Anna had a distinct vision for the look of QUEEN OF CACTUS COVE.  That vision was honed by working closely with cinematographer Dominique Martinez and production designers Alys Thompson and Scott Enge.  Together Anna, Dominique, Alys and Scott found visual inspiration in the films GIANT, THELMA AND LOUISE, FARGO, GARDEN STATE, THE INSIDER (for nighttime exteriors), SEARCHING FOR BOBBY FISCHER and the work of Elliot Erwitt, Edward Hopper and William Eggelston.

From the beginning, Anna knew the vastness of the desert would play a role in the film’s imagery. Together Dominique and Anna found a special relationship between The Big (the desert, the oversized wooden hula girl, the chess tournament) and The Small (the chess pieces, Billie).  As Billie wrestles with self-doubt, she questions whether she is a chess champ.  She feels smaller and more lost in the world as this internal drama unfolds.  The visual juxtaposition of The Big and The Small (sometimes expressed in zooms) helped to express the theme of lost identity.

Anna and Dominique were determined to communicate Billie’s story through the saturation of colors.  At the beginning of the story the town is established as de-saturated, almost sun-bleached; Cactus Cove is dusty, remote and well-worn.  Dominique carefully chose the Kodak stock for these sequences and pulled the film two stops to achieve this look.  As Billie becomes more and more emotionally unstable and uncertain of her path, the colors become more saturated.  Billie’s trauma and vulnerability rise to the surface, and the film’s colors grow bolder and more vibrant