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Work Film and motion

Experimental film · 2026

Shadow Print

Photographs and creative direction by Dontae Kerr. Virtual production and sound by his Gallery DCT Virtual Production Lab.

Oversized prints of my portraits are washed, lifted, cut and stacked in a dark printing plant. Every shot is described in words below the film. 19.2 seconds · With sound

A printing machine the size of a building turns my portraits into oversized prints.

Each print comes out of the wash, climbs through a hole cut through the building, goes under the knife and lands on the pile. The last shot finds them waiting on carts in a dark store room.

The only people in it are the ones in my photographs. There is no dialogue and no music. What you hear is the machine and the room, built from real recordings of motors, paper, air and a guillotine.

My part: Took the ten portraits, developed the concept, directed review and revision, accepted the final film
Made with: My Gallery DCT Virtual Production Lab: AI coding agents working in Blender with Cycles, and public-domain field recordings
Stage: Finished cut, 2026
Format: Vertical (9:16), 19.2 seconds, with sound
Year: 2026

The seven shots

A frame from each shot, in order.

010:00
020:01
030:03
040:06
050:09
060:14
070:16

From photograph to print

Two of the prints, beside the photographs they are made from. The film prints them as I edited them.

Black and white self-portrait in a knitted balaclava, only the eyes showing. — A self-portrait from October 2022, on a Canon EOS Rebel T6. It is the print fed under the knife, and page seven of Blue Hour: One Eye.

The same self-portrait as a large print, seen from straight above on the pile. — A self-portrait from October 2022, on a Canon EOS Rebel T6. It is the print fed under the knife, and page seven of Blue Hour: One Eye.

Self-portrait in a white hooded suit and a glossy red mask, one eye looking out. — A Halloween self-portrait from October 2025, on a Canon EOS RP. It comes back at the end on a cart in the store room, and it is the last page of Blue Hour: One Eye.

The same self-portrait as a tall print, rising through a hole cut in the building between steel beams. — A Halloween self-portrait from October 2025, on a Canon EOS RP. It comes back at the end on a cart in the store room, and it is the last page of Blue Hour: One Eye.

How it was made

The prints are my photographs

Every print on screen is one of my portraits, printed as I edited it. Eight of the ten can be recognised in the film.
Sound from the machine itself

There is no music. The sound is 30 public-domain recordings of real motors, paper, air, water and rooms, each placed where its part of the machine stands and heard from where the camera is.
One shot at the stacker

A print lands on the pile and the next one slides out over it in one continuous shot. It replaced a cut I flagged, between two nearly identical views.

The film, described

Nobody speaks in the film. This is what is on screen and what is heard, shot by shot.

0:00
Picture Eyes in a black and white portrait look up from under running water as a steel roller slides over them.

Sound Water pours onto the paper in the wash tanks, over the hum of pumps, fans and rollers.
0:01
Picture The print, dry now, hangs whole in the inspection light: a person in a white apron splashed with red holds a dripping painted sign.

Sound A relay clicks and an inspection head runs across the print on its rail.
0:03
Picture Seen from far below, prints climb through a hole cut through the building. A face in a glossy red mask rises, with a hooded figure on the print beneath it.

Sound Chains run over sprockets and counterweights thud to a stop. Far off, a guillotine cuts.
0:06
Picture The balaclava self-portrait is fed under twin blades. One stroke falls just above the eyes.

Sound The clamp bar drops, the blades cut and a trimmed strip of paper falls into a bin. This cut is the loudest sound in the film.
0:09
Picture In one continuous shot, a print of a person lying on grass lands on the pile. The camera leans in while the machine waits, then the balaclava print slides out and lands on top of it.

Sound The print hits the back stop and side joggers tap the pile square. The drive starts again, and a second cut sounds behind the camera, quieter than the first.
0:14
Picture From straight above, the balaclava print slides into place and the joggers square it on the pile.

Sound The tail of the print drops, air escapes from under it, and the joggers tap twice.
0:16
Picture A dark store room. Carts of finished prints stretch away, the red mask among them. A fluorescent tube stutters, then comes on.

Sound Distant machinery in a large, hard room and the hum of a light fitting. A failing starter ticks twice and the tube comes on.

Credits

Photography: the ten portraits the prints are made from, shot on my own cameras and edited in Lightroom: Dontae Kerr Canon EOS RP and Rebel T6, Lightroom
Concept and creative direction, through review and revision to the accepted cut: Dontae Kerr
Virtual production: the plant, the machine, the camera, the animation and the render: Gallery DCT Virtual Production Lab Blender with Cycles, run through AI coding agents
Sound: field recordings placed where each part of the machine stands, and mixed: Gallery DCT Virtual Production Lab
Field recordings of motors, paper, air, water and rooms (CC0): Freesound contributors
Concrete, paint and steel surfaces (CC0): Poly Haven

I developed the concept, provided my photographs and directed the project through review and revision. My Gallery DCT Virtual Production Lab, where AI coding agents work in Blender with Cycles, produced the industrial world, the camera work, the sound and the final film.