American Cinematographer - April 2018 - 26

SHORT TAKES

Holographic Memory
By Phil Rhodes

The narrative of writer-director Chris Keller's short The Last
Dance is disarmingly simple. For a piece that's heavy on visual
cleverness, it is, as cinematographer Ed Moore describes it, "a really
sweet little story with a sci-fi twist." The short runs for just under eight
minutes and depicts a near future in which lead character Hugo
(Richard Syms) engineers, in his garage, a spectacular holographic recreation of a fond memory. While the director's visual-effects
background might lead viewers to expect a lot of computer-generated
imagery, the filmmakers actually achieved much of the desired effect
practically.
A role in the creative industry might have seemed inevitable
for Moore. As the son of an actor, he explains, he had "been around
film sets and lots of theaters. I started working in theater lighting,
operating followspots and that sort of thing, and I loved it. I wanted
to carry on with theater-lighting design, but I ended up getting a job
with ProVision, the film rental company in Leeds. I spent several
months working in the lighting-rental department and became
interested in film lighting. In between loading lighting trucks, I used
to light my own little scenes in the warehouse to become familiar with
the kit."
Having founded a small production company while attending
university, Moore says he "never even graduated. The company got
bigger and bigger, from little, tiny corporate promos to commercials. I
was always the 'camera guy.' I realized I wouldn't get into the actual
industry doing that, so I went freelance as a cinematographer in 2009."
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April 2018

Moore considers the 10th season of the science-fiction
comedy series Red Dwarf to have been his big break. "They hired me
as B-camera and Steadicam operator and second-unit
cinematographer. From that point, it was about gradually working
up." Upon ascending to director of photography, Moore returned to
Red Dwarf to shoot a total of 12 episodes. Further cinematography
credits include the series Shetland, Vera, Hold the Sunset and Drifters;
commercials for brands including McDonald's and Mars; and the
feature The Last Showing. His 2nd-unit work includes such
productions as Doctor Who, Poldark, Our Girl and Mapp & Lucia.
Moore's involvement in The Last Dance stems from his work
as 2nd-unit director of photography on Atlantis, where he met
producer Oliver Milburn, who was working as a visual-effects
assistant. Milburn connected Moore to Keller in the summer of 2016,
when preparation for the short was already well underway. Moore
recalls, "He'd already produced beautiful digitally painted mood
boards. The script was all there and a lot of the music was in place.
It was a really easy decision to get on board. Many short films are a
bit 'kitchen-sink,' whereas this was really visual at its heart, but it
wasn't visual effects for visual effects' sake."
The Last Dance was shot over two days in November 2016,
with a day's pre-rig for the practical hologram effects and a morning's
work to cover the wedding scene. The production used Red's Epic
Dragon 6K camera with Arri/Zeiss Master Prime lenses. Moore is quick
to thank supplier Pixipixel for its generosity: "Toby Newman at Pixipixel
was ludicrously kind to us."
The choice of lenses was driven largely by a simple desire for
speed, and Moore makes clear that Keller's visual-effects savvy didn't

American Cinematographer

Images courtesy of the filmmakers.

Set in the near future, the short The Last Dance tells the story of Hugo (Richard Syms) as he engineers a holographic re-creation of a precious
memory of his late wife, Sophie (Sharea Samuels).

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - April 2018