This portrait tells the story of a day at Railroad Park.
I am trying to communicate the feeling of observation, exploration, and momentum of the park from a kid's perspective by placing the kids in the frame in such a way that shows their relative size to the giant city structures, by having movement throughout the frame so that the nature of the railroad is reflected in the kids busy activity in the park, and by using music that sounds like curiosity, groove, and exploration.
(suggested listening for as you read this post, my favorite music for having introspective reflection moments to!)
I've really enjoyed learning the specifics of different cameras. Reading the manuals and then going hands on immediately after has been just what I needed. I feel much more comfortable picking up the available cameras and working with them quickly and efficiently, knowing where the things I need are located physically on them. I've also expanded what I know about filters, specifically the polarizer. I think I'm realizing that my strengths lie on the side of direction and composition. DPing is sometimes challenging in that I just still don't feel like I'm as quick at it as I want to be yet. My directing brain knows where it wants to go much faster than my DP brain knows how to get there. I'm continuing to work on expanding the way I think about the technicalities of light. It is rewarding to just get more experience and know that I am getting faster at picking things up.
I like to look at catch lights in eyes for what they add to images of people. They instantly create a depth and connection to the subject that wouldn't be the same if they were missing. The portrait of Obama is powerful because in adition to catching him in an angle we're not used to seeing, there is so much light in his eyes. The absence of light in a photo like this might subconsciously associate a person with a darker personality type, but of course with the light there we're reminded of innocence and purity. The same goes for the portrait of the old man by Andrezj Dragan. He uses a similar technique in much of his work that highlights the eyes in this way. This idea is also at play in the promo still from The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo. As we can see more light in Rooney Mara's eyes and less in Daniel Craig's it creates potential to interpret him as more evil, especially including the way they are positioned. I like the photo from Mad Men as a cool use of chiaroscuro technique, and the Where the Wild Things are landscape as an opposing saturation of light with more bright than dark.
It always bugs me that google thinks the word "filmmaking" is spelled wrong.
It occurred to me only just now that I should add the word to my dictionary and make it stop.
It's hard not to become overwhelmed when I think about my long term goals as a filmmaker. This is because I legitimately want to do a bit of everything. I want to be as fully self-sufficient as possible in the process. I definitely do not expect to become an expert in everything with this goal, but I want to be capable of jumping in anywhere in the start to finish life of a film or tv show and knowing exactly what I want to happen. Music videos, feature length fiction films, shorts, documentaries, television programs....I really and truly do want to be able to work on a variety of projects over the course of my career. I have always wanted to work on a long-running, hour-long, single-camera, comedy/drama tv series. I just love those. I want to get to a point where I can do different styles, all the while developing my own signature. Whatever I end up doing, I know that I want to work on projects which give media representation to underrepresented groups. Being a queer, black, southern, lower middle class, female-identified kid....I definitely know what it feels like to not always feel represented by the media. And that lack of representation counts for so much more than I think people realize. I mean I watched any and all TV I could get growing up. I had my own subscription to tv guide when I was around 11 - (and I collected all of them on top of that, so I still have a giant Rubbermaid of tv guides from the early 2000s in storage somewhere).
(I probably have this issue from 2000 saved somewhere. Don't get me wrong, I loved 'N Sync dearly, but I wish I had realized what was really going on with the media's idolization of white, cis-male, straight boys in expensive clothes. There's plenty of that on TV. I don't need to add to it. Sidenote: I do want some of my work to be on TV Guide cover sometime though!)
I watched so much tv and yet it never occurred to me until I was much older what was missing and how that influenced my thinking on what (and who) television and film considered to be valuable. So I'm definitely going to tell stories that feature people and characters that are living truths that need to be shown in the media more. I want those voices in every project I do.
My learning goal for this course in particular is to become much more comfortable picking up and using any camera immediately. I want to get better with articulating lighting technique. I definitely want to become faster in how long it takes that articulation in my head to get to my mouth, and then ultimately to my hands. I really need to immerse myself in learning how to be faster about remembering how focal length, zoom, iris, etc. will immediately affect the look of any given shot. I feel like I just take too much time thinking about it now. I want to learn more efficient/organized workflow. And a lot of other things I'm sure I can't even explain right now!
I'm trying not to post a million pictures in this post, but I might not be able to help it. We'll see.
These are some of the images that have really hit me as visually striking.
Whenever I think of a movie that I really loved/would like to emulate the look and feel of I go to Hard Candy first. Warning that the subject matter is uncomfortable. This is a 2005 film which focuses on "the torture of a sexual predator by a 14-year old vigilante Hayley Stark, portrayed by Ellen Page." (i let wikipedia word that for me). The idea behind the film was to take the image and story of little red riding hood being preyed on by the wolf and flip it so that little red became the predator. KICKASS IDEA RIGHT?! I love the plot of this movie, but the look of it is what makes it so remarkable. This movie is one of few where the colorist (Jean-Clement Sorret) has been listed in the opening credits of the film. Here's why:
"The film contains many coloring effects and “density shifts” of lighting to reflect the moods of the characters. For example, when Hayley gets angry the colors would be edited to be of lower frequency.One effect used which, as far as the director is aware of, had not been done in cinema before, was to brighten the lighting in filming and recorrect everything down in post-production.This allowed for facial details to be visible even while having a darkened atmosphere. The process required a custom-built digital intermediate to be made and proved to be extremely difficult, with corrections having to be made frame-by-frame in some instances." (wikipedia)
The use of color and light to indicate tone is beautifully executed. They use a lot of solid color walls which fill the frame richly with unyielding backdrops. Red and blue are often used for anger vs. calm. In one scene where the sexual predator has a blatantly honest monologue about his past, the wall behind him is a pale pink that almost perfectly matches his skin tone - a visually enhanced reminder that he's human.
I can't say enough about how cool this film looks. I'm including the trailer because I think it should be seen in motion. (again, the subject matter my be triggering.)
I feel like these next references are a genre but I'm not sure how to classify them. I guess they're realistic-drama-comedies-geared towards weird young-adults? I'm linking these together because I like them for their realism, interesting two shots, spacious outdoor shots, and understated uses of color.
Away We Go (2009)
Juno (2007)
Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
Alternate Reality:
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010)
I adore this movie. They used so many special effects to bring it to life. This still is from the amazing opening sequence. In the movie, a small living room appears to stretch as the band plays louder and louder. They constructed this elongated set and did a sophisticated pull to achieve the stretch look. The DVD has four separate commentary tracks that I highly recommend! The cast and crew go into great detail to explain how the effects and complicated shots were done.
TRON: Legacy (2010)
In this Tron update from 2010, pretty much everything on screen is a digital effect. The costumes and sets were built with expansive light tubes which were then enhanced digitally to give the film its signature glow. I love how they created an entire luminous world. The attention to detail here draws the eye into a full alternate reality.
Seven Nation Army -music video for The White Stripes (2003)
This music video is iconic for its use of shape and dimension. The viewer is sent through repeating triangle shapes of the band and their signature red and white colors.
Lose Control - music video for Missy Elliott (2005)
I don't think anything says "alternate reality" like a Missy Elliott video.
The crew achieved amazing visuals while constantly navigating difficult terrain.
Mad Men
Mad Men just kills me with how gorgeously on point it is sometimes.
Outside of video:
Lomography:
Before instagram, there were good old Diana cameras. I've always wanted one. I don't know why I just haven't gotten one by now, maybe I will soon. The way these plastic cameras get all haphazard with light is often times dreamlike and stunning. You just have to commit to liking the lack of control.
Monet:
There was an art teacher at my elementary school who was obsessed with Monet. We had Monet absolutely everywhere. I still like it, I don't know if it's more to do with childhood memory or the style in general. I'm interested in how to achieve impressionism in video. The diana camera also gives me the same sense of impressionism actually. I SWEAR I'M NOT PRETENTIOUS. It's just that Monet can hang.
Banksy:
Banksy's massive displays of broken reality are fantastic. Exit Through the Gift Shop was pretty cool too.
Byrogliphics:
Byrogliphics is this painter that I really like. Again, it's a color as emotion, impression, weird layered dimension sort of thing.
I guess that last part is how I might sum up my own visual style goals for the moment. But of course that is subject to change.
Sorry for rambling!
1. Last year I served as the president of Spectrum, UA's LGBTQ+ student group, and this year I'm the vice president. That teensy bit of extra time will afford me more time for internships and filming! LGBTQ+ issues are always something I think about when I'm watching TV and film. I consider analyzing media portrayals of underrepresented groups a legitimately fun (yet of course aggravating) activity.
2. I would love to spend some part of my career making music videos. I recently remembered that the old "Making the Video" show that used to come on MTV might have something to do with the beginnings of my love of music video. I was obsessed with that show. I remember watching as a kid and thinking that Hype Williams was the luckiest person on the planet since he got to make videos for all these artists. One of my favorite episodes was this one with Justin Timberlake because I was fascinated with how they built a room made out of thousands of lights, stuck Justin in the center with a camera mounted on him, and did another shot through a plexiglass floor.
3. I love seafood like none other.
4. My second major is French. French rap is amazing.
5. I'm pretty sure my home state of Alabama is the farthest west I have been in the US.
6. My early television obsession was also very much influenced by Lucille Ball. She is one of my television icons. My family indulged this obsession, such that I had I Love Lucy tapes, Lucille Ball biographies, an I Love Lucy 50th anniversary watch, a Lucille Ball barbie, and an I Love Lucy board game by the time I started middle school. I adored her humor of course. As I've grown older I've come to appreciate her politically, for what it meant for her to be the first woman to own a major TV studio, and to portray an interracial relationship on TV in the 50s. Also, I like studying the history of I Love Lucy for their innovation of so many television techniques.
7. I have many music obsessions and a wide music taste. I have aspirations to be a DJ but unfortunately none of the equipment.
8. I have a 12 year old little brother. He happens to have a mild form of autism. I think this is why I am good at being relatively patient with people. My brother's creativity is incredible. He draws 30 page comic books every single night. We bond over discussing how he composes his drawings using different types of shots. I could totally see him being a storyboard artist someday. Here's an old picture of him I did in high school. He's laughing.
9. Another obsession I have is music mashups. This gets at the music lover and editing lover in me. I make mashups of my own, but my favorite masters of the art are the ones that make really complex new music from preexisting songs, such as DJ Earworm. It's a little cheesy, but I like it.
10. I find zodiac things hilarious and sometimes creepily accurate. According to most interpretations, I'm extraordinarily in touch with my sign (cancer).
