LAST JUNE
Director: Zoe Keating
Director of Photography: Luca McDonald
SYNOPSIS
An intimate, raw, emotionally charged, character driven story.
It revolves around Jean and Matt.
It’s their 5th year anniversary but haunted by the trauma of events one-year prior, both are determined to just get through the day. Matt walks on eggshells, whilst for Jean, it’s an uphill battle to get out of bed.
Cutting between the past and present, this story presents a gradual build that quickens until the climax: In the past, on last year’s anniversary, it’s revealed that Matt sexually assaulted Jean; and in the present Jean finally finds the words to confront him about it.
Creative Statement
As the Cinematographer of Last June, my primary goal was to create intimate, authentic and emotionally charged visuals that realised and strengthened Zoe’s directorial vision.
As a film that tells a crucial and sensitive issue around sexual assault in relationships, we decided to create beautiful, yet simple and raw imagery that didn’t take away from the story. To achieve this, I used a combination of static shots and long takes to allow the acting to speak for itself.
One of my role's more challenging aspects was creating a visual distinction between past and present. We visually achieved this through a contrast of lighting and colour, with more warm tones in the past and cool tones in the present.
Pre-PRODUCTION
Explore what I did in preparation for the film.
Storyboards, shot lists, location recces, pre-vis, lighting plans and more.
Behind the scenes of the shoot
Production
Post-Production
In post-production, I played a small role in overseeing the editing and grading process at different stages, providing feedback and ensuring the film retained my stylistic vision. Fortunately, by communicating this vision with the director and editor/colourist before editing commenced, we had a unified vision as a team, allowing a smooth post-production experience.