Nora Director Anna Campbell on Flipping the Modern Musical to Explore Motherhood for the MTV Generation

Anna Campbell is an actor, producer, and director born in Portland, Oregon. After graduating from Vassar College with honors, she worked as an actor, where she appeared on Veronica Mars, Mad Men, NCIS LA, Leverage, Grimm, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, Teachers, and NCIS, among others. Her directorial debut Nora premiered at Cinequest, where it won the New Visions Award. In the piece below, she describes the process of updating videos for the modern age.

As a recovering musical theater geek, I have discovered that you never quite escape the genre. My first feature as a director, Nora, follows a mother who leaves her dreams of being a singer/songwriter behind as she returns to suburbia to focus on raising her precocious six-year-old daughter.

It wasn’t until late in the process that I realized I had unwittingly set out to reclaim the musical, complete with an original indie-rock soundtrack. Whenever Nora, who I play, finds herself in a heightened moment, the film erupts into a song that emotionally connects to Nora’s real-world state. Six of these songs become full music videos, challenging me with six opportunities for this deeply enthusiastic first-time filmmaker to play with techniques that I had never touched before.

Initially, I didn’t have the confidence to approach anything as grandiose as the music videos I adored on MTV. I stormed confidently into principal photography, knowing I could work with the actors to tell the story that I had crafted, but giving myself permission to play with the entire canvas of my overactive imagination was overwhelming. I told my producers I would hire “big-time music video directors” (who I thought this would be in 2022, I don’t know, let alone with what budget.)

I was lovingly supported by an incredible local crew in Portland, helmed by my fearless cinematographer, Kevin “Fletch” Fletcher. At some point roughly a year after we had finished principal photography, it was time to make music videos, and I still hesitated. Fletch and I spoke, and he asked me what I was imagining.

“She’s smashing the world that confines her. Like, a 1950s housewife smashing a kitchen,” I told him. “She’s trying to be something she’s not, like a human trying to fit in with mannequins.” I could hear him smile through the phone.

Fletch took every nonsense image I presented, either verbally or splashed across crowded mood boards, and translated fantasy to film. It’s the kind of artistic partnership that a non-technically savvy director dreams of — a match in excitement and passion, and the same epic level of “what if,” and never “we can’t.”

Anna Campbell on 'Smashing My Very Own Tiny Patriarchy' in Nora

Slowly, I realized that I had distinct ideas about every video and that each was a visceral response to images that had haunted me as a woman. The women in the Archie comics fighting over the boy became the teenage rocker bucking societal norms and the cheerleader’s judgment. A romance novel brought to life with a twist, where our heroine strides off the beaten path and chases not a man, but her own independence. A blunt interpretation of an 80’s music video where the leading lady doesn’t ever bother to control her own desires. I really did turn myself into a mannequin. I was smashing my very own tiny patriarchy.

My core design crew followed me delightedly into crafting these six mini-movies. Carrie Jordan, my art director, met my enthusiasm head-on, transforming dusty trails to red carpets by lining them with 30 yards of cheap red velvet and buying precisely measured vintage wallpaper to keep costs under control. Savannah Gordon crafted an epic red dress with fabric I frugally sourced from LA’s garment district. Michelle Stoyanoff and I learned together how to craft a dozen new hairstyles and found a language for the make-up that stretched the boundaries of our world.

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Each video is distinct both in style and sound, and I collaborated with talented artists and great equipment to bring them all to life. Our favorite images for “Tiger,” the '80s video, were captured with the classic in-camera effects of a vintage Panasonic PV-GS400, shot with the incredible eye of Fletch’s teenage daughter, Nina.

I also turned into a mannequin, playing with movement in low frame rates, wearing nothing but shapewear and obscene amounts of fake hair. Finally, we flew drones to capture the epic journey in “Left Behind” with our carpets and bespoke dress in the Columbia River Gorge.

One by one, I absorbed techniques I was incredibly fortunate to access. I learned how to think in multiple directions simultaneously and to meticulously storyboard, then be ready to effortlessly pivot in the moment while maintaining a semblance of cohesive storytelling. I added artists to the team, working with animator Joshua McCartney in England for “Cruel,” and bringing in motion-artist Heather Cardone for the animation finishing and the blue screen layering for “Good As Gold.”

We spent every remaining dollar like it was precious, and every moment on screen is 98% passion. With just enough Type-A maniacs working together, we pulled off what should have been impossible — a feature film with six distinct music videos interwoven into the narrative. To maintain this level of creative control on a first feature is almost unheard of today, and I am so grateful that my first directing experience was so full of creativity and magic.

Nora will be released digitally on May 24th on VEEPS.com.

Main image: Anna Campbell as the lead character in Nora. Image by Kevin Fletcher.