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Posted by
Lazlo_ March 31, 2007 -
1,331 views
It has been one of the busiest times for me filmmaking-wise, ever.
One of the senior projects I'm working on has commenced principal photogrpahy. The director likes to operate in a very documentary-esque way, which gets great performances from actors, but requires a different kind of camerawork. I have to constantly be focused on what is happening, and oftentimes just follow the action where ever it may be. I'm hesitant to give out details of the story in an online fashion. I will say that he didn't want to work directly from a script, preferring to work in a more improvised style. Basically, he gave me the locations, and a general idea of what he expects to cover, and we go in and shoot it. He also had a very detailed/visual synopsis that he wanted to follow and that we talked over. It is fairly comedic, but he wants it to feel like a film noir, and treat the material very seriously visually. This is difficult! But I love the challenge, and it is a refreshing way of working, where constantly we get very beautiful and unexpected moments that couldn't happen with a regimented script. We are shooting on a DVX100, with a variety of lowel lighting kits, which I'm pleased to say are getting the job done very well. I like to work at lower light levels generally, and these lights are much easier to transport than many others. They are ideal for the project. The only one I still have issues using is the tota light. It is just almost impossible to control... We've actually been shooting for about a week now, and should be finishing up next week. We already completed the most difficult locations, which was a classroom that we had to reserve on the weekend with about 20 extras. It was difficult on so many levels. We had 20 bored extras waiting for something exciting to happen while we set up. It was the worst possible room. The flourescents were not extremely flattering, and on two walls (it was a corner), there were huge windows that we had to completely cover. I in turn brought what I consider a set essential: reflector kit. It came in extremely handy on this particular set where I had so little control over the light. It was quite frustrating as cinematographer to not have the control I wanted over the lighting, but it was the only time and place we could shoot this scene, and the director was adament. So I warned him in advance and we moved ahead. On the whole he seemed pleased with the footage. We were in that room for literally eight hours filming about half of the movie. I must say I really have come to like the DVX, its a great camera. I don't think like the idea of shooting on film just to "shoot on film". I think that more than ever I'm remembering why we shoot on anything at all, and that is to tells stories. And I think in the end its about which format tells your story best, not which format costs the most, or is the most complicated, or even which is the most beautiful aesthetically.
More on this later...
