Story Behind the Still: A Manifesto

*I’ve been sitting on this post for weeks. Not really because I don’t know what to say. That really isn’t a problem on this one. This process has been such an incredibly inspiring and enlightening series of events. In fact, as I’m typing this I should be packing for Sundance. This little short film I made with a couple friends and no money is screening at Sundance for crying out loud. Good grief. No, it’s not that I don’t have enough words to describe everything, but rather, it seems that the fastest way to lose the motivation, clarity, purpose you gain from an experience like this is to talk too much about it. It’s like it releases the pressure valve, so to speak. Perhaps there will be fewer words this time. A few anecdotes, some images, and I’m out.

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If you follow me on twitter, you know that I recently spent a little over a week in LA filming the final chapter in this Beyond the Still story. We, the chapter winners, wrote the story together and Vincent Laforet directed. The final, completed film, will premier this weekend at Sundance. Well, suffice it to say, this has been a defining experience for me, though not necessarily in the ways that I expected. I thought I’d be overwhelmed by the gear and the size of the crew, and well, honestly, by the catering truck (think about what kind of budget that implies!). I thought everything would be bigger and shinier than it is back home and that all these things would serve to build a barrier of sorts. That the divide between my current projects and this “real” one would be so vast that it’d feel impossible, insurmountable. Yet, to my surprise, my most immediate reaction was relief. When I’m shooting a little micro-budget short or EPK or something, I’m constantly put in a situation in which I’m often the be all end all. I’m setting up the boom, the camera, the shotgun, trying to chat up the client, essentially this “would you like some water? oh great, hold on just a sec, have to run the cable to the light…” is on repeat. I guess I’ve just never known any different. Yet, here, I walked onto set, my first real set, and was instantly put at ease by the division of labor. Sure it was overwhelming to see the difference in scale. But honestly, and I mean honestly, I breathed a sigh of relief. THIS is why it feels so hard at home. I vowed right then and there: I will (must) work on bigger projects.

Now, I’m not saying money solves problems, in fact, even on this shoot, budget was of great concern. And of course, boundaries foster creativity. I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about a fundamental realization that to transition from photography to filmmaking requires moving from a one-man operation to a crew. Solo effort to community effort. And let me tell you, it was amazing to see a full-on crew of professional crafstmen work. 

Now, Vincent was kind enough to loan me his Leica M9 for the length of the shoot and believe me, I used that camera as an excuse to stay as close to the action as possible. I wandered, asked questions, observed. 

A few images:

Joe DeSalvo // Director of Photography - Chapter Eight

We were fortunate enough to have Judd Nelson as a lead in our short. He was extremely gracious with his time and did an outstanding job. He’d seen all of our chapters and made a point to tell us both what he did (and didn’t) like about them. He was a great addition to the project and told some pretty incredible stories for hours at the wrap party… 

Now everyone who has asked me about the shoot has asked how it was working with Vincent Laforet. I didn’t really have any expectations going in, to be honest. We’d had a chance to hang out in a non-work setting in New York during the Vimeo Festival and by the time we all made it to LA, we’d all probably exchanged hundreds of emails via our mailing lists as we wrote the script. We live in an interesting time in which one can garner a significant following with significant influence in certain circles, and essentially, not have the talent to justify their standing. I can say, after working alongside Vincent on set, he is not one of those guys. He is an extremely talented guy. But beyond that, he was, in the midst of a pretty chaotic environment, the calmest person in the room. He wasn’t afraid of making decisions (quickly if needed) and had a clear idea of what he wanted. I can honestly say that I was proud to work along side him. 

Matthew Holdenried // Tall Man - Chapter Seven & Chapter Eight

In a week full of take-aways, perhaps one of the most significant was something Vincent may not even remember saying to me. He kept a chair open next to him during the length of the shoot that was open for any of the chapter winners to come and sit, give input (occasionally), and generally to be as close to the action as possible. We would rotate in and out every half hour or so. Of course, as you’d expect, those thirty minute chunks were some of the best moments on set. 

At one point, I take my seat next to Vincent. We had just finished with a setup and the crew was beginning to re-set for the reverse shot. Lighting change, set change, camera placement adjustment, etc. Vincent leaned over to me and said, “Alright, on this setup, you’ve got free reign. If anything isn’t really working, tell me what you want to change as they get into it and we’ll make it happen.” He then stood up and went to go grab something to drink. I was left standing in front of the monitors as the crew was feverishly working. I swallowed hard, then pulled out my notebook and began making notes. Lights too hot here, gel color too hot there, angle of the bedside table is off, etc, etc. By the time he came back a few minutes later, I had a list of over a dozen things to change. He leaned over, looked, and said, “Ok, we’re shooting in three minutes. I’ll check back in two minutes. Hold tight till then.” He stepped out to confer with the clients. I looked back at the monitor and something amazing happened. The lights were quickly and quietly diffused, color gel was swapped, the bedside table was adjusted…quite rapidly the items on the list were being crossed off, one by one, without so much as a word from me. Before I knew it, 60 seconds out, only two things remained on the list. Vincent looked at the list one more time and after getting the word from the AD that they were done, called in one change. While he was doing that the last thing on my list was crossed off by an art department adjustment. He then turned to me and said, “See that? That’s called hiring the right people and letting them do their job. Nothing brings this whole ship to a grinding halt faster than speaking too early, micromanaging. Let your crew do their job. Give them an opportunity to perform. Only then should you step in to make adjustments.”

Words to live by.

The audio guy actually really loved how many questions I was asking him… (cause well, I don’t think anyone usually talks with the audio guy)

Trailers and trucks (everywhere)

That’s a technocrane and it’s amazing (and expensive).

Braeden Marcott // The Cabbie - Chapter One & Chapter Eight

Vincent and Greg, the first AD. Greg is doing what Greg does best: checking the shot list against the schedule…

Tony Leech // Director - Chapter Seven

Perhaps the best thing to come from this shoot was the chance to get to know the other chapter winners. These are some wickedly talented guys. One guy finished up a Target commercial before heading out for the LA shoot. Another was recently the DP on a Ken Burn’s documentary. One guy already has a feature under his belt. Some of these guys have agents, all of them are going to be people you’ll hear from in the future. I couldn’t have been more excited to find out that in addition to being talented, they were great people to spend time with. We drank beer together, talked about where we’re headed, and generally had a great time. I stayed an extra several days after the shoot and managed to meet up again with most of the LA based winners. I met up with Keegan Uhl, the Chapter Three director, and even lent a hand on a spec commercial shoot (which looks amazing).

Jason Wawro, 1st AC (in the hat), is pulling focus with a remote focus unit. He had a hell of a job on several shots that he had a critical hand in making look stunning…

12K HMIs everywhere you look…

That’s me, sitting next to Vincent. Honestly, this image probably sums up this entire Beyond the Still thing better than anything I could say. Quite simply, I want to be in that chair again. I felt comfortable there. I felt inspired there. My plan is to get back there, and soon.

At one point we were chatting with the EP of the production company and Keegan and I asked her, “how do we get back here, how do we get back in that chair?” Her response was deceptively simple: “Make something awesome. There aren’t that many people making something amazing. If you do, we’ll see it and that’s the fastest way back here.”

Fair enough. 

So, no need for big wordy “In 2011…” posts or resolutions or plans. Just one professional goal for me this year:

Make something awesome.

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Below you’ll find a great behind the scenes piece that Blake Whitman (of Vimeo) put together using material the gathered on the shoot. It’s a pretty good taste of what it was like being there:

The Story Beyond The Still “Corridors” - Behind the Scenes from Blake Whitman on Vimeo.

Also, big thanks to Vincent for letting me use his M9 for a couple days. What a beautiful camera…

Set Extension, Please…

So, a few weeks ago Cody and I made portraits at the Harry Potter premier. We managed to talk our way into the theater itself and set up right next to the concession stand at the local multiplex. We knew that most likely we wouldn’t be able to set up a full backdrop system, so we just brought in a small bounce card. We planned, from the beginning, to just expand the background in post. 

Now I’m not a photoshop expert. In fact, nearly 90% of the photographs I make never make it out of the develop module in Lightroom. Cody came over and started working on a few of the portraits and I suddenly realized that this process could be extremely helpful in quite a few situations. So I asked Cody to explain the technique as he quickly ran through an example portrait in photoshop. 

Now, we made the assumption that you know the tools and principles to do this (relatively) simple process, so if it’s moving too fast or you’d like something else explained, feel free to fire away :) (Or if it’s all laughably simple for you and you do this kind of thing all the time, then feel free to skip this one!)

Photoshop Tutorial - Set Extension from Ryan Booth on Vimeo.