American Cinematographer - March 2017 - 14

Short Takes

I

Standing Together
By Betsy A. McLane

Valentina Caniglia, AIC considers herself very lucky to be a
director of photography. "It's what I love to do more than anything
else," she says. But the talent, skill and hard work displayed in the
short The Stand go beyond good fortune. Based on an incident that
took place in Kenya in 2015, the project explores what happens
when a bus full of Christian and Muslim passengers are stopped by
Islamic extremists who want to murder the Christians. The Muslim
passengers are offered a chance to escape, but they refuse, standing
together with the Christians, leaving the attackers confounded and
powerless.
Re-creating this event demanded a sensitive approach to visuals that needed to look tense and authentic while revealing the
script's character-driven drama. Caniglia's artistry as a cinematographer made it possible for screenwriter and first-time director Eva
Contis to explore the story's themes of tolerance, solidarity and bravery. At only 14 minutes, The Stand manages to transport the audience to Africa, create empathy with several characters and their various situations, and to communicate a fierce moral message.
Because Contis was submitting to the Louisiana Film Prize -
a short-movie competition in which the production ultimately placed
in the top five - The Stand had to be shot in the Shreveport-Bossier
area in order to qualify, thus tasking Caniglia with employing the
location as a convincing proxy for Kenyan bush. A native of Naples,
Italy, the cinematographer has lived in the United States for more
than a decade and has considerable experience shooting in Africa
14

March 2017

and all around the world thanks to her work in commercials; she felt
that the landscape and the natural light of their chosen southernstate locale made for a suitable stand-in.
Caniglia chose Arri's Alexa Mini, taking advantage of its
ProRes 4:4:4:4 XQ codec functionality while recording 2.8K anamorphic for the 2.39:1 aspect ratio. She describes the system as "very
flexible, and the codec is high-quality. I did a test a year before, for
a feature, and I saw what XQ could do." Flexibility was an overarching requirement on the production; when the location flooded, the
crew had to shoot in only two days instead of four.
Stylistically, Caniglia divided the film into two parts - outside
and inside the bus - demarcated by opposing color palettes. She
explains, "The look and the inspiration for outside was a mix of
matte, earthy colors from some Jean-Michel Basquiat paintings; for
inside, Johannes Vermeer and Caravaggio, for the contrast,
chiaroscuro, and richness of the blacks. I wanted to show how darkness could be pushed, yet still see the light and the contrast of the
characters' souls."
The main characters are introduced outside amid the earth
tones, as a young boy named Chilemba (Cameron Zeigler) accidentally kicks his ball into a group of Muslims praying before they
board the bus. Chilemba is fearful of retaliation for his playful
misstep, but he and his mother, Aluna (Kanesha Washington), are
assured that all is okay when the Muslim leader Kamau (Reginal
Varice) breaks into a big smile. The close-up of his strong, kindly
face presages later action and demonstrates how Caniglia used the
relationship between the people and the landscape to tell the story.
Kamau seen in a long shot might be a threat, but close-up, he is

American Cinematographer

Photos by Nick Savides. All images courtesy of the filmmakers.

Chilemba (Cameron Zeigler) peers out the window of a bus that is carrying Christians and Muslims
when it's set upon by extremists in the short The Stand.



American Cinematographer - March 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - March 2017

Contents
American Cinematographer - March 2017 - Cover1
American Cinematographer - March 2017 - Cover2
American Cinematographer - March 2017 - 1
American Cinematographer - March 2017 - 2
American Cinematographer - March 2017 - Contents
American Cinematographer - March 2017 - 4
American Cinematographer - March 2017 - 5
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American Cinematographer - March 2017 - A
American Cinematographer - March 2017 - B
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American Cinematographer - March 2017 - 31
American Cinematographer - March 2017 - I1
American Cinematographer - March 2017 - I2
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