PRODUCTION ECHO
pictures should have their own language and communicate a story without the support of dialogue. This series gave me the chance to play with that by leaning into how to tell that story with the visuals.” Kelly is a twice Emmy-nominated DOP, for Ava DuVernay’s Netflix documentary 13th (2017) and an episode of HBO’s Insecure in 2020. This was the year she made history as the first Black woman invited into the prestigious American Society of Cinematographers. She shot the pilot for FX series Y: The Last Man , based on a graphic novel, and additional photography for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. However , it was her relationship with Freeland on upcoming Netflix feature Rez Ball (a sports drama about Native-American basketball players) that led to Echo . She is lead DOP on the four Freeland-directed episodes, with Magdalena Gorka photographing episode 3, directed by Catriona McKenzie. EMPOWERING PERSPECTIVES Cox is also an amputee in real life and uses a prosthetic leg on her right side, a disability embraced by the production – particularly for fight scenes. The stunt coordinator Marc Scizak incorporated the fact Cox can do bigger blocks with her prosthetic leg as she wouldn’t feel pain. She also uses it as leverage, to get as much power from her kicks as possible. The third element of inclusion is setting the story roots in the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. Many cast and crew are of Native-American origin, including Cox (Menominee) and Freeland (Navajo). Scenes set in rural Oklahoma were shot mainly on stages and locations in Atlanta, where the challenge was working around the Georgia greenery to match the drier landscape of the plains.
BEING SEEN Physical disability and deafness are foregrounded in Echo, which also explores Native American heritage
“The show flashes from each generation of the Choctaw tribe which has led Maya to inherit ancestral powers,” Kelly says. “Each flashback was captured with a new look to differentiate between ancestors. The beginnings in Oklahoma have a western feel in black and white – while the present day is rooted in realism, open spaces, a richer palette and more saturated colours.” The opening moment of the show, dubbed the ‘Dawn of Time’, was the first time the Choctaw story of creation had been depicted on screen. Kelly calls it
an honour, but felt pressure to recreate it authentically under guidance from Choctaw representatives. “We spent weeks looking at glow worms in Australia and different cave dwellings to figure out what the core of the Earth looks like. It’s not exactly otherworldly as it’s the story of how the world began, but we wanted to make it feel like you’re in the centre of the Earth and these people have emerged and become human.” For a Choctaw game of stickball, she deployed spherical H Series lenses from Panavision, the widest enabling them to make the camera feel like it was part of the game. “We put it in the middle and had people run towards it - a dynamic way to get the camera involved.” Kelly was also able to experience a powwow first-hand before filming a similar scene for episode 5. “It’s the most emotional scene for me. While powwows have been shown before, there was something special about ground-level cameras being inside one at night.”
I’LL CONSIDER IT a job well done IF YOU TURN THE SOUND OFF AND the audience knows the story ”
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