Release Date:
September 25th, 2025

Starring:
Jada Ann Chevalier

Directed by:
Steve Sanchez Rosales

Music by:
Rachel Williams

June - July, 2025

Five Years:
The first PinkWhiteBlue Film released on September 25th, 2020; with this date quickly approaching I came up with ideas to celebrate the 5th anniversary. Five years may not seem like much, but it's a fifth of my life that I've dedicated to extracting the thoughts in my head and sharing them with you all. My initial idea was to make a 'behind the scenes video' that would showcase my filmmaking process. The video would also serve as a guide for new filmmakers, as I learned a lot of my craft via tutorials online.

In order to make this video I needed a film to demonstrate. I decided instead of using a previous film, I would create a brand new one froms scratch; a quick two minute film just to showcase my process.

My only idea was to shoot in Coney Island because of its intolerable spectacle and my desire to someday make a 'summer' movie. I got to work on writing a quick script about a person spending a day in the colorful mirage of the beach...

July, 2025

A simple way to create a short film is to make what I call a 'Poetic' short film. You shoot footage of characters living their life, an overlay it with a voiceover of a poem being read aloud. It's ideal for beginners because of how independent all aspects of filmmaking become. The poem can be written and rewritten as many times because the actors don't have to memorize or rehearse any lines; the cinematography can be loose and abstract because there isn't a plot involed; the actors have an easier time behaving naturally because of a lack of dialogue or action; and the editing is allowed to jettison continuity because the film is essentially a montage.

This style of film allows the director to feel the film and not focus as much on the techincal side of filmmaking. It's this genre of film that I started doing as a teenager in the 2010s, and I decided to return to it for this project as a way to teach new filmmakers, and because of how quick this method is; the 5th anniversary deadline was fast approaching.

My biggest inspiration was the work of Brian Wilson. I love how he is able to write a song fit for the beach, but have deep melancholic lyrics on top of it. I took this approach and wrote poetry about a character who is questioning their place in the world and whether it is right to continue. I felt this sentiment reflecting on my five years of work, and all the people that have met and gone. The song that influenced me the most was "'Til I Die" by The Beach Boys.

A neat aspect of the film is the 1960s aesthetic. I always associate the 1960s with airplane travel and vacations to faraway beaches. The problem was that a New Yorker wouldn't view Coney Island as an exotic travel destination, so I made the character British! I already had Jada in mind to play the role and I knew she could do a british accent, so I couldn't miss the opportunity to have be in the film! And the film photographer attribute was because I have a film camera that I never used and I figured it'd be a cool prop.

I rewrote the poem many times; some challenges included timing the poem with what I wanted on screen, timing the poem to a meter, seamlessly expositing Lottie's story with how she was feeling, and of course, making the poem rhyme. Below you can read the shooting script and judge for yourself!

August 22nd, 2025 Final Draft

July, 2025

Jada:
I had worked with Jada before on Walking on the Moon and Chrysanthemum & Esperanza; two collaborations that proved succesful. She's played two characters who have a strong passion for life, so I thought it would be interesting to see her play the weary and despondent Lottie Smith.

We spent a lot of time over tea discussing the character and how she would behave in the film. We also rehearsed the accent and how the poem would be read!

The Costume:
Lottie's costume went through a lot of ideas and revisions. Jada and I worked together to figure out what Lottie would wear on holiday to the beach. My initial thought was for her outfit to reflect the colors of the beach setting. Lottie was depressed but she's trying to fit in to what a normal vacation looks like. She wants her appearance in the photographs to look typical. I then decided to make the costume look more 1960s to match the film's aesthetic. I researched beachwear from that era and didn't find anything to work with.

Once I got the test photos of the beach, I realized that if Lottie was dressed like everyone else she wouldn't stand out on camera or to the audience. I decided to switch the approach and design the costume so it would be what Lottie would wear as a photographer. I wanted an evergreen look that could fit in many situations. An outift Lottie would recycle to wear on the streets of London, or the english countryside.

I based the outfit around a skirt I found at a costume warehouse, it was the perfect skirt for the film and if I didn't find it the costume wouldn't work. It even had these two front pockets which were perfect for an artist like Lottie to carry supplies in. The black turtleneck then fit naturally as the 1960s is known for its turtlenecks. And lastly, I wanted a beehive hairstyle for Lottie but Jada couldn't do it so we settled for the hairstyle seen in the film!

August 20th, 2025

Aquarium Day:
We were supposed to shoot the film all in one day but it rained on our scheduled shoot date :(. We travelled to Coney Island anyways and shot footage inside the aquarium. Because we weren't in a rush anymore we spent a while inside collecting footage and checking out the sealife.

August 23rd, 2025

Boardwalk Day:
We arrived to set and

Restaurant Day:
This is the busiest set I've worked on, and this is what I had to be the most prepared for. This day required the most amount of actors, crew, and equipment. And on top of that we were renting out a restaurant so I was responsible for setting up and breaking down the set in the five hours we had for shooting.

The biggest lesson to take from that day is that I felt overwhelmed, but everyone on set had my back. It is important to be trusting of the cast and crew and we got a lot done despite the limited time and setbacks we had at the start. Everyone helped out beyond what was expected and I'm thankful for having such a caring amount of help that day!

The Score:
The plan was to dig through my music collection and use some obscure instrumentals to fill the soundtrack for the film. During the editing sessions I realized that the music I chose wasn't working and I need something tailored for the film. Liam came in to compose music for the film in October and we spent a couple weeks trying to figure out what the sound of the film would be. Once we got our sound the rest of the process flowed nicely, focusing on what the emotions of each scene is and testing out demos in the edit.

The edit was faithful to the script. Nothing was cut out other than a few lines and alternate shots. The biggest challenge with assembling the cut together was keeping a good pace as this was the longest film I've edited at that point.

Premiere Night:
We had a screening for about thirty people followed by audience questions for Jada, Pennelope, and I. We had a good night and most people enjoyed the film. I won't forget the memory of being able to celebrate our art with friends and family.

Looking Back:
I really like Walking on the Moon; I believe this is the most engaging film I've done and the most emotional film I've done. No other film is like this one. It's so unique and I'm fortunate to have found people that believe in this project to help create it!