Tone & Style

The emotional weight of the film rests in the intimacy between husband and wife, parent and child. By establishing a delicate and intentional visual language, we’ll immerse our audience in the inner lives of Ava, Isaac, and Stacia.

Outside the family visitation apartment, we’ll plant our camera in static frames to demonstrate the hardened feeling of the prison environment or the hollowness of Ava’s home without Isaac in it.

Inside, we’ll embrace the beautiful-ugly. The authentic grittiness of the set design will be contrasted by the emotional closeness of the relationships. We’ll highlight this cinematically by shooting with vintage lenses to achieve a gorgeous, soft aesthetic. The presence of sunlight will be naturally motivated but intense and expressive. We’ll feel the sun reaching into our apartment to cast warmth on an otherwise dismal space. As impactful as the searing drama is, so are the quiet moments in between. We’ll navigate each emotional beat with a freely moving handheld camera, creating connection and intimacy.

After our characters depart, we gradually resume our locked frames. We visually contrast their environments, allowing Ava’s world to expand as Isaac’s constricts. The claustrophobia he endures is juxtaposed by aerial photography of Ava and Stacia drifting further away.