Inside the Room of Labels

If you’re reading this you’ve either stumbled upon the set design pictures on social media, saw the link on my story, or you’ve watched the docuseries and want to know what the hell was up with those cutaway scenes with Andrea Heinz (and Elizabeth Chamberlain as Andrea) and those labels inside that room. For the last one it might be a few months down the line. But, regardless, if you want to learn a thing or two about the behind the scenes of Labeled you’ve come to the right place! Take a step with me inside the room of labels. 

First we have to talk about how the idea was conceived:

When I was going through the transcripts and developing the story edit, I quickly realized the title Labeled had several meanings throughout the series. I won’t go into all of them because I don’t want to ruin anything but specifically to Andrea, she was labeled a ‘prostitute’ by the US Government. But that’s not the only label ascribed to her throughout her story and throughout the show.

As many of you know, I come from a fictional, narrative filmmaking background and I love….LOVE getting weird with my scenes. And I mean that in the absolute best, existential, experimental, whatever you want to call it way! I really wanted to bring that aspect of my filmmaking to Labeled – a documentary - but my challenge was how? As I started dialling in on the story and simultaneously creating my shot list, this visual aspect became clearer by the day, and I knew we were about to get weird! This is what became known as the Room of Labels.

The Room of Labels (without giving too much away) is essentially a body rub centre room covered with various labels ascribed to Andrea throughout her story. I really wanted to create a visual element of how Andrea was feeling on the inside at that given moment in the episode, blending the present with the past. Maybe it’s a bit David Lynch or existential, but I felt this element was necessary. This room represents a place where Andrea is trapped and can’t escape. And with that comes the inescapable and unfortunate reality that even after exiting the industry, these labels are still stuck to her.

Now you can interpret the rest when you see the show but that’s the inception and crux of how it was formed and the reasoning for it. Let’s get to the brilliant people who made this happen:

Firstly, we needed a studio, and that decision was the easiest one of them all. FAVA Studios was my first and only choice. And it was the perfect space to build our studio.

Next was recruiting the talents of Rene Provencal of Provencal Woodworks to build the set. Rene built the entire set in one day. Absolutely impressive! A fun fact about the set is that you will see a hole in wall above the bed. This was initially unintentional – but after looking at it, Rene felt by having holes in the walls it represented Andrea’s past violence and the violence many folks face in the sex industry. So…he punched a few more holes in the wall. And, I must say, I thought that was a brilliant addition to an already amazing design!

Our next challenge was the actual labels on the walls. In my early discussions with Alexandra Paulhus (Production Designer) and Emily Welz (Art Director) we were thinking of physically writing the labels on the walls. But the more we thought on this, the more we realized there were so many variables that could go wrong with that and completely halt production (given we had two days total). That’s when Alex had the fantastic idea of going the route of VFX.  Insert my good friends at Alpacalypse Productions aka the Alpaca Boys stage left.

This was 100% the right decision. Not only were we able to move quite quickly on the day but this gave us the freedom to edit and manipulate the placement of the labels in post-production once everything was picture locked. We wouldn’t have had that freedom if we were physically writing the labels on the wall. In the behind the scenes picture you will notice markers on the walls and floor. Those were used as trackers in post-production, so the Alpacas knew where to place the labels. A big thanks to Alpacalypse Productions for making one of my first experiences with live VFX an absolutely seamless feat.

Although I cannot share what the final shot looks like (yet) you can see it in the trailer by CLICKING THIS LINK (last shot of the trailer wink wink nudge nudge).

I hope this post gave some insight into how the Room of Labels was built and the reasoning for it. Thank you to Andrea - although it may have taken a bit of convincing, I am so grateful to have your support and for believing in these scenes (as experimental and out there as they are). A huge thank you to my team for their incredible work on making this whacky idea become a reality and not criticizing me for it either…or at least not in front of my face haha!! No, honestly, I am so appreciative of everyone who had a hand in making it happen. And lastly, thank you to those who are still here reading this post. You are the real MVPs here. If you like what you read, take a look at my other posts and if you want to see more, follow me on social media @Jkeebs.film