An Industry Case Study
Narrative | Dramatic Features
Film Name: The Body and the Name
Genre: Drama
Length of film: 13 min
Date: 2021
Director: Christina Ruloff
Producer: Christina Ruloff
Writer: Howard Barker
Cinematographer: Irene Gomez-Emilsson
Editor: Christina Ruloff
Production Company: Ruloff Films
Financing: Private
Shooting Format: 4K UHD
Screening Format: 2K DCP
Website: www.christinaruloff.com
The Official Trailer for The Body And The Name
Watch The Teaser Trailer for The Body and the Name directed by Christina Ruloff
A Short Biography of Christina Ruloff
Christina Ruloff studied in Zurich; she produced educational films such as How did the martyr cult develop? or Why do people worship the Virgin Mary? In doing so, rediscovered her passion for storytelling.
Her graduation film is Variations on Charlotte’s Afternoon. Her first short film Z Kiev redt mer Mundart was shot in Switzerland. It is about the writer Albert Bächtold was shown at Sternstunden Kunst.
Christina founded a production company Ruloff Films in Zurich. Now, she writes for advertising, image, and educational films. She hires specialists from her international network to implement her concepts in a targeted manner.
The Christina Ruloff Interview
indieactivity: What is your film about?
Christina Ruloff (CR): THE BODY AND THE NAME was written by the British playwright Howard Barker; it deals with life and death, it focuses on the body and its meaning; it is bold and thought-provoking, it is absurd and sad and it boasts his usual rich and poetic language. To my mind, it offers the perfect opportunity to introduce a wider audience to his work.
Give the full Official Synopsis for your film?
Christina Ruloff (CR): Mary lies in a morgue. Although dead, she’s still conscious contemplating her past. Vividly, she remembers a conversation with her lover about the meaning of her body… At the time, Mary thought her body irrelevant – it meant nothing but “what thought makes it”. However, she now has to experience how the warden Doyle gazes at her body, and how he explores the connection between body, soul, and name.
Development & Financing?
Christina Ruloff (CR): In 2012, whilst studying at the London Film School, a friend introduced me to Howard Barker. I hadn’t heard of him before but found his writing singular and exciting. I hadn’t seen anything like his „Theatre of Catastrophe“. We met and had a long conversation about everything under the sun; eventually, we ended up doing a poetry shoot at the National Theatre in London.
This London memory has a special place in my heart, not only because I learned a lot watching Howard direct; I found new inspiration as a cinematographer, entered a different world of ideas, and made a good friend.
Howard and I have stayed in touch ever since, and when he approached me about us doing a short film together I was thrilled. I had always wanted to direct a Barker play, but usually, his plays were too long and too wordy to be turned into a film. Now he offered me to choose whatever I liked best from all these published and unpublished short works.
His agent sent me loads of plays, and I felt a bit like a kid in a candy shop, discovering new and exciting stories and ideas.
However, lots of his work is pretty much „unfilmable“ or would require a huge budget. And being also the producer of this short and knowing that I’d very much rely on friends and favors, I had to be „reasonable“ and pick something that actually could be done in a short amount of time, with a minimal crew, set in one location. THE BODY AND THE NAME immediately spoke to me, I felt strangely familiar with the imagery and realized pretty much when reading it… that this would be it.
To me, THE BODY AND THE NAME discuss the „big questions“ in life: What does remain when we’re gone? What happens to our bodies? What happens to our soul? Did we lead a good life? What is a good life? Did we make the right decision? Did we really make conscious decisions or let others decide for us?
Of course, the film is at times uncomfortable and often uncanny because it confronts us with thoughts and feelings we’d rather lock away deep inside and leave untouched. However, being human means facing our fears and desires. I felt that this story allows us to expose ourselves to important questions in a safe environment. I hope my audience will leave the cinema disturbed or amazed (to quote Barker) – and inspired by the main characters Mary and Doyle tackle yet unresolved questions.
The final screenplay is nearly identical to the play. Suzy (the actress) and I got rid of one line on the day when going through her lines. But the language is so dense and beautiful and there are so many connections between her monologue and his… that actually you can’t change or shorten it. It would be a shame to do so. Howard did give me carte blanche to change anything I like, knowing only too well that there wasn’t a point in even trying 😉
Production?
Christina Ruloff (CR): After having found the .. my“ Barker piece, I started thinking about cinematography and style. I instantly thought of my friend, the cinematographer Irene Gomez-Emilsson. She and I had studied together at the London Film School and have been through many adventures in the process. We share a similar taste in film and are on the same page when it comes to aesthetics.
I absolutely wanted to shoot in black and white knew her to be the perfect collaborator for this film. Luckily, she was very excited about this project and made time so that we could spend many (happy!) hours discussing references, style, and contrast ratios. We also did a lot of testing so that on the day we would be absolutely clear about everything. I am greatly deeply indebted to her for her help, her enthusiasm, and of course her beautiful work.
The actors, Suzy Cooper and Richard Lynch were specifically chosen by Howard for their roles. Having played and even directed Barker, they are experts on his work and his use of language. They were fabulous onset and throughout the production, full of ideas and fearlessly exploring whatever lies beyond the screenplay. It was a great pleasure to share this artistic journey with them. They are the heart of the film and without them, it would never have happened.
As Irene is London-based (I live in Switzerland), she had lots of ideas and suggestions for finding the right location. I came over for a week in June (we were set to shoot in autumn) and we went location scouting all over London. It was difficult to find the right space because it needed to be big enough, have a high ceiling, and interesting texture… to evoke a sense of infinity whilst still keeping the illusion alive that this could be a mortuary.
So, we actually needed a studio that didn’t look like a studio. LOCK STUDIOS turned out to be a wonderful choice. I love the texture of the walls. The space looks great but still feels a bit surreal.
The most difficult bit was finding dates that would suit both the actors. Suzy had been doing Shakespeare (Lady Macbeth and Peter Quince) at Blenheim Palace all summer and was supposed to go on tour to Manila. Richard is one of the main characters of the only Welsh TV soap opera Pobol y Cwm („People of the Valley”), so they’re both very busy people. But luckily Richard was able to take a couple of days off from his TV work (they actually give holidays!) and suddenly the Manila tour was canceled… so we were able to book the studio for two days in September.
Irene got her friend Charles Meunier as production manager on board; having produced many shorts in and around London, he was superb at staying on top of things whilst being relaxed and fun. We got the camera, set, and props (the (in)famous slab!) ready on Wednesday afternoon and started to shoot Thursday morning. It was a magical experience watching these terrific actors bringing the characters alive. We managed to do everything pretty much as imagined and storyboarded and finished on time, Friday afternoon at 5 pm.
I took the footage back with me to Switzerland and edited the film together in October and November. A few good friends gave me invaluable feedback on how to shorten it together and make the piece more compact. The only issue was with sound. As LOCK STUDIOS was a photo studio and the people in the studio next door were doing a huge photo shoot for a fancy sports brand… there was lots of noise, particularly in the more quiet bits of Richards’s monologue.
I was quite desperate because I didn’t know what to do. But then a friend introduced me to one of Switzerland’s leading sound designers, Thomas Gassmann. He loved the film and was happy to get involved. Watching him literally save dialogue, that was incomprehensible was phenomenal. I wasn’t aware that this could be done. Thomas is a true master of his craft and a very generous and kind person. I was extremely lucky that he could help.
Irene introduced me to a friend of hers, Alex Grigoras and his color grading really adds to the atmosphere of the film. We had a long discussion about blacks and shades of grey and contrast levels… working with him wasn’t just fun, it was also very enlightening.
The last step was obviously to show the film to Howard. He had seen my storyboard and we had discussed the mise-en-scene in detail, but he had no idea how it had all turned out. The thing with Howard is… he doesn’t have a computer or internet. He only has a landline and… a DVD player. So after much toing and froing, I burned him a DVD and sent it over to Brighton. I didn’t hear anything back for… 10 days. But that was just because his phone was busted. He, therefore, sent me a letter telling me how impressed he was with the film. We later had a chat and he was delighted with the result. It was just how he had imagined it.
Festival Preparation & Strategy?
Christina Ruloff (CR): After completing the film, I didn’t really know where it belonged and how we would find the film’s audience… so I contacted „Film Festival Formula“. They loved the film and absolutely wanted to help. They came up with a strategy targeting mainly the US and the UK. It’s quite tricky because the film isn’t experimental, but it definitely isn’t just your average drama. It’s somewhere in-between and that makes the short exciting but also hard to place.
The Release?
CR: The film will be on „Paus“ from next Tuesday (25th of Jan) for a short time. And once the festival run (a bit delayed because of covid) is over… we’ll find a good space where film and theatre lovers alike will find it. Additionally, there is also a discussion panel online where Suzy, Irene, David Ian Rabey (a special in Barker studies), and I discuss the film and the process of producing it.
Advice from the Filmmaker?
CR: The most important thing is having a great screenplay and wonderful actors. The rest will… quite literally… fall into place if you love your film. Get those two elements right, and hardly anything can go wrong. Nobody will notice minor issues if you have a story to tell and the actors to bring it alive.
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