Master With Coverage

Scene: Master: Shooting this was probably one of the best experiences I've had on set, thanks to my professional crew and cast. I had the scene meticulously storyboarded before filming, but the cast and crew brought their own suggestions that I think make the final piece more interesting. Like most of my work, this scene is sort of a mixture of comedy and drama, and I liked the way it pulls a sort of tragic slapstick out of one man's misery. Were I to do it again, I think there are just a couple shots where I'd like to pull out a little more, but I'm overall pretty satisfied with it. I'm really learning the benefits of preparing with the cast beforehand and making sure I've done everything I can before the camera starts rolling.

Last Week

All of these pictures were taken last week, but for whatever reason, I couldn't motivate myself to upload them. Anyways, these mostly play with light and line. The first one is by far my favorite.

One Shot Sound Scene- A Serious Man

This scene comes from the film A Serious Man, by Joel and Ethan Coen. I felt that a relatively simple scene of a phone conversation would be good subject matter for a one-shot, and would provide an interesting stage for subtle but meaningful camera movement. The location we shot in had a few quirks that actually wound up being perfect for the oppressive office location, such as the post that provides a third wall as he sits down at the desk, as well as the drab filing cabinets that line the wall. I still sort of wish I'd had a longer dolly track, as I think it would've made the slow dolly backwards more impactful, but I still feel that the movement as-is remains effective. We had fun arranging the staging of this scene and getting Steve to hit his different marks for the close-ups, and I'm satisfied with the results. I feel that the subtle camera movement by Drew and Steve's movements within the frame work well together to capture the shifts in tone throughout the scene.

11/13/15

One last foggy picture, I spend a lot of time at this intersection and I like how this one turned out.

11/12/15

Fall seems to be the shortest season, usually usurped by Winter, but it has a special beauty that I tried to capture here. Unfortunately, I don't think I was too successful, but I felt it was worth sharing all the same.

11/11/15

I'd somehow never noticed this pattern on the side of the Fieldhouse. I like the sharp geometric edges and the way it contrasted with the clear blue sky and the soft clouds.

11/10/15

I enjoy these blown-out foggy images, since they have a way of reducing images to their basest elements of light and color. I like how it reduces what is otherwise a reasonably complex image into a few general shapes.

11/9/15

I spotted this image on campus and I found it pretty interesting. I like the blend of natural leaves and the harsh metal and concrete, as well as the decidedly mechanical shapes.

11/6/15

Open shutter fun.

11/5/15

I spotted these unusual mushrooms outside the JKB, and I thought they contrasted nicely with the colorful plant next to them. The contrast in shape is also interesting.

11/4/15

Every winter, I have to put up with the small nuisance of my glasses fogging up when I try to cover my mouth and nose with my scarf. It's not all bad though, since it gives me this interesting view of lights and colors. For this image, I tried to replicate how the world looks to me with fogged glasses, and while my phone's camera is understandably too crappy to render it completely accurately, I think the idea is still there.

11/3/15

This one was a little tricky to get, and if I took it again, I'd leave more negative space on the left hand side. Of course, if I were taking it with a proper camera and not with my phone, I probably would've gone for a shallower depth of field with the cup in focus and the background less distinct. But hey, these are spontaneous pictures, and I was trying to capture a sense of urban decay here.

11/2/15

I caught this one on my way home, I really liked how the early sunset contrasted with the buildings and trees. Such bright light opens up a number of unusual colors on the spectrum, and I like how it washes out the rest of its immediate surroundings.

Shot by Shot

For my shot by shot analysis, I recreated a scene from Bottle Rocket, one of my all-time favorite films. I'm a fan of the film partly because it was made at the beginning of Wes Anderson's career, before his visual style became completely defined, but still retaining the base elements of what makes his movies pleasing to look at. This scene in particular has always stood out to me, specifically for the image of Dignan laying on his back in the field with Anthony standing over him. This was a very interesting project for me, and I really began to understand it as I did the analysis of each image. I began to realize how purposeful each directorial decision was, and while I attempted to replicate much of it in my own version, I made lots of mistakes to learn from. In particular, I think I need to stop relying on handheld photography and start using a dolly, since there was lots of subtle movement that became way too pronounced in the final version. I also made the mistake of focusing too much on the scenes and performances in front of me and not looking at what it actually looked like on the camera-- I know this would've saved me some trouble later, but hey, lesson learned. Overall, I'd say this was by far the most valuable project we've done yet, and I'm eager to improve on my technique from here.

10/30/15

Cloudy day, and I liked how the familiar lamps and satellites on top of the buildings and fields looked against the sky. This is perhaps a more traditional composition, but I like how the dark, almost silhouetted lamp looks in the middle of the frame, isolated from its typical surroundings. It almost feels like something from a dream.

10/29/15

Another night photo, this one was just too eerie for me to pass up. I took a number of these pictures, but I liked this one best because of the lights in the background. The red light gives off a warning sign, and the converging street lamps create a sense of depth, making the darkness feel even more forbidding.

10/28/15

There's something compelling about night photography for me, probably because familiar locations transform into something almost entirely unfamiliar. I was walking home from the grocery store when I saw this image, and it was too eerie for me to pass up. I like how puddles can almost feel like a portal to another world, an inverse universe if you will.

10/27/15

I like taking these images of familiar subjects and finding the abstractions in color, light and shape. I think it's fun to experiment with film, since it is capable of more than merely literally depicting subjects.

10/26/15

I always like the way the moon looks in the sky while it's still light outside, probably because we naturally associate the moon with the night, so it looks somewhat out of place. This image looked darker on my screen, so it seemed like a silhouetted scene with just the moon illuminated in the sky. I think I'll try to get another one that better communicates that feeling.