A Damn Good Shot

Dedicated to the art of cinematography. You can read my other blog here. Send suggestions to ADamnGoodShot@gmail.com

Fri Nov 20

What animated film has the best cinematography?

Are you a fan of the earthy tones and lens flares of Wall E? Or do you go ape for Miyazaki’s bright colors and sweeping vistas? Do you miss the technicolor glow and “big camera” look of older Disney films, or do you pine for the doc rotoscoping of Waltz With Bashir? Go ahead and tell me what you think the most beautiful animated film is. There’s no wrong answer, but your choice may be included in an upcoming feature I’m working on that examines the relationship between film cinematography and animation.

Thu Nov 19
District 9 - 2009
Dir: Neill Blomkamp / DP: Trent Opaloch
Today is District 9 day here at ADGS (because I got an awards screener in the mail). Enjoy.

District 9 - 2009

Dir: Neill Blomkamp / DP: Trent Opaloch

Today is District 9 day here at ADGS (because I got an awards screener in the mail). Enjoy.

FX Guide has an exhaustive look at the visual fx work on District 9, including these great before and after stills from several vfx shots in the film. It also gives insight into director Neill Blomkamp’s style for running a set, which I admire.

“He also didn’t want to have a typical video village on set with the sound guy and script supervisor,” continued Muzyers. “They had to be remotely located so he could shoot 360 degrees without having to ask the crew to get out of the way. For a film of that nature and size, the shooting schedule was actually quite short because of the budget constraints on the movie. So he went fast and hard and the pace was relentless.”

It’s amazing how animators were able to put so much emotion and believability into the shots, with so little information at hand from the reference frames.

On set, actor Jason Cope donned a 50% grey suit with markers and worked as a stand-in for the aliens. “Neill was fairly specific about wanting to have someone on set who the actors could interact with,” noted Kaufman. “It helped the other actors, particularly Sharlto Copley in the emotional scenes with Christopher Johnson, but of course it meant we had to paint it out later and restore pieces of the background.” “The grey suit also gave us a good lighting reference,” observed Muzyers. “It wasn’t as neat as the grey ball you often see, but it gave a fairly good reference as to where light was coming from and how the shadows played on his body.” Muzyers supervised the shooting of clean plates where possible, although again this proved difficult with the very active camera movement. “Luckily, Neill’s background in visual effects meant that he knew importance of capturing HDRI data. I can never take enough HDRI, so I kind of keep going until they usher me off the set!”

The article is basically a textbook of how to shoot a heavily improvisational film with visual effects in mind in the modern age of CG animation. Go read it.

FX Guide has an exhaustive look at the visual fx work on District 9, including these great before and after stills from several vfx shots in the film. It also gives insight into director Neill Blomkamp’s style for running a set, which I admire.

“He also didn’t want to have a typical video village on set with the sound guy and script supervisor,” continued Muzyers. “They had to be remotely located so he could shoot 360 degrees without having to ask the crew to get out of the way. For a film of that nature and size, the shooting schedule was actually quite short because of the budget constraints on the movie. So he went fast and hard and the pace was relentless.”

It’s amazing how animators were able to put so much emotion and believability into the shots, with so little information at hand from the reference frames.

On set, actor Jason Cope donned a 50% grey suit with markers and worked as a stand-in for the aliens. “Neill was fairly specific about wanting to have someone on set who the actors could interact with,” noted Kaufman. “It helped the other actors, particularly Sharlto Copley in the emotional scenes with Christopher Johnson, but of course it meant we had to paint it out later and restore pieces of the background.”

“The grey suit also gave us a good lighting reference,” observed Muzyers. “It wasn’t as neat as the grey ball you often see, but it gave a fairly good reference as to where light was coming from and how the shadows played on his body.”

Muzyers supervised the shooting of clean plates where possible, although again this proved difficult with the very active camera movement. “Luckily, Neill’s background in visual effects meant that he knew importance of capturing HDRI data. I can never take enough HDRI, so I kind of keep going until they usher me off the set!”

The article is basically a textbook of how to shoot a heavily improvisational film with visual effects in mind in the modern age of CG animation. Go read it.

District 9 - 2009
Dir: Neill Blomkamp / DP: Trent Opaloch
Wikus snatches a rocket from mid-air in a jaw-dropping shot.

District 9 - 2009

Dir: Neill Blomkamp / DP: Trent Opaloch

Wikus snatches a rocket from mid-air in a jaw-dropping shot.

District 9 - 2009
Dir: Neill Blomkamp / DP: Trent Opaloch
Was District 9 the first movie to use (non-POV) gun mounted cameras?

District 9 - 2009

Dir: Neill Blomkamp / DP: Trent Opaloch

Was District 9 the first movie to use (non-POV) gun mounted cameras?

Wed Nov 18

newsweek:filmosophy:

Bottle Rocket (Short)

The original 13 minute version of Wes Anderson’s Bottle Rocket, which was shown at Sundance way back when.  This is the one that introduced the world to The Brothers Wilson (or, Owen and Luke at least), the one that James L. Brooks famously saw, and quickly agreed to produce as a feature-length film:

“When I first saw the thirteen-minute video I was dazzled—the language and rhythms of the piece made it clear Wes and Owen were genuine voices. The possession of a real voice is always a marvel, an almost religious thing. When you have one, it not only means you see things from a slightly different perspective than the billions of other ants on the hill, but that you also necessarily possess such equally rare qualities as integrity and humility. It’s part of the package of being a real voice, ’cause when your voice is real, you can’t screw around. The voice must be served; all other exit doors, marked “expediency” or “solid career move,” are sealed over, and the only way out of your inner torment is genuine self-expression.”

So this is, quite literally, where it all began for Wes Anderson.

Sun Nov 15

caseydonahue:

Cinematographer Style (Part 2)

This is a documentary which is essentially 100 cinematographers talking about cinematography. Here they talk about how they started in the business which is exactly what I need to be watching as I am rapidly approaching graduation.