Project Spotlight: 'Silt', Sisterhood and Grief through a Female Gaze
Amanda Jane Robinson is a writer and filmmaker currently completing her Masters in Screen Directing at the University of Auckland. Her latest work, SILT is premiering on the Light Leaks. We appreciate the way that Amanda uses symbolism in her film to tackle grief, adolescence, family and the intersections of emotional loss. Amanda is particularly interested in stories of women's interiority and places a strong focus on aesthetic and tone.
Interview by Iayana Elie
What inspired you to write this story about two sisters?
This story came from an image, two teenage sisters asleep in the back seat of a car, driving home. I knew this image would be my final shot, so I was always writing towards that. I was interested in themes of grief, models of womanhood, the unspoken power dynamics between teenage sisters, and sex as a coping mechanism. Somewhere in the process those themes became this story.
How long was the production process? What works inspired or informed your vision for production?
The production process was the second semester of my Honours university year, so we were in pre-production for two months, then had a three day shoot, which fell apart because of the weather. Then we had a month until our reshoot weekend, then two months to edit.
My visual references included the photographic work of Sian Davey, Sally Mann, and William Eggleston, as well as the cinematic work of Eliza Hittman and Andrea Arnold. The Australian show Puberty Blues was a big one too. In my production design, costuming, and colour choices, I aimed to set the story in the late 2000s, using hot pink as a feature colour to represent this time in the midst of the earthy tones of a New Zealand summer.
What are some pieces of symbolism that were important for you to use in the film?
Rose and Mara's mother's earrings are the major symbolic prop in the film, signifying their mother and womanhood and the idea of a feminine role model. For Rose, they represent this feeling of having missed out on time with their mother that Mara was afforded, and her effort to catch up to Mara’s sexual development to make up for this lost time. In an acknowledgement that since their mother's death she is now Rose’s predominant model of womanhood, Mara accepts responsibility and extends the tender gesture of piercing Rose’s ears with their mother’s earrings. As far as symbolism in the cinematography, as the girls' relationship starts to heal, they are closer together in the frame, and the frame itself is closer to them.
Did any unique challenges arise during production?
On the first day of our shoot the weather was totally erratic, which was a nightmare for continuity of light between shots. The film was set in the height of summer but we were shooting, because of university restrictions, in the middle of spring. The second day we showed up and it was pouring, and the forecasts predicted heavy thunderstorms for the next couple of days, so we had to call the whole thing off and shoot it again a month later when the ground wasn't so muddy and there was actually some sun. Because of continuity differences, we ended up having to reshoot all the scenes we'd shot that first day of the original shoot, so nothing in the final film remains from that original shoot. That first weekend we also faced a host of technical difficulties, so in hindsight it was good we had that time to recentre ourselves, fix those issues with the gear, and head out again a month later. The only issue with that was that our original Director of Photography, Nicole Brannen, was moving overseas before our reshoot dates, so we had to find another DoP. Luckily we found Nahyeon Lee, one of my classmates, and she was able to run the show for the reshoot. Another challenge that came up later was that one of the days I was doing my own data transfer and after a long, exhausting day of shooting, ended up not copying all the sound files over. We ended up doing a little ADR, but there's one scene in the film where the sound is a little off, and that's because of this oversight.
How did you go about casting the actors in the film?
From the beginning I'd hoped to cast real-life sisters, so when I was thinking about casting I started scouring the websites of local acting agencies and came across Maisy and Lola. I sent them the script and lookbook and asked if they were interested and they were! We met up for coffee with them and their mum, who is also an actress, and talked through the project and they came on board then and there! I was very lucky. For Paul, their dad, I'd seen him in another student's film a few years earlier and thought he could be a good fit, so approached him and he was keen. For the extras I just pulled together as many teenage boys as I could find, friends of friends and a couple from a listing on StarNow, a local casting website.
What was something you learned during production?
Test all your gear before you head out—if you're shooting at night, make sure you know how your camera deals in low light situations. Don't do your own data transfers when you're exhausted after a full day of shooting. Colour grade a little brighter than you think you should: what looks good on the computer in a dark edit suite is going to look way too dark on a projector. People can be incredibly generous to a student in crisis.
How did you location scout for this film?
Luckily it was all set in one location, so I originally started looking for reserves and parks we could shoot in, but I knew I didn't want to make our cast and crew travel too far since it was such a low budget film. My boyfriend suggested this location, which is actually the back field of the primary school where his mum is school principal. So she was able to grant us access to use their field, and we were able to store our gear and catering in one of the classrooms over the other side of the school.
What is some advice you give to other filmmakers creating a fiction film?
I would just say make sure your script is really clear, and that you know the intentions behind every moment. When you are on set it's so chaotic that you have to know where you can or cannot compromise in a split second. There are moments in the final edit of this film that are still unclear because I didn't know the script as thoroughly as I should have. Hone those instincts. Read Judith Weston's Directing Actors. Surround yourself with a team of people you trust to do their jobs. If you can't pay people well, feed them well. And if your film is set in the summer, try your best to shoot in the summer.
