Directors Sophy Romvari, Beth de Araújo, Josie Rourke, Steph Green and Kenna Harris discussed their approaches to filmmaking and the areas of the craft they would like to understand better during IndieWire’s “Behind Their Lens” panel at the SCAD Savannah Film Festival. The conversation focused on how film technology and creative collaboration continue to evolve.
Rourke, whose feature work included the historical drama “Mary Queen of Scots,” spoke about the difficulty of communicating with visual-effects teams. While working on digital castles placed into Scottish landscapes, she sensed that one design did not look structurally convincing but needed help identifying the problem. An architect friend reviewed the castle assets and confirmed that the imagined structure would not have stood up.
That experience led Rourke to think more deeply about the relationship between directors and visual-effects artists. She said directors may know how to reduce costs in areas such as costumes, sets, scripts or schedules, but may not know how to discuss visual-effects budgets in equally practical and creative terms.
Harris, a story artist with extensive experience in digital animation, said they would like to understand simulation technology more thoroughly. In particular, Harris is interested in how digital clothing can move naturally, from folds around an elbow to the way a hood rests on a character’s shoulders.
Although physics-based tools are used to create these effects, Harris said achieving convincing clothing remains difficult at feature-film scale. They contrasted that challenge with the expressive way artists can design clothing in 2D work and said a deeper technical understanding of simulation could help them communicate more effectively with collaborators.
Romvari discussed costume design from a live-action perspective. “Blue Heron” was her first feature to involve a costume designer, and she said the collaboration showed her how essential clothing can be to continuity, aesthetics, and actors’ safety and comfort.
The film’s period setting, which includes sections set in the late 1990s and others in a more contemporary timeline, uses changes in clothing to communicate shifts in the characters’ identities and emotional states. Romvari also emphasized the amount of research and preparation costume designers contribute, arguing that their work is often undervalued despite its importance to what audiences see on screen.
Sources: IndieWire.