TrƩCrED EXCLUSIVE Interview with Leonardo Delessandri!
Jedd recently had the opportunity to speak with Leonardo Dalessandri, who created the incredible film, Watchtower of Turkey. Its transitions are striking and his method of storytelling through images is incredibly unique. Thereās a wealth of knowledge to be found in his words below, and we hope it challenges you to get out there, shoot, and challenge yourself as a filmmaker.
J: What is your background, and what inspired your interest in filmmaking?
L: I am 30 years old, and I studied film at the University of Parma. As an Italian I certainly grew up with a great movie culture around me. However, I do feel like this has at the most influenced me unconsciously, I never approached filming with a predetermined motive, like āI want it to look like thisā. My love affair with photography and filming began when my father gave me my first camera as a christmas present when I was a child. I have been making little movies ever since- so i had a lot of time to experiment, try out things- and most importantly fail and see what does not work. My time at university was very technical and business oriented, the curriculum didnāt really leave a lot of space for developing a creative handwriting or style- but I made an effort to work on the side to gain practical experience, assisting on commercial productions, shooting documentaries or music videos for friends etc.. I also assisted the renown Italian Dop Filippo Chiesa for several years.
Over time I started to increasingly direct more and more of my own productions, and one of the aspects I love most about this job, is that you can (and should!) work all around the globe. Ever since the Watchtower of Turkey came out things have started to change- I get so many amazing and supportive emails and really cool job offers from all over the world! I just shot a commercial for Google in Los Angeles, and am preparing a second project for them in Turkey. Currently I live and work in Istanbul and am working on a big project for the Ministry of Health in collaboration with the largest film and TV studio in Istanbul. Iām really happy and thankful for how the watchtower series has been received and am excited for the things to come!
J: What was your motivation for creating Watchtower of Turkey?
L: Besides my commercial work I like to do at least one personal project each year. It is important for me as a creative person, to also do projects where I have complete editorial freedom, and also can take as much time as I need. Some of the best things cannot develop under pressure and one of the disadvantages of most commercial projects is that they usually run on a tight schedule. I created the watchtower series to do exactly the opposite- approach a country without any specific motive, let myself drift and see what happens! I had done my first watchtower in Morocco in 2012, and I was still figuring it out, so I was really eager to do another one.
So, when I went to Turkey with an Italian crew to shoot a music video in October 2013 things just fell into place. The day we arrived I had some spare time, so I took my GH3 and went out wanting to take some pictures. I ended up filming some amazing footage- I was hooked! So whenever I had some time off during my stay, I went out to roam the streets with my camera. I was so intrigued by the footage that developed during this short stay and it became obvious to me that Turkey would have to be the location for my next watchtower.
So, the next time I had some time in between projects and I had some spare money I prepared my next trip to Turkey- I couldnāt wait to visit more cities and places! I asked Meryem Aboulouafa - a young Moroccan woman and resident musician whom I met on my previous trip to accompany me on this journey. She knows Turkey and the Muslim culture very well and throughout our travels I felt like she was a great help in connecting with the people and our surroundings, she really made me sink into the deeper layers of Turkish culture, and Iām so thankful for that.
We travelled across this beautiful country, covering over 3500Ā km in only 23 days! Capturing breathtaking landscapes, architecture and nature- but most importantly we managed to connect with the soul of this amazing country- its people.
J: What equipment was used to shoot the film?
L: I usually work with a hand-held camera only- no rigs, steady cam or even tripod needed. I have made good experiences in stabilizing shots later on, and it gives me great freedom to refrain from any unnecessary equipment when shooting. Traveling light as a film maker has many upsides, it gives you access to so much more places. But most importantly this also has the advantage of being a more āundercoverā approach. The crucial element of my videos are obviously the people I portray, and their natural interaction with each other- humans living their day to day lives. Most people feel uncomfortable or at least start acting unnatural when you point a giant camera-set-up in their face, so I try to keep it simple. I shot the entire video on my Panasonic GH3 and a GoPro Hero3 - this is a picture of my general set-up.
I am starting to use a Sony A7S though lately, and I love this camera!
J: Did you capture the audio yourself? Have any tips for aspiring sound designers?
L: On my travels I always take a little Tascam audio recorder. It is a pretty cheap model, but the sound is sufficient for what I try to achieve when Iām traveling. I use it to record typical ambient sounds at most of the places I visit: conversations, street noise, water, a flock of birds flying by, a call for prayer, etc. Those specific little sound bites are extremely important in the final edit because they have great impact when added to the visuals. The sound design for me is the key ingredient to making a video that is truly striking and pulls the viewer in.
J: Your edits are both dynamic and natural. How did you achieve these transitions in a seamless way?
L: I want the viewer to perceive my edit as one continuous flow of impressions and movements, cut onto the rhythm of the music and accentuated by the original ambient sounds from the on-set locations. So I actually started off with creating the basic framework for my sound, and tried to make the pictures match the rhythm and flow of the music.
I am a sucker for well-orchestrated transitions. So throughout my trip I tried to create a grid of shots that could be easily blended into one another to give the video a sense of continuity. For example ending a shot in the sky always gives you the opportunity to connect it with other sky shots and create a fluid transition. Also bold colors always work as great links between shots, like a bright blue object in the frame followed by water of the same color etc.
While the choice of matching shots is very important, the real challenge is weaving all these shots together while maintaining a natural movement. This requires a lot of fine-tuning on the timeline, and my editing technique is extremely elaborate and time-consuming. You can utilize crash zooms, back-time cuts, picture inverses and light effects to add a dramatic touch in between cuts, but I always try to use these effects in a functional way so that the viewer does not perceive them as effects but as organic parts of the edit.
J: What active filmmakers are your biggest inspiration right now?
L: I get asked this question a lot, and have trouble answering it. I could go on for hours about films and filmmakers I love, but that would have little to do with my work, especially concerning the watchtower series. This project is not really inspired by existing movie styles, its on the contrary my very personal approach to free myself from established work-patterns. I try to listen to my gut, and operate not on a script or schedule, but in my own rhythm following my intuition. Music and the sounds of a country are probably my greatest inspiration when it comes to shooting the watchtowers- finding the perfect musical piece to match my vision of the country, and blending it with the original sounds from all these beautiful places is my greatest challenge.
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