Labyrinth of Mine
Marcy’s new boyfriend Mark gives her the life of her dreams as he makes a movie about her life, but she descends into madness as she struggles to separate her life and the film. Labyrinth of Mine is a psychological thriller short film written and directed by Max Chester, and produced by Tatum Miller, Mitch McGonegal, and Max Chester under Emerson's Independent Video organization. I served as the Cinematographer for the project.
As the Cinematographer,
I wanted the film to lean into the idea of blending between film and reality, and implemented practices used for both fiction filmmaking and documentary filmmaking. I started the film capturing standard coverage on a tripod (for when the couple first meet), and eventually limiting the coverage to one-take shots primarily shot with a gimbal. We lit the film with the idea that we would use mainly motivated lighting, as well as purposely putting lights in frame to sell the illusion that a film was being shot within the short. My references for this project were Birdman and Don’t Worry Darling.
Stills from the Film
This shot starts as an intimate two-shot before pulling out to reveal the whole film crew.
This still is part of a 2 minute unbroken single take at the end where Marcy breaks down in front of the camera.
