenes, and the efficacy of a film’s narrative structure.

The works of concept artists, matte painters, and storyboard artists are not the only instances of fine art that influence films. For example, the works of famous painters sometimes inspire the above-mentioned artists themselves as well as other creative leads: Mel Gibson used Caravaggio as a touchstone for “The Passion of the Christ”, and cinematographer Conrad Hall drew from the melancholy of realist painter Edward Hopper’s works to shoot “Road to Perdition”. Because it’s impossible to break down the visual arts into directional tiers of influence – a concept I will discuss in a moment – we of course wind up with filmmakers inspired by other filmmakers, à la Roger Deakins inspired by Conrad Hall.

Still from “Road to Perdition“

Stepping back for a moment, I would like to note that we live in an image-saturated world. There is a rich history of visual art from which filmmakers draw and to which they contribute, combining and recycling preexisting elements just as writers combine and recycle tropes established by mythologies long ago. “There is nothing new under the sun” because our predecessors beat us to the punches, bequeathing rich traditions that act as springboards and referential shorthand for present-day films. In turn, these films – at least, the good ones – contribute to the traditions in ways that reimagine them, ultimately becoming a part of the history themselves.

Due to this cyclical give-and-take, there is no such thing as an original idea (an idea which is itself unoriginal). I beat my head against this fact in film school, but I since have settled down. “Good artists copy; great artists steal”, Picasso purportedly said. T.S. Eliot is more clear:

“One of the surest tests [of the superiority or inferiority of a poet] is the way in which a poet borrows. Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different. The good poet welds his theft into a whole of feeling which is unique, utterly different than that from which it is torn; the bad poet throws it into something which has no cohesion. A good poet will usually borrow from authors remote in time, or alien in language, or diverse in interest.”

Thus poets steal from poets and painters steal from painters and filmmakers steal from filmmakers and we all steal from each other, etc., etc., etc., and so it goes. Regardless of specific medium, we are as visual artists engaged in saying old things in innovative ways, drawing from and contributing to the organic history of visual art.

For my latest narrative film project, my co-director and I referenced other films, concept art from Hollywood blockbusters and sites like deviantART, famous paintings, video games, and the creations of our own previsualization team. Will the convergence and accessibility of mediums give birth to a new one? If so, what will it be?

By: Michael Koehler

I can’t count the number of times that I roped my younger brothers into shooting films with me in Uganda. More numerous still are those instances in which I selflessly directed them through taking hits for the team: “When Owen pours the water out of the buckets, you’ll need to look up, Josh. Up so that it hits you in the face and you’re soaked. It’ll look great. Just trust me.” The degree to which such scenes were ingenious methods of abusing my brothers is open for debate, but regardless, I can relate to Charles’ obsession with story. His integrity of vision is more backbreaking than was my own at his age; a boy no more than thirteen years old already has a handle on visual storytelling, as evidenced by The Case, the full movie that Charles and his friends work on throughout Super 8. It plays during the end credits and is for me the highlight of Abrams’ film.

…“Abrams’ film”. Is Super 8 Abrams’ film? Is The Case Charles’? Is The Annihilator – the first feature I directed growing up, now locked in a vault with similarly embarrassing childhood endeavors, thank God – my own? Or does each film belong to the respective teams that produced it? More specifically, who is “the author” of a movie? Who’s voice and sensibility does the finished product most reflect: the writer’s, the director’s, the cinematographer’s, or someone else’s? Why does it matter?

In the mid-1900s, filmmakers in France broke with the conservative paradigm to produce works that challenged classical conventions of the cinema. Many of these iconoclastic “New Wave” directors – François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Jacques Rivette – wrote for the film magazine Cahiers du Cinéma, where they explored the groundwork of what American film critic Andrew Sarris has termed “the auteur theory”. The auteur theory is almost as slippery a term as mise-en-scène, but for the most part, critics agree that it holds the director as the primary author of a film. According to the auteur theory, then, the director’s personal creative vision is what most shapes the finished product. “The three premises of the auteur theory may be visualized as three concentric circles,” Sarris writes in 1962’s “Notes on the Auteur Theory”. “The outer circle as technique; the middle circle, personal style; and the inner circle, interior meaning. The corresponding roles of the director may be designated as those of a technician, a stylist, and an auteur.”

Surely, films of the New Wave reflect their directors’ respective sensibilities, just as many films of today bear directors’ signatures. Who but Peter Jackson could have helmed The Lord of the Rings? Who but Charlie Kaufman could have dreamed up Synecdoche, New York? And we can’t forget good Charles Kaznyk, whose love of zombies and the occult shores up The Case (just as my love of espionage and high adventure underwrites my first real foray into film).

It is interesting to note, however, that both Jackson and Kaufman – as well as participants in the New Wave – played a part in writing their respective films. In fact, Abrams wrote Super 8, although it certainly bears Spielberg’s stamp of sentimentality. Where does the line between “writer” and “director” – and for that matter, between “director” and the rest of his crew’s creative leads – break down? Film is inherently a collaborative medium. As singular as it is, where would Jackson’s adaptation of Tolkien’s trilogy be without Alan Lee’s and John Howe’s inspired illustrations? Without the hundreds of other people who brought the story to the screen? It took only one man to write the book.

Neil Gaiman, one of my all-time favorite writers, has something interesting to say on this subject. During an interview with MTV about adapting Stardust, Gaiman discusses the relationship between the page and film: “Everybody loves pirates. And I like the idea of a flying pirate ship. I thought it would be a wonderful thing for Charles Vess to draw, so I had Tristan and Yvaine in the clouds and rescued by the flying ship. It was the work of a few seconds. Ten years later, I’m at Pinewood Studios, and I’m walking around a life-sized flying ship! I felt so guilty. I wasn’t saying how great it was; I was going, ‘I am so sorry I made it up!’ Because it didn’t cost me anything, just the price of whatever tea I was drinking and some ink. And now seventy people have spent two months working to build this thing and you can dance on the deck.”

Unarguably, a film is the product of many minds. For my part at this point in time, I’m not prepared to attribute “auteurship” of such a collaborative product solely to the director. While I wouldn’t go so far as to advocate David Kipen’s writer-centric “Schreibner theory”, I do think that our industry on the whole – because there are exceptional exceptions – would benefit from some sober reflection and humble reconsideration of how we (1) esteem other creative leads, (2) treat and interact with screenwriters throughout the production process, and (3) present ourselves to the public. Perhaps it is time for us to challenge the challenge of the New Wave vanguard, help Charles off his high horse, and usher in a new period of iconoclasm. I have some ideas, but that’s a discussion for a later time.

…What do you think?

By Michael Koehler

Another type of voice over, employed by protagonists rather than omniscient narrators, is the type used commonly in hard-boiled film noir films. Here, the narrator, who is also the main character, punctuates the overall narrative by providing voiceover narration where he or she speaks directly to the audience.

As filmmaking and storytelling has evolved, both of these forms of voiceover narration have begun to feel antiquated. With writing instruction putting an emphasis on “showing not telling”, the idea of revealing important information through voiceover is at times now thought of as a cop out.

However, as we can see if we take a closer look, there are many exciting ways to use voiceover beyond providing plot points and story details to an audience.

What are some of the ways voiceover is employed that defy the traditional uses?

- Voiceover may be used as a way to detach dialogue from a particular image. This technique is used especially well in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

In this technique, the writer uses voiceover to place lines that would have chronologically been spoken at a different place or time over an image in a separate one. In Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, this is used to create a tapestry of time and space. It’s used very subtly in the following clip after he says “I did”.

- Voiceover may be used to clue the viewer into the inner-monologue of a character whose thoughts we would otherwise not know. This is similar but more in-depth than the traditional form of VO used in film noir and is used a lot in the Showtime series Dexter. Here, the protagonist clues the viewer into his thoughts and intentions. This is a major contributing factor in making Dexter a relatable character, and giving the audiences the creepy sensation of being on the side of a serial killer.

Writers don’t need to shy away from voiceover even in its most traditional sense. As long as the voiceover benefits your story, it has the potential to be a compelling tool within a script.

By Lauren S. McGrail

Hello Lukas and thank you for creating and sharing your film “OTEC” (Father) with us. The first thing that strikes me is that you don’t have any other videos on your Vimeo or IMDB page. Most filmmakers experience a sort of gradient of professionalism in their work. They start off by doing some satisfactory work before moving on to doing more precise work. But for a first film you’re out of the gates really strong. If this is your starting point I’m incredibly curious to know what your end point is. Was it really important for you to do a strong first film? How did you practice to get yourself to this level of cinematic precision and understanding?

I started to study film studies in 2005 – at first I studied documentary directing at the Academy of Arts in Banská Bystrica, Slovakia. Later, I transferred to the Film and Television Faculty at the Academy of Performing Arts Bratislava, Slovakia. The film “Father” is actually my graduate project, which I ended my studies with in summer 2009. The time spent at school was the best time of my life. I met a lot of people there who have influenced me and still have an influence on me – amongst others my former teachers, Slovak directors, Stanislav Párnický and Martin Šulík and the Czech dramaturge Jan Gogola. Their patience and humour taught me not to take everything too seriously, to rather objectively observe life from a distance as beautiful as it is. Their approach was in accordance with my character which is rather introvert and spiritual. These people are one or two generations older than me and therefore their experience is very valuable.

Slovakia lies in the heart of Europe. However, our history has been influenced by the ideology of the former eastern bloc. We, as the Slavs, are a thoughtful nation who can give a lot to the present world. We actually are a kind of a link between the western and eastern ideology, in spite of the fact that we ourselves have our own problems (not surprisingly) connected with human greed and egoism.

Until the fall of socialism, the censorship was trying to limit the influence of the western culture, which meant that our cinematography has been labelled as eastern European cinematography. However, this isolation meant the exact opposite. Film directors such as Tarkovsky, Kieslowski, Wajda and others became respected and valued filmmakers throughout the whole world. Their films were not made to earn money, as it is today, but they were and still are valuable works of art. The film, thanks to its universal language, is the best bearer of higher ideas – it lets life, however cruel it might be, to stand out and gives hope to people in this way – hope for a better world. This is what I value the most about films and I would like to contribute to this through my work. Whether it is my first or my last work of art, it has to have a common aim – to celebrate life with all its inevitable contradictions. However, my film “father” who has had the biggest influence on me and thanks to whom I have decided to study film studies, paradoxically does not come from a country from the former eastern bloc. It is Terrence Malick who I hope to meet one day.

You shot this film on the RED ONE camera. Why did you make this choice?

My original intention was to shoot the film Father on film material – with a 16mm camera. In 2008, shortly before the shooting itself, I got into contact with the camera RED ONE. Considering our low budget (30,000 EUR) and the shooting style (together with the director of photography, Ivo Miko, we did not use the story-board and to a great extent we let ourselves be influenced by the surroundings and situations resulting from it) we finally decided to use digital shooting in 4k quality with 35mm lenses. The film material would cost us much more and therefore our choice was clearly rational. The FilmPark company, who we rented the camera from, became a co-producer and so we paid only for one day instead of for 14 shooting days for renting the camera. Therefore I would like to address my special thanks to them, because they clearly did not do so out of economical reasons.

You’ve created a beautiful opening shot. What did you use to stabilize the camera for this shot?

The introductory take is quiet simple. We used a classic, approximately 10-metre dolly on which the camera was at a 90-degree upward position. The night changing into the morning was finished by postproduction. We neither had time nor money for other technologies. We have put a lot of effort into postproduction. Before the shooting, we spoke to the advertisement postproduction studio Framehouse, which did a very good job for a symbolic fee; if they had charged us a standard fee, our whole budget would not be sufficient. Today I can say that we were lucky to work with unselfish people who had decided to help us. This film therefore is dedicated to them as well.

Your shot around 2:40 (above – mother in boat) is very atmospheric and well lit. Are you using only natural light for these shots? Did you plan on having the subtle fog in the background? It seems like such a beautiful and rare environmental moment (the backlight, the stillness of the water, the fog etc) that it seems like you must have planned this shot around these specific conditions. Did you need to wait for the right day to shoot this scene? Same with the shot at 10:52 (above – lake) and 34:45 (above – walking through fog). Was this fog real?

Concerning the atmospheric conditions and weather, we were extremely lucky. Neither could we afford to postpone the shooting, nor to wait for ideal conditions. The film was shot mostly at the end of August and the beginning of September at a sea near Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. We used mainly natural light for the day exterior shots. The mild fog surrounding the boat was natural; we shot the scene with the mother and little Adam early in the morning when a mild mist was floating over the sea. This as a result makes a magical impression and emphasizes the retrospective sequences of the father and the adult Adam. The next scene with the sea and the rising sun had to be finished in postproduction because the sun was hidden by clouds the day when we planned to shoot it. The result looks natural which, of course, I am satisfied with. The scene in which we see the father walk with his dead wife surrounded by fog was for a change a trick realized on the set. We used a sulphur powder which when burning and under fair weather conditions creates a feeling for a while that one is in a magical forest. By this I wanted to emphasize the transcendental, higher reality in which the character of the father found himself at the end of the film. He was with his wife in his memories and dreams all the time. He has never left her.

You walk a very fine line as a filmmaker having some of your shots meticulously well designed and romanticized with perfectly executed compositions, movement, lighting and styling. Yet, other shots are much more naturalistic. For example, your opening sequence is very photographic. A large part of your efforts went into the framing and choreography of that shot, then once inside the fathers house you seem a little more “loose” with your compositions. How much of your film is actually designed though? For example the shot at 31:20 (above). Were the curtains, chair and the rest of the furniture already there or did you conceptualize all of this and work with a designer to create this world?

The world we created was not complicated. This applies to costumes and the production design itself. The house in which we shot was completely empty, so we had to furnish it completely. We had to repair the electricity, install lights, put curtains on the windows etc. My main condition was to use natural materials and old rustic style furniture. I wanted to have the impression that the character of the mother furnished the cottage with all the details and little things that only women can make up. That is why the interiors were furnished by women, who had not had much experience with film, but they had sense and big imagination – and that was enough for me. I applied the same principle on the costume. We used mostly our own clothes or clothes borrowed from friends.

The biggest problem for us was the boat. We were trying to get a wooden boat for several weeks; we did not have money for a new one, so we went to fishing settlements and tried to persuade the local fishermen to lend us one. Finally we found a fisherman who sold us two old boats for chicken feed (150 EUR). But here’s the rub: One of the boats had a hole and could be used only for scenes on the lakefront. The other boat…had a hole too. That happened two days before the beginning of the shooting. Finally we managed to repair it somehow. However, the boat was floating only for about 20 minutes then it would go down. Water was getting in it the whole time. I could not sleep at night because of it. We had to risk it and shoot despite all the potential risks. Fortunately, nothing bad happened to anybody.

I noticed at the end of your film you included the line “dedicated to my father”. I’m assuming this story is something that you hold very dear to your heart. As filmmakers we’re always putting parts of ourselves into our stories, but often filmmakers try to hide or at least disguise their own involvement in their stories. You explicitly state at the end of your film that this is a story that has relevance in your family. “Father” really moved me. In fact there was a moment just before the the climax that brought me to tears. I can’t help but feel that there is a strong current of honesty running through this film. Without asking you to share your personal history, can you tell us a little bit more about what made you want to tell such a personal story?

I grew up in a beautiful but poor region in the north of Slovakia. The most important thing for both of my parents was to support the family and survive another month. When one is alone and is not responsible for anybody else it is easy. But when one has two little children, the responsibility is incomparable. My brother and I got the best upbringing we could get. We had just a little but nevertheless we had so much. Our father has brought us up to be honest and responsible and our mother taught us about feelings and love. Both of them dedicated their whole lives to their children. That is the biggest sacrifice one can do – to give up your life for someone else. To dedicate a film to someone is nothing compared to it. It does not cost anything. But I have to admit that the biggest motivation to finish the film after 3 years of shooting was the idea of how my father would read the subtitle “dedicated to my father” at the end of the film. And it happened. It is called being overwhelmed by being overwhelmed. But now I have to dedicate a film to my mother to keep balance .

How long did it take you to write the script?

The writing of the script, or better said of some versions of the script, lasted more than two years. I have torn it into pieces several times because it always seemed stupid to me after some time. Finally I have managed to write the final version thanks to my pedagogues. The film has been cut totally different as it was written because it simply would not work as it should. This is the hardest part in the work of an artist – to leave your old idea, which is strongly anchored in your head and let a new one form.

The shooting itself lasted for one year. Because of the finances we had to divide the shooting into four sections. We managed to shoot most of the film in summer; we shot the summer interiors of the cottage in fall, the final part of the film in winter and then the summer interiors of the apartment in spring. We cut the film in about ten days in my friend´s small apartment; the sound postproduction together with the recording of the sound was finished in about two weeks. The hardest thing was to get money for the final trick postproduction which we needed 1,000 EUR for. The bank was not willing to give any loan, as I was a student and I had already owed money to my friends. Most of the millionaires and businessmen who we met have sent us away with a smile on their faces or they did not even pick up the phone. After several months of desperate searching we have found Mr Kováčik, owner of a big production company, who has paid for the postproduction. After three years the film was finally finished. However, we were paying back the debts which we had after this film for another year. Since then I have been claiming that persistence and patience are the most important characteristics of a filmmaker.

How big of a part did wardrobe play in your film?

The costume designer Katka Žgančíkova and I were trying to show the life of the main characters as realistically as possible. Although we focused on the characters which had been defined even before the shooting, we adapted to the typology and nature of the actors. But as I have already mentioned, the world we had created was not complicated. It is based on what life has offered us.

I love the shot at 11:39 (above). I notice you like being high with your camera. Can you explain that decision? Also that shot was one long take! What rig did you have your camera on?

First and foremost, the film is a visual experience for me. I love silent films which are able to tell a story without using a dialog. When watching a film as a viewer I like to put the film as a unit together and surmise more than is said – according to Tarkovsky – it is the only way which in the process of the perception of a film puts the viewer on the same level as the artists. I do not like when the viewer is treated as if he was stupid and when every little thing is explained to him, otherwise he would not understand the film. Other examples are the mise-en-scene or long scenes, which the viewer subconsciously studies and reveals important information for him. In this case I wanted to tell something more about the surroundings through this whole scene, but also about the characters and their relationship. It does not only seem real, it is also a challenge for the actors who have to focus not only on the acting but also on the movement of the camera. And this is not easy. The scene was shot with an about 8 meters long Jimmy Jib.

The location at 12:00 (above) is very iconic. When I think about your film these trees come to mind. Can you tell us a little about your location scouting philosophy? How do you look at space?

Our task was to find a beautiful cottage at a lake. It was not easy because most of the cottages we had found were not suitable. Besides, none of them were close to the lake. In the end, the surrounding of the forest and the beach with the roots of the trees persuaded me. When we had found it, I knew this was the right place. We managed to find the owner of the cottage and agree on a low rent. During the shooting most of the crew slept in the interiors of the cottage, some on beds, others in sleeping bags on the floor or in tents outside. I slept in the bed of little Adam where one could neither lie nor sleep properly. Besides, the whole cast and crew sat at the fireplace at night after the shooting, we had something to eat and drink and talked for a few hours. It was pleasant but unfortunately sometimes also painful in the morning. All the other locations were in Bratislava which is very suitable for shooting a film. We chose visually interesting locations but in the end the price we had to pay, was the most important criterion. But we were lucky and did not have to pay for most of the locations. This is the proof that still there are people whose only and foremost motivation is not money and this makes me happy because this is how it is supposed to be.

“Father” Is a very thinly scripted story. How did you communicate with the actors or other crew who may have a difficult time envisioning the narrative thrust of the story? You use silence a lot and that can be difficult for some people (both in front and behind the camera) to interpret. How did you effectively communicate the arc of these scenes with your cast and crew? It’s so well put together that I can see all of the different elements working together making the same narrative point (everything from movement, performance, lighting, design, atmosphere, sound etc). Therefore I know there was no confusion about what the point of each scene was and how it fit into the larger context of your story. I’m just curious to know if you found it challenging communicating these points?

The script was originally much denser as it can be seen in the end result. In the final cut about a third of the dialogue and several beautiful takes were eliminated – it was hard for me to say goodbye to most of them. In the process of cutting one sometimes has the feeling as if one would be killing his own child. Suddenly, one has to get rid of situations and scenes which one likes just because they slow the development of the story or reveal too much. I talked to the actors (who were also working for free) about the story and my idea of it several times. And because hardly anyone had known me as a student, a good script was the only thing I could offer at that time.

The acting is incredible. I was never pulled out of the believability of your story for even a second. I was totally captivated the entire time. Can you tell us a little bit about your philosophy in regards to working with actors? What do you look for in a performance?

Eighty percent of a good acting performance is about the right casting. When you manage to suitably cast a character, which you have invented or copied from life, you have managed the hardest part. The rest is only about communication and the humanity of all the participants.

Thanks to TV series, which I do for a living, I know a lot of (not only) Slovak well-known and beginning actors. However, I like to work with those who put their hearts in their work. What I appreciate about people is when their job is their hobby. I am motivated by the idea that I rehearse with an actor who gives me suggestions and thereby co-creates the character. Every director needs to co-create the character no matter how conceited he is and denies it. More than eighty percent of the communication in the life is nonverbal and this is also what acting is about. The film is able to reveal even the smallest emotional glimpse with a detailed take. This demands big emotional (and intellectual) self-control from the actor. This is why I do not like working with shallow people – if we are not able to connect on the emotional level, further cooperation is not possible.

We applied the same principle in the film Father. Together with the actors we talked abut the characters, who is who and why it is so. We talked about the fictive past of the characters, about the motivation which led them do what they did but also about feelings which the viewer should feel in the end. We soon find out, with the help of our instinct, whether the actor thinks about the character correctly and whether he acts naturally. There are no instructions. If you are not satisfied with the process of rehearsing, a cruel and merciless exchange is necessary, of course only if it is possible. There is much more than only one´s good reputation or a long-lasting friendship with the actor that is at risk.  Your film project, which you dedicate several years of your life, is at risk. A wrong cast or bad acting can spoil every even a genially constructed story. Neither can a good actor save a bad story. It is about the balance, which is necessary and there is nothing worse than a tormented actor or an unsatisfied director.

Do you give the actors room to improvise or are you pretty strict about sticking to the script?

I take the script only as a helping scheme. Nevertheless, I do not like schematism as such. I like freedom, which has to be based on the openness towards unexpected events. In the case of a low-budget production you have to improvise partially, otherwise you will not be satisfied. And this is what I do not like. The script is only one step of the film development and what is the most important fact, it is not the last step. The final version of the film will always be the last step. It is not important whether you stick to the script exactly. I perceive it only as a useful guide how to proceed in the development of the story. However, there are certain rules which should not be changed for the sake of dramaturgical logics. It is the same when working with actors. If an actor shows me with his improvisation something better than I wanted, I would be insane not to accept it. Rehearsal before shooting has its advantages – work is then more comfortable and time and energy is saved. This is also about repressing one’s own personality, which always thinks that nobody else is better. But reality is different. In real life, one has to step back only for the sake of the thing.

Your choreography of movement matched the energy of your scenes perfectly. Everything integrates really well together. I can tell you had a sense of how you wanted to edit this together before you even started editing. For instance, 16:56 to 17:08 – The movement is in this scene is subtle, slow and follows the energy of the story. Or for example your water shot at 18:01 that merges into the fish tank scene at 18:10 which then transforms into a restaurant scene at 18:19. This is a really smooth transition into two totally different environments. In fact the editing of the entire film is incredibly well done. Do you consider yourself a good choreographer of energy?

One of the best aspects of the film is its atmosphere. From this point of view I perceive the film as a musical symphony which has been formed rationally, but has a clearly emotional experience. When I needed to reach a certain emotional state of a particular scene when writing the director script, I was listening to music with a similar atmosphere during the writing. Music is a proof of the existence of a higher reality, its vibrations can get a person into various emotional states. When connected with picture and symbolic speech, the film creates a specific atmosphere – for me, a film is dead and not interesting if it does not have this atmosphere. The viewer has to be absorbed by the fictive reality of the film during the first 10 minutes. When this happens, the story which is revealed on the screen becomes his only reality. Then it is possible to talk about a good atmosphere. It can be reached by various means; each one is based on the sense of aesthetics of that particular director and the director of photography. My aesthetic taste was inspired by filmmakers such as Terrence Malick or Andrej Tarkovsky. I like when the camera is in motion and reveals the story to the audience gradually and without unnecessary dialogue with the help of symbols and situations which the viewer can read subconsciously until the last catharsis.

Film, in the first place, has to show a believable life also with its archetypal essence – so that everyone who watches the film could find a piece of himself in it. Besides, nowadays we will not invent better stories than people did in the past. The Bible, Greek, Egyptian and Indian myths have told everything about the humans. There is nothing better. Human deeds and sins repeat constantly. Is there any more “serious” murder than the murder committed by Cain? In the end it is about one´s vision of the world which is unique in its subjectivity – and that is what one can offer to the others. Who is not able to accept it, is not able to give it to others and that is all.

Looking back, if you could do anything differently what would it be? What is the single most important lesson you learnt while you shot this film that you’ll carry forward to your next project?

One of the most important things I have learned when filming Father is that one has to be patient. It is not possible to accelerate the natural pace of things, not even when you want it too much – that is when you cause distress and you are unhappy. One has to be patient and determined. Besides, film production is a collective work – one has to work and get along with a big number of different (and also problematic) people. That is why it is important to learn to listen to people and try to get into and understand their inner personality. This applies not only to film production.

What project are you working on next?

My next film is the film called Piargy: Antichrist Reborn. It is a poetical story from the beginning of the 20^th century with a mysterious, even a frightening atmosphere and it is something between a drama, romance and horror film. Due to its outer plot line it resembles faith or a metaphorical picture of the biblical Sodom and Gomorrah about the destruction of sinners by a natural catastrophe. Instead of a huge stone city there is a small out-of-the-way mountain settlement. Instead of sulphur and fire, a destructive avalanche comes. Collective guilt and the following punishment express the idea of a total disruption of the society. The story is a reflexion about human suffering and its meaning. It is trying to answer three basic questions about life: What is suffering? Why is it in the world? And what attitude should one have towards it? The most important mission of the film is to emphasize the fact that the meaning of human life is not material happiness and welfare but the growth of soul and unselfish love. The project is in the phase of development and financing – its premiere should take place at the end of 2014. I am also preparing a short unnamed low-budget project from the surrounding of the Chinese community in Slovakia to fill the years of waiting and I would like to distribute this project through the internet.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and ideas with the Lights Film School blog readers. We all truly appreciate your insight. Best of luck!

Hello and thank you for creating the short film “notes”. It’s beautifully shot and it’s a joy to watch. Let’s jump in and discuss how you and your team created this film.

Where did the story originate from?

The very early beginning of the film was born out of a challenge I set myself.  I wanted to improve my skills directing actors so the initial concept was to create a story with no dialogue that relied purely on the visuals, the acting, sound design, and music to convey a layered emotional story.  I cannot actually recall where the original seeds of the story began I may have even been born fully formed! I don’t like saying too much about the story as I prefer people to take their own meaning away from it, but what I will say is the story is not really about creativity or being a ‘writer’ and more about being a human being.  I’m constantly fascinated by memory, identity and the psychological tricks people hardwire into themselves in order to maintain a certain belief and I think an element of Notes stems from this.

The shot at :12 (above) is beautiful. Can you tell us how you lit it?

For this answer I’m going to pass you on to my director of photography Adam Etherington:

Adam: We worked around a strategy of Tungsten based lighting, and looked to create a base level for the entire set that would enable us to move quickly within the environment. Our strategy was based around soft sources lighting from upstage to create shadows and silhouette’s.. Keying with the wrap from these soft sources and showing detail in highlights. A soft but contrasty feel was our goal. We selected a tungsten based package due to the softer waveform and more gentle wrap of the light. The majority of our level was created using 2.5K Arrisoft’s, 1.25k softs and Ziplights, with harder tungsten sources placed strategically for highlights and kickers. A 2k Fresnel with F2 diffusion and a blackwrap snoot provided the pool of light that falls center stage throughout the film. Due to the fact we were shooting on RED, and were on a tungsten based package, there was the potential for a lot of noise in the image due to the lack of level in the blue channel of the sensor. In order to help counteract this we underrated the camera, using meta-data set at an ISO of 200 and took care to be cautious of highlights.

How did you approach your film’s soundscape? Jamie Cattermole and Rob Newman did a great job with the music and sound. Did your sound team pre-conceive the sounds and music beforehand or did you wait until you had the picture locked before you started designing the sound for the film?

All of the music and sound is post production, we didn’t record any sound on set.  We didn’t pre-conceive anything beforehand, Jamie and Rob became fully involved as we were getting close to locking the edit down.  For me what the soundscape needed to achieve was not only a feel and texture of the character’s immediate environment but also to create a feeling of the rest of this world outside of the locations four walls.  It needed to feel vast and populated in contrast to this pocket of isolation.  I spent a great deal of time thinking about the world this character exists in – he lives deep in the city, a basement apartment converted from what used to be a London train station or tube system.  He is surrounded by neighbours on either side, and directly above him are several hundred other residences as he lives in the foundations of a large apartment building.  Trains rumble past nearby and the rain perpetually rattles against the one window in the flat.  In the end it all stems from the central character and using an expressionistic approach to portray his story and inner workings in a visual manner.

Are you re-lighting your close ups? For instance 1:18 ( the typewriter above)? Or 3:00 (note pad)?

Adam: We did perform minor tweaks for CU’s though the majority of them were lit through the primary lighting setup. The shot on the typewriter for example has a rosco light-pad beneath the keys to help add texture, there was a 1.25KW Soft lamp off-camera right for an upstage level. Due to the tight limitations of time we pre-rigged the day before to create a ‘blanket’ space that covered the majority of our areas of action. We did tweak and adjust during the day from shot to shot but these changes were relatively minor. This was the only way we were able to make the schedule work in the limited time available.

Referencing shot at 2:05 (above) – How much of that environment is designed? Did you bring in the desk? The pictures on the wall? The coffee maker? The fan etc?

Absolutely everything is designed The entire room is a set built in a studio from scratch.  It pleases me people ask questions like this because I find it hard to not see the set when watching the film, if the audience are unaware that what they’re looking at is a set built from nothing (using rather flimsy walls) then we’ve done our job of creating a believable world.  It also makes all the time we spent staining the walls with tea bags worthwhile!

Production designer Matthew Clark did an incredible job designing and building the set.  The desk was the last thing to be found, we rescued it temporarily from a theatre props warehouse filled with the most incredible stuff.  I think about a month after we had finished shooting the warehouse was closed and almost everything in it destroyed.

You limited yourself to one location. Was that a consideration before you came up with the story? Did you force yourself to simplify the film by limiting the locations? Or did the story just naturally fit within the 1 location?

The locations for the story were always supposed to be limited; in the original script there were three rooms we saw, the main room comprising of living space and kitchen, a tiny box bedroom and a corridor. We ended up seeing little of the box bedroom and we had to drop the corridor set, which was only going to be used in a few shots to build to the reveal of the room full of post-it notes.

The story did naturally fit with one location, especially after fleshing out the character through meetings with Ben during pre-production.

What was your approach to wardrobe, design and styling?

The approach was to make something timeless but with a hint of the futurist, a kind of nowhere time.  One thing we wanted to avoid was Steampunk, which in recent years has become overtly stylized when what we were going for was subtlety and a feeling of familiarity but of another time.  Art-deco was a large influence (I referred to the film as an art-deco noir for some time) drawing on New York / Chicago architecture, the London underground and the poster designs of that era, which actually feature on the walls of the set.  I’m quite influenced by expressionist films but have never had the control over a films environment before to explore such ideas, but with Notes I wanted to go down that darker route where the sets and lighting are almost part of the protagonists mindscape.  The wardrobe was quite simple and not overtly stylized or stylish, focusing on what the character would chose to wear living alone in this place.

What camera did you shoot “Notes” on?

We shot on the RED one camera.

What lenses did you use?

Adam: We shot on a Cooke T3.1 20-100mm Zoom lens. I’m a big advocate of using older glass on more recent digital formats, as the softness of the optics helps greatly in offsetting the hard edge of the digital image. You have to choose carefully with older glass as it can sometimes struggle for resolution when projected, but the older Cooke’s really do hold up well, particularly if you can build enough level to shoot around T4. We also selected Cooke glass in particular, as the warmer more gentle contrast ratio and colour rendition played to the themes of the narrative, and into our strategy as a whole.

Referencing the shot at 3:25 (above) – Do you naturally gravitate towards compositions with a strong sense of depth (foreground, middle-ground and background), or do you need to remind yourself to look for depth in a shot?

I try to as much as I can, there’s nothing worse than coming away from a shoot and finding that you’ve shot what could have been potentially great shots in a rather flat and dull way.  One of the great things about working with Adam is that he’s not afraid to tell the director that a shot looks flat and boring and that we should try something else.  I don’t go out of my way to find depth or include it for the sake of it

Referencing shot at 3:36 – Great shot! So even the wire coming down from the top left corner is a prop?

It’s a prop. One of my favorites.

Referencing shot at 3:55 (above) – How are you lighting this shot?

Adam: This was some time ago now, however I believe we were using a 2.5K arrisoft with F1 diff hung high above Ben, bouncing off the wall in front of him as a key, with hard tungsten sources directed down the wall to pick out detail on the notes. Falloff around the artist was controlled with flags and cutters. The majority of our close up work involved a bit of control of falloff using flags in order to isolate our level and pick out the subject. Our aim was always to keep it contrasty but very soft.

Referencing shot at 1:05 – What lens are you using for the close ups?

Adam: This would again have been the Cooke 20-100mm. Although this shot isn’t particularly representative of this, It’s handy to note that one of the most useful assets of this lens, and also of it’s slightly sharper younger brother (The Cooke 18-100mm T3 Varotal) is the wonderfully near focal distance of the close focus. Even at 100mm the lens is capable of a CF of around 2ft 4ins (I think off the top of my head?) making it an incredibly versatile tool for the fine close up work so crucial to visual storytelling.

Great shot at 5:43! (Not a question… just wanted to throw it in there!)

Thanks!

Referencing the shot at 7:06 (above) – Do you prefer lighting from “upstage” keeping your shadows towards the camera?

Adam: Very much so. I’m a big fan of creating contrast by using very soft sources directed upstage. By creating a large soft source and directing it towards camera you are able to bring texture and detail to articles and surfaces that may before have been quite plain. This strategy is taken to it’s extremes in ‘Notes’, and it was slightly experimental in this respect; using almost no fill and relying on the soft wrap of the tungsten light to provide detail.

You have a great team of people. How did you find such a talented group of people to work on this project? The directing, editing, sound, cinematography, design, performance… it’s all there.

Thank you, I’m really proud of everyone who worked on the film. With a few exceptions most of us have worked together before on smaller projects but for Notes it was great to gather together people who I respect and know are talented and have the opportunity to work and collaborate on a larger, more detailed project.  I think everyone more than rose to the challenge.  Adam (DoP) and Ben (actor) are the exceptions, Adam and myself have worked on projects since Notes, mostly music videos and I would love to work with Ben again.

How did you go about funding this project? How much did it cost you to shoot?

The whole thing was (stupidly) funded by my credit card.  I cannot recall exactly how much we spent in the end – it must have been under 1.5K, at least I hope it was.  It took me some time to recover financially from making Notes.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us about your film. I know I speak on behalf of our blog readership when I say “thank you”.

Thank you, I’m really happy you enjoyed the film so such and I hope your readers enjoy it too!

Director James Sharpe
Director of Photography Adam Etherington