‘The Tattooed Heart’ Interview: Director Sheldon Wong Schwartz Discusses Trauma, Healing, and Knowing When to Shake Things Up
Sheldon Wong Schwartz is a filmmaker who comes from a commercial background. He’s worked on projects for Samsung, Lenovo, and many others. His latest short, which is an official entry at the 2019 Pitch to Screen Film Awards, is titled The Tattooed Heart.
The film follows a creative writing instructor (Jennifer Morrison) at a correctional facility whose connection to one of her students (Madison Wolfe) leads her to confront her past. Before the Pitch to Screen ceremony on October 26th, Sheldon sat down with screenwriter and film critic Michael Mazzanti to discuss trauma, visual grammar, and knowing when to shake things up,
Read the full discussion below:
Michael Mazzanti: What I noticed right off the bat with The Tattooed Heart is that it has a lot to do with trauma.
Sheldon Wong Schwartz: Yes.
MM: Something I noticed from the opening monologue is how it’s about what you choose to do with the trauma in your life and how you look back at your experiences; what you make of them.
SWS: Correct.
MM: So, they can kind of shape you in any number of ways based on that. What made you want to explore this idea?
SWS: I think that, as a storyteller, trauma is something that is close to me personally. In one way, through my sister, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who’s worked with children in the foster care system and families living in poverty. I grew up very close to her learning about trauma.
A lot of people I know have dealt with trauma; psychological trauma, physical trauma. Trauma is a long, arduous road, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel and it involves a lot of pain and a lot of acceptance and moving forward — and letting go, and catharsis.
When I was given the chance to make The Tattooed Heart, and I was selecting the subject matter, I thought about all the stories and all the things I had learned from my sister’s occupation as well as my own life. I thought this would be a good topic for me to explore, because I think as a storyteller, I personally enjoy that catharsis. What filmmaker doesn’t enjoy that catharsis, right?
MM: It’s interesting because, approaching the notions of trauma from a social work perspective, the film creates this other element. There’s a scene where two people are talking, and it creates a contrast between two ideologies around the idea of reform and trauma.
On the one hand, there’s someone who wants to make a difference — maybe they’re a little green behind the ears, but they want to give it a shot. Then, on the other hand, there’s someone whose been in the business a long time and who is jaded and who has thick skin. I think that’s an interesting contrast about the way people approach this situation and how much openness they’re willing to allow.
SWS: For sure. What’s ultimately interesting about that scene between Charlotte and the director is that she’s really just goading him on. From the speech at the beginning in the classroom, when she’s tipped at the possibility that this guy — this sort of inner demon — might have just manifested itself, she’s onto it.
During that whole conversation, she plays it from that idealistic standpoint, when really it’s more like (for herself), here’s this thing you’ve been avoiding your whole life. Here’s a thing that’s caused you trauma that’s deep down inside of you and shit, you might just have to face it.
MM: Do you feel like you need to confront the thing that has hurt you, in one way or another, to move on?
SWS: I would have to say yes. Storytelling is a metaphor, so I’m not saying you have to face your trauma literally in the way the film depicts it.
MM: Of course.
SWS: I think facing trauma can come in the form of seeking treatment or seeking help, or having a support group or system. To me, that might be confronting it. I’m an avid believe in holistic practices. Doing iowaska, for example. Iowaska has been proven to, in one night, give you 10 years of psychiatric and therapeutic healing.
Now, in this age, there’s a lot of ways you can confront, heal, and deal with trauma. It’s just not easy. It’s not ‘Hollywood.’ It’s never this kind of Disney approach where you can magically heal yourself, it’s a long process. I wanted to get across, in The Tattooed Heart, that dealing with trauma is going to be a long and arduous road. For some people, it takes a very long time; while some people may not deal with it for a long time and they may not start healing until 20 years after whatever it is that incited the trauma.
MM: It’s interesting because it’s establish that Charlotte has very personal motivations for her actions in the film. Even though they might be under the guise of helping someone else. But I also think there’s something interesting in here about the idea of how it’s essential to believe survivors and believe their stories. Obviously, the director is set in the idea that, “I’ve been through all these situations where people try to con you,” but she’s still choosing to believe this young girl. I think, obviously, that’s a very important message to put out there right now.
SWS: Yeah, oh yeah. To deny someone’s possible trauma because you’re jaded is, forgive my language, a pretty fucked up thing to do.
MM: [Laughs] Definitely.
SWS: [Laughs] Yeah.
MM: I didn’t have a question, I just thought it was great to be in there.
On a more practical side, how do you go about approaching the film’s visual language? What’s the process like for you of creating its grammar.
SWS: Don Burgess, the director of photography, he shot Forest Gump and Castaway and Flight, among many others. So, I really admired his visual language. Simply because every choice that he had made in all those films served one thing: storytelling. I didn’t think there was a lot of fluff, I just felt that his language brought the audience into the world, into the story of these characters in a way that was very deft and precise.
I wanted to do the same thing for The Tattooed Heart, especially because of the subject matter and how sensitive it was. I didn’t want to do anything too flowery. I just wanted to paint this world. It didn’t have to be this horribly grey, grim, CSI world. Nor did it have to be this slick, saturated action world. I just wanted a real, tangible world.
Some of my references included Prisoners and Sicario. These very deftly-told, psychological thrillers with a little bit of action that also dealt with trauma. I only wanted to move the camera when absolutely necessary; I didn’t want any distractions. The performances are so important, so it was also important to sustain the audience’s attention. Sometimes the saying goes ‘less is more,’ and in order to successfully execute that in a pristine, cinematic, beautiful way, you need someone at Don’s level to really paint that for you.
I’m a big believer in precise visual storytelling. The only time we move the camera erratically — this was intentional — was when he (the predator) goes for the gun. There, I thought it was appropriate for that moment. Don was originally on sticks (a tripod) and I just said, hey, let’s just go handheld and run it up to the drawer (where the gun is). It felt appropriate at that moment because we hadn’t done anything like that during the fight. It just felt like the perfect, visceral thing to do during that fight scene and it worked.
MM: Right, because that is like the apex of the film in terms of the tension that’s being built.
SWS: Yes! Exactly.
MM: So to drive that home in that way is important. Because I think that there’s a lot of films that maybe try to go for a ‘less is more approach,’ but what they end up with is something that is sort of laborious and still for the sake of being still. But I think knowing when to shake that up is just as important as knowing the reasons why you’re going to choose that approach in the first place.
SWS: You said it for me! That was the other point I wanted to make: The other reason we went for a less is more approach is because there was just so much tension we wanted to build towards the fight.
The other main theme of the film, going back to trauma, is that Charlotte is on this collision course with the instigator of her trauma. Whether or not she realizes it, she’s headed for this fight from the beginning of the film. So, we wanted the trip of her collision course to feel still, in order to ratchet that tension. That saved us and gave us leverage for the fight. Like you said, for that apex of when the shit hits the fan. She has no choice but to fight her demon.
MM: When you’re working in a short format, how do you establish pace and tone? How difficult is that and what is the process of like working in those parameters? Because I think it presents a whole other set of challenges from a feature.
SWS: It’s difficult. I think coming from a commercial background has really helped me, because I’m used to working in a short format and hustling in order to make a 30 second, 60 second, minute, two minute piece working whilst jamming as much message as I can into these short timelines. You also learn to maintain pace and create a pleasant viewing experience. I think that lends itself very nicely to short filmmaking.
Working with executive producer Matt Olmstead definitely helped. His years of experience as a veteran storyteller working in a writer’s room as a showrunner on all of these shows. Going back to NYPD Blue, to all the Chicago franchises, episode after episode of doing a one hour format has really helped him think temporally. He knows how to hit beats by the second.
The editing process also really helped; learning how to murder your darlings. Learning how to get rid of the fat, just be completely merciless about getting rid of all of it. Being almost emotionless about what you think is cool or what you’re attached to initially, in the editing room. Because in the end, it’s all about serving the emotional experience of the audience at all times.
Lastly, doing pre-visualization really helped. Before we shot the film, I took a bunch of acting students to another location and essentially shot the film on an iPhone, beat by beat, just to see if it would work. Then, I went on a short vacation and cut it. This way, I could see what was working story wise and timing wise, which really helped. When it came to the fight, I did a pre-vis of that as well with a stunt team. All of these things go into making sure that your short times out properly.
MM: Talking about hitting those beats, there’s every single component of what you need to do behind the scenes, but you obviously have to get the people in front of the camera to do the right things, too. Madison Wolfe, in particular, is just so captivating in this film. Even though she has less screen time, she really pulls you in. The same goes for Jennifer Morrison.
What was it like working with the cast and talking to them about hitting these beats over such a condensed time?
SWS: First off, they were both extremely professional and amazing to work with. Jennifer’s experience as both an actress and a director in her own right, really shined on set. She knew exactly what we were doing, what direction we were taking at all times. She was great to work with.
In terms of performance direction, that went further back to before shooting to the tone discussions I had with Matt Olmstead. Before we shot, we had a tone meeting; we sat down, went over the script, and took detailed notes on every beat of the short. With each beat, we discussed how audiences should feel, based off of the performances of each character as we hit those beats, similar to TV directing.
Having gone through that meeting, I had a tone bible as part of my director’s binder that I’d have with me at all times. With that, I had this very useful tool because we had a very condensed time; we had a 2 day shoot.
MM: Oh my god. [Laughs]
SWS: Yeah, two day shoot where we’d only have 3 minute, 4 minute rehearsals for every scene. The first AD would sit down, we’d read the lines as Don would be making last minute camera adjustments and lighting touches. When we’d read the lines, I wouldn’t make any performance direction because they were just reading them for memory. Then we would an actual rehearsal, which would be done at half-performance; I might make a note if absolutely necessary, but it was still more for memory and for blocking.
Then we’d roll, first take. Then I’d give performance notes. At that point, I had my director’s notes ready, and I would know exactly what I’d have to do to adjust everyone’s performances. I would then get 2 or 3, maybe 4 takes max. So I’d have to be strategic about my coverage. If it was a wide shot, maybe 2 takes, 3 takes. If it was an extreme close up of Jennifer when she does her monologue revealing her scar, I’d spend more time there and maybe do 5 or 6 takes.
So, it’s about being efficient and about knowing what you’ll need later on in the editing room, and knowing what emotional beats you’ll hit. Even if you don’t have someone to have a tone discussion with, have a tone discussion with yourself and make notes; I think that’s really helpful. I even went to an acting class in Beverley Hills; I went for a few weeks, just some private sessions, just to get some acting perspective. I think it’s important for directors to spend time with actors and acting coaches, especially if they’re not from an acting background.
MM: It’s truly insane that you shot that over 2 days; that pace is relentless. Wow. Props to you, that is incredible.
SWS: Thank you.
MM: Wow. Lastly, do you have any projects that you’re working on next?
SWS: Yes, yes! I have a few projects in development; I have a feature, which is a dark, gritty, San Francisco boxing movie, which I can’t say too much about right now. But I’m very excited about it and it will probably begin shooting in the next year or so. I have another project in development that is a period hacking story that takes place in the ’80s. Finally, in the short term, I’m working on another short, which I can’t reveal too much about, except that it takes place during World War 2.
The writer:
Michael Mazzanti is a filmmaker, critic and writer. He is the resident genre enthusiast at The Film Stage, and a lover of everything from the outré to the everyday. You can find him on Twitter @BeTheGeese, on Vimeo @MichaelMazzanti, on Letterboxd @RidleyScotch, on Instagram @Lionsgatepictures, and via email at MikeWMazzanti@gmail.com.
