Making of

SOUTH MOUNTAIN was born from the desire to make a movie on our own terms, without the pressures — and very long waits —  that can come with raising larger budgets, so we could focus on the exploration of the creative process. We wanted to be free to take risks and try out a new lens on the second oldest story in the book —  after two people falling in love, comes two people falling out.  Maria Rosenblum, Susan A. Stover and Jean-Christophe Castelli along with the film’s D.P. Ethan Mass were long term collaborators with Hilary Brougher who came together to make it happen.  After 4 years of script development and a short test-concept film, SOUTH MOUNTAIN at last materialized into a production in the Summer of 2017 thanks to the generosity and efficiency of our cast and crew.

Fun Facts:

80% Above the line personnel were women.

The film was shot predominately with natural light on location in the Catskills, with 2 studio days at Brooklyn Fireproof.

The film was shot with a SONY A7S and Rokinon primes.

Scroll down for behind the scene stills and more technical specs!

 

image-59
image-58
image-57
image-56
image-55
image-54
image-53
image-52
image-51
image-50
image-49
monitor photo by Maria

 

SXSW: Here Are the Cameras Used to Shoot the 2019 Scripted Narrative Features
Directors and cinematographers take IndieWire behind the scenes of how they shot their indie features.
By Chris O’Falt March 12, 2019
 
“South Mountain”
Format: Full Frame digital recording Apple ProRes
Camera: Sony A7S recording to a PIX e5 recorder
Lens: Rokinon Cine Primes

Director Hilary Brougher:  Our D.P., Ethan Mass carefully designed a camera/lens/lighting package to achieve high-quality images with a small camera, manageable files, and equipment that could be arranged very quickly. We had a very small crew and production footprint at our primary location — a house on the side of a mountain. We used natural light whenever possible — no one does it better than nature. Keeping it simple fast and agile so we could catch the light was the way to go. When needed, we augmented the existing natural light with small LED and tungsten sources. We had two studio days in addition to our location work. Principle photography was 1080p, and we later did scenic and pick-ups as the seasons changed in 4K.