JACKSON BERKLEY

Stories of Transformation is an impressionistic short film depicting the ongoing effects of PTSD — and an inspiring guide to how they can be managed — crafted in partnership with an actual Iraq War veteran, Brian Wilson. The climax of the film finds Brian caught in a sandstorm that evokes both his real-life experience in combat zones and his own chaotic mental state when confronted with lingering trauma.

As the Production Designer, my primary responsibility was creating a convincing sandstorm inside a large soundstage, with the help of an enormous LED wall. Our strategy was to create a roughly 20’x20′ “play space” extending downstage from the LED Wall, which served as a backdrop playing adjustable renders and loops. We dressed the play space with painted heavy duty visqueen for site protection, then layered erosion cloth and play sand selectively to create a mottled sand layer that would blend into the live renders on the LED Wall. We prioritized the play sand for the most downstage/central areas of the play and utilized the erosion cloth for the most upstage spaces, as these regions could be more easily distorted by the camera’s depth of field.

When the cameras were rolling, myself and a team of Art PAs threw fistfuls of SFX sand (actor-safe cork products from J&M SFX in Brooklyn) at our talent and into large SFX fans that would blow the particulate through the frame all around Brian and the actors. This, in conjunction with a pair of foggers from J&M — one of which we ended up rigging to one of our Art PAs for easier follow-action — created the illusion of the sandstorm.

Stories of Transformation was very fun, short project with a great team and a lot of fun on-set props work. I got to try some new things and new tech that I didn’t have much experience with to pretty satisfying results.