Original
Remake
Together
Let me be frank. This assignment
was difficult to complete for a number of reasons, and while I learned a lot,
this isn’t a project I’m necessarily proud of (a project I won’t show to
potential clients). It is difficult to recreate scenes from masterful
filmmakers, certainly. Leading up to the shooting date, however I was sick.
Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, I felt like I was dying—in no uncertain
terms. I pushed through the planning regardless, and on the day of the shoot,
James, my Director of Photography, was also sick. It was a weekend full of sickness, but the
show still went on. And it was a valuable learning experience.
The first thing that I wanted to match as
well as possible was the location. If I had been far more forward thinking, I
would have been able to schedule a time to shoot at the LDS Motion Picture
Studio back lot. After talking to Kyle, it was clear that in order to shoot in
one of their cabins, I would have had to give three weeks notice. And even
then, I would not have been able to use electricity (I’d have been charged
$60/hr. for their electricity). For the other cabin that looked similar to the
one in the film, I would have been charged $50/hr. for a room that I wouldn’t
be allowed to move around in. I’ll admit that Steven’s apartment was not a
great fit. The archways in front of the door did not match at all, and the
color red contrasted with the greens and browns of the actual film heavily. If
I had the opportunity to do it all over, I would most certainly go for the MPS.
If I had the opportunity but not the money, I would have spent more time trying
to find an appropriately sized room. Location really can tell more of the story
than I ever thought possible.
In the field of framing and lenses,
everything I tried just seems slightly off from the original. The most
difficult shot was of Lucius’s back before he turns to be stabbed. There was
simply no possible way to capture a similar look with the slider we had checked
out. It is clear that the actual film used a dolly or similar apparatus. We
ended up using a shoulder rig, so the shake makes it significantly more
unsettling in our version. Here’s a
picture:
In the end,
I learned that my effort in finding an appropriate location and communicating
with my DP exactly what I needed before the shooting day would have made for a
much better product. I am proud of my actors, and think they did very well
matching performances and mannerisms of the original. I learned that the
smallest camera movements can often be the most difficult to achieve, but the
most powerful in storytelling.
ReplyDeleteDP Reflection
That photo makes me laugh so hard every time I see it. For all the sickness and dying we sure had fun and were not short of any innovation.
This assignment seems to have been the beast so far and I admit I was not at the top of my game, and for that I feel guilty.
Any period piece is difficult period, but it is especially when you need to match the location, and costuming of another period piece film. The room, the furniture, the wardrobe from head to toe was all hand selected to be worn or placed on set M. Night’s set, and it was a monumental undertaking to recreate. What impressed me was Dhane’s effort to pull off what he did in pre-production (even after being denied all other locations he wanted) and in the spur of the moment on set. He was patient with his actors and it made for a captivating performance.
I am mostly upset about the shakiness of the camera and the use of the wrong lens. If I could do it over again I would have checked out different equipment and I would have looked at the shots from the original scene more closely before hand.