H A L L O W
When an event unearths hidden secrets of corruption in his small East Coast town, a priest is forced to look at his past and the trauma that he’s long shut out. He grapples with what kind of man he will become: a man of forgiveness and faith, to which he has dedicated his life, or a man of revenge and justice.
VISION
Many movies have been successfully created that shine a light on the Catholic Church, childhood trauma, molestation, and mental health. A few examples are: Spotlight, Sleepers, Doubt, Mystic River. All beautiful films, telling important stories with purpose. However, I want to tell a story that has not yet been told. The story of the victims; the little boys that are violated. We ALL want to save these abused children. It’s why we are drawn to these particular films and stories. We want to educate, expose, and hopefully in some small way CHANGE the future. But then, fast forward—what of the men they will become? Where is the sympathy for these victims? It seems the world has significantly less empathy once these victimized boys pass a certain age. Once adulthood is attained, shouldn’t this - now adult man - be over it? Unfortunately, trauma doesn’t just go away, it stays with you forever, embedded in your DNA. You will never be the same. But for some of us, it shapes the people we will become! I am a sexual assault survivor and that event changed me as a human being; it helped me become WHO I AM.
I look at Spotlight and so many others, and I am in awe. A movie that showed the world what was happening right under our noses. Joe is the vessel in which I want the audience to see into the victims psyche. I want to use uncomfortable ECUs, so close they can feel and see every emotion. I want to use POVs so they see what Joe saw and have to sit in Joe's shoes. My hope is to enlighten and empower every person in the audience, I want victims to feel seen, and to feel STRONGER. I do not set small goals for my films. With "CONTINUE", I hoped to end suicide and help others in their suffering to know they are not alone, and to show the true victims of suicide are those you leave behind. Through "HALLOW", I aim to spread awareness and expand empathy. I want to make viewers uncomfortable, to give them a personal POV of some of our experiences. To realize this is more than simply a fad in the Hollywood arena. Childhood trauma untreated can cause you to unravel at the seams. I hope to help others come forward with their truth. I hope to give them strength to forgive. And I will make a BADASS film in the process. This is my purpose. To tell stories that need to be told and to give a voice to those who need to be heard.
AESTHETIC
I want sun soaked imagery, crystals sending rainbows on the walls. Rays of light shooting through a stained glass window. I want to show that the world is a beautiful place, it’s the people in it who make it dark. For instance Bishop Riordan’s office: heavy shadows, bright highlights, sun breaking up the darkness. Sun making what it touches beautiful. The men are DARK, their energy DARK, the room and the decor is DARK. But that CANNOT STOP GOD’S LIGHT. So the rays of light burst through the shadows, haze makes the air feel dense. The sun and all the beauty just bring attention and highlight the darkness around.
I see the world and the film draped in cyan. Letting Jill Bogdanowicz my amazing colorists magic thrive. Amplifying the cyan and teal tones, leaning into the Depressive. Yet God just keeps trying to find his way in, through the rainbow stained glass windows and the shinning rays on the cross imprinted on the wall. The beautiful sculptures and hanging cross, the sun in the room that catches Stevie’s eyes. I want STUNNING SUN SOAKED IMAGERY fighting against, JOE’S BLUE and SAD PERSPECTIVE, in an East Coast bare environment. Think, "Prisoners", or "Drive". As Joe gains health, and is emerging from the darkness, SO WILL OUR IMAGERY. Living more in the natural beautiful tones, similar to "Her".
Beauty is everywhere! It's all through our perspective what we see, and how we receive it. If you are blue, maybe it looks blue. However, the beauty is always there. It takes a change of perspective. Joe is constantly contradicting himself, so the imagery does too. It all depends on HOW YOU SEE IT. For a lot of the film, Joe sees it from a dark perspective, trying to cut out the light while he embraces the shadows he hides inside. The gold and SODIUM artificial light in the darkness adds style and contrast. But Joe is missing the beauty completely—until it smacks him in the face. He then emerges with a perspective change. Joe lives a life for God, which comes with beautiful statues, imagery, music, light, and community. Yet he is also living a life of isolation. Once again, contradicting himself.
FLASH BACKS
I would call them anything else, my preferred name is “psychological breaks”. It is their mind wondering into past memories and trauma that they’ve long shut out. It’s the festering memory of shame you try to never think about. It’s the most gruesome sight you’ve ever seen, that makes you nauseated to remember. Maybe your brother’s broken arm at a soccer match, or the look in your father’s eyes as he struck your mother. We all have that one thing we try to never think about, that eventually creeps in during moments of weakness. They're flashes, spliced images we are trying to forget. Some flashes are longer than others. Some memories less fragmented. I plan to make them feel like they’re going inside Joe’s mind. Often pushing TIGHT on his eyes, and pulling out on the eyes of YOUNG JOE. Due to Joe's insomnia and constant drug use, he is trapped between the waking hours of consciousness, and a nightmare state of repressed memories. A hearty cocktail of drugs and alcohol keeps the memories at bay, until one too many drinks UNLEASHES it all.
A perfect example of a film that executed this effectively is "I Am Legend" another one of my favorites, "Little Fish". Every time Will Smith slept or got knocked out, we found out more and more about his past and what happened to both his family and the world. I want us to be in the present with Joe, while also seeing what haunts him from his past. Sometimes it may feel like chaos. Sometimes you might feel like you’re floating in the past and the present, but so is Joe.
EDITING
What I am trying to do is different, and it is going to be an experience. "Requiem For a Dream" is a film that has inspired me as a director, in part, due to the editing style. I love how they depicted drug use in a new way. I plan to design my own style with Joe's drug use, incorporating the flash backs in conjunction with our camera moves. Everything will be intentional and will undoubtedly anchor the audience to ride with us. Like the film is breathing, the camera will always be sliding and fluctuating with Joe’s movements, so that it feels like we are always in movement ON THE JOURNEY WITH JOE. Long dolly glides across the room tracking his movement, then PAN or TILT to finish the move when we run out of track. Always in action, always momentum, the mystery unfolding.
I want to layer images to tell two stories simultaneously, being told through their imagery in the same moments. An example of dissolves and cinematography that I love is "Apocalypse Now". When Joe is digging alone in the forrest, I want to layer the image of when Danny and Joe, 20, dig in the same woods. I will frame them perfectly so both images can be seen at the same time; the juxtaposition between past and present. In some moments, the man Joe is and the boy he once was...not much has changed. With every FLASH, or psychological BREAK, we find out more and more of the story. A movie that inspires me in its investigative look at memory, trauma, and mental health is "The Machinist" and "Memento".
INSPIRATION
The distortion. I want to use camera moves to emulate the anxiety inside Joe's mind. I want to GROW and EXPAND on these techniques, to make the audience feel Joe's same discomfort.
Showing DETOX in a new and interesting way. Reality FRACTURING, and now Joe finds himself trapped in that old basement. Water pours from the walls, the room now filled with inches of WATER. Danny's body, face down, floating beside him. HE SHUTS HIS EYES, tries to find his way back to reality! But instead we go further into his mind, and memories. Now, standing on the beach, we finally see what Joe saw that day he found Danny on the shore.
The WATER, BLOOD, and ASH are so interesting and unique to this shot and story, it's my favorite moment from the film. This is the best example of reality fracturing and something abstract happening, with so much symbolism. Blood on her hands from the death of her children, her being shot so literal blood from her body, the water flowing that drown their children. The ash from the lie about her death, that he tells himself to get through the pain. Because of Joe's insomnia and drug use, the lines have blurred between reality, memories, and dreams. We're floating somewhere in between.
"CONTINUE"
H A L L O W
A FILM BY NADINE CROCKER