Silent Exploration with Nile Price

What was the inspiration for your AfroPoP Digital Short: Silent?

There was a year I had to get two foot surgeries, and I couldn’t walk for 12 months. In that time, there were moments where it sounded like my phone was ringing, but it wasn’t. A few times, it would vibrate in 30 seconds to 2 minutes. So, I went on a deep dive on the Internet. I found out about “phantom ringing,” which is our ear believing our phone is ringing through years of technological conditioning. We are overreliant on technology and I was trying to escape it.

What were some of the challenges of creating a film that’s about silence yet has a lot of sounds?

No dialogue! How do you get this idea across succinctly? What if I could sum up a film in one word? What a beautiful challenge. Once I got past not having dialogue, I could focus on the character. The next challenge was filming during COVID. I filmed it in a 250 square foot box, aka, an NY studio apartment. It was me, the DP, and the actor. With 80 percent of the audio recorded by Apple headphones that I planted throughout the space.

How would you describe your process as a film director?

Silent was very visual. Putting it on paper was a struggle, so I leaned on the visuals of it and reverse engineered it to write it. Down the road, an animated short came to me in the same way. Then I drew a storyboard. When I research, I lean on my Mass Communication background. There’s a point where I can see it, smell it, and hear it, and I know I have it.

The funding environment for documentary films and short subject projects is shifting rapidly. How are you finding this new environment, and has it caused you to do anything different when you pitch your ideas?

We’re about to find out! In a weird way, I’m excited. We’ve gotten away from what independent films are. It used to be about doing what big studios can do with fewer resources, but now we must think outside the box even more. How are we innovating how production is created? What is our approach to making a film now? I focus more on the “how” nowadays because I constantly need backup revenues.

Your films consistently incorporate the natural environment. How does that factor add depth to your stories?

There’s a whole world out there. I love showcasing space. I grew up in a mostly Black neighborhood, and time moved very fast. Contrasting that with the other side of town — fresh grass, white picket fence, two or three cars, a dog — time moves slower.