'The Writer' takes the viewer to different layers of
Thomas’s imagination where it is only at the end that we find out what is
reality.
Directed by Francesco Gallo and similar to my roles in ‘the
water above Us, I handled sound and was also the editor…and kinda Vfx on this
one. It was shot on the Arri Alexa, which was exciting, first time working with
it (on the field and not in a studio). Although it came with the challenges of
the RED in terms of sound (we didn’t have timecode but I was already used to my
workflow so it was a walk in the park).
And then my also being the editor, I
knew exactly what sound was for what.
We shot it in one location but different rooms. A very nice
hotel with a bar, and a suite which had a living room, bedroom and bathroom
which were perfect for all we needed…except the bathroom, myself and the
gaffer, Stuart Everitt, had to climb into the bathtub because of the space
taken by the camera.
My sound config was the same, only this time, my XLR cable
was faulty, so I couldn’t use the MKH 416 anymore and had to use a rode stereo
mic (can’t remember the name but I think it was an NTG5 which went into the
Zoom H6 recorder – just like in ‘the water above us’). A bit noisy but it got
the job done.
Editing was very similar, we shot in Prores 444 2k, which
went into Premiere like a charm and edited away. I exported to davinci resolve
for color correction and rendered out in 1080, primarily because of the
exhibition platform which was online; but there’s also a 2k render for
festivals.
The vfx applied were quite subtle and might not even qualify
for ‘vfx’ work lol. We put a plain green color on the laptop (displayed from
within) to let me key it out and replace the screen (which was jst me recording
my screen with an app while I typed away). The mirror reflection was simply
keeping the camera steady while the actor performed both characters and then I
just masked one on top of the other. We could only ‘ideally’ shoot in the male
bathroom/toilet as opposed the females, so I had to mask out some of the toilet
systems that popped on in the frame… including the dp and my reflection in the
door.
Finally the lady disappearing was probably the easiest and oldest trick,
the male actor was as still as He could be while the actress slipped away and
arranged the bed while the actor continued the performance, while in post I
just skip those frames.
Was a great shoot overall, was a total of 4 days (…if I
remember correctly lol)
Watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDCEBLx1eaE
For more info: https://www.facebook.com/The-Writer-1596377693909270
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