The cinematography work of local twin brothers will be featured in two films in the inaugural Maple Ridge Festival of B.C. Film.
Known as the Talbot Twins, Nelson and Graham Talbot of Maple Ridge worked on both the short film The Timekeeper, a touching story about a watchmaker who pawns time from people who waste it, and also the full-length feature Lawrence and Holloman, a twisted comedy about a cynical and suicidal accounting clerk who gets taken under the wing of a happy-go-lucky optimistic suit salesman.
The brothers first received media attention in 2014, when they were announced as finalists in a million-dollar worldwide contest to design a Super Bowl ad for Doritos tortilla chips. That ad featured a pair of canoeists who drop chips into the water around them to bait a mermaid.
In 2015, they won $50,000 for another entry into the Doritos Super Bowl contest, called When Pigs Fly.
Their cinematography work couldn’t be more different than in each of the movies in the festival.
A cinematographer is responsible for translating the director’s vision into an image, explained Nelson Talbot.
“So you handle the lighting. You are head of basically the grip, the electronics and the camera department. The way a film looks is attributed to the cinematographer,” he explained.
The Timekeeper was created as part of the Hot Shots Short Film Contest, a script-writing contest based out of Vancouver that provides sponsorship and monetary support to local short film scripts that might otherwise not have the opportunity to be made into a film.
A short film like The Timekeeper, one that is supported by local industry with more resources for a higher-end product on a low budget, there is much more freedom when it comes to being artistic.
“A lot of the struggles that short films face is getting a decent budget to get all the tools that you need to do the job you want. The Timekeeper was really cool because it was a much more stylized film,” said Talbot.
The twins were able to produce more fantastical lighting for the film.
“We approached it as though it’s a fantasy but set in real life,” explained Talbot.
“The main thing we did is a lot of strong back light,” he said.
“We wanted to feel grounded, but yet have some fantastical elements.”
Lawrence and Holloman, a comedy, was different.
Being a comedy, there is nothing too artistic in the cinematography.
“It’s a dark comedy, so you can take it a little darker a little moodier. But you are always playing into the comedy side of it. It always has to be accessible to the audience members,” Talbot said, adding that cinematography in a film should never take the audience out of the story.
“Cinematography, as long as it backs up the story, that’s what you are going for. If it’s jumping out at someone, that’s never my goal,” said Talbot.
He hopes people enjoy both films.
“The Timekeeper is a really easy watch and it’s sentimental and it’s nice and Lawrence and Holloman is a dark twisted comedy that is a lot of fun to watch as well.”
• The Timekeeper, directed by Scott Weber and starring Tom McBeath, Nathan Dashwood and Tammy Gillis, will be screened at the ACT on March 18 at 7:30 p.m. with the feature length film Black Fly, directed by Jason Borque and starring Matthew MacCaull, Dakota Daulby and Christie Burke.
Lawrence and Holloman, directed by Matthew Kowalchuk and starring Ben Cotton, Daniel Arnold and Katharine Isabelle, will be screened at 5 p.m. on March 19 with the short film Monster, directed by Deborah Burns and starring Jodelle Ferland, R. Douglas Hutchinson and Dave Abustan.
