We first featured Tisch film student Josef Wladyka in a December post for his soccer spec spot played out and about in Wall Street and now here is his follow-up work called One Shot Stories. Good to know a newbie director can be consistently inventive.
How did the stories come about? Did someone commission you or is it a private project?
I came up with the idea for the first one when I traveled with my mother to Japan last year. I had just got a 7D and I knew I wanted to shoot something in Tokyo. We got to talking about the last time she was in Japan, which was 35 years ago. As she told her story and expressed the thoughts and feelings she was experiencing, I began to picture a single shot in my mind. We went to a congested subway station and with the help of my two brothers and aunt, we shot my mother walking through a crowd of people towards the camera. The image was so powerful; I knew we captured something special. Originally, I planned to interview her when we got back to the States and use that audio over the shot. Instead, my mother wrote a little story on a napkin on the flight home articulating the flooded mix of emotions running through her throughout our journey. She read it to me and it sounded perfect. We recorded it in a closet and I put that audio over the visual. My good friend scored it and the first One Shot Story was complete.
It proved such a rich experience making the first one that I knew I had to make more.
The one shot works very well with the narratives – did you have to do endless takes?
We did about four takes for each one except for the one we shot in Colombia. We only had one chance to catch that shot and it just so happened that all the kids were coming home from school in that moment.
They are beautifully told. Did you direct the films to the audio narrative? Or did the stories evolve as you were shooting?
With the exception of my mother’s story, the audio comes from two-hour interviews with the storyteller. Based off of the information I get from the interviews, I edit the audio down to about three minutes. After that is done, we come up with a shot that will match the story and we go and shoot it.
Did you actually travel to the places of these people?
The first one-shot story was when I traveled to Japan with my family. The second story was shot in NYC where I live, and the third one was shot on the Pacific Coast of Colombia, where I was researching for a feature-length film I am developing.
Each story is very positive and uplifting – was this what you wanted to portray?
There wasn’t a set formula for what I was trying to accomplish – what was most important to me was that each of the stories were honest and personal.
What camera kit did you use? Digital or film?
All of them are shot with a Canon 7D. The sound is recorded with a Zoom H4N.
You were at Tisch – where are you now? Have you signed to a company?
I am currently working on my graduate thesis film at NYU Tisch, and I am not signed to any company yet.
