Babydoll
Mars 31
"Babydoll" is a queer love story. After a conflict with her parents, Anna happens to meet Minni in a bar. The two women find something in each other that they have both been missing, and they fall in love.
The film’s style based on our approach
We aimed to stay within the framework of drama and romance, with a subtle touch of horror elements in moments of confrontation and conflict.
In short, we’ve tried to explore themes of acceptance, being seen for who you truly are, understanding what Anna wants, and what Minni truly deserves.
Babydoll is a fictional film primarily intended to make the viewer feel better, despite life’s complexities. After reading the script, I tried to envision the images in my head. I could clearly picture burlesque dance scenes, warmth, and strong colors. To achieve this look, I decided to draw inspiration from my youth, when films were shot on analog cameras. Realizing this vision was, of course, a huge project, so I needed a cost-effective way to bring my idea to life. I decided to use a plugin called Dehancer OFX in post-production, which allows for detailed processing to emulate a classic analog style from digital footage.
For the film's vibes and colors, we took inspiration from Euphoria, which used 35mm Kodak Ektachrome, sometimes combined with Vision3 500T. This approach allowed for really rich colors and contrast, and I felt this method was a perfect fit for Babydoll and the look I had imagined. Of course, things rarely turn out exactly as planned, even with an excellent plugin, but I wanted to embrace this challenge for the sake of practice and experience. My production team supported and encouraged me throughout.
Very few shots in Babydoll were taken on a tripod. Inspired by the game Life is Strange, we wanted to invite viewers to follow our characters in a colorful, dramatic setting, creating a sense of inclusion and participation. This stylistic choice had its pros and cons; longer shots typically go against the norms for short films, so we had to cut out a lot of scenes that we initially thought would add suspense, but which instead risked slowing down the pace.
Unlike Euphoria and Burlesque, I wanted to use a personal technique in post-production to give the highlights a softer, milkier look. In addition to filming every scene with a 1/8 Promist filter, I also tried adding a Gaussian blur effect, similar to what I did in a documentary called “Circle of Trees”, to create a dreamy feel. However, I quickly realized that this effect went against the film’s key intent and did not contribute to the story. It felt more like a visual burden, especially since we also aimed for a sense of realism.
References, Research
The main inspirations for creating Babydoll have been very specific from the pre-production stage, considering compromises and other strong visions.
Vibes: the series Euphoria, the game Life is Strange, and the film Burlesque
Euphoria IMDb
Life is Strange Steam
Burlesque IMDbScenography: Strongly inspired by Burlesque and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Eternal Sunshine IMDbColors: After in-depth research, we aimed to emulate the color palette of Euphoria.
Composition: Simply for the sake of experience, we aimed to keep the shots balanced despite the dramatic tension—unlike in my previous production, Blomstran, Tidiga och Sena, where I experimented much more. Instead, we wanted more dynamic, handheld shots and one-takes inspired by the game Life is Strange and the feature film Birdman.
Birdman IMDb
My challenges in the film
First and foremost, a personal backstory is required, as this was not only a fictional narrative but also my final production. After filming Blomstran, Tidiga och Sena, I fell into a bit of a hole. I tend to self-reflect a lot and take on guilt instead of placing it on others. What hurt the most was that some people at Arcada completely stopped acknowledging me or looking me in the eyes, and it deeply affected my self-esteem, making it very difficult to creatively collaborate with others again.
Previously, I had developed a bad habit of doing everything on my own and struggled at times to adapt when others were involved, to trust and delegate tasks. I thought I had improved in this area, but after last year’s production, all of my positive feelings came crashing down, and I took it very hard.
For this year’s production, I had processed all my thoughts and emotions, and I was able to approach it with a very positive attitude. I felt encouraged and happy to get a new chance to make a film, even though it wasn’t with the same team from the other final productions.
I met Pia Krogerus for the first time, an incredibly enthusiastic screenwriter who would direct Babydoll, and we immediately aligned on our thoughts, ideas, and opinions about the film’s script. There’s so much more personal detail I could share about how incredibly well we collaborated, despite our individual challenges in working with others. She gave me full responsibility and trust over the visuals, and we worked together to make the scenes come together as smoothly as possible with clear and effective communication.
From a technical perspective, it should be noted that we almost exclusively used dynamic, handheld shots. To save on effort, I chose to minimize the camera setup as much as possible, stripping it down to almost just the bare essentials. We decided to use a RED Gemini 5K S35, which was lighter and didn’t require as many additional components. The original plan was to use a Ronin RS2 to stabilize the shots for all the one-takes, but due to the camera’s size when we attached the V-lock battery, we had to come up with a new solution, as other options were too costly.
As a result, we chose to shoot almost entirely handheld in 5K, which we could later stabilize in post-production and crop to 4096x2160.
The Result
As I mentioned last time: It never turns out the way you expect. It’s both a positive and negative conclusion, one that I can calmly apply to almost every production.
Babydoll turned out to be much more personal than I had anticipated, and I felt very present, which allowed me to connect with the mood and emotions in the shots I captured. Even though the film is very different from my own personal style, I still feel a strong connection to it, and it feels good to create something different from what I would usually prefer.
What I Learned
An artist is never satisfied, but should always strive to do better and dare to use their imagination. This is how art is created. I’ve always believed that it’s incredibly important to feel proud of yourself and how you performed for the sake of experience. Creative professions can be extremely emotionally charged, and one should always take this into account and be mindful of how they express themselves to other artists.
It is, of course, incredibly demanding to be the photographer, editor, and colorist all in one production. As I mentioned earlier, this is something I need to improve on in order to delegate responsibility and trust to others for a more efficient and optimized workflow. I need to dare to trust others.
It’s always important to keep your promises. Looking back now at our presentation from the second pitch session, I believe we managed to keep our promises, and our path forward and vision never changed, except for the adjustments we had to make for the film's pacing.
Conclusion
Pia Krogerus and I won two fantastic awards at Pitch24 with the horror/drama script Room Number-X, which will be filmed in June next year, 2025. I believe that the fictional storytelling and the final production will definitely contribute to the methods I will use to create this film.
Pitch24 Article
I’ve spent so long thinking and believing that there must be something wrong with me and how I create, after last year’s production. It had an extremely big impact on me. But I feel that I’ve managed to resurface again with the help of people who believed in me, supported me, and showed me the way back. Of course, I’ve learned a lot of other things during this period, and today I often collaborate with Koptercam and Feelm Creative.
What’s most important to me is how grateful I am to be able to be creative and create again. Just like the purpose of Babydoll, I now feel seen and accepted again.
