Top: using our normal table enables us to frame tighter. Middle: using Erik's parent's table requires us to go wider. Bottom: color-corrected by adding colorized green layer and reducing its opacity + recomposed.
Some notes: finally found the tripod fast-release. That's good. Went to buy another one and found that the fast-releases are not standardized, so I'd have to specifically look for a Manfrotto which probably means going to Samys and either being ignored or talking to one of those guys who doesn't want to be working there. Also good news: Banquet salisbury steak TV dinners were on sale for $1 each at Ralphs. A perfect meal for our yellow dining room. I bought six. Shooting rescheduled for Saturday. More good news: David C. said he'd make the tape-of-thousand-pieces prop. Also known as the prop no one else wanted to make. He also had some great ideas for films to watch: The Conversation (for the sound/tape sequences), Manchurian Candidate (2004 version for the crazy guy) and Existenz (now I forget why).
Memoirs of a Geisha: I was able to make it about a third of the way through. Doesn't matter, I rented it mostly to look at the cinematography which I heard so much about. I guess people seem to like that soft, diffuse look which apparently reads as beautiful--a lot like the films I've been writing about lately. Everything seems to glow as if lit within. The stronger light sources are often hidden projecting light out to the side. Layers of light and shadow, light and shadow. Day always looks overcast or rainy. Strangely, the film looks very small as if it were filmed on tiny sets. You never once get the feeling that there is a whole world beyond just a few houses. I wonder if that comes from Rob Marshall's theater background. You establish then just work on a stage.
Ben was gushing about Secrets & Lies today so I checked out the preview. He warned me it was the kind of film I wouldn't like: no spectacle. He liked the acting with a capital-A: ACTING!. Sometime I'd like to see it just so I can understand his sensibility a bit better, but lately I'm not very good at forcing myself to sit through these things.
1 comment:
Yeah, I am looking forward to contributing with the tape recorder! It looks fictional to me, I was surprised to learn that it was purchased, but after thinking about it, I realize that it reminds of this, from a bargain-bin book i have:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidcallaghan/144990195/
Also, that's funny that you don't know why i like ExistenZ, because i don't know why either - it just has something special going on that i can't quite place my finger on. It does not directly relate to what you guys are doing, although one thing i remember is the set design for the opening sequence. It's in a middle school or church or something and though it serves as the base for the initial "reality", it feels totally wrong for some reason. I probably thought of it because you are doing so much work on set design, and that flick has something wrong/right going on in terms of set design.
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