Within the episode “Deer Lady,” FX’s Reservation Canines reveals the backstory of the mysterious eponymous character performed by visitor star Kaniehtiio Horn (pictured) — a spirit who presents as a lady with hooves and kills “unsavory men.”
“This is like the whole episode in one quick shot,” says Emmy-nominated DP Mark Schwartzbard of this second within the episode, after which Deer Woman exacts revenge on an abusive man from her previous. “The episode is about historical trauma — reclaiming it and trying to move on from it,” continues Schwartzbard. “This one shot manifests that, not through anything we did with the camera, but basically through the performance.”
This episode, directed by Danis Goulet, is a departure from the everyday capturing type on the present, which Schwartzbard describes as “observational.” However right here, as Deer Woman leaves the scene of her newest crime, she leads the digital camera as she processes and overcomes a traumatic second. “I think we did a second take, but what she brought to it, and the turn she takes silently as she’s walking away from the house, was just so perfect,” recollects Schwartzbard, who used a Steadicam to seize this “heavy but graceful” scene.
Nonetheless, he maintains, the magic is all in Horn’s appearing. “It was a type of takes the place, simply on account of her efficiency, all of us on the screens simply sort of checked out one another like, ‘Oh shit!’ “
