Of Minor Prophets – Behind the Scenes with Director Joe Hubers and Cinematographer Dalton Coffey

Passenger’s feature film, Of Minor Prophets, didn’t come easy. Years of preparation, a handful of delays and plenty of production and post-production challenges tried to get in the way of its success.

But nothing worthwhile comes easy, and Of Minor Prophets is no different. As the Passenger crew prepares for the Sioux Falls premiere of the film, we took an opportunity to reflect on the unique challenges and experiences that went into making OMP.

In the first piece in this series, we chat with director Joe Hubers and cinematographer Dalton Coffey to get a behind-the-scenes look at the process that went into filming Of Minor Prophets.

For starters, what drew you to Of Minor Prophets?
Dalton: Well, the fact that Joe asked was sort of a big luring factor. I’m very passionate about cinematography, and this was a great opportunity to dive in heavily to a feature film. I’d never worked on a feature before, so it was a little unorthodox. Usually you start as a PA [production assistant] or work yourself up to an AC [assistant camera], but I was able to jump right in as a cinematographer.

I think the opportunity is what drew me to the project. And I liked the story and believed in what Joe wanted to do with it. I wouldn’t say yes to a film if I didn’t want to follow its leader.

Joe: Dalton and I had been talking about making a film in some way, shape or form for years. So I think it was a conversation that had been going on literally for two years, even if it hadn’t been attached to this specific project.

Dalton: And we had made a few shorts together and I had made a few shorts of my own that Joe had helped me on. So we already had a good working relationship. It’s always better to work with people you enjoy working with.

Of Minor Prophets has an interesting visual approach. Can you talk a little bit about the motivation behind that style?
Dalton: That’s one of the first conversations you have, talking about what the tone will be. How do you want to represent these characters and this story? We had talked about how we wanted Ami’s world to look and feel and how we wanted Doug’s world to be. Doug’s world is much more monotonous, lonely, repetitious and stable. So almost everything we shot for him was smooth and locked down. We had some slow, deliberate dolly moves. There was a pattern to everything.

With Ami, her life is unpredictable. You know, she’s at a different hotel room almost every night, so we decided to shoot all of her scenes handheld and just let Cora, the actress who played Ami, dictate what we did. We just gave her the freedom to roam and we followed her. Then, as their worlds came together, we started mixing the two. And by the time Doug’s world gets swallowed up by Ami’s and vice versa, it kind of becomes this rocky mess and everything kind of clashes and comes together.

Joe: I think as each character tries to establish dominance, you can see it in the camera work and shot selection. I really liked Dalton’s choice of using longer lenses on Doug’s stuff. It kind of creates a stronger feeling of isolation and loneliness. Then we tried to use wider lenses on the handheld stuff with Ami because you have to physically be right up close to the actors and actresses in her scenes and it creates a sense of claustrophobia. The hotel rooms we were in, they were so tight and uncomfortable that we wanted the audience to feel like they didn’t want to be there or be a part of Ami’s life situation.

Dalton: In Ami’s scenes, everything’s just a lot darker and grittier and we deliberately rode that fine line of being underexposed, and I think there are a lot of people who would say that we were, technically, underexposed, but it was kind of the idea. At the time it felt right, but afterward I was thinking, “Aw man, I wish I wouldn’t have done that.” But seeing the finished product, I’m glad that we did. And I think that’s kind of what’s fun about indie filmmaking too…you can try things like that. You’re not stuck in a pattern because we didn’t know any better. We just sort of did what seemed right at the time.

So even details like the lighting were specifically intentional and purposeful?
Joe: Very much so. One thing I like about shooting with Dalton is that his lighting is motivated. Everything makes sense. It gives things a very real feeling. Nothing feels artificial. For example, I like that we were able to pull this off with such a small grip and light package by comparison to how films usually run. I mean, we used headlights in some scenes. Just bouncing light around and stuff.

Dalton: I think not having options is actually better. Sometimes when you have too many options it has a tendency to slow things down, because you start thinking, “Well we could do this, or we could do that,” but instead it’s like, “Well…we have these things, so we better make it work.” Like Joe said, we were lighting scenes with car headlights because we didn’t have big, fancy HMI lights. And nothing about it felt like... “Well where’s that light coming from?”

I think it was Gordon Willis who once said, when people asked him “Well where’s that light coming from?” he said, “The same place the music is.”

I think challenges like our lighting situation ultimately add to the uniqueness of the look of the film too. A lot of it was done out of necessity, but I like it. Looking back on it now, I’m glad we did it that way.

I don’t want to get too technical, but I have a tendency to lean toward warmer colors and tones, so for everything in Ami’s world, those crappy hotel rooms especially, everything just feels claustrophobic and thick and that’s a result of really warm-colored lighting.

On the flip side, Doug’s stuff was much more neutral and cool.

Joe [after lying on the floor throughout the interview]: I should also mention that I like how our colorist, Joe Gawler, graded the film. It really brought the colors and the grime out, particularly in Ami’s scenes. Like Dalton said, it really felt thick, which is what we wanted.

Also, I’m buying a couch tomorrow.

How did you decide on which lenses and equipment to use for this project?
Joe: For some of the lens choices and stuff, we paired older lenses with digital cameras, which I think was an interesting look that fit the story too.

Dalton: Well nowadays with digital cameras, they’re so sensitive, so if you use all of this new lens technology paired with new digital imaging technology, it just can get kind of sterile and too plasticky. So we used just an old set of Zeiss lenses from the ‘70s that just had great character, and I think using those old lenses with the new sensors ended up being a great choice. I’m really happy with that. And ever since then, I’ve been looking for an opportunity to shoot another project with those same lenses.

Also, we shot on the ARRI ALEXA which is sort of the camera of choice in the film industry right now as far as digital cameras go.

So it sounds like a ton of work went into making this film. About what day did you realize you were exhausted?
Dalton: A couple of weeks in, probably. Literally, I remember watching scenes after filming…like rough cuts and stuff…and I literally have no recollection of shooting the scene. Or I’d be watching and I would think, “Oh I vaguely remember shooting that.” Like, one line of dialogue, maybe. But I honestly don’t remember the rest of it.

I think any creative venture worth doing is going to be challenging and exhausting. I’ve been in Joe’s position too, of directing films, and on that first day I always think to myself, “You know, my life was fine before I decided to do this. Why did I somehow feel that I needed to do this to make my life better in any way?” But it’s worth it in the end.

Passenger will host the Sioux Falls premiere of Of Minor Prophets at 7:00 PM on Saturday, June 13th, 2015 at the Orpheum Theatre. For more information on the event, visit ofminorprophets.com or join the event on Facebook.