The crime was committed by one and justified by another, for fighting for self-preservation. So, what's actually Wanted here? Justice or Peace.
This short film was a story initially written by James Holland and later redeveloped into a screenplay with the help of Valentino Jefferson. These two men came together and invited me to set one night. Once I arrived, I was introduced into the director’s role by Anthony "Bam" Sutton when he said,
"Law, I want you to direct this. But first choreograph the fight scene." -Bam
My first thought resided in not knowing anything about the script and my response was,
"Okay, bet." -Law
We shot the EXT. (exterior) scene last, it was the Martini shot. We all were, well, I was working off of pure adrenaline of love for the craft of the creation and my second most expressed mantra, Completion Is A Must. From the beginning, I intentionally played with light to give this piece, visual cues and thoughts. So as we were walking to the location -a corner store- we realize, it was closed. It didn't matter I knew the shots were there, I just had to create them. I used discernment to quickly analyze and location scout, then it was found.
I wanted to get a reflection through the glass window. A shot, where we would rack focus from one character to the other, and then pan whip into their chase scene. In my head it was perfect. In this reality it was too dark in the foreground where the glass window was and well lit on the street. As well, it was 3AM and a gorilla shoot, so we started off in the light. I felt like Biz, played by Tyrell Kawan Carter, should be well lit in the beginning and Sean would come from the darkness. My idea for this was to show Sean as a figure first, so we'd have to watch his body language and actions. He appeared on screen from the darkness of the night, Biz runs leaving the light behind and along with Sean who uses the light to find Biz again who then runs into what he was initially running away from; the darkness.
Bam had the idea of the phone call, I added the omniscient tone visually to prepare Sean, played by Anthony Hawkins, to take his time before speaking his first lines. I wanted to put the viewer in the mood for something dark and torturous. Little details like, Sean walking slowly to retrieving water from the faucet to us seeing him in the light. Those were details that I felt told the story without the noise of the environment.
I want you to take a look for yourself. I feel like you can watch this movie in reverse, scrubbing through the story and it will still flow the same beginning to end. That was my Two2 moment, experiencing it twice with a different set of eye, communicating through light. And so is begins.
Review source: Watch Wanted Here
