LABOR
2018 Independent Short / 12 min
Director - Cecilia Albertini
Writer - Andrea Brusa
Director of Photography - Halyna Hutchins
Production Designer - Hogan Lee
Costume Designer - Chanèle Casaubon
Set Decorator - Michelle Joo
Set Dec Leadman - Nick Brightwell
Set Dec Seamstress - Samantha Vinzon
Prop Master - Morgan B. Underwood
Art PA - Vincent Blake /Joshua DeAnda / Monika Ivonne
Special thanks to - Yuki Izumihara / James Maloof /
Don Dyke / Michael Sellers / Greg Brown
STORYLINE
A surrogate mother faces a harrowing dilemma when she is asked to abort the child she carries for another woman.
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DESIGN APPROACH
We followed a surrogate mother who tried everything she could to oppress her emotional attachment to the baby who would be given away eventually. She refused to see her reflection in any way.
Visually, I was inspired by a location and created a world of infinite reflections whenever our protagonist empowered herself. The double reflections symbolized the suppressed motherhood inside her. I wanted the visual world to work against her will. Like an inner voice she couldn’t resist. The design approach is extremely subtle so we focus mainly on her performance and the mise-en-scène.
The moment she realized that the baby has a genetic disease and had to be aborted without negotiation, her inner armor dismounted. Her powerful motherhood overflowed the entire frame when she finally saw herself in a mirror.
MRI solution - foam core
At the very last scene, she ran against all odds and decided to keep the baby. Apparently, she was not ready and she probably never will but this time she followed her heart and took her chances. At the very last dolly shot on a moving bus, I embedded this idea of mimicking her empowered moment into the background extras. Everyone on the bus looked defeated but at this very moment, they were very serene. However, as the dolly tracked out, we see they were trapped within the bars like the poultry scene at the beginning of the film. Life is never easy.
