DGA Monthly

O C T O B E R 2 0 2 6 I 7 — continued on page 8. The family emerges to see the horror. Many of the men under attack had served in World War I, so they put on their uniforms to signal, "We're patriots who fought on your behalf." It was important to me to show that the mother had been taught self-defense — the first thing she does is cock the rifle. The Dreamland sign has fallen, and the poster is torn. We recreated all of that from archival photos. It was important to establish that this event is being imprinted on this little boy's life. The close-ups are all Steadicam and handheld, pulling and following the family through their journey down the street. Then we would shoot their points of view. I wanted us to be in the shoes of this family and in the boy's perspective. I generally leaned more toward Steadicam because there was so much chaos in the frame, I didn't need to add to it with handheld. 3 We're panning with them on a long lens from across the street. The foreground element is the KKK man passing. I tried to give Danny real things to react to, staying mindful of what we exposed him to. I wanted to capture his expression, bearing witness. I made sure he met Steven during rehearsal, and the sweetest thing happened — between takes, Danny only wanted to be carried by Steven. When they'd come together, Danny — without saying a word — would jump and Steven would catch him. But poor Steven — this was May in Georgia, and he was in that wool uniform, recreated by costume designer Sharen Davis. He was drenched from carrying and caring for Danny while navigating this incredible obstacle course and giving this nuanced performance. How much fear? Anger? Determination? It was a fine line: he couldn't be too vulnerable, but he also had to be terrified. 5 This is an example of the boy's POV — there's no locked frame. The camera is pulling them but also panning, or something is moving into the foreground. Part of what was so hideous about the massacre is that, based on actual accounts, amid the looting, there were people playing a piano in the middle of the street. Women and children came to watch as though it were a spectator event. So, to show this contradiction, we created a depth of field of action, so anywhere you're looking, there are multiple layers of story happening. The actors inhabited their roles so fully. In a moment, this frame turns into an extreme close-up of a KKK man with a rifle, having just shot a woman — Will's father then stops his wife from shooting him in turn. 4 In this POV, the family hides behind a car as a woman is dragged out of the store and shot. A Molotov cocktail is thrown inside and this man runs out. It's an overload of horror. This was a frightening stunt to pull off, but it was very rehearsed and well prepared. It was a specialty shot on a long lens, and we paused everything else to focus on this event. We're shooting through the car, which gave us the nice layering of glass and foreground elements. The sound design was heightened and distorted to add to the emotional impact of this event on young Will's life, so screams and gunshots would pierce through the muffled sound and that powerful score. Essential to editing this sequence was walking the fine line between showing the graphic horror of what really happened and being gratuitous. Hanging on a frame a hair too long could quickly tip it over, becoming disrespectful to the historical event. 6 S H O T T O R E M E M B E R

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