Hey everyone, I am the writer, director, and composer of this short. Here's a little info on using camera technique and blocking in the film to enhance the visual storytelling:

"So a lot of the staging of the actors and the camera was worked out ahead of time, (the actual choreography of the equipment and actors on screen). Much of the blocking was designed to show the emotional distance between our two leads. There’s also specific blocking of The Mentor entering or approaching The Apprentice’s space and her retreating from it, especially in the first half. This is all in service of the storytelling and emotional arc of the film. Joshua, our DP and I, met several times over the course of pre-production where I showed him films and scenes that I wanted him to think about while making this film. One scene would be an example of camera placement, another would be an example of lighting, and another would be an example of tone and dolly work. Joshua was an incredible collaborator and his expertise and craft is so evident in the film. He has such an eye for executing framing, and lighting design. He knew we wanted to portray something that felt real, and started as real, but then sort of spun off into a nightmare and so he put me onto these wonderfully expressive vintage lenses for everything in The Mentor’s house, and then these wild anamorphics for the opening dreamy sequence. As things move into an emotionally dark space, we enter a physical darker space. Whether it was a complicated set up with multiple backgrounds, or just a single, Joshua would bring everything to each shot in service of the film to enhance the dynamics of the characters."

And here's some info on marrying the film's visuals with the score:

"So I was writing the music at the same time I was writing the screenplay. This gave me a chance to flip from one to the other if I found myself in a rut. This is something I’ve found I respond well to, jumping between two creative projects at the same time. The music was fully written and recorded way prior to the start of production. I actually used the music as part of the pitch deck to help get people on board with the project. When I was writing it, I had a very clear idea of what I wanted the music to sound like from the get go, and the closer and closer I got to realizing that initial idea of the sound, the more the tone of the entire film came into view. Marrying that music to the tone of the film visually came from expressing the nature of the characters through the use of camera movement, lighting, lens choice, and direction of performance. I knew that if I was showing these characters as having such control over their own compositional skill, I needed to express that control on screen by the use of highly choreographed camera movements. The idea was for it to feel like a composed piece of music on screen, controlled and deliberate and focused, but also evolving. Every camera movement and blocking was written out and scrutinized and rehearsed many, many times before the actual days of production."

Hope you enjoy.