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At The Riverbank
As the world grows arid, a young girl searches for water to heal her injured father.
CAST
Martha Shaw "Alana"
Brock Morse "Owen"
Cameron Jackson "Layla"
Wyatt Tithof "Jack"
CREW
Written & Directed by Matthew Wisdom
Produced by Ally Smith
Cinematography by Zohar Varadi
Production Design by Jaqueline Cheng
Editing by Arne Christensen
Sound Design by Adam Jamal
Original Score by Ronan Wisdom
Climate change - and its unique conflicts - make for compelling stories. How will an inhospitable environment impact us and our ability to protect those we love? What if we can't? At The Riverbank examines how one girl's relationship with her father must change if both are to survive - it's a coming of age story set in an environmental wasteland.
PRODUCTION NOTES
Jack and Layla - our two central antagonists. We experimented with perspective here, ultimately placing the audience in Alana's POV. The effect was everything we'd hoped for: a scene that is claustrophobic and unsettling.
Zohar and team framing-up while I worked with Cameron on eye-line.
Alana emerging from the bunker - the midpoint of Riverbank where we
introduced an entirely new set of colors and textures to the film.
Jackie's ingenious bunker hatch. We were able to simulate depth with the least amount of digging possible - a real life-saver out in the Lancaster desert. We all took turns crawling in and out for photo ops.
Southern California experienced heavy rain two weeks before production - an unexpected challenge for an arid film. We were forced to think on our feet, altering the shot list and framing out as much greenery as possible. Incredibly proud of the whole team here for finding creative solutions.
I love this photo for so many different reasons. The intricate set-build, the clever lighting setup, but most of all, the culmination of so much hard work from each department to create Owen and Alana's bunker.
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