A Director Story
Client: Passion Project
Role: Director, Cinematographer, 3D/2D Motion, Compositing and Editing
Credits:
Director and Editor: Ryan DeCarlo
3D / Motion Design: Ekene Nwokeke, Ryan DeCarlo
Compositor: Ryan DeCarlo
Actress: Vanessa Bisono
Mix Engineer: Brian Chirlo
Audio Tracks: JM Scherf & Tenacious Orchestra
Background
Pegasus was my first step behind the camera. After fifteen years of directing motion inside After Effects, I wanted to find out what my design instincts were worth on a real set, with a real actress, building something cinematic from the ground up. So I picked up a Sony a6300 and some gear from B&H, and went headfirst into directing.
Problem
A short film with no studio behind it has to earn its atmosphere honestly. The goal was specific: something eerie, mysterious, and visually cool, a film that lives in the space between dream and tension. Mood like that is easy to describe and brutal to manufacture on a first-time director's budget.
Long Version
Short Version
Challenge
Every department was mine. Concept, shot design, cinematography, pacing, tone, and after the shoot, the 3D, compositing, and edit that fused the live plates with the effects. The same instincts I'd built in motion design had to translate to directing a performance, lighting a face, and knowing when a shot was done.
Approach
I directed it the way I design: story first, every visual decision traced back to the feeling it had to produce. Greenscreen plates with the actress, practical elements, then the digital layer, particles, sand, and atmosphere built in 3D and composited back until the dream logic held. I cut both versions myself, a long cut and a short cut, each paced to its own rhythm.
The behind-the-scenes breakdown on this page shows the build, plate to final.
Breakdown
Results
Pegasus won Best Experimental Director at the Los Angeles Cinema Festival of Hollywood in 2018, and was an Official Selection at The Block Film Festival in 2019.
It was also a turning point. Everything I now believe about evolving a story from first idea to final frame, on every project, for every client, started with directing this one.