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“But by cutting that scene out in the film and telling the story through the eyes of Kate is a very risky choice.”
I just looked into the script because I didn’t know Alejandro was introduced early. By leaving that away, he stays a mysterious character. Kate constantly wonders who that guy is, where does he come from, what’s his motivation – and so do we! Much more powerful imo.
“…because the Kate character rarely acts, she always reacts to the actions done in front of her. ”
I think that’s part of why Sicario works so well, the audience basically is Kate – only watching, feeling powerless to intervene. Now add Roger’s speciality of putting the audience exactly where they need to be in each shot and you get that unique viewing experience of Sicario. I think it’s a major reason why so many people love this film.
In hindsight it seems like an easy decision but it definitely was a major change to the dynamic of the viewing experience. And it would surely be interesting to know what considerations they made (who decided it, just Denis, more people, was someone against it?) to go with this change.
Those are all great suggestions, thanks guys!
I haven’t seen ‘Columbus’ yet. Looks like it’s an unagitated, intimate story and the cinematography seems to reflect that – will certainly watch it!
“I’m Wondering how DPs keep a consistent lighting ratio throughout the whole piece.
Or don’t they?”I don’t think they do (unless there’s a specific reason to). They keep it consistent throughout a scene.
If a couple says farewell to each other in tears in a dim barn, and then one of them steps outside into a desert at noon to face the antagonist, there’s not much reason to stick to the same lighting ratio I would think. But the wide, medium and CU shots inside the barn must match each other.
Nice!
I wonder, if then the bookshelves/background aren’t “friendly and inviting” enough, would simply bouncing some film lights off the ceiling there work (I can’t see what color it is though)?
“For me, an interesting tool, that would be a mix of false color and spot meter, is the EL Zone, by Mr. Ed Larchman, but if I remember it is only for Panavision.”
Panasonic VariCam LT and 35 and the small Sigma FP have it. Also SmallHD external monitors I believe. It should be featured in more and more cams going forward.
I haven’t used EL Zone yet but love the intuitive color palette and distribution opposed to the confusing False Color (which also varies from company to company).
It seems to be great to evaluate contrast ratios around middle grey and thus replace a light meter. But it does not do a good job at showing sensor clipping or noise floor (depending how many stops you distribute above or below middle grey), so it needs to be combined with another tool that does this.
Good overview:
EL Zone Exposure System- how does it work and how do you use it
Clint Eastwood often says “Let’s not overthink things” on set.
We put a lot of pressure on ourselves trying to do it perfect. Reading your text, I think you already ask the right questions and that’s all you really need in my opinion. Keep asking about content, keep questioning and talk to the director. You’ll develop your own intuition over time. But try not to put too much pressure on yourself. You are not the only one responsible for a scene’s emotion and as David said, sometimes you shouldn’t even attempt to insert some.
” Sometimes the visuals can be a counterpoint to the emotions of a scene, like when a character gets bad news on a perfect spring day surrounded by nature.”
‘Funny Games’ (like basically any Michael Haneke film) is a good example.
‘Se7en’ is another great example. For the first 3/4 of the movie, it always rains (even in interior scenes, you always hear rain). From the moment Kevin Spacey steps out of the cab to turn himself in, the sun starts to come out, and by the time of the barbarous finale in the desert, the nicest, most romantic sundown hits Pitt, Freeman and Spacey.
Whenever I can, I prepare – you can find overviews and tutorials just about everything on the internet. That at least eases my mind.
Then, when testing or on set, I usually find that those things turn out to be much less of a mystery than I had feared (there’s also almost always someone who is already familiar and can help).
I like “Nocturnal Animals” from Tom Ford (fashion designer/filmmaker). From casting (he seems to love to arrange colors around Amy Adams hair) over location to set design and costume, there’s always a delicate combination of colors within a scene/shot. Neither distracting nor driving the story, just great taste in colors.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOsEU5oYpTA
Just watched “One Cut Of The Dead” and absolutely loved it!
Actually, “Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes” is of the very same kind of japanese playful, choreographic wizardry, so you might enjoy that too.
Sounds great, too! The Japanese have such a pronounced love for creativity, it’s quite different to Europe. Something that’s considered mind bending here seems to only cause a weary smile in Japan. I believe their manga culture is a major driver of constantly moving cerebral goal posts 🙂
