Production Journal
Part 1: Brainstorming (November 23-26)
To start my project, I first decided what I wanted to do. Wishing I had the opportunity to take on more photography projects during the semester, I almost immediately knew that I wanted to do a photography collection. Since I also enjoy film, I wanted to think of a way to combine the two into one project. First I thought to take a certain filming technique – such as film noir – and create a photo collection entirely inspired by that. Thinking that to be a bit ubiquitous, I thought of capturing various genres of film (comedy, drama, action, etc.) but wasn’t entirely sure how to convey that in a convincing and obvious manner. So after that I landed on photographing famous shots from movies using my own ideas and interpretive twist to it.

Part 2: Research (November 27-December 6)
What exactly makes a movie scene iconic? According to FilmSite.org can consists of one or more of the following: 1) a cinematically beautiful shot, 2) spectacular action sequence, 3) a well-designed or innovative opening or title sequence, 4) a plot twist or unexpected shock, 5) a memorable death scene, 6)an emotional ending, 7)brilliant special effects, memorable song and dance, 9)a dramatic entrance, 10) a romantic or sexually charged scene, 11) unique characterization, 12) a transcendental moment, 13) famous quote or monologue, 14) comedic scene, 15) memorable kiss, or 16) something shocking or controversial. From here I looked for specific examples that could be feasibly shot, recognizable, and visually interesting. Furthermore, research was an important part of my project up till the very end where last second changes had to be set forth in the photography schedule.

Part 3: First pictures (November 30-December 3)
After asking around for people who had time to model for a couple shots during the last week of classes, I settled on a few scenes that I thought would fit both the models and my time frame for the assignment. My ideas were the following: garden scene from Lolita, Singin’ in the Rain from Singin in the Rain, Girl in Red Coat from Schindler’s list, smashing the printer in Office Space, serenade scene from Say Anything, shower scene from Psycho, and something Film Noir. When I first took out the camera and tripod from AU the weather was quite nice so I took the opportunity to get the garden scene from Lolita out of the way (where my roommate wouldn’t freeze). The shots were good and when I got inside my condo I notice the venetian blinds creating that particular lighting often seen in film noir movies and decided to take that opportunity to take a couple pictures of myself as a femme fatale. Another one of my roommates gladly volunteered to do the shower scene from Psycho. With a little photo-editing in grayscale and contrast, I ended up really liking my first round of photos.

Part 4: Scheduling Problems (December 4-6)
Since it was the last week of classes, it was a bit difficult to find time to photograph people at the most opportune times. Because it is winter and because many students are not free until the early evening, I could not do many of the scenes I had in mind during the week because it would get too dark before I could take a picture. So I scheduled many of the pictures of the final weekend before the project was due. Unfortunately, the snow storm also put a damper on many of the images I wanted to do since many of these scenes were not weather-neutral. So I had to make a few last minute changes. Instead of the serenade scene from Say Anything, I ended up doing something based off the seduction scene from The Graduate. Instead of Singin in the Rain, I ended up doing something based off the after-shave scene in Home Alone. And the printer scene from Office Space was ditched all together due to scheduling conflicts and weather, so I took advantage of the wintery wonderland and did the ending scene of The Shining.

Part 5: Overview
Overall I was quite excited with what I turned out. I found it was much easier and the pictures turned out much better with natural lighting techniques than with artificial indoor or flash lighting. I also found that putting together a project dependent on the schedule of not only others but the weather is very difficult, especially if you’re going for a particular type of lighting or mood for the shot. But regardless, I’m proud of my work and hope others enjoy it too.

Shot list:

Two girls are sitting on the couch watching television. Both appear bored and lethargic. On the coffee table in front of them sits a large chocolate cake. Finally the girls look at the cake, look at each other, and nod their heads decisively. The girls move to the table. Girl1 pulls out a carton of milk and two shot glasses. The two girls look at each other with intimidation. Girl1 fills up the two shot glasses and slides one over to Girl 2. Girl 2 picks up a large knife and cuts two slices. The girls lift up their forks, and glare at one another. The begin eating their cake. More shots of milk are poured. Two more slices of cake are cut. We que-in a montage of taking milk shots, cutting the cake, slamming down the shot glasses, and eating more cake. The girls visibly grow more and more worn out.Girl1 tries to fill up one more for the both of them and Girl2 shakes her head, showing she can take no more and would like to stop. The girls finally reach the last slice of cake. Neither want to go through with this final piece, but they both attempt anyhow. They both dont take it very well and Girl 2 passes out into her cake. Girl1 falls out of her seat. Girl2 wakes up the next day and finds her friend motionless on the floor. She checks her pulse, and realizes she’s dead. Que-in “The Scream.”

I feel like this scene in particular exemplifies the genre of film noir for multiple reasons: lighting, subjects, and characters. Like all film noir movies, the lighting is low and there is a lot of contrast in color. I feel like the shot in this scene that best portrays this comes at 4:13 in the video below where Phyllis is hiding behind the door. Like virtually all other movies in the genre, the subject of this film deals with greed, sexual attraction, and raised suspicions, and the characters match likewise: a femme fatale (Phyllis), the man who gets seduced into a shady plot (Walter), and a detective who figures the who thing out (Keyes). The themes also match the genre as the femme fatale seduces Walter into murdering her husband for an insurance claim with a promise of wanting to be together. After the plot they come up with isn’t as convincing as they thought it would be, an insurance investigator, as shown here, raises his suspicions and lets Walter know he’s going to figure the whole thing out. I believe this scene in particular highlights all of these aspects of film noir.

Starting at 0:25

1 WS Walter exits elevator and walks across the hall to open apartment door, 0:07

2 WS Walter enters apartment, turns on light, pan left, phone rings, zoom to MS, it is Phyllis 0:18

3 MS Phyllis is on a public phone 0:04

4 MS Walter asks where she is 0:02

5 MS Phyllis responds that she is at the drug store and would like to come over 0:04

6 MS Walter says yes, hangs up, pan left, closes curtains, pan right 0:57

Door bell rings, pan right, Walter answers the door, it is Keyes

Keyes enters apartment, walks forward to MCU/Two-shot

Keyes walks forward and back explaining the improbability of Phyllis’s husband’s “suicide”

Walter pulls out a cigarette, puts it in his mouth but does not light it

7 MS/Over-the-shoulder Keyes says there’s got to be something wrong 0:12

Walter stares blankly at Keyes while Keyes brings up the possibility that the husband didn’t know he was insured in the first place

6 MS/Over-the-shoulder Keyes looks at Walter confused thinking he sold the insurance to him directly 0:06

7 MS/Two-shot Walter says he did and lights cigarette, Keyes walks in and out of frame0:20

8 MS/Over-the-shoulder Keyes further explains the shadiness of the situation 0:11

9 MS/Two-shot Keyes further explains improbability 0:15

Keyes walks out of shot, to show MS Walter looking nervous

10 MS/Two-shot Keyes paces and the two men walk backwards, Walter picks up a drink 0:08

11MS/Over-the-shoulder Walter pours drink, asks Keyes if he thinks it was murder 0:03

12 MS/Over-the-shoulder Walter changes subject 0:05

13 WS Cuts to hallway where Phyllis gets off elevator and walks across to Walter’s door 0:09

Phyllis hears talking in the apartment and listens in from outside

14 MS/Over-the-shoulder Keyes states that he suspects the wife would be in on it 0:09

Walter takes a drink

15 MS/Two-shot Keyes wraps up the conversation 0:08

Two turn to and walk to door with zoom

16 WS From the hallway Phyllis hears Keyes exiting 0:07

She steps aside to hide behind the door when it opens

Keyes walks back towards elevator, all three can be seen

17 MS/Two-shot Walter watches as Keyes leaves 0:05

Phyllis is seen hidden behind the door

She gently opens it wider to let Walter know she’s there

18 MS Keyes exclaims that he wants to catch her 0:03

19 MS/Two-shot Walter listens nervously as Phyllis continues to hide 0:06

Walter gently opens door more to conceal Phyllis

20 WS all three can be seen 0:13

Keyes walks forward towards Walter asking to light his cigar

21 MCU Phyllis looks fearful from behind the door 0:03

22 WS All three are seen, Walter continues to light Key’s cigar 0:17

Keyes walks back towards the elevator, enters the elevator

Walter signals to Phyllis that it’s clear to come out

23 AS/two-shot Phyllis and Walter enter the apartment 0:50

Walter walks forward to MS, saying they can’t see each other

Phyllis walks up behind Walter asking how long

Slow zoom in as Walter explains how persistent Keyes is in figuring out cases

Zoom continues, Phyllis grabs Walter’s arm in fear of their separation

Zoom continues, Phyllis turns him around by his jacket lapels

Zoom ends with CU, Walter and Phyllis kiss

Truth be told, the entire effect of the poster is underwhelming. While its best to go into this film with little knowledge of what happens, the poster alone would not entice me to see this film. While the typography is suggestive of horror and the sort of “homemade” look that the film strives to acheive, the image is too vague in telling me what the movie is about. and does not have very good balance of black-space, typography and imaging.

I can tell the poster was trying to create mystery in what the movie is about, so if I were designing this poster, I probably would’ve left out the image all together and just stuck with text, or downplayed the image as focal point so the viewer is directed more towards the minimal description of the film and reviews rather than the visual content.

To understand the title sequence’s relation to the show, you first have to know a little about it: “True Blood” is about a fictional town in rural Louisiana that is coping with the recent development of synthetic blood that has allowed vampires to be out in the open as they no longer need to suck blood from humans. It centers around a telepathic mind-reader Sookie Stackhouse and her wide-array of human and non-human friends and collegues.

The concept of vampires and their gaining of rights in the south is an allusion to three things: human sexuality and aggression, and the emancipation of African-Americans. The nature of vampires are sexual in themselves: the seduce their “feed”, suck on the flesh of their victims, and because they’re immortal they’ve had many years to practice and perfect their sexual abilities.  They’re need to feed on flesh has led many of them into violent murder and aggression. Furthermore, because they are seen as unhuman and because of their reputation for being dangerous, as a whole they face discrimination from the prejudice human world, especially in the stereotypical rural southern town depicted in the show.

This title sequence touches on all of these things: we see images of sexuality (0:21 and 0:51), violence and aggression (1:04 – 1:07), and allusions to racism and segregation (0:18 and 0:27).

“I took photographs of many rides, but I was drawn to this one in particular because I wanted to capture the motion and excitement people feel when they are on the ride. Like in a memory, some parts of this photo are clearer than others.”

Cover of Rolling Stone, January 22, 1981

As the former chief photographer of Rolling Stone for 10 years, famed photographer has created a collection of art that is edgy, innovative, and designed to give a voice to the subjects involved. Throughout the years, her photography has been inspiring, thought-provoking, and controversial. She uses striking colors, lighting, and poses to make a statement with each photograph she takes.

The image that brought Leibovitz to quick fame was the Rolling Stone cover featuring The Beatle’s John Lennon and wife Yoko Ono, photographed on December 8, 1980, only hours before Lennon was murdered. The image was taken to portray the love shared between the couple, despite their clear physical differences. Leibovitz portrayed this by photographing Lennon in the nude while canoodling with a fully clothed, but embracing Ono.

Another famous magazine cover that Leibovitz photographed was that of a nude and seven-months pregnant Demi Moore. While intended to portray Demi Moore’s role as a mother rather than as a “glitzy” Hollywood star, the Vanity Fair cover was both celebrated by those who interpreted it as “pregnancy as sexy and beautiful” and criticize by those who believed it to be an objectifying view of women.

More recently, Leibovitz was chastized for a controversial Vanity Fair image of Miley Cyrus in which the 15 year old singer appeared to be nude and was thought by many to be a sexualized image of the teenager.  Leibovitz later explained that the photograph was a collaboration between her and Cyrus and that it was meant to be “simple, classic portrait” that was simply taken out of context.

Less controversially, Leibovitz did a series of Disney-inspired photos using A-list celebrities. These photographs create a fantasy-like image using bold colors, whimsical backgrounds, and various forms of lighting.

Sources:

http://www.john-lennon.com/1980rollingstoneinterview.htm

http://www.nytimes.com/1991/07/11/style/chronicle-317491.html

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20195876,00.html

http://missgeeky.com/2008/01/29/annie-leibovitzs-disney-dream-portrait-series/