SECONDARY ROLE Cinematographer for “Samuel” ( Nuno and Juris )
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SECONDARY ROLE Cinematographer for “Samuel” ( Nuno and Juris )
Stevie Storyboards
Pitch presentation
Music Research
"Luna"
Delicate Steve
"Ramona Reborn"
Delicate Steve
"Don't Think Twice, It's Alright" Bob Dylan
*The next several songs are all Bon Iver. He’s my favourite artists and he’s from where I’m from. I think his music matches the mood I want perfectly
"Blindsided"
Bon Iver
"Holocene"
Bon Iver
"Lisbon, Ohio"
Bon Iver
Maarit Hoherti, Inspiration
Another photographer from Helsinki that has helped me a lot. She uses a lot of sharp bright images with high saturation. But also shoots a lot through windows, curtains, or doors. Often its a wide frame with the action happening in the distance.
Sandra Kantanen, Inspiration
Her photography has also been a large influence for me, her obscured and watery images seem to be from the point of view of a visually impaired person.
Anni Leppälä, Inspiration for “Stevie”
Her photography is one of the main influences for me while I was writing this film. She uses a lot of naturalistic lighting, nostalgic settings, and an almost magical realism.
Year 3 begins
My third year and final year of studies has started. For my dissertation I’ve chosen to direct a film, with cinematography as a secondary role. I’ve been working on both my projects throughout this summer. “Stevie” is a film with Yasmin Stewart as producer and myself as first-time director. It’s about a young girl coping with a shift in her reality, when she gains sight for the first time. The other is Nuno Cabacing and Juris Tomsons film (untitled) about redemption and regret.Â
I’ll be posting frequent updates as to the progress of the films here.Â
Visual Essay
Cinematography Assignment
Nostos
https://vimeo.com/166992383
Director : Filippo Locatelli
Producer : Simon Bogdan
1st AC / Editor : McKenna Fernandez
Post - Production
The problems we found mostly when editing this film were to do with the glidecam. The first scene, I feel, is very jarring between cuts. Editing on a glidecam is so hard to match continuity and then to match camera movement AND THEN to give it a pace. It was so dfficult and we recut it so many times. But, what we have now I hope is the best result we could have gotten. I do love the bungalow scene. That part I feel is really dramatic and I love how long it holds in the bedroom in front of the window. That is my favourite part for sure. Also, I had a hard time editing that final scene. At first, we wanted to cut around the crying. But every way we did it, it just lacked any emotional climax. So we kept it in and hopefully tweaked it so it works.Â
Final Thoughts
All things considered, I’m really happy with how this project turned out. I think it was really difficult and challenging for me and Filippo. We spent a lot of time editing sequences and deleting them and starting over and then going back to the original way. But, I think it ended well. It may be a little boring or lacking clarity. But I hope something good came out of it.Â
Neanderbaby
https://vimeo.com/166967708
Director : Thom Rumbelow
Producer : Eleanor Howse
DOP/Co-editor/Colourist : McKenna Fernandez
When planning for the composition on Neanderbaby, I knew I wanted to show Tara often isolated in the frame.Â
I think the point of this film is to show a character try to give their life a purpose, and in doing so they lose everything. She loses her brother, which prompts her to want to do something significant. After being inseminated with a neanderthal, she loses her job, her mom’s support, her home, her money, support from the medical team, and her independence. I chose to isolate her in the frame with a lot of space around her. When she is with other people, they are usually positioned above her to show their power, or they are far apart in the frame to show the disconnect. For shots like the blue insomnia scene, clinic, or living room scene, I used a tripod. But, as Tara becomes less stable, I used a shoulder rig or handheld. The shakiness and tight frame heighten the emotion and show her losing her grip.Â
I also used this in The Heart when he has a flashback while chopping vegetables. The shakiest shot is the double mirror shot when she realises her nose is bleeding from the pregnancy. I don’t know how effective it was because it might look like a mistake or like I did not have a tripod on hand. But, even if it was poorly executed, the thinking was there at least. I also used a shoulder rig a lot for long realistic shots. Thom insisted on this because he liked the shoulder rig shot from My Song Music Video. I justified this by trying to replicate Andrea Arnold’s realism style in Fish Tank. But, I don’t think it was fitting for this film.
I used a lot of stylistic gel lighting for the scenes not in the clinic.
 In the living room scene, I used three neo rotos with colour gels. One hot pink roto set to the SFX fire on 35Hz, one bright blue set to the SFX tv on 50Hz, and one orange roto from a high angle acting as the hallway light. This added the effect of a tv being on in a dark room while also casting different tones onto the character’s faces. I used similar two tones light techniques in the insomnia scenes and the final baby POV shot. In contrast to the flooding white lights, I used for the clinic scenes. I also often lit the scene through windows to act as natural light or to cast through curtains. I used this for The Heart to mimic a street light and decided to use it again. For Neanderbaby, I used this during the 360 argument scene, dolly shot up the stairs, the morning silhouette shot, and the bedroom phone call scene. I found this technique was effective because I could make nice shadows on the face as if the light were coming through the mesh curtains, and also for hiding the lights in the 360 shot.
For Neanderbaby, I wanted to use a similar style to Lynne Ramsay. She tends to make social realist films about one character, using cinematography alone to show theiremotional transitions. I used Morvern Callar as a reference for the blue and orange toned lighting. I tried focusing on the details with this film. For instance, the close shot of her collarbone with sweat and the trashed dining room table with the newspaper “Heavens Above - woman pays tribute to stillborn son”. This attention to tiny detail is something Ramsay does in all of her films, and it’s something I want to try and continue with. The trashed table shot was also a purposeful reference to Jurassic Park. It’s reluctantly one of my favourite movies and I wanted to give it a cheesy monster film feel at the end. That scene is now cut and it’s changed to a POV. But, I still like the idea.
Final thoughts
This film took everything out of me. My producer and my director didn’t care about this film or me. I am only saying this because it has gotten to this point. They pushed me too far. I am unhappy with every aspect of this film. It’s very bad. But, it’s a learning experience. I will not let myself be put in this position again in the future. Â
Ideal Place For Just Sitting Down And Doing Nothing
Director : Nuno Cabacing
Producer : Juris Tomsons
DOP: McKenna Fernandez
Pre - Production
Inspiration
For this film, Nuno and I looked at a variation of references. Fargo is one of my favourite films, so I suggested we use those wide shots with an overwhelming expanse around them. We also looked a lot to old westerns, which you can see in the composition in the face off scene. I also took reference from the Big Mac and car trunk scene in Pulp Fiction. When looking for reference for the dreamy sequences, I really enjoyed this forrest scene from Mr. Nobody.
Storyboards
Production
For Ideal Place, I wanted to do a lot of wide landscape shots, for instance, the opening shots are with an 11mm lens from a far distance. When we went location scouting, I liked all the parts of the woods that had tree arch or vanishing points. Nuno and I decided to make this a theme, so it looks like they are passing deeper into the woods through tunnels. Because this film is mostly a dream, we were able to do a lot of unrealistic camera work. I didn’t include it in my showreel because the after effects are not complete yet, but I wanted scenes to transition between the trees but the dialogue to stay consistent all throughout. So the background or forest setting would change as they do in dreams. It looks unnatural but that was my intention. To add to this dream feeling, I used a lot of canted angles, especially at the tree pit (not included in my showreel due to time constraints). The topography of the ground made it so the trees were at an angle but the actors weren’t.
I used the Phantom drone for the introduction to the Italians. It may look slightly out of place. But it is a grandiose introduction to these two unexpected characters. Especially because this is when the dream starts to take a surreal turn, so I am happy with the result. I do wish I had come from a lower angle. But, due to an automated landing function fail, the drone is no longer with us. May it rest in pieces. I also had the chance to use a car mount for this film. I had intended to film part of the introductory dialogue through the windshield. I brought polarizing but it proved to be unsuccessful. But we ended up with a dreamy looking tree reflection shot.
I used natural lighting for this film, save for the car interior where I used an ice light. The natural lighting worked in our favour. We went on location four or five times and found that the light at sunset was especially beautiful on top of this huge hill, casting through the trees. So we chose that location for the final scene of the film.
Floorplans
Post Production
I was in charge of making references for the animation students, when we were planning on having animated teddy bear eyes. Here are the (terrifying) results of my photoshopping.
When The Abyss Looks Back
Director : Anna Parcerisas CasanovasÂ
Producer : Yasmin Stewart
Storyboard Artist/1st AC : McKenna Fernandez
Pre-Production
We had many storyboarding meetings. I liked how the film looked and Nuno and Anna agreed. We had thought about continuity and everything. But, during the shoot, Nuno and Anna decided to not even look at the storyboards. Which I think led to a lot of problems with the final film. Although I enjoyed doing the storyboards, they ended up being entirely un used or referenced. So it goes.Â