I have fond memories of this shooting. Restricted budget, but the mood was high.This is the second time I’ve worked with Jean Lassave, the director; but my first with Cameraman Bruno Flament, who is also a teacher at Cuba’s school of cinema, where Antoine Bonfanti has taught many sound recordists. I also met a very nice – and highly skilled – young man : Roman Lechapelier. He also attended Cuba’s school of cinema, and is now working there.

The film was shot with a Panasonic AG-AF101E Camera. For the sound, I used a Sound Devices 788T recorder, more practical than the Cantar X2 for a documentary-type shooting. Microphones were Sennheiser SK5212 wireless, withSanken COS11, very convenient to use because they require only a R6 battery. They sound almost as good as the Audio Limited DX2040, but you don’t have to use 9 V batteries, which can be troublesome. I used a KM150 Neumann for direct sound, and a MS Sennheiser MKH30-40 pair, on a Cinela Zephyx suspension, for ambient sounds. Again, these are great for documentaries. The film was shot near the sea, that’s why I opted for this setup, to avoid possible humidity problems.

Synopsis

Between the areas of Fontsainte, Saint-Jean, La Ciotat-ville and the train station, then back to the house he grew up in, the filmmaker and narrator shows us the places where he spent his holidays as a young boy and takes us for a walk down memory lane.

“For so long I thought I followed the way
that crosses between now and yesterday
For so long I have dreamed that human time.”
Louis Aragon

Since the first moving images by the Lumière brothers and « Arrival of a Train at a Station », hasn’t cinema become the glistening fabric of our lives, of our personal histories, merging into the bigger, pluralist, History ?

Sky… sea… land… A documentary telling us a story (one from many stories) from La Ciotat.

Technical specs

Directed by : Jean Lassave
Producer : Chantal Dubois – AUM Prodution
Camera : Bruno Flament
Camera assistant : Roman Lechapelier
Sound : Arnaud Soulier