The Story of Nocturne
The script of Nocturne – which explores one woman's nighttime dreams – was developed with Arab-American comedian Dina Hashem. I love Dina's voice: smart and skeptical, while still optimistic.
For me, directing motion is about more than just animating still images. I give focus to how a story unfolds over time and particularly the audio side - dialogue, sound effects and the music. The sound was so central to this film that we recorded the voiceover first. Lead actor Amber Gatlin met me at the Brooklyn studio of sound designer Sean O’Neil where he compiled the various takes into a concise telling of the story, with roughed-in sound effects.
Even though there’s only one line in the film that sound-syncs to the visual, we used the audio track to both inspire her performance, and set the timing for each scene.
Initially, we were going to shoot a tight close-up of Amber‘s face and then shift the lighting and the color of the background, but as the project developed with cinematographer Jonathan Bensimon, we got more ambitious, creating a more bespoke environment for her to perform within. Bensimon is a respected DP out of Toronto and I was lucky that he was familiar with my work and bent over backwards to accommodate our production schedule.
An unforeseen challenge of the film was having it appear that our protagonist is lying down, while being able to change the scene behind her, and light for various angles. Eventually, I was put in contact with effects supplier EFex Rentals in Queens, NY, who had a special chair that could be manually set on any angle we wanted. In the behind-the-scenes photographs it looks comfortable enough, but it was on an odd angle and required some patience and resilience from our key talent, Amber. Here she showed exceptional professionalism, on top of her top skills as an actor!
Post work was led by editor Hubert Hayaud, who certainly elevated the finished film. Perhaps the most valuable member of the team was sound designer Sean O’Neil, who rebuilt the audio track again after we shot the visuals. Amber‘s voice drives the narrative, but Sean‘s layered and textured soundscape creates the world that brings her dreams and nightmares to life.
Top Image: Behind the scenes of the “water landing” scene; Amber Gatlin between takes in the reclining special effects chair. Queens, NY.
Second Image: On-set monitor for the opening scene where our character first falls into slumber.
Third Image: Left - shooting the wedding scene; Right - cinematographer Jonathan Bensimon sets up the night club vinyette.
Fourth Image: Recording the initial voice over, sound designer Sean O’Neil in the foreground. Brooklyn, NY. Photo by Jordan Szostak.
Bottom Image: Left - Amber samples a treat at a local Queens bakery; Right - Amber & Chris at the audio session. Amber was a dynamo! Front and center for picture & sound, she delivered an enigmatic performance throughout. Photo by Jordan Szostak.