Director Mashie Alam and Cinematographer Thomas van der Zaag on Life Imitating Art
Interview by Mashie Alam & Thomas van der Zaag
Toronto based director Mashie Alam never intended for an international pandemic to reinvent the meaning behind her short film, “Boredom”. Along with cinematographer Thomas van der Zaag, the crew set out to make a piece that spoke to the anxieties of social isolation and interaction pre-quarantine. Drawing inspiration from French New Wave films and a comical color palette courtesy of stylist Basia Wyszynski, “Boredom” puts our universal circumstances into a digestible light hearted short film starring Henriette de Vries. Find the premiere for “Boredom” below, along with a conversation between the two collaborators on how life eerily came to imitate art.
Mashie Alam: I wonder what we should talk about.
Thomas Van Der Zaag: “Boredom”, probably.
Mashie: Yeah! I guess we can talk about that. What would you say was our premise for “Boredom” when we were first planning on making it, you know, before this pandemic?
Thomas: Originally? We were sort of just thinking about social isolation a bit. Social anxiety, specifically. How people get disconnected because of technology. The self-isolation that people do purposely to avoid actual real social contact and real human interactions.
Mashie: Exactly. I think we were definitely going for that while making sure that the delivery was comical, playful, aesthetically pleasing and uplifting! Instead of depressing, because the topic of social anxiety can be bleak.
Thomas: Yeah, what’s interesting about the quarantine that we're all in right now is that people are involuntarily stuck at home doing what we were referencing in “Boredom” as voluntary.
Mashie: Surreal.
“Boredom”, 2020
Thomas: Because “Boredom” is about indulging in this like-heaven scenario of people staying indoors.
Mashie: Yeah, people who want to stay indoors, who thrive, enjoy, and indulge when they are indoors.
Thomas: Now, that indulgence has sort of turned into this sort of like-hell scenario with an actual virus running around in our society.
Mashie: The extent of it is really insane. When you think about it. I think it's so strange that initially when we started making it, we wanted it to be about somebody who has social anxiety and prefers to stay indoors instead of going out. But then as the premiere date for “Boredom” came closer and closer, we slowly started entering a global pandemic! What we were kind of making fun of and trying to glamorize in the short kind of became real life. It's just so weird.
Thomas: Yeah, it's weird how life starts imitating art.
Mashie: I really like “Boredom”! I really like what we made aesthetically! And you did all the lighting, staging, and cinematography all yourself!
Thomas: Yeah I was definitely thinking about some French New Wave films when doing all that, like Pierrot Le Fou and Une Femme Est Une Femme! Especially how the apartments were portrayed in those movies.
Mashie: And also how women were portrayed in those films! La Mepris as well was one we referenced big time. Quiet, lounging, laying, fatigued, and bored women in these minimal apartments doing nothing except for smoking, drinking, and ordering at restaurants.
Thomas: There is also a boredom aspect in the way we ended up shooting everything very flat. Yeah. The lighting is kind of flat, and also all the angles are just sort of flat, just to sort of capture that feeling!
Mashie: Yeah, kind of wanted to resonate the boredom in all elements of the filmmaking.
Thomas: Not to say that the elements were boring—
Mashie: Oh no for sure— I mean I love the way that they look. When trying to portray that sort of idea of boredom, it really brings the flatness to life!
Thomas: I agree. I think that's definitely what we wanted.
Mashie: Basia, our stylist, did a really great job styling, it’s very colourful. So, even during all the boredom that's resonating in the scenes, dialogue, and actions…at least it was bright and kind of alluring to look at with all the colors like yellows and oranges and greens.
“Boredom”, 2020
Thomas: Because if we shot it in greys and stuff, it would have been not very fun to look at.
Mashie: The tone would have been way different and maybe the message would have been different.
Thomas: Yeah, that would have been a different kind of a message. We definitely wanted to make it comical and relatable instead of dark and gloomy.
Mashie: I think the colours of the clothes and the sets, all provide a lightness, you know, to sort of indicate that it is more of a comedy.
Thomas: Yeah. Right, exactly.
Mashie: Oh, we can talk about Henriette, how we went about casting her? How she was the perfect fit.
Thomas: Yeah, we did look at a bunch of different people. I had shot her before for an editorial. She portrayed being somber and melancholy so well. While being so visually engaging. She had the perfect boredom look.
Mashie: Yeah she's not boring looking! Because she's super captivating looking, but she just portrayed it so well. And she combines the whole concept beautifully.
Thomas: All the other people we met at the casting were too happy looking.
Mashie: She's strangely looks a lot like Lea Seydoux. Do you find that?
Thomas: A little bit.
Mashie: A tiny bit maybe.
Thomas: Definitely more than anybody else I can think of. But yeah, I can see that.
Mashie: So, how are you feeling now that it’s out? Does “Boredom” inspire you to make more stuff?
Thomas: Yeah, I like studying people at home.
Mashie: Same, I would like to move on to maybe studying two people at home, maybe three people at home. Home is sort of a place where people are at their ultimate comfort and themselves. I like how people are when they're home, when they're completely relaxed and when they let their guards down.
Thomas: I really do love doing character studies like whenever I do photography. I'm usually trying to get the person just to be themselves.
Mashie: Yeah, and how do you get there? How do you get them to be themselves?
“Boredom”, 2020
Thomas: Well, it's usually through a lack of direction. And a lot of awkwardness.
Mashie: What happens?
Thomas: When I am photographing, if I don't direct somebody then usually they just default to being themselves eventually. So that's usually what I do, it's a waiting game sometimes.
Mashie: That’s cool! You’re my favourite photographer, Thom!
Thomas: Thanks! I have been in quarantine for so long and just building furniture! Seeing this actually makes me very excited for when we can actually go out and start filming stuff again.
Mashie: I'm really excited about that.
Thomas: It'll be really interesting to see how this recording device-thing transcribes our stutters and things like that.
Mashie: Yeah I wonder if it’s going to write down sounds of us laughing, saying half-words, and the break that we took to watch Toy Story 3.
Thomas: I wonder.