How We filmed This Cinematic PSA with Bernice King | Behind The Scenes

Hey, I'm Mara Chance, I am the creative producer and director. We are here on the set of the One Million Black Women Initiative spot starring Dr. Bernice A. King. So to have the honor to shoot with an icon and my Spelman sister, I immediately started just diving into the archives and I saw this amazing photo of Dr. King when she was 17 years old. She spoke to the United Nations and it really became the inspiration for this story that I wanted to tell today. We're trying to bring the future into the present and to see her, I want to say close to 40 years later, and kind of giving this call to action, it's remarkable. We're good? All right, let's have a great day, thank you guys. Hello people, I'm Brenton, I'm the producer for today. We have a three-camera shoot with the amazing Dr. King, she's very witty and funny, so she's been cracking jokes all day, but Dr. King and her team. Our set today is just about like 90%, 95% black people, I want to say maybe 70% women, so I don't know, it's cool, it's a bunch of black folks working together in Atlanta at a very black school with some very black people, some very black historical people, you know what I'm saying? I don't know, it's cool, it's fun, and I'm excited to get the project out. All right y'all, so Brit is crazy. All she want to do is yell at me, I'm just here trying to be a good, healthy black man, and she just be like... And Brit just be like, do this, do that, I need you to do this, Brenton. Brenton, can you be Bernie's? I'll be Bernie's. Can I get some more money for equipment, Brenton? And that's just really what my experience is like, she be like, oh, can I get like $100,000 for this camera, or this lens, or like, I need all of this camera support, like, look at this lens, look at that, like, do we need that? Do we really need that? I don't know, but Brit just bullied me into spending all of the budget on her camera equipment, so that's what it is. And then Mara, don't get me started on Mara, Mara like, ooh, can we get a flying goat? Like I want a cow to just come over, or I want to resurrect black history, black female history leaders to just be on set today, I'm like, I can't pay for resurrections, like we ain't got money for that, you know, so it's hard being on set with all these black women, man, you know? I'm the only man on the team, and you know, it just take a toll on me, man. No, that's all I got. That's a lot. You the one who's the new coordinator. Who you the new coordinator, man? You got. Are you little? You be raising your voice. Brenton. Screaming and shit. I'm about to beat him up. You little. Brenton. Damn. So for this one, the director really wanted like this really soft spill as Bernice King is going to be doing like this PSA, so she's going to be at the podium, and we're trying to recreate one of Marla King's speeches. So we're using three cameras because we only have about two hours with her, and so we have three cameras that are going to be rolling at the same time, so we have a camera which is going to be super far getting a shot, a front shot on the Dana Dolly for movement, and that is going to all of the cameras are going to be already minis, but that was going to have a 24 through 290 millimeter Angenieux Optimo lens on it as well as B cam, which is also going to be the exact same. C cam is going to actually have Zeiss super speeds because the goal was to give this really vintage feel. The thing about the Optimos is that they're super huge and heavy, but because we're in this huge space, when you don't get to have a tech scout before, it's really, really tough because you don't know the exact lenses that you need. So these lenses are going to allow us to go from like 24, which is like a wider angle, all the way to 290, which gets in really, really tight for certain shots that we're going to want. So just being flexible with our shot choices since we don't have that much time with her. Just visualizing the things in a better way for me to see the lay of the land for the day. All of the lights we'll be working with, Brittany and I discussed it extensively, but sometimes I have it mapped out on paper, so to speak, is useful. Let me tell you why I went up. Go again. We had just a super simple shot, right? It was like real black in the shadows. I was like, Alvin, it just go real black. It just goes into darkness. Without me even telling him what to do, he goes and brings his light in. Look what it does. Look at this texture. You see that? It be the small things that matter. That's all I'm saying. It be the small things. It's the detail. People be wanting to go all out. It's the details that changes that matters, man. I'm trying to tell people. It's the details. It is. That's all I'm saying. My role in this project, I'm taking care of all of the art stuff, which includes the props and the backdrops, so the podium and then all the vintage microphones that Dr. King is going to be using today. I sourced all of those and arranged all that. With these curtains, I ordered the curtains, put them up with the group's help and my assistant, and I'm just steaming out all the creases right now so they look nice and pretty for the camera. Okay, okay. You're going to make it and then you're going to make this and then you start it off that way. Gotcha. Okay, cool. What's your name? Thomas. You know what I'm saying? I'm the sound mixer here on set today. You know what I'm saying? We're going to have some fun today. We got to plant some mics. You know what I'm saying? We had to deal with some lighting situations because I ain't able to get my boom in there, but hey, this is what we get paid to do. We make the most out of any situation, so I had extra mics on hand. I figured the best thing would be to actually plant a mic on the podium with the actual podium mics, so that way it gives me double proximity as far as it goes. We're getting her vocals clean and everything. It's going to be real full, real good. I already know it's going to sound great. It sounds good in this theater already as it is acoustically, and just looking forward to having a good run on the show. I am the assistant director today on set, helping Maura and Brenton and Brittany with their vision and what they're doing today, which is an amazing experience. Start off the year with a bang, especially with some VIP talent such as Dr. Denise King herself. So this is our martini. All I need. You promise? This is the real martini. The martini of the martinis. Cut the camera. We done. That's a wrap. Cut the camera. Change begins with action, but it's also about breaking free from inaction found in the silence and the policies that hold us back. Let us pave the way for a future of equity, amplify our voices, and empower Black women. The mic is yours. Be a King.