WomenCinemakers vol V WomenCinemakers vol V | Page 52

The era of imperfect memory
you stay tight and intimate with the characters. Which is
exactly what we were looking to do with Lashes. However,
we wanted to maintain that intimacy with Ashley the entire
way through. There's only one shot in the film that is either
not from Ashley's POV or has a at least a little bit of her in
the frame. Even that one shot was still capturing the fallout
from when Ashley lashed out and we saw the potential
consequences of her actions, maintaining that link to Ashley.
Pre-production took 6 months.
Sonia and I agreed that before we did casting, before
location scouting, before the majority of what needed to be
done, we had to establish the look an the tone of the film.
That would be the soul of the project which everything would
work around. And it did. Sonia and I actually had a sleepover
at her where we got into our pyjamas, ate lots of food, had
a few beers, then proceeded to watch and discuss every
film that helped express what we were each looking to
achieve or in some way influenced some of our thoughts on
what we wanted with this film. Really helped us get into each
others head.
Did any specific director appeal to you? When we saw
Lashes we immediately thought of Vera Chitilova, her
cinemakers // 18
playful yet utterly subversive sensibility. Another film
that came to mind was Polanski's Repulsion, especially
for its expressive camerawork.
As filmmakers, Chitilova and Polanski are very inspiring. To
notice the nuances we took so much time to craft and
explore in Lashes and then to think of their work, is quite an
honour, and I thank you. In Lashes, Ashley is a teenager,
full of angst and trying to discover herself. However, I
wanted to make sure we always caught a bit of lightness to
her. A sense of brevity, and playfulness. That's what reality
is after all...multifaceted. The cinematography was crucial
in presenting that, and every shot very specifically chosen
to express Ashley's emotional journey.
How long was the project?
The films length is 20 minutes.
Found the short story at the end of 2012, filmed May 2013,
submitted a nearly finished version of the film for my MA in
Filmmaking at London Film School in July 2013, however,
due to time and monies, completed the film beginning of
2014. We filmed 6 locations, some of them exteriors in 4.5
days, never once running over in time. Fantastic cast and
crew.
Yasmine Mahet (France)