WAACKYZ-NOIR - The CREW

The film opens in a dressing-room setting: a performer sits with a glass of whisky, facing her reflection. When the glass is placed down, it becomes the foreground transition into the performance space. The movement from dressing room to stage represents a shift from private preparation and self-reflection into a fully expressed performance identity. The transition connects two states of mind rather than simply joining two locations.

The opening and closing sequences were storyboarded by the director and realized collaboratively by the director of photography and an experienced film and television gaffer, whose background shaped the lighting design throughout the production. Because the music moves quickly, visual actions and sound details, including heels, cosmetics, gestures, and object placement, were designed to land precisely with the rhythm.

The lighting package included a 1200-watt fixture, multiple 600-watt and 300-watt fixtures, several spotlights, tube lights, haze, and additional project-specific tools. In the lounge sequence, controlled spotlighting allowed a very large studio space behind the set to disappear into darkness, making the area feel like an intimate private room.

The main dance sections used multiple lighting states, including blue-toned transitions and haze that revealed the shape of the beams. Specialty cinema lenses were used to create controlled wide perspectives and pronounced starburst highlights without making the performers appear unnaturally distorted.

For a solo section, nearly all lighting was removed. A single overhead source and reflected fill were used to isolate one dancer in an otherwise empty space, producing a minimal and highly graphic image. The ending used a circular spotlight on the wall behind posed silhouettes, creating a vintage screen-image quality that reinforced the dance’s elegance and retro influence.