The idea for Roots Will Remain first started as 1 shot, which is the rotation around the seedling as it pushes through the tarmac (3rd shot in the film). I have always been interested in showing nature and man made environments together. With the tragic situation in the Ukraine I thought I could turn this one shot idea into a film which would demonstrate the strength and determination of the people of Ukraine, and with the sunflower being the national flower, it was a perfect plant to use for my film.
I knew the integral thing to making this idea really work was a great set and lighting. I built the set using bags of pre made tarmac (available from builders merchants) and rubble, rocks, and detritus I found in skips and on the side of the road.
The set took me about 2 days to build and light. I used flash lighting (Bowens GM250 Heads) with a lot of negative fill, and gobos to create a shard of light. The camera used was a Nikon D610 and a 28mm Nikon AIS lens.
The next step was to create a small hole for the seedling to grow through, and also a watering system which wouldn't effect the set or camera. This was made with a small plastic tube, which I could reach off camera and water when necessary. I needed a grow light also which was mounted above the set and would turn off as part of the time-lapses firing sequence.
This initial rotate shot took about two weeks to film, the shot was achieved by using a new Timelapse controller called 'Time Ghost' (created by Robert Hollingworth). Time Ghost enables the user to programme in a firing sequence which will trigger cameras, turn on/off relays and grow lights. A motion control move can also be programmed, in this case it was a simple nodal rotate around a central subject (the seedling) Whats really great about the setup is that it can be controlled anywhere in the world with an internet connection! Very handy when waiting for plants to grow
Once I had this shot complete, I set about filming as much of the growing sunflower on the set, but this obviously became harder as the plant grew in size, so I had to use blue screen to film the flower opening.
I knew I wanted a big reveal shot to really give the flower a sense of place and position within this war zone environment, again this was shot against blue.
I am very lucky in that my brother in law, Jason Devine, is a VFX compositor, so he was able to bring the environments to life by creating the backdrops. He also added in some much needed particle dust and smoke elements to give some atmosphere to the film. Obviously this isn't achievable in a timelapse setting, so adding these small touches in post really helped tie the environment together and create the feeling I wanted.
I also hired music composer Louis Palfrey to create an original score for the film which took its reference from the diegetic sounds of war; gunfire, explosions, static and radio chatter, which mixed with his original music helped to elevate the visuals and give a real sense of place.
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