Favorite Shots of 2016 Pt. 4 of 4/New Years Resolutions
My last favorite shot from 2016 is another one from my latest film FAILSAFE. In this shot, our antagonist has just shot someone and is making a painful escape.
This shot is one of my favorites for several reasons. Looking at lighting first, this whole scene was lit as if it were around midday. The idea and emotion behind this choice was to make the house feel like the light was trying to work its way in to uncover whatever secret lay inside. We used 3 lights total for the shot. First, we had a fatboy (2x4 Kino) rigged up on top of the cabinets in the kitchen for a subtle backlight and fill for the rest of the room. Second, we had two 2x2 Kinos rigged on the stairs to add a slight bar-like effect across our antagonist as he was walked past them like prison bars. The 2x2 kinos were originally supposed to be a lot more prominent but due to weather and the time of year, the sun ended up falling directly on the front windows right before we had to go for our first take. This change in lighting was a big curveball and because we were on a very tight schedule, my only option was to bump up the kitchen exposure and throw a circular polariser on the front of the lens to compensate for the harsh change in exposure in the front room.
Now because we were also working with a promist filter in the mattebox, the polarizer on the front of the lens started to give us some harsh filter reflections. Upon first sight, I was a little annoyed to see one more thing I had to fix before we could go for a take, but then realized during our rehearsal that these reflections went right through our antagonist and it was a great way to portray the transparency of the character now that their secret was out! The reflections stayed and now we have the shot you see below:
For camera work, a large inspiration was the free flowing camera movement from Children of Men (2006), shot by Emmanuel Lubezki. The director of FAILSAFE, Jon Levert, and I wanted our camera to feel like it had a mind of its own, looking at whatever it wanted for however long it felt like it. This example is most felt when the camera lingers on the body before turning--almost begrudgingly--to follow our antagonist to the door.
To watch FAILSAFE in its entirety, click HERE
To watch a short BTS of FAILSAFE, click HERE
Camera: Sony A7sII
Lens: Zeiss B speed 35mm
So this wraps it up for this 4 part blog post that I wanted to do to see off 2016. If you read all of these despite how rough and amateur they may seem, thank you. I have two goals for 2017:
The first is to start creating more personalized content on my website through this blog and whatever other means I can find. Be expecting more in depth posts from me as we move forward into this new year. Instead of single shot breakdowns, I want to work my way up to entire production breakdowns, Prepro all the way through post!
The second is to shoot lighter hearted work. I am currently putting together my reel from everything I have shot this past year and I have realized I am not broadening my style of work enough past drama. This second goal is definitely my biggest and I am already making steps towards it as I am currently signed on to shoot a more lighthearted, independent pilot this coming spring.
That about wraps things up so once again, thank you for visiting my blog and Happy New Year!
Good riddance, 2016.