Robbe Vandekeere on the short Klette
Klette follows 26-year-old Morgane as she attempts to navigate her way through relationships and living at home and figuring out what she wants to do after graduatingcollege. It becomes apparent that Morgane is ultimately unsure of her future. For those unaware of the term, Klette is Brussels slang for moron, or a person who is directionless in life. The word was famously mentioned in the 2006 film Dikkenek, known in Brussels for its famous line: “Quelle klet ce pei”. “Here in Brussels, you can see stickers across the city – on traffic lights and everywhere,” begins Vandekeere. “You see stickers just saying KLET, the masculine version of the word Klette. It’s such a Brussels thing. It was also one of the things that inspired director Michael Abay to make this film.”
Vandekeere studied alongside Michael at film school, where he shot his previous short film Praliné. “It was his bachelor’s film and also my final film for film school,” says Vandekeere. “It was the most I’ve ever been involved in making a film because it was also my graduation project. Michael and I became close friends and my whole group of friends is from that era when we shot that film. After I graduated, I stayed here in Brussels, so we saw a lot of each other. It took some time for Michael to really get motivated again to make another film because he was really dealing with the pressure of having to do a masters film and it being a gateway to the professional level of a director. He didn’t have a good idea in his mind at that time. I graduated in 2018 and it was 2021 when he asked me to shoot his master’s film. I didn’t really shoot a lot during that period because it was the beginning of my career. I needed experience on set and to work my way up, so I was a video assistant and a 2nd AC teaming up with Wouter Dewilde (1st AC), which I’m still doing now. It came as a surprise, but I was relieved that Michael liked our creative connection on the last film. When I read the script for Klette, I noticed it was really personal to him, which was nice, because I wanted him to give a bit more of himself. So, I got to know one of my best friends even better that way.”
When it came to initial conversations about the look of Klette, Vandekeere and Abay discussed how they wanted to present Brussels. “Brussels is a big part of the film and it’s Michael’s world as he grew up there,” explains Vandekeere. “Michael also has a specific kind of film language that he likes, which is almost observant. For example, he likes documentaries and the Dardenne brothers. It’s really close to the characters. It’s not something that I am always a fan of, so I was actually trying to see how far this idea was etched into him and why he wanted to approach this story like this. He said he just wanted to follow Morgane’s character in her day-to-day life, so I wanted to make sure I understood that direction and what that means in terms of camera movement, shot choice and focal lengths. Those were the sort of things we discussed for the look of the film.”
Vandekeere and Abay looked at several films for reference, such as Harpo Guit and Lenny Guit’s Fils de Plouc (2021). “In my mind this film wasn’t really helpful in what we were trying to achieve, but it definitely was a fun and weird watch because of how crazy it gets in terms of lighting,” adds Vandekeere. “Our biggest inspiration in terms of form and style, was Pieter Dumoulin and Timeau De Keyser’s 2018 film Étangs Noirs. How they chose their shots influenced our choices. We learned that we didn’t want the camera to jump from one place to another in between shots. We should be in the centre of the action and always next to Morgane. The presentation of Brussels was subtle, but someone who lives or knows the city good enough, knows the story is set there.”
Vandekeere opted to shoot the film with the available camera package from RITCS, but also rented some extra gear including a remote focus and some light tubes. “We shot with the Arri Alexa Classic in 25fps, a 2K (2048×1152) resolution, Apple Prores 4444 codec. We ended up framing for a 1.66:1 aspect ratio, to single out our main character, but not going as extreme as 4:3 to allow us to frame closer two shots. We used the Lomo Illumina Mark 2 lenses, also from RITCS. All the scenes before Morgane arrives in the park were shot with the 25mm, starting with the park scenes we used the 35mm and when Morgane leaves the park crying we used the 50mm until the end. This gives the film a visual progression following the character’s internal struggles.”
All of the exterior sequences were captured using natural light, with the occasional assistance of a 2X2 bounce. Interior shots required some additional lighting to elongate the daylight. “I only brought in a few extra tubes as they are very lightweight and have a small footprint,” explains Vandekeere. “I wanted the whole lighting package to be as small and easy as possible because the few interior locations were on the third or higher floor of apartment buildings. Also, my gaffer Ester Prouvost was the only person in the lighting team, so we deliberately limited our package to only light tubes and a few LED fixtures. These tubes are so easy when you know how it works and I had some friends of mine who helped me with it. That was the approach. Michael brought all his friends together to make this film and as he thought it might be his last film he wanted us to all have fun and not stress over whether the end result would be any good.”
Vandekeere and the team had five shooting days scheduled, which ultimately dropped to four days due to the lead actor calling in sick on the first day. “That was a real bummer because we were all hyped up and ready to go,” notes Vandekeere. “It was a long time of uncertainty, so it was a few scary hours for Michael and our producer Nina Payrhuber, but they eventually got the lead actor on the phone and she came in the next day and we shot across the four days. From the first thing we shot, it all came together. We immediately felt like it was working which was great for morale. We tried to replan the first day and we shot in the evenings of the other days and my whole plan for the opening scene changed due to that. It wasn’t ideal and I wasn’t really happy with the lighting, but sometimes you have to just shoot a scene and if it works, it works. So, that was really stressful. Because of how we rushed it on set, editor Noor Eva de Heer and Michael noticed it in the edit. They actually almost cut the whole scene from the film and now it’s just a little montage, but Michael was really chill about it afterwards. It all took place during the day, so we couldn’t really shoot too much at night or when the sun was going down because you would have really noticed it and it wouldn’t have made sense in the story. Our days weren’t that long as a result.”
The park sequences proved to be particularly gruelling for Vandekeere due to the uncertainty with the weather and the positioning of the sun. “The park scenes were the ones I was really worried about,” admits Vandekeere. “We only had two days to shoot those and we carefully scheduled them with the weather report in mind. I was really worried about the light because everyone is sat in a circle and you have to light them with the sun that is there. I’d never done that before, so I really wanted someone next to me as a gaffer who is also guiding me because in one hour the sun will be in a different position. I hope I was asking the right questions, but Esther really helped me with making these decisions and reassuring the choices I made. We shot the scenes as a whole and we didn’t try to do all of the same angles from different scenes after each other and then do the other angles. It gets too complicated doing that and it’s not ideal for the actors to have to jump back and forth between scenes. So, we carefully placed them in the right positions. It’s always about the lead character and the rest will follow, so I was always thinking about her. I was thinking if the sun should hit her in the face to make the setting more confronting, or not, for example. It was in the middle of a park in Brussels and we didn’t have powerful lights, so if it wasn’t sunny on the day of shooting, then we would have just rolled with that. I learned that it is actually really liberating shooting that way.”
Vandekeere plans to collaborate with Abay on his next project after the success of Klette. “Michael won a few prizes, including the Flemish Audio-visual fund which is one of the main prizes you can get as a student. They grant you a budget of 60,000 euros to make another film, so he is writing it and preparing it. I’m very glad he asked me to join him again for that film. I’m not sure how far along he is with that, but that’s probably the next one I’m shooting. There is another friend and director I work with, Neill De Cock, who also has some really interesting ideas that I would like to work on.
For now, I’m really busy on a French feature project as a 2nd AC with SBC board member Christophe Nuyens and after we wrap in the end of July I have some weeks off. Then I start another feature in August as a 2nd AC. This is a very busy summer. After that I can really focus on my next project as a cinematographer.”
“Klette was only the second short film I shot after graduating. Together with Grinta, a short film by Nils Vanderwaeren that I shot less than a month after Klette, it was kind of like an experiment for myself. Do I see myself becoming a cinematographer? Do I even like it? These were questions I was asking myself. After shooting Klette it was already clear that I really like it. Klette was made with some of my closest friends in the safest environment I could ask for as a beginner cinematographer. The crew was very supportive, the camera and lighting team were so kind to come and work on this film to help and guide me in this new role on set. It gave me much needed confidence in my work and motivation to seek out new opportunities as a cinematographer. I truly loved working on this project and although I still see the little mistakes I made, I still get teary-eyed by the last scene. That is why we make films and I am so proud we achieved that,” concludes Vandekeere.
By Oliver Webb
Photos by camera assistant Daan Stevens and location manager Casper Parys.
