Independent Films, Drama

Clear Water
by WaNa

Stumbling through a fog of nightmares and restless insomnia, "Clear Water" unravels a man's decline as he confronts AIDS by clinging to a romance that's quickly slipping away. Starring Marc Forget and Sandriel Frank, with sound designed by Grammy Award winning Peter Wade Keusch, "Clear Water" appeared as part of a multimedia installation by NYC-based artist and filmmaker, Natalie Mooallem, and represents one of the first collaborations of WaNa.

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Details

Language: English

Year of production: 2006

Length: 15:25 min

Country: United States

Suggested by:
Lydia Cavallo

Directors:

Natalie Mooallem

Producers:

Alia Raza
Natalie Mooallem

Actors:

Marc Forget
Sandriel Frank

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Film reviews for Clear Water

Lydia Cavallo

Amazing sound design is a true star in this short film. Every beat is enhanced with seamless psychedelic sound effects which draw you into the movie and enhance the edgy, somewhat experimental material. Cinematography and shot composition are artful -- this film has an exceptionally strong visual and aural sensibility that is a pleasure to experience!
WaNa

Thematically, the film has many food references, so I figured I would approach the sound with that in mind and, since I was hungry, I set up a bunch of microphones in the kitchen. I used an AKG 414 and a pair of Royer 122 ribbons in a blumlein pattern. I rolled hard drive for a few minutes on the sink in various states of flow, dripping and splashing. Then I moved on to the coffee grinder, stove-top and fridge, the latter to procure necessary victuals to complete the recordings... One section of tap drizzle was stretched and layered to get the crazy, crackly, serrated sound in the end of the bathroom scene.

I also set up a Yamaha CS-15 as I wanted to use a monophonic synthesizer to keep things simple and lonely. I tweaked the knobs on the synth while watching the film and, after a few takes, I got a bunch of stuff to pull from.

Next, I wanted a crazy sound for the amazing shot of Marc through the bottles. The camera work really inspired the sound. I set up a bunch of wine glasses with various levels of water in them and played them like an hydrocrystalophone. I used the AKG 414 again and close mic'd the glasses to get as intense a sound as possible.
Baxter Martin

The sound design creates a groovy ambience which can sustain at least our auditory attention. Excellent for portraying this really bad trip of a movie. "Clear Water" ranks right up there with "Reefer Madness" as top of the line anti-drug films. The story is bleak and hard to care for any of the characters other than the poor bathroom goldfish, but a strong visual and audio presentation by WaNa gives this story some wings to coast on. A prime example is the fishbowl bathroom scene using the fishbowl lens and overhead shots of the couple barely staying awake/conscious on the floor of the bathroom. I'm hoping they're both going to pass out ASAP so we can get on with this story. However, the audio and visual techniques smooth it out.
Irving James

This film was sad, I thought they were drug addicts but then when I realized it was about AIDS and was really touched.

Great cinematography and wow the sound.
WaNa

Thanks for your comment. The film originally appeared as part of a multimedia installation dealing with AIDS and AIDS related subject matter, which provided more context for the lesions on the main characters chest, the drugs they take, and the person on whom the film is loosely based.
WaNa

I was looking through my iPhoto and found this picture, which documents some of the recording I did for Clear Water.

I recorded the coffee grinder with an AKG c414b-uls.

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