PRIVILEGE: with videographer Darryl Ahye
Darryl Ahye (he/him) is a film director and editor, co-Founder of www.nexttonorth.com, and an alumnus of Vancouver Film School + International Academy of Design and Technology. In February 2021, he collaborated with Jennifer Mascall and the cast of Privilege to create a video of the work-in- progress.
S How did you connect into this project?
D I’m gonna look at my phone, because…
S You don’t remember?!?
D I don’t! I don’t – even though it’s two weeks ago - I think once I was done with the project my brain was fried. I didn’t get time to reflect too much, so it was great that you sent me some questions before this so I can reflect a bit more. The project happened really fast – it was the holidays and Marisa Gold (one of the performers) told me about this project she was doing. “Jennifer’s looking for a videographer – would you be interested?” I sent a couple of work samples, Jennifer contacted me, and wasn’t even “Can you do it?” it was “OK this is what we need to do..”
S You just hit the ground running.
D Right away we went into details, how to schedule shooting: would we do each dancer on separate days, or together, taking turns, and it turned out we did separate days, and so on.
S I wondered if the solo emphasis reflected Covid.
D Definately. They were all going to perform together and they rehearsed together, then came the Covid lockdown(s). Even at Left of Main, where we shot, everything was very careful and restrictive so that everyone felt comfortable and safe.
S Speaking of Left of Main – Those aerial shots! How high is that ceiling?
D I just clamped a go-pro to the air vent. It’s a very wide lense, which made it feel further.
Darryl Ahye, Marisa Gold in Privilege
S I loved the brief glimpse of you with the hanging camera in the shot!
D That was one of the funniest moments in the shoot. As I’m shooting, Jennifer got excited about including me. I was, like, “well I wouldn’t put myself into this!” She said, “No, it’s like a duet, a dance, and you are part of it!” I was “OK, well, I guess…” I don’t mind being part of it, but I wouldn’t have seen that, myself. As I was shooting, she was saying “yes, yes, that’s definitely like a dance!” and leaning in, probing, poking it – sending me into various directions!
S I loved the result, and I think viewers will.
D Yes!
S Did you find the process really fast?
D At first, yes. And after the first two performers, it had a flow and moved really fast. We had a very short time to turn the whole project around, and I was very conscious of that, but at the same time trying to collect as much as I could - because the dancers could probably only perform the material five times max, so I wanted to be sure that I got enough content for the video. I got way more than we needed!
S But it usually turns out that’s always a good thing..doesn’t it?
D Totally, because when it came to making the video, I edited all the dances in their entirety, (each 2-3 minutes); the video had to be a total of 7:00. And then after I did the 7:00, it turned out it had to be 5:00. Jennifer and I were being so precious about everything, it was all “Ohh we’re going to lose this, we’re going to lose that!” And then, there was a meeting about the presentation the video was for, and she discovered it had to be even less! So there’s Jennifer and me on ZOOM looking for what to cut, and ended up making 4:00 plus a couple of seconds, and added her presentation pitch to the beginning and the end.
S Don’t throw the 7 minute one out! What stands out about the process?
D Well, there was a point where I was really trying to do what Jennifer wanted – see what she wanted. She was telling me things that while not exactly contradictory, were kind of hard to achieve in the physical realm. Like, she wanted to be close, but zoomed in, but not. I tried so many different styles to see what she’d respond to but then she said “Do what comes naturally to you.” Then everything started to flow. I was trying to be her eye, trying to be like a vessel, and when I began to do my thing, then with her sensibilities, it became way easier.
S Tell us - is there both old and new footage of Ralph?
D No, all the footage of Ralph is what we shot.
S Is it sped up!?
D Ralph is not sped up. He was really going that fast. And he was eager to do it that fast because he has the skillset to do it. He would scream after every take, he was so excited when he nailed it.
Ralph Escamillan in Privilege
S Did the music and the choreography make you go really fast?
D It didn’t make me go fast. Part of me focussed on not wanting to miss anything, because I knew we had very limited takes. But the other part of me tried to support his movement by knowing where his focus was going to be and trying to capture that in a cool angle. And that made me have to think on the spot really fast.
S How do you describe your visual style, your videographic style?
D I like movement, so I try to keep it dynamic. I try to make a flat image feel 3D, so I try to have foreground. The Left of Main space didn't really have that to work with, so I create it: use the dancer – say part of an arm - to create a foreground, or an object, a chair for instance, to give depth. And also moving around myself - so the camera is an energy that contributes to supporting the needs of the action. You know, “look at this!” (dolly in!). I try to guide the eye of the viewer. And I always try to have an experimental element. In this video for example, there’s a shot where the camera is flipping that I use in several places.
I try to be intuitive, to feel what the dancers were doing, because sometimes I was concerned not to crash into them- but also trying to be as close as I can possibly get. So when they come in, I’d spring back, but then I realized that was the very moment where I should be springing forward and the collision would create fresh dynamic.
S When you’re making dance video is there a lead value for you? Rhythm, maybe? The drive of the music? The image – or does it just vary.
D If it’s non-narrative, I think its’ about the movement, and finding a way to capture it – if it’s a shape, for example, to capture the whole shape, or perhaps part of it, or move through the shape, that type of choice. And if it’s narrative, I’m trying to make angles and choices that make it feel like it is moving along, and making the viewer feel different parts of it a sense of the closeness, or feel the distance, of something for example. I guess changing the space is a great interest for me. And of course, sometimes that can also mean being still and the dancers pass through the frame, and so on.
Alexa Mardon in Privilege
S I wanted to hear about the “Busby Berkley” part where there are three images of Alexa.
D I was really happy that we did that part. Some things weren’t preplanned, Jennifer just threw out suggestions. This one, “Maybe there could be three”, I could do! Some of her suggestions I couldn’t tackle without pre-planning. So I was thrilled that this one I could, (by duplicating it and finding a place to put it and blend it in, adding a bit of blur to make a feeling of spacial distance, and then in a wider shot, same thing but with more breadth).
S Well, hands down, THE best COVID cheat I’ve seen! What’s happening next for you?
D I would just say I’m trying to get in more alignment with myself and my work. So this was really cool, because my work doesn’t usually go in the direction of dance. But since this project, the dancers have referred me to other dance projects, so there’re more dance projects on the way. I’m doing a music video next, and I want to do more performance art and dance projects – I’m collaborating with Marissa Gold in particular.
S What is your inspiration?
D That’s hard to answer, because in the last year, partly because of COVID, I feel I am in a different chapter of everything that I am doing. Things I was doing unconsciously or on auto-pilot were blocking me, and there’s been a shift. So I guess I have to say that the universe is my inspiration. The artistic impetus isn’t necessarily video - synchronicities, what is put in front of me, like this project for example, are all impetus. As a kid, I drew, and it felt like an unlimited resource. I sense the magic of the experience in any art form. Once I can feel that energy of creation, I want to express it so others can see it, see something, feel different.
Darryl Ahye, videographer