BEHIINID THE SCENES: AN INSIDE LOOK AT WCC’S ARROWS FILM

Behind The Scenes:

An Inside look at the WCC Arrows Film

Words: Janae Janik & Greta Elizabeth

You know those ideas? The kind of crazy ones where you think, ‘how can we possibly pull this off?’ The ones where insane amounts of creativity meet technological genius? Well, the 2021 Worship and Creative Conference film was one of those crazy moments. The original idea was pitched two years ago, back in 2019. But then a small thing known as a global pandemic happened…and, well…countries went into lockdown, conferences got cancelled, and the world ran out of toilet paper. Talk about crazy times!

So, fast forward to this year and Cass Langton, called Jamin Tasker to chat about an idea she had for a short film.

He pitched a different one — the one from 2019.

Cass loved it and gave it the thumbs up.

But now to execute it.... Oh no! What had he gotten himself into?

Well, after a hectic three weeks of planning, two full days of shooting, a trampoline, a drill, and some epic fantasy world design, this beautiful masterpiece came to life!

Here’s some of what was going on behind the scenes!

1. “What’s with the big green screen?” Our team uses this screen to composite background images behind the talent in postproduction. It is crucial to match the lighting in the room to the background that will be added later. For example, if the sun is shining on the actress from the right, then her face needs to be illuminated in the studio to match. Otherwise, it just won’t make sense. The team used 360-degree lighting in order to achieve the correct look for some of the shots.

3. “Wow! But what are all those pictures? And what’s the big whiteboard for?”

Those are small illustrations of every single shot in the film drawn by illustrator and animator, Tom Yanko. Tasker worked with Yanko over Zoom for over three weeks sketching and storyboarding each shot. On the day of the shoot, all 150 shots were taped in sequential order on a large freestanding whiteboard. This process helped the team stay organized.

4. “That looks like a lot of work!”

You bet it is! During a shoot, the shots are not done in sequential order. Rather, they are shot in a way that is most efficient (i.e., all forest shots are done at the same time). So, there might be scenes from the end of the film that are shot at the very beginning. In order to make sure nothing gets missed, the shots are individually ‘crossed off’ as the shoot progresses. The team finished all of them in only two days!

2. “You mean the whole thing was shot in one room?!?”

Yes! Because the actress couldn’t see the ‘world’ she was navigating, Director, Jamin Tasker walked her through how to act out the movements and emotions of the story to help her create believable reactions on camera.

“I coached her through every scene individually,” Tasker said. “You’re staring this way and there’s a doorway over here you’re about to walk through and you hesitate...you’re in the dark forest and this is the forest of ‘self-doubt’...and you’re down to your last arrow...I try to build the world she’s in and communicate visually and emotionally.”

5. “What’s with the drill?”

We were wondering that too. For a portion of the film, the team needed to create the effect of an arrow flying through the air. At first, they thought they might use fishing line...but they didn’t have any. So, they tried to hang it on a cable, but when that didn’t work, they settled on this brilliant idea! The drill enabled them to simulate a realistic spinning motion without endangering anybody from pointy, airborne objects. Talk about some creative genius!

6. “Two days?!? 150 shots? How did the team finish in time?!?”

The short answer? Some intense organisation! But there were definitely some moments Tasker didn’t know if they would finish. He laughed, “We only went over time by like half an hour maybe, so I was pretty ecstatic about that. I don’t know. I thought it wasn’t going to happen. I think by lunchtime on the second day we still had 70 shots to do that afternoon.”

8. “ Was there any shot that was particularly special? Tasker said the most emotional shot of the film is when the actress, surrounded by the grandeur of a beautiful cathedral, comes face to face with the simplicity of a small Catholic crucifix. To create the reverence for this moment, the ‘action’ music that was playing most of the day was changed to a beautiful choir track called ‘Tree of Life’ by Terrance Malik.

“I got goosebumps when we were shooting it...we just took a moment and got really quiet.... Her performance in that moment was just amazing. I got her to wipe her face and not necessarily cry, but in that moment, to reflect...I think a few of us really felt it was a really beautiful, poignant moment.”

7. “Is that a bird? Or is it a plane?!” No, it’s Vivian Tran! The trampoline shot of her leaping through the air was filmed at a high frame rate to capture the movement in slow motion. It was only meant to be three takes, but later they noticed the number of arrows she had in her quiver was incorrect so the shot had to be re-captured. At least it looks like fun!

9. “That’s so beautiful! Did the director have any final thoughts?” “An artist’s genius is not from themselves but comes from somewhere else. We get to be these conduits for creativity. My hope is that people can see themselves within the film and that it would be entertaining, as well as perhaps, poignant. That perhaps, it points people back to where they are on their journey and where they are in relation to their gift; and perhaps, reframe that to where we all want to be.”