22 SPRING 2020 MOVIEMAKER.COM
HOW THEY DID IT
once production is underway.
Many of the things Janicza
initially implemented into the
shooting of the film were vital
to how the story was to play,
as part of a film whose initial
story was birthed on Twitter.
She understood the necessity to
have the social media experi-
ence play out on the screen in
a way that’s inventive and also
inclusive. For instance, she
approached text messages by
having characters read them
out loud instead of seeing them
type them out.
A lot of times people are tex-
ting more than they’re having
actual conversations. Treating
text messages as dialogue,
you’re seeing how we’re com-
municating with each other
currently, and in some ways, to
hear “K” out loud, instead of it
being typed, sounds a bit silly.
In a little way, it’s humorous to
hear someone say, “heart emoji,
heart emoji” or “rose emoji,
rose emoji.” But that’s actually
our form of communication
with each other right now—
especially right now.
Sometimes when people try
to implement social media in
film, they think it has to be a
ton of emojis on the screen,
or it has to be mostly graphic.
Some of the things we did are
graphic, but we also used the
noises that your social devices
make when you’re texting or
sending a message. Our use of
the sound design was helpful
in clueing the audience in on
what was happening, without
spoon-feeding them the infor-
mation by throwing words up
on screen.
There’s also a moment in
the film where we actually
have the sound fall out. And
so you’re experiencing what’s
going on, but you don’t hear
the dialogue. When you take
away a certain element that’s
usually available to you while
watching a film, it enhances all
your other senses. By turning
down the volume, we make
your imagination kick in as
you’re trying to put together
what’s going on in the scene.
Sometimes your imagination
actually can be more exciting
or interesting than the actual
dialogue of a scene.
One of the sequences that
definitely evolved is what we
call the “sex montage”—which
is a montage of men coming
to the hotel. Janicza wanted
to present it to the audience
so that they understood the
language of what was taking
place. It is something that if
handled by somebody else,
could have not been repre-
sented correctly. That montage
had some elements of how
you would do it if you were
scrolling through your phone.
We shot it in a way where
the men weren’t hidden—the
men were on display. A lot of
times when people talk about
sex work, they’re putting the
women on display. Janicza
and I made a conscious effort
to put the men on display. Idon’t know if a lot of people
noticed this, but one of the
things that’s great about Zola
is that there’s no female nu-
dity. It was something Janicza
was very conscious about. The
evolution of the “sex montage”
was that we wanted to do it
in a way that impacted you,
but wasn’t grotesque. We also
wanted you to feel the weight
of this young girl who is put
in the situation. It’s something
that’s happening a lot, which
is definitely very tragic.
Usually when you’re initially
on a project, your director is
off shooting. You’re kind of
working by yourself until they
can jump in and start giving
you feedback. The difference
between working on your own
vs. working with a co-editor
is with a co-editor, you can
show each other scenes and
bounce ideas off of each other.
But when you’re working on
your own, it’s just you and
your assistant (if you have an
assistant) plugging along, and
once your director comes in,
you have a lot of questions.
Janicza makes fun of me—she“IT’S HUMOROUS
TO HEAR SOMEONE
SAY, ‘HEART EMOJI,
HEART EMOJI’
OR ‘ROSE EMOJI,
ROSE EMOJI.’ BUT
THAT’S ACTUALLY
OUR FORM OF
COMMUNICATION
WITH EACH OTHER
RIGHT NOW—
ESPECIALLY
RIGHT NOW.”