By Co-writer & Director Ruth Du and Cinematographer Justin Alpern, SAMSON.What starts as a simple lunch between exes turns into a fight for their lives when Emma and Dale are kidnapped by two masked men and locked in the trunk of a '86 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme. A dark—sometimes terrifying—comedy ensues, as the ex-couple has to mitigate their feelings and their tight quarters. But how did we, as the filmmakers, mitigate a setting so small, dark, and enclosed? And how did we do it in a way that stayed true to the unique tone of our hybrid dark comedy/psychological thriller, musical independent feature film (on a very tight budget)? Keep reading…STEP 1:Research. We watched a handful of movies that had long sequences in small spaces, including The Call with Halle Berry and Buried with Ryan Reynolds. We decided that we wanted to keep the trunk work grounded and not do anything too stylish (ie: unrealistic camera moves in a small space or drastic zooms). There’s so much happening within the scenes already that it was important not to distract the audience.We also researched what it actually felt like being in a moving trunk. So, with safety in mind, a plan was formed. Ruth enclosed herself in the trunk of her car with her phone, while Justin drove slowly around a closed street. This gave us some inspiration on the way the light shifted and moved inside. Surprisingly, there was more room in the trunk than expected so we felt like the...
Published By: NoFilmSchool - Yesterday