Desi Holiday - Production & Post Production
Once the story, planning and visualization of a film has been established it’s time to execute! Production and Post Production is where even more magic takes place. Through the use of camera angles, lenses, lighting color, sound and editing the film begins to manifests. Imitating life and creating a new realm in film, is a collaborative effort. This was where the cast joined with the crew and on Desi’s set we really became like family. It was work, but it was fun and enjoyable. The Desi Holiday world was further shaped in the editing room until the final cut was realized and ready for the screen for the world to experience.
Desi Holiday - Special Effects
An extra special thank you to Andre Sutherland (A former NYU classmate and now an Editor) who helped perfect the simple yet powerful imagery. There were a few special effects that required additional assistance and Andre was on deck! He made sure The thunder and rain fit the Desi style and was done in a simple yet effective way. The ray of sunshine outside of the tunnel and a very cool “disappearing act” that you have to see the film to catch – were perfectly crafted for the film. I underestimated the time the effects would take in post. Plus we were on opposite coasts. While I was editing the film, he was working on Special FX samples and sometimes it took several back and forths to get certain things down. In addition, because of budget constraints and just life period…I would say post production took at least 10 months maybe even a year.
I Love U ???
Desi Holiday - Cinematography
The primary camera I used t shoot Desi Holiday was the Canon Mark III 5D. I also used a cool toy camera from back in the day called a Vidster. I wanted to shot Super 8 for some the film, but due to budget limitations I found a cool alternative. Special thanks to the Echo Park Film Center for access to this resource! For the Canon, I settled on 3 different lense (Fisheye, Macro and a really long lense). The beauty of the longer lense was seen in the soft focus to follow focus shot in the Tunnel. The macro lense was used for many of the close-up and some of the actual scenes. My beloved fisheye lense was often used in the Oasis/Sanctuary to further add to the unusual imagination of Desi. The lighting also affected the choices I made while I was shooting. Sometimes the lense wouldn’t be “fast” especially in The Tunnel and I have to improvise and either select another lense, add more lights and/or switch up the perspective by moving in much closer than I may have initially planned.
I Love U ???
Desi Holiday - Lighting
Lighting is an art in and of itself. Not all light is the same and lighting for darker tones should be done with intention. I worked with a combination of natural light and basic light kits for the interiors. In Mama’s house warmer diffused lights were used, while in the Oasis stronger lights were used with splashes of colored gels. The exteriors were shot pretty much around high noon to limit shadows and to bring out the natural skin tones. I’ve found that the sun is a friend of darker tones and there were some beautiful close-ups of Desi and Zane when we shot their scene. Thank you to Mario Prado for being a marvelous lighting artist on the set.
Desi Holiday - Animation
Andre Sutherland and I edited in Final Cut 7 and added After Effects elements throughout. I chose a cute simple font to illustrate Desi’s journal writing and just layered it in After Effects. I did simple timed dissolves to emphasize various thoughts and phrases in her journal. Andre created some cool custom hearts and letters to further illustrate Desi’s youthful vivid and colorful imagination and had them appear to drip down the walls of William Attaway’s paintings that served as the Sanctuary’s backdrop.
Desi Holiday - Sound
Sound is integral to any film. When it’s on point you don’t notice that it’s there, but when it’s off it’s glaring. Especially, in a film where the absence of sound is written into the story-line. Since Desi’s voice was heard through VOs we spent a lot of time in the studio to record Teela’s voce and to match the sound with the dialogue recorded on set. Ambient sound was recorded in each location to lay under Desi’s dialogue to give each scene a sense of space. Shout out to DJ Insanne with APW Ent. and Chag G of World Wide Music who provided their studios to record the sound as well as the original music in the film. Thank you to Mario Prado and Brandon Ali for being on location to make sure the scenes had clean recordings!
