Three wealthy couples — Flavio and Elena, Federico and Claudia, and Enrico and Martina — spend a weekend aboard Flavio’s yacht in the Mediterranean. After the first day, they find themselves stranded, with no supplies, and at the mercy of a stranger who, through a walkie-talkie, threatens and blackmails them for their money. A wicked plan that appears to be a ruthless act of revenge.
Cinematography Notes by Mirco Sgarzi CCS
The thriller The Boat tells the tragedy of six friends held hostage by a mysterious tormentor who sets their yacht adrift. The hours spent at sea without water or food bring shadows and dark secrets from their lives to the surface. To accompany this journey into the characters’ past darkness, I opted for a progressive darkening of the film’s visual tone: we start with a carefree atmosphere and a bright, colourful look, which gradually shifts, as the story unfolds, to a darker, more contrasted tone that mirrors the revelation of the characters’ sinister natures.
In the first part, the camera remains steady, with many dolly shots and static frames. However, from the turning point onwards, when they realise they are adrift, the film is shot entirely handheld, so the viewer becomes the “seventh castaway on board.” The protagonists’ yacht is constantly surrounded by a dark, ominous sea, while the tormentor’s boat circles them like a hungry shark, ready to strike its prey but toying with its victim to push them into despair.
Shooting the film was a technical challenge: it is not a high-budget production, and we decided to film entirely at sea, with the yacht as our main location. For both budgetary reasons and practicality, given the limited space and the small size of the technical teams, The Boat is almost entirely lit with practicals and a kit of Astera Titans, along with a few small LED projectors and a very limited number of discharge lamps.
