I have the wonderful opportunity to shoot a feature toward the end of Summer 2012. The movie has a decent budget and the director is really excited to shoot film. Whenever I find a director that is just as enthusiastic about film as me the fire in my belly burns just a bit warmer.

The issue now is that all of my local resources seem to have dried up.

The ability to have a start to finish local workflow may soon be a thing of the past.

Stay tuned and join me in the new post-film world.

Copyright Adam Forslund

As a cinematographer it can be difficult to get ready for a shoot. I read the script then re-read it. Make notes and go over those with the director. Everything has to go from a grey fog to a very solid vision in a matter of days, weeks and months. The metamorphosis of words to pictures can be difficult. What appears in my head may not ever exist in the real world or may be beyond the reach and means of the budget.

Which brings forth this analogy.

Making a film is not unlike building a house.

You can think of the Writer/Director as the architect. The Director of Photography as the general contractor. The Director will sit with the client to determine their desires. Is the house red? Should the living room face south? Bedrooms north? Once all those elements are worked out the DP comes in and start to work.

As a DP it is my job to get the crew to take those ideas and put foot to ground and make it happen. Do we need a 10k to make that scene? Should some light spill across that bed? What will happen if that medium shot falls flat?

The Director and Director of Photography working together making compromises where needed and not sacrificing others to build the best film possible.

As in building a house the difficult part is breaking ground. Once that has happened things just kind of happen and everyone moves to complete it. When you wrap a film and see the end credits for the first time it is like handing over the keys. And, when you think back about it you know all the little secrets that are behind that front door.

Despite the fact that I think of my self as a young guy I can remember “Mikey” tv ads, VHS rental when the store also rented players, Laserdisc, DVD and Divx wars, the wide acceptance of HD TV. More over the migration from film toward digital imaging.

By no means does this mean that I am a Luddite and want to keep my head deep in the sand as the world passes me by. It’s more that the progression of the world doesn’t seem so progressive. You go from grabbing a roll of film and knowing its look and feel, making a choice in seconds–Now, a picture is made but it’s not ready for until someone spends hours in front of a screen just to get it look like right. Then more time to get it to look good on paper.

There was darkroom time in the bygone days but it seems that to take a photo from light to paper takes longer in the era of 1’s and 0’s.

Many will say that the darkroom has simply been replaced by the screen. But, I don’t see it that way. The darkroom was an effiencent place where you would print a test strip and go. Or, at least for me. But, I would also try to work with the same film and paper and developed an understanding of what results I would get in all matter of conditions.

Retouching seems to take hours to do something as simple as building the overall look and feel of the image. What could be made in the time it takes to load a camera to get the contrast, grain, hue, saturation, vibrance now is done in hours in a chair. What was built in by Fuji, Ilford, Kodak is now in the eyes of the viewer at the desk or coffee shop.

But, as Pathé said “The March of Time!”

After hearing a story about their new album Area 52 on NPR I had to go back to the archives and share some photos. I can’t wait to have the opportunity to shoot them again.

Twitter: @RodGab

Area 52 on iTunes

11 11 on iTunes

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Lets hope that Hollow Earth Radio can grow and here is to Watch It Sparkle. If you have a chance to see them play in the Seattle/Portland corridor do it.

Twitter: @WatchItSparkle & @HollowEarth

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Enjoy.

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A great Seattle band. Be sure to give them a listen.

Twitter: @TheeEmergency

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Enjoy them.

Twitter: @officialtatw

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They first came across my RADAR not by US airplay but through Dew Process the label they are on in Australia. It wasn’t until I had the chance to shoot Flowers Forever when they were opening for Elf Power did I realize that Tilly And The Wall had a far broader reach than I could have ever imagined. Guitarist Derek Pressnall plays in both Tilly and Flowers Forever.

Then there is the fact that well. Omaha is Omaha, and if you are in one band from there then you are pretty much in all bands from there. It seems to be one little incestuous band orgy. That’s a good thing.

What make Tilly stand out for most people is the lack of a drummer. Instead they use tap dancers or at least one main tap dancer Jamie Pressnall (nee Williams). As you can see they even made an skit for Sesame Street which is fitting because according to WIkipedia Jamie Pressnall was a kindergarten teacher.

So, to bring it all home. Tilly And The Wall are a great band that is well worth listening to and if you want to dig deeper read their album notes and cross check them with other bands from Omaha and you will see the soap opera for yourself.

Enjoy the pictures. There may be a few more itching to come out in the future.

“O” Album iTunes Link

“Pot Kettle Black” single iTunes Link

Twitter: @OfficialTATW

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