We Make It Good

Cassidy Gearhart Answers Doc to Dock’s SOS.

To help spread the word about this amazing organization called Doc To Dock, the agency Modernista and production company Shilo, teamed up with Cassidy Gearhart to direct this inspiring short film. Set in a Brooklyn shipping dock, an ensemble cast of very important boxes makes the call of action via a strong message for medical help for countries in need. To get the full download on how this piece was made and thoughts from the director himself, check the interview below.

Photo by Julian King.

Sheina: Hey Cass, this is a really fantastic piece for a really good cause. How did you get involved in this amazing project?

Cass: Thanks Sheina! Tracy, the Executive Producer at Shilo, contacted me for a potential job at Modernista for this non-profit, Doc To Dock. Doc To Dock does this great job of taking unused medical supplies and sends them to places like Haiti and Africa who are in need. Not only are they providing equipment to these countries but they’re also reducing waste. I read the initial script and after learning the details about the organization I was inspired and signed up to work on it.

Sheina: What do you think your directing sensibility is like and why you were picked to work on this?

Cass: Theres probably a few things. Early last year I did work for another great nonprofit, Doctors without Borders. I’ve been doing more work like that recently and I’ve always been open to doing work for really good causes. Also, a few years back, Andre and I did this piece for Comserv, which was a short narrative that used design to present the script as typography existing practically in a real world environment. Both of those previous experiences combined made it a great fit.

Sheina: So, down to brass tacks, how did you prep all of those boxes in the shot?

Cass: Pre-production was the most difficult part of this project. We had to get over a hundred boxes made to deliver the message of the script –– before we could get the design even going we had to make decisions about box sizes, and how the boxes would be arranged together inside the container. So what we did was set up the boxes in stack arrangements with the messages written on paper and taped in place, just to see how the message would work laid out on three different levels over multiple rows of boxes. A two dimensional design problem soon became a three dimensional design problem. We had to answer these questions before moving to far into the design phase.

On our shoot day our task (for the non time lapse shots) was about how to block them within the background. Co-Director Julian King, Director of Photography Tristan Sheridan, Production Designer Jeff Everett and I, took advantage of the location and used what was readily available. Our focus was to frame the hero boxes within the background to create an overall interesting composition, but also to use camera movement and blocking to enhance the meaning of each script point. For our time lapse shots we had previsualized them repeatedly leading up to our shoot day so there wouldn’t be any questions on the day of the shoot.

Sheina: There was some serious Tetris-ing going on in the container. How long did it take to block that out?

Cass: ‘Tetris’ was actually the word we used during the process. The big challenge in filling a 40ft container with boxes is that you quickly lose an accurate sense of dimensionality as you fill it up with boxes –– so when you cut from statement to statement we were worried that you wouldn’t feel like you are traveling back out to the end of the container. Our solution to not loosing the sense of space, was giving each box stack a unique ‘Tetris’ like shape that start and end at each shot to give you a feeling that you have jumped a few rows back as the camera moves towards the back of the container.

Photo by Julian King.

Sheina: Typography plays a huge role in this piece. It’s the voice and it leads the viewer throughout the piece. How do you think this visual voice make for a stronger or interesting message than if you had voice over or actors?

Cass: I come from a graphic design background, but also studied filmmaking at the same time. Over the years I found my passion focus in on narrative form and sequence building. I’m familiar with the history of graphic design and typography but, what interests me more is when graphic design becomes a physical element in a narrative piece. Using things like signage and posters as an element to focus on within 3 dimensional space. I love the idea of it being a strong detail in a story and that’s where I become more drawn to it.

Sheina: What was your inspiration for the typography on the boxes?

Cass: Original reference that we pulled, were simple examples like “This End Up,” “Caution,” and other things you normally see on shipping boxes. But as a character, maybe you could say the design is supposed to function like the old “Mr. Yuk” sticker – a visual warning or instruction.

I felt like the the box typography should feel organic and real, referencing real life usages, that we needed to embrace the ways type is used in the shipping process. Focusing in on the details so that the boxes feel authentic and not like props. For reference, we used the language and style that a lot of companies like FedEx or Sony, would present the information on their product boxes. This is very much in the school of a swiss based grid of design, which is very blocky, bold using mostly san serif type. This made sense to the agency as well and we all agreed that the feel we were going for was real life shipping boxes and not precious design art pieces.

In the beginning of the script, the call to action is about getting the attention of the viewers and making them understand that there is a problem in the world, and to do this we used the cautionary language and visuals that people are alert to. As we move into the “Solution” section of the piece, the graphic language is taking it’s cues more from shipping and medical iconography.

Sheina: Who did you use as the artist for the message?

Cass: Mike Cina who ended up doing the design work, has work that I’ve admired over the years. He’s a typographer who’s designed tons of typefaces. His work is very experimental yet also very rooted in grid based design, so he was the first person who came to my mind for this project. He knows type at such a high level and the personal work that he does often explores these conventions that I knew he would be the perfect person to play with graphic language you see in the shipping process. So we reached out to him and started talking about the different vehicles we would use to see the type: packaging design, shipping labels, hand drawn addresses, warning stickers, etc…

Photo by Julian King.

Sheina: What was your vision for this film?

Cass: To take the great script we had and give each moment it’s appropriate weight and level of detail. And hopefully to enhance the message as much as possible by grounding it ever so slightly in a easy to follow narrative so that while you are reading this message you also feel a progression that keeps you engaged with what you’re seeing.

Sheina: Well, it certainly feels authentic and you even have a moment with an actor carrying the boxes to the container.

Cass: That human element wasn’t originally in the agency script. I really pushed for it because I thought it was important to have an explanation of who Doc To Dock is, by bringing in that human hand. I think it helps motivate, and it made a difference in making a connection. Doc to Dock is a group of people and volunteers who are doing good work.

Sheina: Yeah, it’s really telling because without these people doing the work or spreading the word, it calls to action the need for human involvement and getting things in motion.

Cass: That’s a great point. The moment that you see the person in one of the frames, the question for help is proposed. I think it’s happening in that moment, that you can do something and it takes some man power to do so. In the end it addresses a problem that needs to be fix and great individuals are doing some pretty amazing stuff to fix the problem.