Ella
“When it came time to make this film, I kept thinking about love and loss, and how music helps you to let things go. Although I can’t actually play the piano or anything like that, music has always had this massive influence over my life. Whenever I hear something that really connects with me, I immediately start picturing stories. It’s actually how I tend to begin a lot of the processes for most of my films I’ve made or written.”
“I believe that music and films are one and the same and they communicate together perfectly. In fact, I tend to work out my shots for my films based on what I am listening to at the time. If I’m trying to block out a scene in my head, I’ll close my eyes or stare blankly at something, and imagine the scene as it plays out. Sometimes in post, if the music is beginning to carry the scene for me, I’ll adjust dialogue to match the beats within the story. I’ve also been known to cut out a sentence or two if I believe the music is strong enough to carry the picture itself.”
“The story for ‘Ella’ is a perfect example of how I make my films around music. ‘Ella’ is all about a young musician who loses his fiancée and unborn child in a tragic car accident. To cope with his loss, he says goodbye through his music. At the core of my idea is the memory of love and letting go and how music helps you to move on; which is something, I think everybody can relate to.”
“I really wanted to keep this film true to what I had imagined it to be, when I was back in college. So it was important to me that it was shot in the fall, on the streets of Chattanooga in Tennessee. Shooting in Tennessee is such a joy, because everybody there was so excited about what we were doing. You could just go into a coffee shop and ask them if you could shoot a film there, and they were just happy to help.”
“There weren’t restrictions in Tennessee like you have when shooting in Los Angeles. One of the things that really attracted me to filming there (especially in the near future) is filming permits to film on the streets. We basically didn’t need one. Because of this, and the budget we were on, it was no effort at all to take my crew and drive half way across the country. Southeastern Tennessee was just such a magical place to shoot a film.”
“I had an incredibly talented group of people help me with ‘Ella’. It’s really weird how we all clicked together and became such good friends. A huge part of this film is that we all see things in the same way. We do films like this, because we want to inspire people and to help influence them in how they see their own lives. We all have the same values and faith, which really helps in making an emotional film like this.”
“What I love most about directing ‘Ella’ is seeing everybody take ownership of the film and the journey we had in making it. I never planned on becoming a director it just happened. In the past, I would just pick up a camera and started shooting because I had no one to help me. So now when I am working on a film with so many people who are all wanting to make a contribution to its success - that’s something that makes me unbelievably happy. I always appreciate the hard work with everyone involved in the process that I try to let them have some say and freedom in what they want to do. I think one of the best things a director can do is listen and not get caught up in his own visions. Film-making is a team effort.”
“I co-wrote this script with Tyler Likes. Tyler is very technical in his approach to his writing and I tend to be more creative, so we work very well together. I like to imagine all of the various scenes and the overall story and then Tyler just takes all of those ideas and makes sense of them, to create the right order for the overall story.”
“Tyler is probably one of the smartest people I know. He can read something once and will pick it up immediately, so he is very good at this sort of thing. He hates bad usage of grammar, but all I have to say to that is #yolo ☺. Tyler just so happens to be related to Immanuel Davis, who is our composer. Like Tyler, Immanuel is just a massive talent. Immanuel and I work so closely together, with both of us crafting the story. The first time we worked together I knew it was something special. He can write something from scratch in hours and, next thing you know, it sounds like you’re listening to the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The best part about Immanuel and I is that I can listen to his music and, for the most part, know exactly what he was thinking or imaging when he wrote it without even telling me.”
“Every aspect to the film has such an important part to play. However, I think the real strength in this film comes down to the quality of the actors and their ability to make you believe in the story. All of the characters were so important, with each character having its own set of specific requirements.”
“With the actors for ‘Ella” it wasn’t about being able to deliver the lines really well, because a lot of my work required raw emotions. I wanted people who have a certain look in terms of their eyes and complexion and how they looked into the camera. This was especially so with Erin Ownby who plays the composer’s fiancée. Her skin tone and the sound of her voice were all so important. Because much of her part is actually voice over, I needed someone with a lovely sounding soothing voice. I’ve now worked with Erin on several projects and her performances drastically improve every time. She’s always one of the first I think of when any project comes to light.”
“With my films, the music often takes over from the photography. The way I work with Immanuel in terms of blending the music, means that it is especially important that the actors’ voices can match those beat changes.”
“Rachel Balich, who plays the P.A, is especially good at understanding those beats and knows exactly how to deliver her performances to match the music. She has so much talent and can just pull up the right emotions whenever she wants to. To this day, my most memorable moment of filming anyone is with her in 2010’. Her delivery of a certain scene was so real the entire room went silent and I was speechless. I didn’t know what to go so I softly just said cut. Rachel is great. She also knows exactly what I am going for with my films, which makes it much easier for me as a director.”
This film was a great journey for me. It started with a story that I developed at college, that basically came out of a rough break up.
“There is this one beat for Rachel, that I really love. It’s when she suddenly realizes that maybe the composer only likes her as a friend. When we shot that scene both Immanuel and I thought that was the perfect spot for slow down in the music. We both figured that this was a great half way mark for the concerto piece that the composer has been writing throughout the film.”
“When you watch the film, you can hear this concerto piece slowly coming together. As the film goes on and nears its climax, so does the concerto piece. There are all of these beat points in between, where the concerto is evolving. And, so it was important for the actors to help deliver this sense as well.”
“When I was casting for the composer, I went with my friend Jermaine Purifory. Although he had never acted before, he is a really talented singer and songwriter. At the time of shooting ‘Ella’, Jermaine had just finished up with ‘American Idol’. He wrote a song called ‘Still in Love’ for the film, which was absolutely beautiful. Jermaine’s audition for the film was the funniest one to this day. I made him crawl in and out of my small tiny closet I had at the time probably about 20 times. I knew he had the part after seeing his presence and delivery on camera, but we were having a good time rehearsing.”
“The other great talent on this film was my DP, Brian Andrews. As it happens, Brian also went to my high school. Brian is a professional 1st AC, so it really helps to have someone who has those sorts of technical skills on a project like this. We tend to be on the same page and look at the same shots in the same way. I also like to shoot, so it really helps when I get a little crazy with a certain shot to have someone like Brian who can pull me back a bit. His two sidekicks were Jonathan Smith and Shashank Shrestha who helped with AC’ing both Brian and myself. They both can easily handle a project by themselves and have prior to filming ‘Ella’.”
“We ended up premiering this film at the Tivolli Theatre, where the piano performance scene was shot. It was a massive launch with nearly one thousand people attending. We had a lot of local press, radio and TV while were shooting, so there was a lot of interest in the finished film. Seeing the film on the big screen like that was fantastic for everybody. Jermaine and Immanuel performed ‘Still in Love” acoustically, which was a huge success. I was so glad everyone came out and the crew and cast got the credit they deserved. It was truly a blessing.”
“I had a lot of people assume that we shot everything on RED cameras, but the truth of it was, it was all shot on Canon DSLRs. They worked really well for us, because a lot of what we were shooting was close up and emotional. So the last thing I wanted was some big ol’ camera in the actor’s face! What I wanted, was something small and intimate. We did have very nice glass for the project, which made all the difference in the world. Especially in those low light situations.”
“When I made my camera choices, I wanted something that was portable and that we could use easily. Obviously, DSLRs have their limitations, but with the right amount of work in post and with really good prime lenses, it’s amazing what you can get out of them. Post is really my thing, so I know what I can and can’t do during the shoot. So it really helps to know the whole process, then you can compensate for things when you’re out on location.”
“This film was a great journey for me. It started with a story that I developed at college, that basically came out of a rough break up. I was then able to see my idea come to life thanks to the creative talents of the cast, crew, the city of Chattanooga, TN, and my Alma Mater Lee University. Not only did we manage to create a beautiful film here, but we did something together as friends. That’s what I love the most about the process. It was one of those great journeys that we all got to own together and it’s one that we will all remember as time passes.”
This film is available on Amazon.