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Voice Of Silence
Voice Of Silence
Cinematographer Mark Duffield on creating a visual poem
“At the end of his series on the History Of American Cinema, Martin Scorsese said that the last frontier to be explored in film was maybe the complexity of the human spirit. Written and direct- ed by Christopher Knowles, Voice Of Silence, set in a non-specific time or location, tells the story of three ‘prisoners of conscience’ who are taken to a detention centre for unexplained reasons.
“There, they are systematically and psycholog- ically tortured. However, during their imprison- ment, the trio are given a mysterious spiritual mes- sage that forges an inner strength and gives them the power to forgive. Although there is a narrative structure, the film has no dialogue but on the soundtrack are voices which express in poetic form the spiritual resolve of the ‘prisoners’.
“Chris had not directed a feature film before but his experience in the industry was impressive - from location manager on movies like Pink Floyd The Wall, Greystoke and A Handful Of Dust to assistant director of special effects on Aliens. After A Fish Called Wanda, Chris took a break only to discover a collection of letters and poems writ- ten by condemned prisoners of war which
explored their deep spiritual awareness. Research was developed with help from Amnesty International, the United Nations and survivors of these covert detention centres. It was these meet- ings that determined Chris to make the film.
“Chris and I first met several years ago when he was just talking about Voice of Silence and I was immediately inspired by the idea. Finally, this summer, it went into production. As a DP, I have shot three 35mm features on Fuji stock - The Hurting, Let’s Stick Together and Revolver - and this time round I settled on Fuji 500 8571 because I knew it would get me the sort of results I wanted.
“The story takes place in just one location and for our detention centre we needed a munici- pal building in a state of closure. Using the former premises of the Ronald Grant Archive and Cinema Museum in Brixton (kindly given to us by Grant who’d recently moved), we found it was perfect. Once an old Victorian fire station, it had been ‘modernised’ in the 60s and 70s. For the film, we retro-fitted the location, adding security doors for the rooms/cells and dressed a large interior to serve as an execution/torture area.
“In lighting terms, I tried to find an interesting source in the cells that would sustain a feature length project. During our research, Chris and I had watched Killer’s Kiss, one of Kubrick’s first films, and we liked the way the practical light was placed half way up the wall in a room. So I designed wall fixtures that would be the main source of light in the cells.
“This allowed me to create a stylised light on the actors’ faces from three-quarter side light to silhouettes. In terms of the quality of the light I was influenced by 17th Century Dutch paint- ings, in particular the works of Hendrick ter Brugghen and Gerard van Honthorst, both of whom used candlelight as a main source in the frame creating a warm direct glow. In Voice Of Silence, this yellowish glow would illuminate from a domestic 60 watt bulb.
“Also in the cells, the prisoners see a spiritual message which we made appear using light con- trolled by dimmers. Because of the nature of the rooms, we were able to create a faux wall and posi- tion lights behind it so having this strange light appear and disappear in the room.
“In one scene, Mary, a female prisoner (played by Charlotte Purton), removes pieces of cardboard that block a window and that lets golden sunlight out into her cell. That would later be mirrored when, as she’s executed, the sun breaks through the clouds and shines on her. It’s a stylised look but our brief was to create arresting images that would represent the film as a visual poem.
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Photos top centre; (L to R) camera assistant Boyd Skinner, writer/director Chris Knowles, production manager Maythem Ridha and Mark Duffield. top left; Charlotte Purton and top right, Paul Hill in Voice Of Silence.
The Hurting, Let’s Stick Together and Revolver were origi- nated on
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feature in focus