01
DIRECTORS WORDS
"In My Eyes"
When I found out that I was going to be directing Dawn I was very excited. I knew pulling off the cat and the fantasy world was going to be a challenge. But what was more challenging was how to deal with themes of death and loss, something that I have yet to experience in my life. At it’s core, Dawn is a very traditional fairy-tale, and so for research I decided to watch fantasy films that dealt with death and loss such as Pan’s Labyrinth, Never-ending story, and Labyrinth. Early on I came to the realization that all the best fantasy films are usually set in the past, something about the merging of current technology takes the magic out of it. So I decided to set the film somewhere between the 80s and 90s. I watched Guillermo Del Toro films as inspiration, I think that the sense of wonder and magic that he creates is amazing and I wanted to make Dawn just as fantastical. Right away I began my research for how I wanted the film to look visually, I met with my DOP Tyler Berkeley frequently and we crafted a look together for the fantasy world, that made heavy use of special lighting, with purples and blues being very prominent. I drew heavy influence from films such as the Virgin Suicides and Hausu, films with very overt colours to show different emotions, In terms of the production design, I was also meeting with my production designer Nives Dzebic, who gave the room the retro 80’s look that I wanted. We were both very heavily inspired by films such as Labyrinth, and Jumanji, and Sixteen Candles. We wanted the set to feel very full to reflect Dawn’s personality. Dawn was a blast to work on and I hope that I am able to work on something just as challenging and fantastical in the future
- NOLAN BUDZYNSKI
02
THE FILM
"Imagination can be horrifying"
Dawn is a mother and daughter story that explores the innocence and trusting nature of young girls. When her mother’s battle with cancer has escalated to a hopeless point, Dawn finds it difficult to accept her reality and wishes she had more control. In the night, a shadowy figure comes to her window in the form of her late cat. Dawn is quick to trust the shadow as he promises her a way to prolong her mother’s life; all she has to do is gives him three parts of herself. The main inspiration for the screenplay comes from Henry Selick’s Coraline and Guillermo Del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth. Both of which are stories told from from the perspective of a young girl who is thrust into a fantastical domain. Dawn follows this structure and is meant to emanate the same unsettling tone.
- MARIA TERESA ROSSI
02
THE SET
"It's not about the time and planning, It's about how you decide to create it"
When starting on this project the Director and I had many meetings to figure out how we wanted to film to look and feel like. We watched different films for inspiration and wanted to come up with a colour palette that was severe different when it came to colours. We wanted the fantasy world to contrast greatly with the regular world, and wanted to give the film an eerie feeling. Along with that we wanted the film to feel like it was shot on film, and was on an older stock so we looked at different grains to create that look as well.
02
THE SET
"It's not about the time and planning, It's about how you decide to create it"
When starting on this project the Director and I had many meetings to figure out how we wanted to film to look and feel like. We watched different films for inspiration and wanted to come up with a colour palette that was severe different when it came to colours. We wanted the fantasy world to contrast greatly with the regular world, and wanted to give the film an eerie feeling. Along with that we wanted the film to feel like it was shot on film, and was on an older stock so we looked at different grains to create that look as well.
- TYLER BERKELY
03
THE SET
"It's not about the time and planning, It's about how you decide to create it"
When starting on this project the Director and I had many meetings to figure out how we wanted to film to look and feel like. We watched different films for inspiration and wanted to come up with a colour palette that was severe different when it came to colours. We wanted the fantasy world to contrast greatly with the regular world, and wanted to give the film an eerie feeling. Along with that we wanted the film to feel like it was shot on film, and was on an older stock so we looked at different grains to create that look as well.
- TYLER BERKELY