An experimental film by Case Barden, “Mornings You Wake Up” uses only still photographs and sound design to paint a portrait of a young woman struggling through her day. We asked Barden how the project stated, what the biggest challenge was, and a recent film he’s loved…

1) Can you talk briefly about your background, and how you first got interested in filmmaking?

I work in production and locations on independent films in the US. Film always made sense to me and I couldn’t stop. And now I’m here. It’s that stories show us we’re not alone and how we’re beautiful and pained but we’re together, and through that we can understand how to live better lives together.

2) What’s the backstory here - what was the initial idea and how did it evolve from there?

I’m bipolar (lower-case “b”) and two years ago I was suicidal (I’m way much better now) so for my birthday last year I decided to make a short film as a gift to myself. I wanted to make something that was me, that I could see and appreciate as myself.

Shorts are hard to write. I write features, I understand that rhythm. So I pulled two excerpts from a feature I’ve been writing on-and-off for the past decade, more seriously the past three years. It’s a story about a photographer who retells stories from her life through her photos. I liked the idea of the film being in still images because you get to see how she chooses to see these moments in her life. It’s intimate. It’s immediate. It feels right to tell this story this way. ‘La Jetée’ is in this style, and I love that film, but this film arrives at this approach from this different perspective. It’s more like ‘Uño Uña,’ except the story was decided before hand (shout out to NoBudge alum Matt Latham for the rec). I like the freedom to tell a story this way and the challenge of making it feel like it breathes.

This was structured around different vignettes about the life of this woman on this one day that ended up being more than she expected. I spend a lot of time wandering the streets and witnessing what happens. I see how strangers react and seem to have moments that carry weight. I want to know more but I have to do whatever it is that I have to. I want this film to feel like these moments of unfinished stories of the strangers you pass by.

3) What was the biggest challenge in making this film? And generally what part of the creative process do you enjoy the best, and the least?

I didn’t want it to have that kind of pressure for success. This wasn’t for festivals or grand appeal. It was for me at the end of the day. So I didn’t want those ideas for the film to take away what I wanted from it.

The film with a cast & crew of four people involved production in three different countries (US, UK & Canada) so there were some time zone issues. I enjoyed the conversations and moments I had with the people making the film. I do this for a living and that’s always the most important part for me. I do also enjoy shooting on film and moving on not knowing if the shot turned out. I shot 11 rolls of 120mm, which is 110 shots, and the final film is 100 frames (there is recropping, etc) but overall a good shoot ration. Oh, and the best shot is the first one I did at the library when she's sleeping (middle of the film). It's a quadruple exposure because I was nervous and trying to be present. So bless all accidents.

The hardest part, not for me but our editor Chris Heck, was building the sound world of the film. The images don’t move so all the movement is implied by the sound. And there’s virtually no dialogue so it comes down to bare bones and focusing on how someone in that mindset experiences these different spaces. It was a lot of conversations of how seeing how that sounds (funny ha ha). It worked well in the end.

4) What’s a film you’ve seen recently, new or old, that you really loved and why?

To keep in theme, Karen Gillan's directorial debut 'The Party's Just Beginning' is a tour-de-force on suicide in small town northern Scotland. If you loved her in The Avengers, you'll love her in this. But in all seriousness, I didn't expect something as thorough, personal, thoughtful, and experimental about suicide as this.

And this year ‘Her Smell’ does what all of ‘La La Land’ can’t, show us why we sing.

Oh, and ‘Without’ (2011, came out 2017) breaks me always.

5) What’s next for you?

I've finished producing a feature called Baja Come Down with NoBudge alum Matthew Anderson. It'll be out in 2020. Other than that I'll continue to ramble 'round the North American continent working on independent films, maybe go Transatlantic.

Contact Info:

Website: http://www.casebarden.com