Behind the Scenes | Wounds

In this blog post, we take you behind the scenes of the independent, short fiction film "Wounds".

The project is a collaboration between Martin Alexandre (Spain, 1992) and Jacob Brookes-Clayton UK, 1993), two artists-in-residence at WOW Lieven in Amsterdam. "Wounds" was supported by the Amsterdam Fund for the Arts.

Crime and romance are common genres within cinema & entertainment. However, they are not often combined with an experimental visual language. This, however, is the angle from which this film was made.

"Wounds" is a short film, with a modern story in the style of a Shakespearean love tragedy, set in the criminal underworld of Amsterdam. The story follows Dominic and Klara as they navigate the complexities of their relationship with the pressures of this underworld.

The international perspective played a crucial role in the creation of a bilingual film in which Dutch and English blend seamlessly. The project reflects the contemporary experience of Amsterdam as an international city, where people from different cultures coexist and interact. The use of both languages made it possible to explore the nuances and complexities of communication in a multicultural environment. By excluding characters through the use of language, you create dramatic tension in certain scenes. Ultimately, the bilingual nature of the film helps bridge cultural differences and celebrate the diversity that makes Amsterdam so rich and interesting.

To enrich the quality of interior scenes, we used different equipment. Part of the production consists of raw, documentary-like cinematography outdoors, making it very important to offset this with well-composed indoor images. For example, the LED panels and spotlights enabled it to create specific moments of the day (morning, blue hours), regardless of the time of day when filming took place.