Interview with Sam A. Davis: Director of the Oscar Shortlisted Film, "The Singers"

Last month, the Oscars shortlist was released of films that are on track to possibly be nominated for the 98th Academy Awards. Among the list for Live Action Short Film was The Singers, by writer/director/cinematographer, Sam A. Davis. Which premiered at last year's SXSW festival, later screening at Tribeca and AFI Fest. He also received recognition for his work as Director of Photography on Sean Wang's indie triumph, Didi. I recently got the opportunity to talk with Davis about this film, casting through TikTok, the multiple hats he had to wear on set, and the bumpy journey to the Oscars shortlist.

Eric: "Thank you so much for being here. I know that this has been a very busy few weeks for you, and upcoming. So, thank you for taking the time to sit down and talk with me today. "

Davis: "Thanks, Eric."

Eric: "My first question for you is how you actually first came into contact with the short story. Because, I actually wanted to get the chance to read it before I talked with you, but for the life of me I couldn’t find it anywhere. I would just love to know how you got your hands on it first, and what inspired you about it initially?"

Davis: "Yeah, I read The Singers for the first time in George Saunders’ book, A Swim in the Pond in the Rain. It’s his storytelling masterclass where he breaks down seven classic Russian short stories and uses them as a sort of framework for an educational storytelling book. And yeah, the first time I read The Singers I was um… a little bored by the read because it’s this really dense, and kind of slow read. But the writer sort of plays a trick on you where he lulls you to sleep in this sort of EDM of this 1850 Russian pub. And then, surprises you with this really beautiful testament to just the power of connection through vulnerability and song in this case. And so, it was that text combined with the idea of recreating it. Doing a modern spin on it starring viral video singing sensations from all around the world. And having them play these unsuspecting geniuses in the rough in this little pub."

Eric: "That’s awesome. And I’m really glad that you brought up the viral singing sensation part of your casting process because that leads me into another question I had. And I might need you to fact check me on a couple of these things when I ask them because I want to make sure my research is right. But from my understanding you didn’t have a full, complete script for this, correct?"

Davis: "Correct."

Eric: "And you shot it with actors that you primarily cast through TikTok, right? With people who had never acted before?"

Davis: "Yes."

Eric: "And you shot on 35mm Kodak?"

Davis: "Yes. We shot on film. Yeah. Crazy proposition from my producers."

Eric: "Oh, that’s awesome. I was gonna ask about the idea even for all of those things, but casting through TikTok, specifically. I haven’t done a lot of research into stuff like that, but the characters and performers in the movie are wonderful so I was wondering what your process was like for curating and going through all of that, and contacting people, and that whole process?"

Davis: "Yeah, well it was just a long, slow and tedious process of  scouring the internet for a year and a half or so and, you know, starting conversations with people that were good potential fits. We were looking for singers first, but they needed to be more than great voices, they needed to be people with a lot of depth and life experience. So that it would bring with them a lot of material that could be tapped into on the day when we were improvising. We were asking them to play themselves, essentially. And yeah, really tapping into my documentary experience, and just building trust with people. Tracking people down, begging people to respond to comments and DMs, and eventually cobbling together this really unique group of underdogs."

Eric: "That’s so cool. I really really liked that phone call you posted with the performers when the shortlists were announced. That was really sweet."

Davis: "Yeah. Well, that’s a good sort of indication for how the experience was for them in general on set. None of them are trying, or ever were trying to be actors, it was just a really jovial, lighthearted experience for them. I think everybody was just really grateful to be there and to be seen, y'know, to have their talents be honored in this way was really meaningful for these guys. And I think some of the best performances aren’t really singing performances necessarily, but just sort of… I don’t really believe in “extras”, but the secondary patrons of the bar. Those were also people we found in like, really random ways. Some of them were street casting, or in bars around L.A. and on social media. There’s one guy, Muffin, the heavy set guy at the end of the bar that talks a lot of shit. He got on his first plane of his life to fly from Arkansas to L.A. And his coworkers still don’t believe that he’s in an Oscars Shortlisted movie. They think he’s bullshitting."

Eric: "Was he the one that when you told him about the Shortlist he asked if it was good or bad?"

Davis: "Yes. (laughs). That’s Muffin."

Eric: "I love that! I’ve seen the film twice now, and I never would have guessed that you were improvising with the script and setups and everything. The edit is so smooth. I’m curious what your process was like when problems may have arisen, or adaptations you would have had to do if the geography of the space wasn’t what you needed for a specific shot. I was really struck by your use of fades quite a lot that seem in time with other shots in the film. And so I was wondering how you adapted to potential issues, because I would have never known there were any."

Davis: "Yeah, making the movie was a lot more clumsy than you would think watching it. We spent a lot of time in the edit. And I think one thing that helped was we had this idea for the beginning of the film to be claustrophobic and have a lot of singles. Because we wanted to individualize them, to indulge in their faces, but we also wanted disparate strangers in the bar in the beginning, and then to kind of, eventually open it up to two shots and wider coverage. Because of that, we could really control the pace and the “script.” You know, the ultimate script in the first half of the edit, which is probably the most experimental when it comes to improvisation and guys really just having real-life conversations. So that was really helpful. But yeah, there were a lot of continuity issues still. Occasionally we could fix something by removing someone from the background, you know, paint out here or there, or flipping a shot horizontally. So lots of little editing tricks. The dough was really massaged a lot to get it to this point."

Eric: "Yeah. I mean, it shows in more ways than one. I wanted to ask about your mix too. Because I watched the film with my Airpods in, and pretty immediately I was just blown away by the mix. So I wanted to ask you about your process there."

Davis: "Yeah, well I’m glad you noticed that because there’s an immense amount of attention to detail. The first layer is the main dialogue and the second layer is stuff that you’re hearing, but not really tracking, you know, maybe it’s like coming in and out, and weaving with the first layer. And then the third layer is just trying to get to something that feels as lived-in and as truthful as possible. Three layers of truth. These are all conversations that we recorded throughout the shoot. We basically, with sound, we would record essentially twice a day. So we would have all of these guys LAV’d, and we would just roll straight from the beginning of the day till lunch. And then, after lunch we would roll again until the end of the day. And so all of that; all of the small talk, everything that the guys were saying was all raw material we used to sort of construct these really intricately edited and woven soundscapes."

Eric: "Recording all day is awesome. I can imagine the battery bill on those LAVs must have been insane! I have one more question for you, I was wondering what your process was like as a DP who’s also a writer/director on this. Especially, given how different this film is from some of your other work I’m familiar with. I’m a big fan of Didi, and I think of the differences visually between these two films. And how you’re working closely with a writer/director on Didi, and with this film it’s more of your own vision. And I was wondering how similar or different your experiences were with both of these films?"

Davis: "Yeah, pretty different, I would say from Didi. Not that different from a lot of the documentaries that I’m working on with a small crew. I really just think of myself as a filmmaker. Whether it’s a feature film like Didi, or a commercial, you kind of have to calibrate. I tune the filmmaker that I am to the needs of that production. I think Sean, the director of Didi for example, really appreciates that I bring with me as a DP more than just knowing how to light and frame. That I have experience as a filmmaker in both narrative and documentary, and as an editor I really understand the rhythm of coverage. But yeah, ultimately on Didi, Sean is really the driver of that vision, and I would say there to support. There was a lot more pressure on me I think, on The Singers, because I was wearing those multiple hats and naturally having to make more creative decisions all at once. It was chaotic for sure. There were some moments where I was feeling like I should have worked with a DP on The Singers. Because the actors, and the way we made it without a script, and all of the improvisation, and their lack of experience on camera required so much bandwidth from me. And sort of like, live writing. But I had a really good gaffer, Max Goldberg. And he did a fantastic job helping me light the movie. 

Photo by Jordan Cramer

Eric: "That’s awesome. Thank you so much for taking the time to sit down. Congratulations on the film, again. It’s wonderful, I’m rooting for you guys!"

Davis: "Thank you!"

We'd like to thank Mr. Davis once again for appearing on our publication and wish him all the luck this upcoming award season. Thank you for tuning into Cinemasters.net, make sure to support local film, and as always: never stop watching!