American Cinematographer - December 2019 - 22

SHORT TAKES

Visual Language
By Peter Tonguette

With their short CODA, director Erika Davis-Marsh and
cinematographer Ante Cheng challenged themselves to
connect with an especially large and diverse audience. The 22minute movie - which centers on Alex (Kerrynton Jones), a
young dance student unsure of where she fits in the world as
the hearing child of two deaf parents (CJ Jones and Antoinette
Abbamonte) - was intended for both hearing audiences and
deaf viewers. The title, CODA, serves as an acronym for "child of
a deaf adult."
In developing the visual style of CODA, Davis-Marsh and
Cheng strove to make sure that the sign language used by the
characters would always be clearly visible. "An extreme closeup cuts off most of the sign language," Cheng says. "Since the
hands are often moving at a rapid speed, we tested various
shutter speeds and lighting to ensure that the movement of the
hands would be visible onscreen." Ultimately, they landed on a
90-degree shutter: "It was definitely a valuable learning experience during prep." In the end, he adds, the goal was to make a
movie "that can be understood by both the deaf and hearing
communities."
A native of Taiwan, Cheng can attest to the ways in which
great films and filmmakers have a surprising reach. Although he
was particularly influenced by the cinema of Asia - especially
films produced in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan - the future
cinematographer also found inspiration in work produced in
Hollywood. "It would be anything from Christopher Doyle's
work with Wong Kar-wai all the way to [ASC member] Bill
Pope's work on The Matrix - or going back to Blade Runner
[shot by Jordan Cronenweth, ASC]," Cheng says. "It was a whole
December 2019

spectrum of movies that led to a mix of aesthetics and sensibility within my work."
After shooting commercials and music videos in Asia, the
cinematographer decided to dedicate himself to working on
narrative projects. "I figured that coming to the U.S. would be
the best way to learn how to make narrative films," says Cheng,
who entered the University of Southern California's School of
Cinematic Arts in Los Angeles. While there, he made the most
of the opportunity to work on a number of different directors'
thesis projects. "You can work on multiple thesis films," Cheng
says. "That's one of the strengths of USC. As a cinematographer, you can gain a lot of experience by working on thesislevel projects while experimenting and developing your own
style."
Among the thesis movies that Cheng photographed was
CODA, which Davis-Marsh was inspired to write and direct in
part due to a deaf member of her own family. "My brother-inlaw is deaf - he actually plays the father in the film," DavisMarsh says. "My nephew is a CODA - not two deaf parents,
but one deaf parent." The filmmaker, who has a background in
musical theater, also wanted to showcase her familiarity with
the world of theater by making the lead character an aspiring
dancer. "I wanted to tell a story that would highlight some of
the skills and experiences that I brought to the table," she says.
"It was a perfect world to physicalize Alex's cultural and
emotional struggles."
Beyond the personal connection, Davis-Marsh has a
longstanding interest in coming-of-age stories about characters
who struggle to fit in - characters like Alex, a child who can
hear but whose closest relatives, her parents, cannot. "They're
not really easily able to fit into one box or another box," she
says of the characters she finds most interesting. "They're

ASC 100th Anniversary

Photos and frame grabs courtesy of the filmmakers.

Alex (Kerrynton Jones), the hearing child of deaf parents, signs with a deaf acquaintance in the short CODA.

American Cinematographer - December 2019

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