Behind-the-Scenes: The Sound a Soul Makes
Developing the Cinematography
I obsess over visuals — so finding the right cinematographer for The Sound a Soul Makes was absolutely critical, especially as I’d set out a pretty big challenge for the project: I wanted the light to move, representing the parents’ journey searching for and connecting with their daughter.
Further, the shoot would be split into two locations — both with some pretty unique challenges:
A BEACH-SIDE CAVE, where we had an EXACT amount of time to shoot the film’s opening, transitions, and ending dance…all before the tide got too high during sunset.
A BLACK VOID, taking place on a stage, where we would exclusively use light to transform it into three distinct looks. No set design, no nothing but light and dance.
CHALLENGES
Our first shoot day was 3/9/20…so while we only had two shoot days, they were separated by over a year due to COVID. To that end, I want to give both cinematographers full credit for their outstanding work on the project: Luc Delamare for all beach work, and Nathaniel Regier for all Black Void shots.
Both Luc Delamare and Nathaniel Regier were incredible and selfless collaborators, particularly as we faced a new and strange set of challenges: ensuring a seamless style, tone and momentum for a film now effectively shot in two distinct segments.
Since the beach shoot was first, let’s talk about those challenges first!
LOCATION #1: THE BEACH
Despite the intensity of the shoot and micro crew (my call sheet had tide levels marked out every 30 minutes), I wanted the shots and dancers to take the time to explore the space. I wanted slow, delicate movement and discovery.
And the way Luc and I prepared was to walk through the exact sequence shots we wanted, when the light would be best for each, and then leaning on Luc to capture the dance organically in the mediums and close-ups.
Having worked with Luc for years, I absolutely LOVE his sense of movement with the camera and subject in those delicate, in-between moments — and this was honestly the only way this part of the shoot was possible.
Luc — THANK YOU for your hustle in capturing those surreal and ephemeral moments so beautifully.
LOCATION #2: THE BLACK VOID
The Black Void was an intricately planned shoot on a 50x70’ stage, where the biggest challenge was finding a way to execute three vastly different looks for a wide master shot that would encompass the entire stage.
And we needed to do it all in one pre-light day, and then shoot / wrap the following day.
AND part of this challenge was creating an overhead light rig that would orbit above the dancers…more on that later this week!
This was all about to become Nate’s domain, where he dedicated the next few weeks to developing the right approach and gameplan to execute a very ambitious setup and shotlist.
And that is the very first thing I’m so grateful to Nate for: his absolute drive to absorb the project, and to bring it to life in a way that could do the story justice. And as you can see — he clearly did.
THANK YOU Nate for the heart and soul you brought to the project! As a director it’s rare to come away from a set feeling like you “got it all” — but with Nate’s planning, and his work assembling a crew that was absolutely top notch, I got to experience that.
Check out their work in action.
Other “Behind-The-Scenes” posts in this series:
- Developing the Concept: Poem to Script
- Developing an Original Score
- Developing the Choreography
- Developing the “Rig” [COMING SOON]
