Megan Masur: We're All Alright, Short Term 12

December 23, 2020

Episode #29 - Meet Megan Masur, a Brooklyn-based Director of Photography and Steadicam operator. She’s an incredible utility person with a ton of technical experience having worked in animation, as a DIT, and as a camera assistant while building towards her career as a cinematographer. Fourwind Films has had the pleasure of hiring Megan for a number of projects, including as a Camera Op for Prologue.

Megan chose a short film she shot called We’re All Alright, which she fell in love with as soon as she finished reading the script. She talks about the film’s central themes of depression and female friendship, what it was like working with a majority female team, and the challenges of filming on a fire escape.

For the feature film, Megan stuck to the theme of mental health with Short Term 12, about young staff members working at a foster care facility. It’s an independent film that continues to find fans years after its release (2013) and is also known for its phenomenal ensemble of now critically acclaimed actors including Lakeith Stanfield, Brie Larson, Kaitlyn Dever, John Gallagher Jr., and Rami Malek.

Megan’s advocacy for films and open discussion about mental health is evident in her curation for this podcast. We appreciate her coming on for this episode during a time where so many people can benefit from viewing and discussing these kinds of stories. Follow Megan’s work on Instagram, and by watching Prologue at the IndieBOOM festival from Dec. 21 - Jan. 3, 2021.

Megan Masur at the fully-masked, limited capacity, Feature & a short podcast recording. If voices sound a tad muffled, now you know why!

Credits for podcast:

Production Company - Fourwind Films

Appointed Contributor - Megan Masur

Host - Justin Joseph Hall

Sound Mixer & Additional Music - Brian Trahan

The theme song of Season 4 is Loopster by Kevin MacLeod.

Olga Loginova: Volte, Sacred Leaves

August 29, 2019

Episode #14 - As the appointed contributor, Director, Producer and Cinematographer Olga Loginova is an incredible collaborator and artist who speaks poetically and with no filter. She recently graduated from Columbia where she learned to make scientific documentaries. Originally from Belarus with Russian roots, she has chiseled her vision of a storyteller through rigorous training in Germany, China, and the U.S.A., as well as by traveling and reporting across continents.

Our screening took place in Bushwick, Brooklyn, at Fourwind Films’ headquarters where for the short, Olga presented the stunning film Volte (2017), directed by Monika Kotecka and Karolina Poryzala. Volte is a truly moving, 10-minute coming-of-age documentary from Poland. Olga talks about how she resonates with the film because “as a child I danced, and very soon I became too tall. I was lagging behind because I was too big, too big, too big.” This film is made in the Slavic school of teaching “where every shot is perfect.” Olga describes this film as “the difference between trying to document something and art. This is art.” This Eastern European documentary that was picked up by The New York Times Op-Docs.

For the second film of the event, Olga presented her very own feature Sacred Leaves. The documentary is about the wonders of the Amazon rainforest and the constant destruction it faces for human profit. Olga talks about how her interest in the Amazon grew from how climate change in Brazil changes people’s lives as it does in her own ancestral lands of Siberia. There are countless adventure stories from her seventeen days of shooting. She discusses characters who come “once in a century,” and what surprised her most. She shot the film before the wildfires hit, and offers insight into the many sources of deforestation that led to the rainforest’s current state. She plans to return to Brazil in the winter to show the film.

For Sacred Leaves, we served caipirinhas and pão de queijo.

Olga herself is a character who comes once in a lifetime, and we were thrilled to have her international talents. Enjoy the episode.

Episode hosted by Justin Joseph Hall.

Olga Loginova - Director/Cinematographer

Credits:
Host - Justin Joseph Hall

Production Company & Location - Fourwind Films

Transcript:

00;00;02;00 - 00;00;29;00

Justin Joseph Hall:

Welcome to Feature & a short. My name is Justin Joseph Hall and this is a podcast presented by Fourwind Films. Feature & a short is a monthly screening hosted by us where an appointed contributor presents their chosen feature motion picture and a short movie. There's only one condition for the screening. The presenter must have been directly involved with one picture and not the other. This time, we have the lovely Olga Loginova

00;00;29;00 - 00;00;30;00

Olga Loginova:

Hi guys!

00;00;30;00 - 00;00;34;00

Justin Joseph Hall (as narrator):

who decided to bring her first feature that she finished called Sacred Leaves.

00;00;34;00 - 00;00;37;00

Olga Loginova:

It's a term. It's a Brazilian term, actually. “Folhas Sagradas.”

00;00;38;00 - 00;01;00;00

Justin Joseph Hall (as narrator):

Olga is a producer, director, cinematographer. She's done pretty much everything. But she uses natural light better than most people I've seen in documentaries. And the short that she brought is Volte, which is an Eastern European documentary that was picked up by The New York Times Op-Docs. It's a nice short, ten-minute piece about young women and horses.

00;01;00;00 - 00;01;57;00

Olga Loginova:

It took my breath away. I think it's so beautiful and so well-made. It's something that I would aspire to do. It's a coming-of-age documentary made by two Polish filmmakers, Monika Kotecka and Karolina Poryzala. They're both graduates of the uh, National Film Academy in Łódź. And well, this is one of the best filmmaking schools in the world. I tried to get in there like years ago. This is the best.

Legitimately, Poland is uh such a treasure for filmmakers. The cinematographer had a degree in Social Science and the screenwriter was a zoologist. And so, they kind of merged and they made this beautiful, beautiful short that also premiered at the IDFA. I think it was selected by Sundance Lab. It's chosen by Op-Docs and, uh, many other festivals just, like, so, and I hope you like it. And it's made by women filmmakers. I didn't even know that. Yeah, and I'm not gonna say another word about it. Enjoy.

00;01;57;00 - 00;02;01;00

Justin Joseph Hall (as narrator):

So after the short, we had a small discussion on what happened.

00;02;01;00 - 00;02;41;00

Olga Loginova:

So, I was going through different descriptions of the film on different websites and uh the one that is on Polish Institute website is kind of, I don't know, it kind of captures it, but it's uh observational and creative portrait about sacrifice, frustration, physical limits and endurance. Uh, and it shows how the team must accept that Zuzia’s position is basically untenable, that she has just grown too big. And so as a child, I danced. And uh, very soon I became too tall, I’d at, always being, like, lagging behind because you're too big, too big, too big. Really, it's not the reason why I chose this film, but I kind of know how it feels.

00;02;41;00 - 00;02;42;00

Audience:

I felt connected to it

00;02;43;00

Olga Loginova:

Yeah.

00;02;43;00 - 00;02;45;00

Audience:

because uh growing up in Russia, you always feel the pressure

00;02;46;00

Olga Loginova:

Yeah.

00;02;46;00 - 00;02;48;00

Audience:

to be born to be the best.

00;02;48;00 - 00;02;56;00

Olga Loginova:

You feel that, like, it's you. What a difficult career. Like, talking about the subjects, though. The girl is 12. So

00;02;56;00

Audience:

Yeah.

00;02;56;00 - 00;03;47;00

Olga Loginova:

at 12, she's too big and, like, her emotions were not the emotions of a child in a way. But again, for me, like, what, I'm kind of jealous of this film to be honest. Because again, like every shot here is beautiful and I, like, I wish every shot in my film, like. I know how to frame or, like, you know, I've been learning cinematography and the cinematography is unparalleled. Sometimes you are somewhere and you just don't have time. It's so perfect, and like, this perfection eludes you. And then you see something that is, like, perfect from the beginning, end to end. And it's like, “ugh!” I think it's very much also Slavic school of documentaries, the Russian school as well, like where every shot is perfect. That’s taught. And again, this speaks to Łódź school. Pawel Pawlikowski, the one who made Ida and Cold War, he’s a graduate of that school.

00;03;47;00 - 00;03;49;00

Justin Joseph Hall:

That was one of the most beautiful shorts I’ve seen in a long time…

00;03;50;00 - 00;03;56;00

Olga Loginova:

I'm telling you, Poland is incredible. Krzysztof Kieślowski, um, Zanussi. They're all Polish.

00;03;56;00 - 00;03;58;00

Justin Joseph Hall:

Kieślowski’s now my favorite one.

00;03;58;00 - 00;03;59;00

Olga Loginova:

I love Kieślowski.

00;03;59;00 - 00;04;01;00

Justin Joseph Hall:

I mean, it's beautiful, but it…

00;04;00;00 - 00;04;05;00

Olga Loginova:

Watch Blue, Red, White. Blue, White, Red. Those are amazing and uh

00;04;04;00

Justin Joseph Hall:

Yeah.

00;04;05;00

Audience:

Yeah.

00;04;05;00 - 00;04;20;00

Olga Loginova:

The Secret Life of Veronica is amazing, it’s just, it’s the great films. They’re fantastic.

Um, so how do you capture the audio if you're not in their faces? And I don't think there was a boom, so I think it was a long lens, I can assume.

00;04;21;00

Justin Joseph Hall:

Yeah.

00;04;21;00

Olga Loginova:

I don't know…

00;04;22;00 - 00;04;25;00

Audience:

And most all of the editing. How they integrated the horses,

00;04;26;00

Olga Loginova:

Yeah!

00;04;26;00 - 00;04;29;00

Audience:

the sounds with the music, anything with it, you know?

00;04;29;00

Audience:

Yeah.

00;04;30;00 - 00;04;44;00

Olga Loginova:

And that shot of a girl, Zuzia, just like her stare. And you can hear the hooves of the horses and the music and it's like, ah! But this is the difference between just trying to document something and makes art, because this is for me, is art.

00;04;45;00 - 00;04;49;00

Justin Joseph Hall:

Well, it is like a documentation too, and it has a whole arc…

00;04;48;00 - 00;05;00;00

Olga Loginova:

Yeah, it’s like a feature film, but just, it’s like there is a catharsis, there is this drama. This is the second time I watch it, actually, but I've been thinking about it, like, for over a year.

00;05;00;00

Justin Joseph Hall:

Yeah.

00;05;01;00 - 00;05;05;00

Justin Joseph Hall (as narrator):

Then leading into her film, Olga had a few words to say.

00;05;05;00 - 00;05;49;00

Olga Loginova:

I just graduated from Columbia and my specialty was science documentaries. In a way, it is a student project because I did have to follow and work with my advisor and science is supposed to be a big part of it. It's ethnobotany. And uh sometimes it gets in the way of narrative. While I did everything on my own, more than ever I realized that filmmaking is a team effort and it's not an effort of one person. Uh, it’s not perfect. I love it very much and I think it tells an important story. It will change in the course of the next six months, but I hope you like it. My soul is in it, like everything I can do is in this film. I think it's my best work.

00;05;49;00 - 00;06;10;00

Justin Joseph Hall (as narrator):

During the showing of Sacred Leaves, we had a few less things to eat and a few more things to smell. As her film is set in Brazil in the rainforest, there were some unique things that I’ve never seen before, and I don't think most of the audience had either. On top of that, we had Caipirinha and Pão de queijo for everyone to snack on.

00;06;11;00 - 00;06;14;00

Justin Joseph Hall:

Does anybody want a Caipirinha before we start?

00;06;14;00

Audience:

(chatter)

00;06;17;00 - 00;06;25;00

Justin Joseph Hall (as narrator):

In the end, after the movie was over, because this was a unfinished product for her feature, she had a few questions for the audience and we discussed it a little bit.

00;06;26;00 - 00;07;04;00

Olga Loginova:

So, the reason why I did this film was kind of also personal. My family's from Siberia, from the, like, the heart of Siberia, and generations of women in my family were doing the same thing. They were going to Taiga and collecting herbs and barks and oils, and they were treating their family and the whole community. So when I had to choose a topic, I had two topics and I went for this, for ethnobotany and how deforestation affects medicine. So yeah, I think this aspect has really shown how climate change and deforestation in Brazil would change people's lives.

00;07;04;00

Audience:

Yeah.

00;07;05;00

Audience:

Defores… yeah.

00;07;06;00

Audience:

Yeah.

00;07;06;00 - 00;07;07;00

Audience:

What did you shoot it on?

00;07;07;00 - 00;07;08;00

Olga Loginova:

C100 Mark II.

00;07;08;00 - 00;07;10;00

Audience:

Okay. Those are nice. Especially for run and gun.

00;07;11;00 - 00;07;13;00

Audience:

How long were you th, how long was the shoot?

00;07;13;00 - 00;07;14;00

Olga Loginova:

I had 17 shooting days.

00;07;14;00 - 00;07;15;00

Audience:

Oh okay.

00;07;15;00 - 00;07;16;00

Justin Joseph Hall:

And you were there?

00;07;16;00 - 00;07;17;00

Olga Loginova:

21 days.

00;07;17;00 - 00;07;18;00

Audience:

Fun trip.

00;07;18;00 - 00;07;19;00

Olga Loginova:

Oh, it was a fun trip.

00;07;19;00 - 00;07;21;00

Audience:

Who you were traveling with? The crew, were you just

00;07;21;00 - 00;07;22;00

Olga Loginova:

It was just me.

00;07;22;00 - 00;07;25;00

Audience:

you, and you weren't scared that you were, like, going to have your camera broken or?

00;07;25;00 - 00;07;56;00

Olga Loginova:

Oh, I was very scared. It was my personal camera. I took the, the school's tripod which was the worst tripod ever. He was so light. It would move from, like, the air movement. It was like, but also it fit my suitcase and I had very little money so I had to save on every bag.

I, I have a question for you. I think, personally, the whole first scene, it's like probably not as well shot as the rest of the film, but it's kind of important because it gives the introduction to the main character. Did it bother you that the camera was shaking?

00;07;57;00 - 00;07;58;00

Justin Joseph Hall:

I didn't notice.

00;07;58;00

Daria Huxley:

I didn’t know.

00;07;59;00 - 00;08;03;00

Justin Joseph Hall:

The only thing I, the only thing I did notice but there was the one where you did a stabilization.

00;08;03;00

Olga Loginova:

Yeah.

00;08;04;00 - 00;08;05;00

Justin Joseph Hall:

That was a lot.

00;08;05;00 - 00;08;09;00

Audience:

Uh, I just paid more attention on, like, this huge sky shot.

00;08;10;00 - 00;08;12;00

Justin Joseph Hall:

Yeah. It was nice. Lightning’s always fun to watch.

00;08;12;00 - 00;08;13;00

Olga Loginova:

Oh yeah. Yeah.

00;08;13;00

Justin Joseph Hall:

(laughter)

00;08;13;00 - 00;08;15;00

Olga Loginova:

And I was lucky to be there.

00;08;15;00 - 00;08;16;00

Audience:

Do you have a translator?

00;08;16;00 - 00;08;17;00

Olga Loginova:

I hired a translator

00;08;17;00

Audience:

Okay.

00;08;17;00 - 00;08;19;00

Olga Loginova:

there because I don't speak Portuguese.

00;08;19;00

Audience:

Yeah, I was like.

00;08;20;00 - 00;08;23;00

Olga Loginova:

Yeah, but she was very moody and she would not translate, but

00;08;23;00

Audience:

Ah.

00;08;23;00 - 00;08;24;00

Olga Loginova:

it's a different story.

00;08;24;00 - 00;08;26;00

Audience:

Bad translator. Bad.

00;08;26;00 - 00;08;31;00

Olga Loginova:

The first scene I edited, I edited it for 3 weeks because I didn't understand the words.

00;08;31;00

Audience:

(laughter)

00;08;31;00 - 00;08;34;00

Olga Loginova:

So, but that, also that scene is the best scene in the film.

00;08;35;00

Justin Joseph Hall:

Yeah.

00;08;35;00 - 00;08;37;00

Olga Loginova:

So honestly, we don't need to understand what's going on.

00;08;38;00

Audience:

(laughter)

00;08;40;00 - 00;09;26;00

Olga Loginova:

American woman, Patricia, uh 20 years ago maybe, she studied forestry and then she went to Brazil and she wanted to do normal research. She worked with a big organization and she needed to count the trees and how much they bloom. And she met this woman from a village and they started talking, and actually, they started working together. And when uh Patricia wrote a book, together with Gloria, they would go from village to village and they talk to people in the villages saying, “Hey, you sell your trees?” Because this is what, it’s like,

of course, sometimes just like the big farming industry moves in and cuts everything and then there is a legal, illegal deforestation. But very often, a guy with money comes to the village. Everyone has their own patch of forest. And then the guy says like, “Hey, here is $1,000.”

00;09;27;00

Audience:

Yeah.

00;09;27;00 - 00;09;48;00

Olga Loginova:

And they say, “Yeah, take it.” But the forest costs much more. The trees are amazing. They bring everything, not just the medicine but also food. And if there, there is no fruit, they attract game. So one tree of ???? attracts, like, 50 whatever coxinha, the little pigs, they're very cool. Well, you know (laughs). Yeah, so they lose everything.

00;09;49;00 - 00;09;51;00

Audience:

I really like that man, the…

00;09;51;00 - 00;09;52;00

Olga Loginova:

Yeah, he’s a legend.

00;09;52;00 - 00;09;53;00

Audience:

How did you get involved?

00;09;54;00 - 00;10;02;00

Olga Loginova:

Oh my god. It's like, again, pre-production, it was like a detective story. He lives there, he’s now a naturalized Brazilian.

00;10;02;00

Audience:

Wow.

00;10;03;00 - 00;10;32;00

Olga Loginova:

He's like Charles Darwin with better character. He's this interdisciplinary scientist who's a geneticist, archaeologist. I think people like him, like, they come, like, once in a century. He kind of teaches generations of ethnobotanists and um if you do research of the field, you kind of come across the big names and you ki-kind of try to get in touch with them. So, he was one of the names. Patricia is the main one. It took me 4 months to find her. I was calling like hundreds of people.

00;10;32;00 - 00;10;34;00

Justin Joseph Hall:

What were you most surprised about when you went down?

00;10;37;00 - 00;10;40;00

Olga Loginova:

Me, like as a human, by

Justin Joseph Hall:

Huh? Poverty.

00;10;42;00

Olga Loginova:

poverty.

00;10;42;00 - 00;11;14;00

Olga Loginova:

I like, so I grew up in a country that was not rich. Especially Bela-, uh, I think Russia is, like, more affluent than Belarus. In Belarus, we’re like shit. But then you go to Brazil and you see a favela where people… well in Brazil only 30% of people have sanitation. They don’t have sewage. You know, when people have nothing, and what they have to do to survive, you kind of, it’s, or that when people have nothing but they manage not only to survive but be happy. When you’re always, like, I always complain about stuff.

00;11;16;00

Daria Huxley:

New Yorkers.

00;11;16;00

Olga Loginova:

Yeah.

00;11;17;00

Audience:

Yeah.

00;11;17;00 - 00;11;18;00

Olga Loginova:

So that surprised me the most. Uh, but everyone also uses, like, oils and barks

00;11;24;00

Audience:

Oh, yeah.

00;11;24;00 - 00;11;25;00

Olga Loginova:

and you open the medicine cabinet.

00;11;25;00 - 00;11;26;00

Audience:

Yeah, yeah.

00;11;26;00 - 00;11;30;00

Olga Loginova:

This is what you use. There, like people don't have roads, well they do have roads, but

00;11;30;00

Audience:

Yeah.

00;11;30;00 - 00;11;33;00

Olga Loginova:

their main road is the river, the Amazon.

00;11;33;00

Audience:

Yeah.

00;11;33;00 - 00;11;37;00

Olga Loginova:

And sometimes you live in one spot, and it takes you 3 days to get to a hospital.

00;11;38;00

Audience:

Yeah.

00;11;38;00 - 00;11;41;00

Olga Loginova:

So if there is no copaiba; you’re dead.

00;11;41;00

Audience:

Yeah.

00;11;42;00

Olga Loginova:

Because

00;11;42;00 - 00;11;43;00

Audience:

What’s copi— What’s that?

00;11;43;00 - 00;11;48;00

Olga Loginova:

Copaiba, it’s this oil that uh Justin gave us. This is antiseptic and antibiotic and

00;11;48;00 - 00;11;49;00

Audience:

Oh okay.

00;11;49;00 - 00;11;52;00

Olga Loginova:

it treats cuts and wounds. Uh, like I brought andiroba and

00;11;52;00

Justin Joseph Hall:

Yeah.

00;11;52;00 - 00;11;53;00

Olga Loginova:

copaiba too.

00;11;53;00

Audience:

Oh, cool.

00;11;54;00 - 00;11;56;00

Olga Loginova:

And se- and sexual potency tonic

00;11;56;00

Audience:

Yeah.

00;11;56;00 - 00;11;57;00

Olga Loginova:

accidentally.

00;11;57;00

Audience:

That is

00;11;58;00 - 00;11;59;00

Olga Loginova:

Accidentally.

00;11;58;00 - 00;11;59;00

Audience:

I know you, Olga.

00;12;00;00

Audience:

(laughter)

00;12;00;00 - 00;12;01;00

Olga Loginova:

No, it’s like, you know

00;12;01;00 - 00;12;02;00

Audience:

…accidents…

00;12;02;00

Olga Loginova:

(laughs)

00;12;03;00

Audience:

(laughter)

00;12;03;00 - 00;12;10;00

Olga Loginova:

Like we get home and I’m like, “Can you please read me what it’s about?” And she’s like, “Okay. It's like sexual potency for men.”

00;12;11;00

Audience:

For men.

00;12;11;00 - 00;12;13;00

Olga Loginova:

“Good, good for a prostate.” And I'm like, “Great.”

00;12;13;00

Audience:

(laughter)

00;12;14;00

Olga Loginova:

“Great.”

00;12;14;00 - 00;12;15;00

Daria Huxley:

That's great for you.

00;12;15;00 - 00;12;18;00

Olga Loginova:

So if anyone needs something, it's like still in my fridge.

00;12;18;00

Audience:

(chatter)

00;12;18;00 - 00;12;20;00

Audience:

I’ll, I’ll let you know if my prostate!

00;12;23;00 - 00;12;27;00

Olga Loginova:

Yeah, no. Like, I've never been in a, like in a place as dangerous as that.

00;12;27;00 - 00;12;28;00

Daria Huxley:

Why was it dangerous?

00;12;28;00 - 00;12;49;00

Olga Loginova:

In Belém, you cannot be outside. You cannot shoot from a car with the windows open. You cannot stay in the streets after 5:00 p.m. That, that mark—, you're getting robbed or killed. That market that I shot at, people were screaming that I should get away because I'm a white, tall person, foreigner with an expensive camera.

00;12;50;00

Audience:

Target.

00;12;51;00 - 00;12;59;00

Olga Loginova:

And I made a big mistake. So initially, I wanted to work with a woman translator. I thought it would be more comfortable for me. She was freaking out every 5 minutes. I,

00;12;59;00

Daria Huxley:

The woman?

00;13;00;00 - 00;14;45;00

Olga Loginova:

yeah. I was like, it would be much better if I had a man bodyguard, or I don’t know. And like the two guys in this um witchcraft store at the, like in the entrance, they were all waiting for me and so actually they were like, they blocked me there and they, they would not allow me to leave. And then when my translator showed up because I was filming in the store alone, they kind of left and I'm like, something is off. She's like, “We cannot stay here. It's already 5, we need to leave.” Because every mo-moment, it’s getting more dangerous. And um, the moment we started moving, they just jumped out of the next door and, like, it was a very weird feeling. It’s like your safety is compromised and it's kind of your integrity is compromised. Luckily, there was a cop, undercover cop in that store. He escorted us to the car and they kind of like, he started talking loudly and so they left. So the, the feeling of danger that you cannot see, because you don't see like people with guns, but you know that you are being watched. And uh yeah, that was very uncomfortable.

So, I stayed in the house owned by my translator’s mother. So it was like a household. And like, first there was a metal gate and then there was a house, and it had like metal bars and all the windows were barred. And like, then there was another metal, like, basically everything was in cages. And I think it's very, very common in Latin America but for me, like to see bars everywhere and like you need to use two locks to lock yourself in because somebody can come and kill you and it's just like, okay, cool. That was very strange. That was a very new experience. I just tried to be very fast and I knew that I would not have a second take.

Daria Huxley:

Mmm…

Olga Loginova:

That was that.

00;14;46;00 - 00;14;47;00

Daria Huxley:

Well, you do some research, like where

00;14;47;00 - 00;14;48;00

Olga Loginova:

Oh, yeah.

00;14;47;00 - 00;14;48;00

Daria Huxley:

is that window…

00;14;49;00 - 00;14;53;00

Olga Loginova:

Yeah, well, some of it. Yeah, like 50% of it worked, 50% didn’t.

00;14;54;00 - 00;14;56;00

Justin Joseph Hall:

Where exactly were you, like what’s the…

00;14;56;00 - 00;15;01;00

Olga Loginova:

I was in the poorest state. It’s Belém, it’s the capital of Pará state.

00;15;01;00

Justin Joseph Hall:

Okay.

00;15;02;00

Audience:

Would you do it again?

00;15;02;00 - 00;15;03;00

Olga Loginova:

I would do it again in a heartbeat. Again. Next time, I'm going to Nigeria.

00;15;06;00

Audience:

Yeah.

00;15;07;00 - 00;15;10;00

Olga Loginova:

And I want to go back to Brazil in the winter to show them the film.

00;15;11;00 - 00;16;02;00

Justin Joseph Hall (as narrator):

Thank you so much for listening to Feature & a short. We just want you to be aware that if you would like to attend one of the screenings, please just write us at info@fourwindfilms.com or hit us up on social media at @fourwindfilms on almost any platform, that's f-o-u-r-w-i-n-d-f-i-l-m-s. And in addition we also have merchandise for sale for our narrative projects. And we have hats and different things for sale. So head to our website if you'd like to check that out. We've been doing traveling shows, so even if you're outside of New York City and you want to attend the show, contact us because we're likely heading to Minneapolis and Seattle and hopefully we'll be able to do that more in the future. So, thank you for listening to us. And we'll see you next time. Ciao.

Gary Jaquez: Abuela's Luck, Children of Men

July 7, 2018

Episode #7 - Los Angeles-based freelance Cinematographer Gary Jaquez was the appointed contributor. Gary works with Fourwind Films often and was the Cinematographer on our last 2 short films. To follow Gary's future set escapades, check out his Instagram for Behind The Scenes shots on his major projects. The next short film he worked on, Prologue, will be released by Fourwind Films later this year.

Our screening took place in Bushwick at Fourwind Films’ headquarters where for the first film, Gary presented Fourwind’s latest release, Abuela’s Luck (2018), directed by Ricky Rosario. He takes us through wearing multiple hats and creative decision-making on set. He also flips the table during the event discussion and asked other people present about their roles in Abuela's Luck. For this short, we had different things that you’d find in a Brooklyn bodega which included Ho Hos, Little Debbie's, fried plantains, and the beer Presidente which makes it a prominent first appearance in the film.

For the feature, Gary presented Children of Men (2006), directed by Alfonso Cuarón and shot by his hero, Emmanuel Lubezki. Gary gives us further explanation on why Lubezki is an important role model for a Latino in Hollywood. During the film, we brought out some peanuts, and we also had a whiskey and coffee mix that we enjoyed just as Clive Owen’s character enjoyed during the film in addition to some white and red wine.

Credits:

Host - Justin Joseph Hall

Location & Production Company - Fourwind Films

Gary Jaquez - Cinematographer, photo by Daria Huxley

Transcript:

00;00;03;14 - 00;00;43;06

Justin Joseph Hall:

Hi, welcome to Feature & a short, a monthly podcast hosted by Fourwind Films where our appointed contributor presents their chosen feature motion picture and a short movie. There's only one condition for the screening selection that the presenter must have been directly involved with one picture and not the other. This month, after a long hiatus, we'd like to say hello.

We went off and shot a short film entitled Prologue, and we were finishing post-production in another film, Abuela’s Luck, which happens to be the film that Gary Jaquez, our presenter this week, brought to share with us as his short. For his feature, he brought Children of Men.

Fourwind Films shot Abuela’s Luck here in Brooklyn at a bodega. And so during the event, we had bodega food scattered around the viewing area, and that included Ho Hos, Little Debbie's, fried plantains, different things that you'd find in a Brooklyn bodega. We also had the beer Presidente, which makes it a prominent first appearance in Abuela’s Luck. Gary Jaquez works with Fourwind Films often and is a director of photography.

00;01;10;21 - 00;01;27;20

We had a discussion on what it was like to shoot the film, difficulties that Gary ran through, and working with director and producer Ricky Rosario. We had a lot of people who worked on the film in attendance as this was the first private screening.

00;01;27;23 - 00;01;53;22

Gary Jaquez:

And a little backstory about the film, Ricky and I are both of Dominican descent. Both our parents are from over there, and, this is very much like a day in the life of, of, you know, going in and out of the bodega and what the bodega represents to the community. I, personally, have about 6 or 7 uncles and my grandfather who have owned their own bodegas.

00;01;53;25 - 00;02;19;10

And yeah, it's just very common.

Audience:

Here, and like here in the city?

Gary Jaquez:

Here. Two of them were in Manhattan, two were here in Brooklyn and one in Jersey. So yeah, it's, bodegas are very much like a way to success, um, in the eyes of a Dominican immigrant coming to this country. So. I, am, I've been there since, since Abuela's luck was just, you know, a Venn diagram.

Audience:

When was that?

00;02;19;12 - 00;02;40;10

Gary Jaquez:

Oh, man. Maybe, maybe a year and a half ago already. Yeah, it was quite the process. So I guess the toughest part was wearing as many hats as I had to wear. Being as, you know, Ricky and I, you know, we go way back. We've known each other since before high school. I'm a cinematographer and that's my main focus but I played many roles on this film and in doing so, you know, you spread yourself thin.

You know, I was picking up gear and shot listing and then getting something for production design. I came about a week and a half prior to principal photography, and that was the first time I saw the, the location. The interesting story is that we're on our second day of production, and it's about 1 p.m., we're scheduled to shoot till about six. And a guy shows up and he tells us, he says, hey, I own this building. Nobody's paid me for any of this. So unless you want me to show up with cops by 3 p.m., either you're all out of here or you pay me X amount of dollars. I forget exactly the figure, but it was a couple thousand. Mind you, we had already paid the, the bodega, the people who actually lease a spot.

00;03;35;19 - 00;03;53;10

But, yeah, apparently, you know, because he owns a building, he was the one who had the rights to the money. Whatever. Uh, we ended up trying to fight it a little bit, and clock was ticking, so we ended up having to find the money. We figured it out. We kept going. We pushed forward, and we got it done.

00;03;53;12 - 00;04;00;10

Justin Joseph Hall:

The film ended up. It looks very green and, like it just has a green…

00;04;00;12 - 00;04;05;05

Gary Jaquez:

Well, it’s not so much the lights. And, and I noticed even shooting just seeing like the Rec 709 on that image.

Justin Joseph Hall:

But the skintones look great.

00;04;06;13 - 00;04;29;23

Gary Jaquez:

Right? So that's, and it was shot on an Alexa, like, skintones are amazing on an Alexa.

Justin Joseph Hall:

On an Alexa, yeah. Okay, that’s…

Gary Jaquez:

So, what I chalked it up to was just the potato chip bags. And obviously a lot of that stuff is, is very poppy, it’s greens and reds and oranges. And I just, I noticed that overwhelmingly it was green. But Alexas in general don't have a green tint.

00;04;29;23 - 00;04;51;07

So I'm going to chalk that up to location. And Ricky and I both from the beginning we, we pretty much agreed that, like, we really wanted to capture the feel of a bodega. You know, like, he really wanted it poppy like that. He, he wanted, he wanted a location that was going to, every angle you look, everybody was just going to be engulfed.

Because that's, when you go to a bodega, every little corner of the bodega, there's something there that's for sale. Whether it's, you know, shampoo, deodorant, detergent, food, potato chips, salami. Like, there's everything in a bodega that you can even think of. So.

Audience:

Did you guys change out any of the lighting in the bodega itself, or did you just add to it?

Gary Jaquez:

I added to it. If it were up to me, we would have shut everything off in the bodega and just.

Justin Joseph Hall:

That’s hard, that’s hard with…

Gary Jaquez:

Right, but it’s just not realistic. So I shut them off when I could, and I supplemented that, that stuff with, I had an HMI outside, uh, an Aladdin which is small LED that’s nice on skintones.

00;05;31;17 - 00;05;50;28

We had that right behind the cash register to pretty much act as daylight. So, yeah, a little bit of both. We.

Justin Joseph Hall:

I didn't even see that.

Gary Jaquez:

Yeah, I, I did. You actually see it in the movie, but I.

Justin Joseph Hall:

Oh really?

Gary Jaquez:

I’ve asked plenty of people and nobody can tell what it is. And I'm like, it looks like just a piece of window sunlight coming in, but it's a light.

Justin Joseph Hall:

Oh. Okay

Megan Masur:

(laughs)

Gary Jaquez:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Gary Jaquez:

Yeah. And honestly, the whole shutting of the lights, that was never planned. That scene, what we were shooting on our second day, and we're on our way home, and I'm trying to think, like, how could we make this a little better just so it's different, just so we have a little separation? Then I'm like, okay, if I'm a thief, you know, it's the middle of the day kind of, kind of makes sense.

00;06;15;26 - 00;06;31;12

Like, hey, shut the fucking lights off. You know what I'm saying? So we ran with it. He loved it right away. We had him do it. The, the bodeguero, we had him do it in sections from where I was back there with the camera on top of that ladder. So, it just went boom, boom, boom. You know what I'm saying?

00;06;31;12 - 00;06;51;01

Just to kind of, like, guide us into what was going on. So that was kind of my idea was like, just have like the, the light or the lack of light, the lights going off, guide us to, like, the shit that’s going down, then boom, we cut right into like a slider of, of us going into to them silhouetted a bit which was just probably my favorite shot. Yeah.

Audience:

(laughter)

Gary Jaquez:

Yeah.

Gary Jaquez:

Do I get to ask any questions?

Audience:

Yeah.

00;06;57;18 - 00;07;09;21

Gary Jaquez:

Cool. All right. Justin. So, from an editing perspective, what was your favorite part to edit? What part were you editing? And you said, oh, wow.

00;07;09;23 - 00;07;21;09

Justin Joseph Hall:

Well, definitely when you have the more angles. So when we ha–, when the lights turned off, that’s probably more exciting.

Gary Jaquez:

Yeah.

Justin Joseph Hall:

The worst part, though, was when it went to the black and came up. That was a little confusing.

00;07;21;11 - 00;07;38;13

Gary Jaquez:

That actually, congrats to you guys. I didn't know that was going to happen and I thought that worked great. To be honest, he, he, he told me I want to shoot this at a higher frame rate. I want to do slow motion. When the gun comes to his head. And I fought him on that. It’s just at the time, I could not visualize it. Kudos. Kudos to you, Ricky. Kudos to Ricky,

Audience:

(laughter)

Gary Jaquez:

because I just didn't, I could not see it. Just with the sound design that you guys got going on and, and also props to the sound mixer right there. Just the music.

00;07;50;22 - 00;07;52;02

Justin Joseph Hall:

…Yeah, that's Josh Heilbronner.

00;07;52;04 - 00;07;58;05

Gary Jaquez:

The music that came in and everything was just how I'm happy to be wrong. Yeah, yeah.

Audience:

(laughter)

00;07;58;07 - 00;08;00;06

Megan Masur:

Where did the music come from?

00;08;00;08 - 00;08;08;08

Justin Joseph Hall:

Ricky had it all made. Well he licensed two, but I think, but that was from the same artist that composed it. So there was the original songs.

Gary Jaquez:

Yes. Yeah.

Justin Joseph Hall:

And then he licensed the last…

00;08;08;10 - 00;08;16;13

Gary Jaquez:

Which are very, they're, they're, they're actually a group that's very common amongst a Dominican community here in New York, New Jersey.

Justin Joseph Hall:

MaxBanda?

Gary Jaquez:

How do you know?

00;08;16;15 - 00;08;17;18

Justin Joseph Hall:

Because I edited the film.

Audience:

(laughs)

Gary Jaquez:

Oh, okay.

Audience:

(laughter)

Gary Jaquez:

Is that what you did?

Gary Jaquez:

MaxBanda, very popular amongst the Dominican community. It was very nice of them to, to, I guess, help push the culture forward. I got a question for you, Daria. What was your favorite part about the titles?

Audience:

(laughter)

00;08;37;05 - 00;08;47;10

Daria Huxley:

I like Ricky’s vision. I mean, I think he really had a clear vision on how they should look like.

Gary Jaquez:

Yeah. Yeah, he did.

Daria Huxley:

And I try to suggest, like, something else but it was very clear, so…

00;08;47;12 - 00;09;11;12

Gary Jaquez:

That's so funny, I did too. I was like, what do you mean you want bubbles, man? How old are you? But no, it came out, it came…

Audience:

(laughter)

Gary Jaquez:

It came, it came out really good, man. And stuff that people don't even catch like the radio announcer in the back.

Audience:

Yeah, that's.

Gary Jaquez:

That's my cousin, Billy.

Audience:

Oh, it's your cousin! Man.

Gary Jaquez:

That's my cousin Billy and our friend Phil who was actually the person I moved out to California with.

00;09;11;12 - 00;09;14;00

Justin Joseph Hall:

Wait, they did the pop up text, texts…

00;09;14;02 - 00;09;24;03

Megan Masur:

Oh, yeah. Those were awesome. I love when movies use that. That's an amazing way to be, to show text message.

Audience:

I think…

Megan Masur:

I hate seeing… shot the phone.

Audience:

Yeah.

00;09;24;04 - 00;09;28;15

Justin Joseph Hall:

I think, I think we used inspiration, high maintenance…

Megan Masur:

Yes! And yeah, I…

Justin Joseph Hall (as narrator):

After the discussion, Gary introduced Children of Men, directed by Alfonso Cuarón, who often works with the famous director of photography, Emmanuel Lubezki. Children of Men is especially famous for the cinematography and the, the use of long takes. There's a famous sequence in the film that is one shot. Emmanuel Lubezki did not win the Oscar for this film, but with his unique style and this was sort of the launching pad for that style, he ended up winning two Oscars in the future as the director of photography.

00;10;03;00 - 00;10;26;08

Gary Jaquez:

So, I chose Children of Men because it's actually one of my favorite films, particularly because of the cinematography on this thing. So, little backstory. When I moved to California, my first day at Panavision who's prepping for their next movie is the one, the only.

Audience:

Really?

Gary Jaquez:

Yeah.

Gary Jaquez:

So. And mind you, I was already a big fan. So I see him and I'm like, no, no way, no fucking way.

Audience:

Do you notice anything?

Gary Jaquez:

The DP is called Emmanuel Lubezki, but they call him Chivo, Chivo Lubezki.

Audience:

Oh.

Gary Jaquez:

That's his nickname. They're, they're, they're all Mexican. All three of them. They kind of grew up together, came up together. They went to film school in Mexico.

Audience:

Oh, okay.

Gary Jaquez:

Yeah. So Iñárritu, he's the one who did like Birdman and Cuarón, I think, did this one. And he also did like Gravity. But yeah, he pretty much works like, like exclusively with them. Yeah. But yeah, so I, I, I started this job at Panavision. I, you know, I was skeptical going in and then I see this guy, I'm like, okay. I'm where I need to be because this is already a guy that I study and here he is testing lenses for his upcoming movie, The Revenant. And, yeah. Like, I guess maybe I'm a little biased because there’s just not a lot of Latino cinematographers, so I'm drawn to that. But that's just a talking point because at the end of the day,

Audience:

Oh, he’s the best.

Gary Jaquez:

He's, he's awesome. He's awesome. And, and this movie that's already 12 years old will show you that, like, he's not joking around. He wasn't joking around 20... It didn't take, you know, The Revenant, you know, deciding to shoot everything in natural light and, and 12 mil lenses. It didn't, it wasn't that that made him great. Like, he's been awesome. And even before this he also, I believe he also shot Y tu mamá también. Right? Back then, he was more, more longer lens. Now, as of recent, is more wider.

Justin Joseph Hall:

Oh, okay.

00;11;50;24 - 00;12;08;22

Gary Jaquez:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, which he'll showcase in things like The Revenant. He doesn't like to do interviews. So it's kind of hard to, like, really dive into his head. Uh, but the times that he has, he's, especially in regards to the wide angle stuff, he feels it's very, uh, intimate. You're very intimate with the, with the…

Audience:

That’s what my, my directors, the directors who I work with who are also cinematographers, vérité, they say the same thing.

Gary Jaquez:

Yeah.

Justin Joseph Hall:

They live off it.

Gary Jaquez:

Yeah.

Audience:

And they, they live off of it.

Gary Jaquez:

Yeah.

Audience:

That's what they do.

00;12;16;18 - 00;12;33;27

Gary Jaquez:

Yeah. Which is interesting to me because I'm not the. I'm, like I wouldn't naturally gravitate towards that because of what wide angles does to, like, faces. You know, it really kind of like distorts the faces and whatnot. But I mean, but the proof is in the pudding. It works because he's amazing and he has Oscars to prove it. So with that said, ladies and gentlemen, let's dive.

00;12;37;15 - 00;12;58;16

Justin Joseph Hall (as narrator):

As food is pretty scarce in the world of Children of Men, during the film we brought out some peanuts, but we also had a whiskey and coffee mix that we enjoyed just as Clive Owen's character enjoyed during the film in addition to some white and red wine. After Children of Men finished, we had a quick discussion in reaction to what we just saw.

Justin Joseph Hall:

Thank you so much for listening. If you would like to see Abuela's Luck, the film that we executive produced at Fourwind Films for yourself, it is going to be playing in film festivals. To get more information, the best way is either follow Fourwind Films on our social media. It is f-o-u-r-w-i-n-d-f-i-l-m-s, so you can follow Fourwind Films. Or you can follow Abuela's Luck on Instagram. That is a-b-u-e-l-a-s-l-u-c-k. And those will have all the informations for future viewings for the short film. Please leave us a review. Wherever you listen to this podcast, we'll be broadcasting out to you. Thank you very much for listening.