Ultra Low
The misadventures of a determined filmmaking duo
Directed by Bianca Poletti
Step into the captivating world of independent indie filmmaking with Ultra Low, an utterly honest short film that beautifully captures the essence of creativity against all odds. Directed by LA-based director, Bianca Poletti, this short film, with its blend of honesty, humour, and heart, immerses audiences in the tumultuous yet enchanting journey of two filmmakers driven to make their mark on the industry - on a budget.
Considering your portfolio of work, there seems to be a tendency to focus on the younger generation and how they relate with the world we live in - all with a generous dose of humour. Would you say that this almost self-deprecating approach is something that is a trademark of this generation? And why do you feel the need to explore this?
Oof. Yesss, I LOVE self-depreciating humor. Fleabag, Catastrophe, aspects of GIRLS. I love it all. I do think it’s a Gen Z thing to be so utterly honest, raw and confident. I think there’s a lot of humor that stems from blunt honesty. I also think when you’re figuring everything out in life, there’s a sense of stumbling that happens, your trying and failing things, then trying and succeeding in things, you’re trying new things, meeting new people figuring out your identity. With that there’s also a lot of humor. There’s so much comedy in growing pains and I really love exploring those worlds.
How do you adapt this approach to your more commercial productions?
I try to always bring in everything that I’m drawn to in narrative into the commercial work as well. I’m drawn to human based humor, whimsical, cinematic imagery, and casting interesting faces that we don’t see all of the time. It doesn’t make a difference to me whether it’s an ad or a film, it’s all still storytelling, and so I really try to have a clear voice that can play in both worlds seamlessly and hopefully still feel like me.
How much planning was there for the film? How long did the setup take and how much of it was actually spontaneous (we loved the ending shots).
We prepped for a couple of months. I really like to dig into every aspect of a project I’m directing and wanted to spend enough time figuring out the visual tone, the comedic tone and the casting. The casting was really important on this one. I needed to find someone who would be the opposite of Allison’s character but also share core similarities, so that we could feel that they’re from the same world and connecting them in that buddy cop type of way.
We had planned for 2 days of shooting, but with a very long script and A LOT of dialogue, we had to add on a third day just to do the driving shots. In general, we could have used a fourth day. Rushing to capture as much as possible before losing the light and running out of time on our locations, the actors had about 1-2 takes per scene to really nail it. They killed it. The shots were very planned out but there’s a lot of improv in it dialogue-wise, while also keeping a lot of what was written in the original script. When Kate, Allison and Rick are chatting in Rick’s apartment about Rick wanting to show them his short film, a lot of the dialogue between them after that was improvised in the moment. Similarly with the scene leading up to the part where Kate throws water onto Allison’s head and then takes a photo of her while she’s driving. Originally we talked about it being hot coffee that spilled on Allison as she’s talking to John’s character on the phone, adding even more suspense and anxiety to her moment of rushing to meet him. However, the costuming was all vintage rentals, and we couldn’t get doubles of any of the pieces. So, on the day, I decided to use water instead and thought it could be funny to have Kate still so oblivious and in her own world that she takes a photo, completely deadpan, of Allison at the height of her anxiety.
Rick, Allison and Kate all have different comedic voices that they brought to this, and I really loved that. I felt like all three of them worked SO WELL so well together.
“It doesn’t make a difference to me whether it’s an ad or a film, it’s all still storytelling, and so I really try to have a clear voice that can play in both worlds seamlessly and hopefully still feel like me.”
What’s next for Ultra Low? Where are you planning on showing next? And what’s next for you?
I decided to go the online route for Ultra Low’s release. It has about 8 more online platforms it’ll be streaming with, which is really exciting. I think it’s interesting how many people you can reach and share with through the internet and all of the platforms are so different in tone, so hopefully a variety of people can take a peek, and I hope they dig it!
Directed by: Bianca Poletti
Written by: Allison Goldfarb
Produced by: Shayna Gianelli
Starring: Allison Goldfarb, John Hein, Kate Hollowell, Rick Darge, Kieran Llewis, and Rena Pilar
Production Companies: Mirmade Productions + OPC + Bacon + Zauberberg + Disco Pants Inc.
Production Manager: Theresa Marie
Assistant Producer: Abbey Jones
Coordinators: Dominic Cura and Austin Tong
AD: Ryan James
EPs: Miranda Kahn, Harland Weiss, Mette Jermiin, Emily Harris, Frank Siegl, and Andrea Roman-Perse
Cinematography by: Kayla Hoff
Gaffer: Pablo "Saint" Lopez
PD: Sara Fern
Color by: Mikey Rossiter
Edited by: Nina Sacharow
Assistant Editor: Astrid Franco
Edit House: Cabin Edit
Music Supervision by: Abbey Hendrix and Julianne Wilson
Sound Mixing: Vinny Alfano
Sound: Allison Brady
Steadicam OP: Devon Catucci
Costumes by: Christina Flannery
Make up: Julie DiMartino
Titles: Fifty One Eight
Promo Photography: Lauren Withrow