Director’s notes for “After Zerocalcare”

“After Zerocalcare” is a short film that talks about the friendship and the feelings that the two friends Elio and Tommaso feel during the story and that we have all felt in our lives: the decision to leave, to leave one’s city, the breakup of a solid friendship and reconciliation. We defined in detail the route that Elio would take from his house to Tommaso’s house: this journey starts from the outskirts and reaches a residential area. Furthermore, with sound we strengthened the voice of the city: the horns of the cars, the traffic in general, the voices of the people, sounds that define the chaos of Rome. The pace in the first act, until Elio decides to take the bike, is slow, to give the necessary information without revealing too much. The second act is the most lively one, the cycling sequences suddenly cause the pace to soar, which remains sustained until the third act, where it becomes more relaxed again and the shots are simplified (wide shot, shot and reverse shot) to leave space to the actors and the exchange of jokes. The reference musical genre is punk rock / indie rock. The musicians and I decided to insert a refrain and a short central verse into the final piece that were connected to the meaning of the story and the feelings that emerge: it is almost a hymn to the breaking of the silence that intervened between the two friends after the quarrel. The look of the short is Kodak, therefore with colors that tend to be bright and vivid. I chose this look together with the colorist because it reflects the pop, cartoonish and “vintage” style that goes well with the story and the photography taken. Gabriele Vivante