Hello Ben and thank you for taking the time to talk with Lights Film School blog readers about your two most recent projects “The Reformed Troglodyte” and “The Gentleman Shaver“.

Both of these two shorts are branded shorts sponsored by theartofshaving.com. Let’s take a look at “The Reformed Troglodyte” first:

Many people may not know this, but your short film “Apricot” was also a branded short. Can you tell me a little bit about the differences in the relationship between yourself and the companies from these two projects (Art of Shaving vs. Apricot).

Apricot was a filmmaker’s fund that was sponsored by a brand. The company was interested in supporting a filmmaker with an aesthetic that they like and related to and put their support behind it. A little similar to what Absolute did with Spike Jonze’s short ‘I’m Here’. It was creatively my concept, script and execution. Gentleman Shaver and Reformed Troglodyte are fairly different situation, as I didn’t write them. They were developed by the great team at BBDO NYC and I was brought on board to bring them to life. This structure is much more akin to the typical commercial process. With the Art Of Shaving films, there was a much more hands on approach from those who were investing in the project. Perhaps that is the difference between working in USA and France.

It seems to me that there is some potential for some interesting bridges to be built between the two worlds of short fiction filmmaking and advertising.

Companies that are sponsoring these shorts don’t want their product placement to be too subtle or hidden, but filmmakers don’t simply want to “sell out” by filming a product under a soft-box and throwing a commercial jingle in the background. These ads are somewhere in between those two extremes.

You made a really great point, during one of your other interviews with us when you mentioned that your philosophy is to “point at” the realities of your filming environment. When I watched “The Gentleman Shaver”, you made it clear that it was a shaving product branded short. I didn’t get the impression you were trying to hide that. However, with “The Reformed Troglodyte” the shaving component of the film, although it was present, was not as pronounced as in “The Gentleman Shaver”. Can you tell me how these two films work as one? There seemed to be a totally different narrative approach to both films.

They were simply written that way before I came to them. I think there is a huge danger in these sorts of projects and I am not keen to do them unless I feel like they are being done for the correct reasons. People shouldn’t think of them as 5 minute commercials, because they simply can’t be that. The story telling still needs to be the top priority and if it isn’t, then the project becomes very bland and dull to watch. I have worked on those projects when the aim changes mid stream and it never ends up successful for anyone. I wouldn’t say Gentleman Shaver is product or brand specific, in fact you never really get a decent look at the product at all. It is simply a story taking place around the ritual of shaving. There is no lingering or huge close up of a sparkling razor blade. That would really be pointing the finger at it! Reformed Troglodyte has more of a character arc, more locations and spans a greater length of time so if feels quite different to Gentleman Shaver.

Great point. Thank you. Next, when you start to work on these projects how collaborative and open is the process when working with a company? When you start work on a project like this and you meet the people from the company sponsoring these branded shorts, do you get the impression they are worried that a filmmaker may go too “auteur” with the short? Did you feel you needed to put them at ease letting them know you would be respectful to their desired outcome?

I’ve never met anyone from the brand for any of the project’s that I have completed to date. That is usually managed by my production company producers or the creative agency involved. Sure there is sometimes a push from someone for it to be more like some commercial, but when you do it and show them it the edit it is usually pretty obvious that it ruptures the integrity of the short film world that you are creating. Like anything, sometimes it is a challenge but if they are intelligent and smart people you can be very respectful and explain why you want to do it and they are happy to trust you. On some upcoming collaborations for potential projects I am looking at for 2012 I have met directly with the company, they have actually been craving the creativity and filmic qualities for their projects. You have to pick your battles and I have had meetings where both myself and a brand have realized that we are not right for what each other’s creative visions would be for the project, so you simply don’t do it. If you establish what you do, then people seem to come to you for that thing.

From the company’s standpoint, why do you think a company would rather go this route than a regular 30 second advertising spot?

It’s another way to connect with their audience. It delves into the ideas and philosophy of the company in a rich way that 30 seconds simply can’t. Your emotions are much more alive and stimulated.

Do you feel there is a potential shift in the overall advertising world towards more narrative ads? Do you feel that this is a better way to reach audiences?

It has always gone in waves. The same thing happened in music videos that is now happening in fashion films. Narrative comes and goes depending on what the audience’s current tastes are and what the technology facilitates. The role of Vimeo.com and YouTube has a lot to do with the emergence of current narrative based advertising, the same way MTV had a lot to do with the boom in music videos.

Let’s talk a little more about the specifics of “The Reformed Troglodyte”.

Let’s start by talking about your choice of typography. What inspiration did you draw from to come to this choice?

Ha! That wasn’t my choice. But I liked it. It was masculine, strong and had a nostalgic throw back.

You’ve managed to find spectacular locations for these shorts. How long did it take you to location scout these properties? Did you have the help of the sponsors in securing or looking for these locations? For example I love the wide shot at :09 you opened the film with.

The locations were all found, managed and secured by my USA production company The Institute (http://www.theinstitute.tv/index.php).

I landed in L.A. after flying in from Australia, had a shower, wound my body clock back 15 hours and began looking at locations in the car with my great producer on the job, Kati Haberstock. She knows the town very well and listened closely to what I was wanting to achieve. I am quite specific and vague at the same time when looking for locations so it can be time consuming. I am searching for a ‘feeling’ in the location. This might be found in the architecture, surrounding hills or choice of wall paper. Over 4 days I looked at dozens of file images from a location scout and we drove around looking at them.

Sorry. I know you probably get this question all of the time. But filmmakers are curious and need to know the answer to this question…What camera and lenses were used?

Oddly, that is the most common asked question I get asked. Which I find strange, because it would be one of my last. I guess I am always drawn to the more philosophical and thematic questions for filmmakers. But I certainly don’t mind. On Gentleman Shaver and Troglodyte we shot on the Arri Alexa with Cooke Lenses. Eigil Bryld (DOP) had previously shot some commercials with Al Pacino using digital technology that looked great in black and white. Take a look at it below:

I wanted to nod to the qualities of 1960′s black and white film image, shooting 16mm was out of our budget range, so we tried a few things to get an interesting look. I didn’t want to simply desaturate the image in post and call it ‘black and white’. Eigil used sepia and lime coloured filters to create a monochromatic image that captured a lot of mid-tone detail.  In post we drained saturation from the image. Then I wanted the black’s to be crushed so that the shadow detail was lost. Following this, I raised those crushed blacks so that it was actually a milky grey rather than true black. Lastly an over all sepia tint was subtly added. Old film prints transferred to different formats a few times seemed to get a color (either blue or sepia) creep into them over time. I wanted to try and give a healthy nod to that aesthetic whilst keeping other aspects modern.

How much did you light these shorts vs. using natural lighting? You seem to be a filmmaker with a great eye for natural light. This might be a weird question, but tell me a little bit more about your relationship to the sun.

Life doesn’t give you a nice back light on your head and some soft fill, so I don’t like the way over lighting looks on screen. I don’t quite understand my relationship to the sun, but natural light plays a huge part in driving the narrative. I believe you can advance the emotions of the story by miles with a shot of the light doing something particular versus pages of dialogue. I don’t know how to explain it, maybe I never will, but I am definitely aware of it. I think it came from years of teenage and university film making where we didn’t have many resources, just a couple of blown out windows in the location. So I guess you learn how to make that something you can work with.

Gentleman Shaver was lit through the outside windows with a strong source and then some softer lights rigged above the actors just out of frame. But it was all to simulate natural light in the morning. Reformed Troglodyte was very basic too. Very few lights, mostly bouncing some light around with boards. I really wanted that one to look very unpolished as far as lighting and camera work goes, yet the world itself such as the cars, suits and architecture to be very considered. That was what I loved about Godard and the French New Wave films, everyone was dressed impeccably, yet there was minimal lighting and the camera work was very raw.

Let’s talk about cinematography and design for a moment. I love the shot at :27 (above). I see the vertical lines in the wood panel wall. And I see the strong diagonal lines of the mirrors caused by the camera position. How closely do you work with the cinematographer to draw out these design elements? How collaborative is the director / cinematographer relationship?

I get a strong idea of camera position and the design elements on a location scout. I don’t want to waste time on the shooting day and I need to have a plan before entering the shoot. But then I when the DOP gets involved at the tech scout stage I always want to listen to their suggestions. Often they will listen to what the elements are that I like about that angle I have chosen and sometimes take that and run with it for a while, searching for other angles. Then they come back with some suggestions that might improve on those elements that I originally liked. In the end it is just about hunting for good images that fit our storytelling correctly. This happens often in limited time, so there is no place for preciousness. It also is very important that you have similar tastes to your DOP. You want to make sure they don’t want to do some crazy shot in the middle of the world that you created which doesn’t reflect the personality of you or the film.

You have some great hand-held work. Not just in this short, but in your previous work as well. There is a very subtle and gentle “feather” to the edges of your frame. It stops the image from feeling too static but Eigil Bryld (the cinematographer for the short) controls the camera enough that it doesn’t appear chaotic or messy either. What are you using to stabilize the camera and what, if any, movement techniques are you using to get that gentle feathered look?

The ‘feather’ as you call it seems to put some people off and others really like it. I find you can really feel the personality of the DOP in their handheld work. On Troglodyte and Gentleman Shaver, Eigil Bryld was the Cinematographer. He is a very sweet Danish guy who’s demeanor isn’t chaotic messy, so therefore his work isn’t. He used a simple tennis ball on top of the tripod to rest the camera on for a few of those shots. It just gives a bit of rock and looseness to the frame with out making it hectic. Other than that, it is simply his steady hand and shoulder. I don’t do much ‘feathering’ or windowing to the image in grade for my work. In fact on these black and white shorts I didn’t want any.

How much of your sound came from the actual environment and how much was re-designed from the ground up?

Gentleman Shaver is pretty much how it was recorded on the day. Just volumes enhanced and diminished later.

As for Troglodyte, it just depended on what the quality of the real audio was. I like to over drive some of the more simple elements of my sound design at times. It is just a cinematic thing I like to do. So often basic things like footsteps or engine roars will be there, but i like them loud to emphasis that this is a kick ass car and our character is heading somewhere definite. My editor on the project Michael Saia at Jump (http://www.jumpny.tv/) had a big hand in the design of the audio, which was great because he knew the genre inside out.

Can you tell me specifically about a few sounds. Which ones were added and which ones were actual?

Footsteps at 1:09? (getting into car) – Added

Birds? (driving scene) – Added

Car? (driving scene) – Actual

Atmospheric sound? (on the cliff) – Added

You had a great team for these shorts. For these shorts you worked with costume designer Amy Westcott (Black Swan) and Production Design by Kiki Giet (Mark Romanek music videos). In our previous interviews you talked about how happy you are when you have design and wardrobe departments working closely together helping you achieve a really cohesive look. Can you tell me a little more about your relationship to these departments and their relationship to each other?

I like to have production design on board from a very early stage and with these shorts Kiki Giet was with me from the first day of location scouting. There is a bond that seems to form when you are driving around in hot cars looking at locations. We would just talk ideas, about what we liked or didn’t like at each location and got on the same page as each other pretty quickly. Coming from a music video background Kiki was really resourceful. She brought so much propping to the films that I was spoiled with choices in some instances. But like all my work, I always look for the inherent qualities in a pre-existing location which the aesthetic can resonate from. The references for the shorts is a much loved aesthetic that you rarely get the chance to do, so Kiki really ran with it. Amy Westcott was someone whose work I have admired for a while and loved that she put herself forward for the films. When working with someone at that level, you can talk to them in creative short hand and they just get it. She brought little touches to the films that really elevated it; the fabric of the suit, the style of undone bow tie. She had worked on Entourage, so she was clearly fairly familiar with how to dress men. Overall, there wasn’t so much of a dialogue between those departments as I usually have, but hopefully the vision was strong enough that they feel cohesive.

For filmmakers interested in getting into this line of work how do you approach companies or have them approach you? You worked with BBDO New York (A very prestigious ad company) for these projects. Can you tell us a bit more about your relationship to them and how they factor into the equation?

That is about getting representation. My production company in the USA signed me for commercial work and they had the relationship with BBDO NYC. It is their job to try and generate work from agencies and brands that might fit your profile. To get signed with a company, do the research on the ones that interest you and show ‘em ya reel! You want to make sure their personality suits your own. If you work together and generally everyone is happy then chances are you will do it again on another project and those relationships build!

Thanks for the in-depth interview Ben. As always it’s a pleasure to share your work with our blog readers. Please keep us posted with regards to your future projects!

Ben Briand

http://www.benbriand.com/

Twitter

http://twitter.com/ben_briand

TRANSCRIPT:

Welcome to the Lights Film School video on ISO

Before we begin, let’s talk about what ISO is.

An ISO setting is the digital equivalent to Film’s A.S.A setting. Simply put, your ISO is your camera’s sensor sensitivity to light. The higher the ISO speed, meaning the larger the number, the more sensitive your sensor will be to light. The lower the number, the less sensitive your camera’s sensor will be to light. Your ISO setting combined with your aperture and shutter speed work together to give you your correct exposure.

However, when shooting in low light environments, better light sensitivity doesn’t come without a cost. Let’s take a look at this image at night in the park for example. As you increase your chip’s sensitivity to light you also increase the amount of “noise” in your image. “noise” is a sort of digital degradation within your image. It manifests itself in different ways in different cameras but it has a general characteristic as a sort of digital grain.

Besides your ISO setting, heat and sensor size also impact the amount of noise in an image. There are also different types of noise. For example, “fixed pattern noise” may be caused by long exposure times. Next, “Random noise”, which is seen in this image, is the type of noise most filmmakers struggle with, and is caused by high ISO speeds. Lastly, “banding noise” which plagues some cameras more than others, may be caused when the shadowed parts of the image are lightened.

All of these different types of noise look slightly different but they all share 1 common characteristic: They degrade the picture quality of your video. Noise is usually identifiable by a bunch of flickering or moving pixels on a surface that should otherwise appear smooth.

Again, look at our park image and notice how “noise” manifests itself throughout the different parts of the image.

Now let’s look at two shots with roughly the same exposure but shot at two different ISO speeds. Notice how there is virtually no difference between the image on the right and the image on the left.

But let’s look again, and closer this time, at what happens when we zoom into the image on a larger screen. The image on the bottom-left shows a noise free image. However, the image on the bottom-right is suffering from some pretty sever noise. However, if you look above at the images those close-ups were taken from, both images seem almost identical and noise free.

This is because image noise is often subtle when viewed on small LCD screens on the back of your camera. In fact, it’s often not until you’re watching the footage on a larger monitor that you uncover the problematic issue of noise and image deterioration.

Of course noise has an impact on the small videos as well, but for any filmmaker out there with television or theatrical ambitions ISO and noise will become increasingly important for you to be aware of. As soon as you enlarge your image noise will become substantially more noticeable. So be aware of your ISO settings when you’re capturing your raw footage to avoid problems later on in editing.

ISO ‘sweet spots” are another thing you may need to be aware of for your specific camera brand and model. For instance tests, show that different ISO speeds handle noise differently. For example, on some Canon DSLR’s there is actually less noise in the ISO setting of 160 than there is in the ISO setting of 100. These are technical details you need to look into for your own particular brand of camera..

Every image has noise, but for the most part in lower ISO images, noise will appear less noticeable. The Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR or S/N) is the universal way of measuring the relative amounts of signal and noise in your shots.  High ratios will have very little visible noise while low ratios will have lots of noise.

Noise reduction software also exists to help you get rid of unwanted noise. For example, Neat-Video offers a great solution for both MAC and PC users. Again, it’s advisable to get as strong of a raw image as possible, but noise reduction software such as Neat-Video can help you salvage otherwise useless footage. Again, here is our footage shot at a high ISO setting of 6400 and here it is again after being run through Neat-Video noise reduction software.

One of your goals before you hit the record button should always be to ensure you obtain the best image quality possible using the lowest ISO possible.

Ricardo de Montreuil (twitter) redefines good worth ethic. At under 40 he’s already accomplished a slew of accomplishments ranging from being recognized by Cannes Lions advertising festival to having his most recent feature film “Mancora” selected by the prestigious Sundance Film Festival. Many of you will know him from his viral short film “The Raven” which can be seen below.

Ricardo de Montreuil was kind enough to chat with Lights Film School and our blog readers and give us insight into the mind of someone who’s successfully bridging the gap between indie ideology and studio production values.

You can find his short film “The Raven” accompanied by our in depth interview below. Enjoy.

The first question I would like to ask you is simply “how”. You’re only 37 years old and you’ve accomplished so much already in many different fields. You have experience in advertising and commercials, print, feature films, short films and music videos. Not only that but you’re also Creative Director at the NBC Universal channel mun2. You seem to be juggling a lot of balls at the same time. How do you manage to successfully multitask all of your different projects? There are a lot of filmmakers out there who are also currently working on their film projects while trying to balance other obligations as well. Can you give any advice to filmmakers looking to make the most of their time?

Well, first of all thanks for your kind words. Let’s say that one thing led to the other. Since I can remember I’ve always wanted to direct films, there was never a second option or back up plan for me. My parents realized that I was very serious about it and I was lucky enough that they were able to send me to study film in the states, right after I finished high school in Peru. I studied film and graphic design at the Savannah College of Art and Design

My first job during school was as Art Director for “Contents” magazine, an art magazine published in Savannah Georgia. The editor trusted me with redesigning the whole magazine, at the time I was a big fan of David Carson (Graphic design guru of the 90s and creator of “Raygun” magazine) so I tried to emulate his work. The magazine was featured in Print magazine and won a couple of awards. The cover featured Beck, it was a still of Marc Romanek music video “Devil’s Haircut”. That was the only issue I designed. The magazine stopped being published a couple of years ago, but it always amazed me that they never changed my design and always used the same grid, and after all these years it still looks good.

Thanks to that issue I was hired as a Marketing Art Director for MTV Latin America, based in South Beach, Florida. Because of my film degree, the Creative Director trusted me to direct a couple of small short films or vignettes (The original RAVEN)”. The two films came out great and I started directing promos for the channel on a regular basis. I ended up being Senior Art Director for the channel; I oversaw the brand from Mexico to Argentina for a couple of years. During that time I started directing music videos, which led to commercials, which led me to short films. The producer of my first short film liked the end result and asked me to direct a film, based on a Latin-American best seller called “La mujer de mi hermano”.

It was a small indie film, it costed of $400k. Somehow, before we finished editing, Fox picked the film for Latin America and Lions Gate picked the film for the US. The film performed great in most Latin-American countries and in the States had the biggest opening ever for a Spanish language film. But the studios wanted audiences to think that the project was a studio film and didn’t let us submit it to any festivals; I was only a director for hire, I had no vote.

In the mean time I went back to my job at MTV, when suddenly NBC offered me a job in Los Angeles, to re-launch a very damaged cable channel called mun2. The channel was targeted to young Latinos in the US. I had worked with MTV for 8 years maintaining a brand created by others; this was a great opportunity, to create a new brand from scratch. So I moved from Miami to Los Angeles. Due to “La mujer de mi hermano” I had agents at ICM who where trying their best to get me a film, while I was trying to prelaunch a cable channel from the ground, but I already knew what my next film was going to be.

I wanted to make a movie without compromises, a movie closer to me. I wanted to go to festivals, to have the experience I missed from “La mujer de mi hermano”. As a teenager I used to go surfing to a beach north of Peru called Mancora, the kind of place where you find people from all around the world escaping reality, looking for paradise. Mancora was the perfect setting for my next film.

So I shot it and it premiered in Sundance in 2008. I still remember the text message from the producer saying that we got in, I was having lunch, on a big table, filled with GE executives (As you may know NBC Universal used to be owned by GE) one of them was Jeff Immelt, GE’s CEO, and I couldn’t tell anyone! (I keep my TV work from my film work as far away as possible) they wouldn’t have cared less, so I contained all my excitement until the lunch was over.

“Mancora” did a year of festivals. We went to Edinburg, Sao Paulo, Stockholm, Mill Valley, Bergen, AFI, etc. It was one of the best experiences ever, being able to share your work with peers and audiences, in a fully creative environment.

I took that out of my system and decided to do what I originally intended to do when I came to the states, to direct the kind of films I love. As a Peruvian, I grew up watching a lot of European, Asian, as well as big Hollywood films. Growing up my idols where Ridley Scott, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. They were the reason I was where I was at that moment, but nobody wanted to give that kind of movies to a guy that had only directed 2 dramas. That’s when I decided to make “The Raven”, a short film that could prove that I could direct action and effects.

I think than more than multitasking is keeping your eyes open for opportunities, looking for projects that keep you excited. As I mentioned earlier, one thing led to the other.

Next I’d like to ask you about the correlation between your recognition and the ease of continuing on with future projects. At this point in your career you’ve been recognized by some of the worlds most prestigious film festivals. Not only that, but 20th Century Fox also picked up your first feature film “La Mujer de mi Hermano”. As you mentioned, your second feature film “Mancora”was accepted into Sundance Film Festival. Lastly, I’m not sure if this is the icing on the cake or the cake itself but your first feature film was also one of the most successful films in Latin American exhibition history and it also broke US box office records for a Latin film. That’s not a bad debut! Have you found it substantially easier to get projects off the ground now than before you had this recognition? Do you have any advice to independent filmmakers at the start of their careers who haven’t had a break through project yet?

I believe that you have to go step by step. Start experimenting with short films, using different formats, learning about light, acting, editing, etc; the moment you have a great piece, people will recognize it and the phone will start ringing, probably not for the $100 million Hollywood blockbuster, but most likely for something bigger and better.

I believe in craft, I believe that the greatest artists were masters in their arts, and one can only accomplish that with experience. The better your craft is, the more people will want to work with you, and you will be able to surround yourself with artist that you like and that like your work; this will allow you to get access to a better crew, better equipment and to get better results. This is not a process that happens overnight (at least not to me) but through years of work, focus and dedication. And if you fail, don’t quit, those are the moments to refocus and look for the best opportunities out there.

You are plugged into the world of TV and because of your proven track record you are in a more likely position to receive funds for a project over someone who is new to the world of filmmaking. That being said, you still seem to have your hand in social networking and audience building activities. When I look at the Facebook page for “The Raven” I notice you have almost 5000 fans. Your Youtube video has over a quarter million views and your Vimeo video has close to a half a million views. How important is it for you to build your own audience? How active are you in this process?

This is going to sound bad, but I had no previous experience with viral promotion. “The Raven” was a phenomenon on its own; it was completely unexpected. Once we completed The Raven, I posted it on Youtube to share it with the team, so that they could watch the final product. That was on a Tuesday night, the following morning it had already 50 thousand hits, and it was getting more hits very fast. On Wednesday, I received several calls and emails from different Hollywood producers, by Thursday my agents told me that WB was sending an offer on Monday. That weekend The Raven was featured in Latino Review, Slash Film, Huffington Post, etc. It was insane. On Monday I received the offer from WB, I met wit them and I was ready to sign, when unexpectedly I received a call from my agents saying that Mark Wahlberg wanted to produce and star in The Raven. I met with Mark that week and we decided to partner. That following week we met with the heads of every studio in town, until it landed in Universal.

Justin Marks is writing the feature, and we hope to have the first draft ready in the following weeks.

You’re also working on a short film again called “Metal Soldiers”. Why are you going back to short format after working on successful features?

Back home in Peru, I used to watch the Robotech everyday after school. I’m a huge fan of that anime series and always thought that it could make one of the most amazing film trilogies ever. I found out that WB was making a film version of Robotech, so I requested a meeting with the producers through my agents; because of The Raven I was able to get the meeting and pitch my version, which they liked a lot. The down side was that they asked me to do a proof of concept, since it is a big property and they don’t want to take many risks. Metal Soldiers is a short I wrote a while ago and that I always had in the back of my mind, and that I’ve wanted to shoot for a while and this was the perfect opportunity to bring it to life.

Metal Soldiers was the prefect proof of concept for Robotech. We raised the money through Kickstarter, shot it and now it is in post production, and is looking amazing. I can’t wait to see it finished.

Your kickstarter campaign for metal soldiers was incredibly successful. You raised close to $10,000 for that film. What helped make this kickstarter campaign so successful? You had numerous small donations but you also had many of the larger pledges sell out as well.

Definitely it was The Raven that helped make our Kickstarter campaign successful. We were able to raise the money in a very short time and not because we received several pledges, but because we received a few substantial ones. Most of the pledges came from people interested in having a producer credit. They want their names associated with the project, assuming that it will receive the same attention as The Raven did.

Let’s talk specifically about “The Raven” now. When I was watching it I was reminded of the first feature film by George Lucas: THX 1138. You have this incredibly aggressive and violent police force yet they have these mechanical, soft, polite voices. The words and intonation thinly disguise the true violent nature of the beast. At one point a heavily armored police vehicle even says “Thank you for your cooperation. Have a wonderful day” after it mistakenly thought your protagonist was turning himself in. Was the automation of policing your jumping off point for this project? Was The Raven a sort of social response to something you were thinking about in the real world at the time?

We live in an extremely passive aggressive society, where people don’t say what they think because they are afraid of getting sued, to offend somebody or to be politically incorrect. We develop this amazing way to be in disagreement or to insult somebody by using very nice and polite words, which I find fascinating. At the same time we are living in a time where we are becoming more isolated. Everything is becoming more automated; we interact much more with machines than with other humans, and unless something happens we are destine to merge with our technology, to become one with it. I think that The Raven was a reaction against those feelings and showed a yearning to want to go back to when times were simpler. It was a way of rebelling against the system.

The Raven is a technically complicated short film. Your chase scenes not only require a strong sense of spatial continuity and logic, but they also required some stunts. How strongly did you storyboard for this short?

I storyboarded every shot and then I made and animatic with it, to make sure it worked. I had very little resources and a very limited time to shoot; there was very little room for improvisation and error.

What software were you using for most of your effects?

The Rumblers (the small flying police guards) and the Tanks (the large bipedal robots) were created using Lightwave. The watch-towers and the spy-spider were created using Maya. I used After Effects to composite them to the footage.

How long did “The Raven” take you to write?

Not long, probably a couple of days, but it had a couple of previous permutations. I based the short on a treatment I wrote for a feature a while ago; what took longer was figuring out what part of that story I wanted to bring to life.

How long did it take you to shoot?

Two days. Since most people worked for free, we had to shoot over a weekend.

How long did it take you to edit?

Editing didn’t take long, maybe 1 to 2 weeks at the most. Since everything was storyboarded it was not hard to put it together. Aaron Burns, our FXs supervisor was editing on set, so right after we finished shooting we had a rough edit.

The cinematography is amazing. Cinematographer Andres Sanchez did an amazing job. What was the Director / DOP relationship like on set?

Yes, he did some brilliant work. I particularly admired his fluid camera techniques. Andres and I have been working together for years, we started our professional careers simultaneously and working together. We know each other’s work well; so can communicate with very little words. He knows the kind of photography I like and I know what Andres can deliver; it is a very stress-free relationship. I think we make a very solid team.

Sound Designer Martin Seltzer did an incredible job of designing the soundscape for this film. Did you work with Martin before you started shooting or were the sound elements thought of only after you got the film shot?

Martin works for Filmosonido, a post-production company based in Chile associated with Technicolor. Martin did the audio for my film “Mancora”, so I knew the quality of his work. Martin was involved in the development of the project and read the script, watched the storyboards and animatics before shooting. I had a very clear idea of how I wanted everything to sound in the film, I think I gave Martin a very clear direction of what I had in mind and he did and amazing job executing it.

You did a great job of isolating your subject by using strong foreground objects. This also helped convey the feeling of “hiding” as well as helping you punctuate the visual effect of being in an already small ally. One of my favorite compositions in the film is actually at 4:18 (above). Chris Black is standing and behind him there is a beautiful diagonal line on camera left and a building with patterned windows that creates a strong sense of pattern in the background. Cluttered exterior shots can really hurt the sense of a strong production value for indie films. Yet, even though you shot downtown in cluttered alleys there still seems to be a strong sense of control and a good eye for the design and balance of your compositions. What were your visual considerations when you were picking these locations?

As I mentioned, I studied graphic design and I started my carrier as a graphic designer. Once your eyes are trained for composition and color it is hard not be conscious of it all the time. For me composition is key in telling a story. It defines how audiences will watch and perceive your shots, and helps you accentuating and hiding elements, depending on what you want to communicate in a certain moment.

You also did a great job of getting a strong sense of contrast in your shots. For example at 1:22 (above) I notice lots of interesting shadow which really gives your composition a strong sense of depth. I see this in most of your shots. I’m assuming you tried to shoot so you could get a nice balance of sun and shade, but when you’re shooting in alleys that wouldn’t leave you with much time. How did you deal with scheduling around the sun?

We couldn’t use many lights because we knew that it would slow us down, so we planned the shoot schedule around the position of the sun at a specific moments during the day, basically we constantly used the sun as our backlight and our fills were just reflectors.

Did you light any of your exterior shots with studio lights? What about your close up exterior shots?

We only used small lights for close ups and interior shots.

I notice from watching your behind the scenes trailer that you’re using flags to cut the light on your exterior shots. What were the main tasks the flags were accomplishing?

The flags were used to draw light away from the subject, to create contrast and volume.

You shot this on the Red Cam. Can you tell us a bit more about coming to that decision of using this camera? What does that camera offer you that other cameras can’t?

I think that even though RED doesn’t emulate perfectly film quality, in some occasions it is a great option. RED footage has almost an amber tint to it, it is subtle but it is characteristic of it. It has a rough look, which compliments post-apocalyptic and dystopian-future films amazingly well.

What lenses did you use?

I used Master Prime lenses. I’m a big fan of them, especially when used with the RED camera. I love their sharpness and the cinematic depth of field they create.

It was a complicate shoot. Did you get permits for shooting?

We couldn’t afford having our production to be suddenly shut down; so most of our budget went to city permits, parking permits, and food. Everybody was working for free; the least we could do is make sure the crew was fed and comfortable.

Can you tell us about your casting process for the film?

At the beginning I was looking for an actor and a stunt man to play Chris Black, until I watched a video online, which featured Victor Lopez showing his parkour skills. The clip had a small interview of Victor, he seemed very jaunty and his parkour was amazing. I told that to one of the producers of the short who contacted him. We sent Victor the script, he loved it and that was it, he was in. Victor is a great actor that can do his own stunts; he was the perfect combination to play The Raven.

You shot this film for $5000. You obviously prioritize your spending in a way that helps you achieve the most professional look for a fraction of the cost. What are some of the most important elements to invest in? What areas in big studio feature productions do you feel are financially bloated which gives you a creative edge as a resourceful indie filmmaker?

The reality is that I designed this short to the resources I had available. I knew exactly the crew and equipment I was going to be able to get, I knew their weakness so I tried to maximize their strengths. If there is one thing that will make a big difference quality wise in any production, are lenses. A lens is what makes a picture, not the camera.

Do you have any final words for our readership of ambitious independent filmmakers out there?

The secret to success is perseverance and the secret of failure is trying to please. Do what you love and what makes you excited and success will come. Please nobody but yourself, it is impossible to please everybody. There will always be people who will criticize your work, but there will always be somebody that will coincide with you. Filmmaking is about communicating, expressing yourself, and to do that you have to be honest and truthful to you and your audience.

TRANSCRIPT:

Welcome to the Lights Film School video tutorial on using flags. A cinematographer once said that “Great cinematography is not about knowing how to turn a light on, it’s about knowing how to shape and mould that light”. The intention of his video tutorial is to help you understand that shadow is light’s creative equivalent.

Let’s begin by talking about what flags are:

Flags are pieces of black duvetyne held together by metal frames. Flags are generally held up by c-stands in an effort to cut or shape light and provide “negative fill”.

It’s important to mention that when using c-stands you should first position your flag exactly as you want it with the c-stand joints loose. Then when your flag is ready, tighten the c-stand joints in order to secure the precise position of the flag. This will not only help you precisely establish where your shadows will fall, but it will also save you a lot of time during your setup.

Many independent filmmakers rather than using black fabric flags and c-stands, will instead use tripods, clamps and black foam core. A large piece of black foam core can be purchased from an art supply store for around $10-$15 and it will have essentially the same impact. In fact, virtually any opaque object can be used to flag light.

Where to position your flag?

Knowing how and where to position your flag is important. A flag that is positioned close to the surface the light is being project onto will appear dark with clearly defined shadows and edges. However, as the flag starts to move towards the light source the shadow will become slightly more diffused with softer edges.

Moving your flag.

Once you have your flag in position you can start controlling where your light falls by re-positioning your flag. Here we wanted our flag close to our light to give a soft shadow with gentle edges that “feather out”.

There are many applications for using flags but let’s discuss how we can use flags to control the spill of light while filmming a subject.

Notice how we have a subject in frame and we are moving the flag back and forth. You can see the impact this has on the image. However, it should be noted that it’s easier to control flagging different layers if there is a noticeable separation of depth. So let’s pull our subject off the wall a little bit… Much better. Here you can see how the flag impacts the image as we move it back and forth. The flag’s purpose is to help filmmakers highlight the parts of the frame that are most important to them while muting the areas that are less important or distracting. Picasso even said it himself when he stated that “Art is the elimination of the unnecessary.”

But now let’s start from scratch building a shot from the ground up.

We’ll begin by turning our overhead lights on so you can see the room before we start to design our light. Now let’s walk around the set so you can see how the flags are blocking the light. This flag, directly in front of us, is stopping the 1K zip light from hitting the back wall. And this other flag is going to be stopping the light from hitting our subject. Notice there is only the smallest sliver of light shining through as we move in front of the flags. Most of the light is being completely blocked. We can now manoeuvre these flags to shape the light to our liking.

let’s go to black.

Notice how these two flags stop all of the light being projected from the 1K zip light from hitting the background. Now let’s introduce our subject to the shot. As predicted, only a sliver of light is making it’s way though the flags.

Now let’s look at what happens when we open up the background flag. Notice it has no impact on the subject who is still only being lit by a small sliver of light.

If we open up the flag on the subject the following will result.

But now let’s block the light on our subject and our background again. At this point we’ll turn on a small practical background light. We’ll also open up the flag hitting the subject so a sliver of light comes through.

Because we’re getting closer to our final composition lets now also turn the rim light on.

Let’s walk around the studio again. Here is the flag flagging our actor. Watch what happens when we move it right to left. Notice it has no impact on the background.

Now let’s look at the other flag that’s stopping spill from hitting the background. Watch what happens when we open and close that flag. Again, notice this has no impact on our subject. Having this flag stop the spill of light from hitting the background allows us to keep our background darker giving us more contrast and a dramatic and moody look. When we open the flag up the composition becomes flatter.

So now let’s punch into our final framing. Let’s look one last time at the impact that the flags have now that our rim light, background light and our key light are all turned on. Here we move the flag controlling light on the subject back and forth. Again, notice this has no impact on our beautifully lit background. Now we can experiment by opening up the background flag a little bit… But it was nicer with a darker, richer background, so let’s put that back. And here you have it… your final shot!

The idea here is to think about lighting in terms of layers and depth. Light your background, middle-ground and foreground separately by using flags to help you control the spill of light.

One of the things that jumped off the screen at me right away was your great eye for locations. I was also impressed that you would go to such lengths in securing a location for a short, almost photographic shot. For example your shots showcasing his interests (at a ranch, in a mansion and in a hunting field). Even though each shot is only a couple of seconds long you’ve gone out of your way to ensure a consistent and seamless integration with the rest of your shots. What was your approach to finding locations? What do you look for when you look at a space?

Well first off, thank you for the compliment and for sharing my work. I used the indie film approach: “what can we afford” and “what can we steal?!” But in all seriousness, the devil is in the details. Locations support character as much as anything else. I’m a huge fan of Wes Anderson and PT Anderson. Both don’t mind spending a single shot in a location, but there’s so much information loaded into just that one shot.

How long did location scouting take? How did you get access to such great locations?

Our editor lived near The Association in downtown LA and they were so kind as to let us shoot there during off hours and one day for free I think. My producer literally asked the manager of Cole’s next door if we could film a few shots there on the day of filming! Also for free (or maybe it was if we bought the crew lunch from there.) We stole a shot in the editor’s hotel for the fencing shot and were promptly kicked out. For the horsemanship shot we cut a deal to shoot for literally 30 minutes at Griffith Park Horse Rental. And the courtship shot was done in a friend’s back lawn. It was the same place we filmed young Handsome and his father. We had a general permit for downtown LA that let us shoot anywhere within a certain grid as the permit office called it. So, we just ran around and grabbed some shots on the day. We literally were scouting that last scene on the bridge an hour before we shot it, rushing to fight the sunset. We had to shoot both of their close ups facing the same direction because there wasn’t enough light for a reverse shot. We just made sure to move the camera over a tad to change the background, put them on opposing sides of the frame, and adjusted their eye lines. The sun and a bounce board was all we had. I recommend this trick when you are in a bind.

You start your film off on a technically complicated shot. You pull back and then light Belle while still having your protagonist seen through her tambourine in the shot. This shot really drew me in and made me curious about this project. Can you tell us a bit more about the planning and lighting setup for this shot?

I knew I wanted to visually tie the two characters together, so as often as possible I wanted them to be occupying the same frame. I’m big on having the first shot be really striking and say as much about the theme as possible. The shot was a little tricky. We had the camera on a tripod on a doorway dolly, then the actress held the tambourine still and we had the lens pointing through it with our focus marks set on Handsome at the bar. We dollied back, pulled focus to Belle and hit the light on a cue. It’s definitely my favorite shot of the film.

You also wrote this film. How long did it take you to write and what motivated you to write this particular love story?

Well, I wrote it the day before it was due in to my Project: Involve directing fellowship at Film Independent. I think pretty much in one or two sittings. I was feeling particularly cynical about the prospect of finding romance in Los Angeles and I just poured my feelings onto the page. I tend to start first with a title or theme and everything branches off from there. I think there’s quite a bit of Handsome and Belle in me. When I was done, I absolutely hated it. I turned it in and literally told the program heads that my script was awful. I didn’t show up the evening they announced the selected scripts, then my friend Graciela Del-Toro texted me and said my script was picked and she had to produce it. I’m clearly too hard on myself.

How long did it take you to shoot?

Two days, but then we did a few pick ups shots in an hour at my place a few days later.

How long did it take you from your initial idea to the finalized film?

Well I wrote it in January 2009, shot it in May 2009 and finished it in July I believe. We really took our time making it, but of course we weren’t working on it all the time.

You shot this film on the Red Cam. What made you go with this camera over the other options available?

I had used the Red One on a previous short and prefer it when working in digital. The Red MX wasn’t out at the time or I would have used it. There’s a unique quality to its images that’s quite beautiful. We shot in 4K with one shot in 2K for when Belle is walking in slow motion away from the stage.

What lenses did you use?

Zeiss Superspeeds. I remember reading in American Cinematographer how Jean-Pierre Jeunet used something like only three lenses for Amélie and I tried to model that. I didn’t shy away from the wider lenses, but I’m also a fan of long lens work. We just used primes. I’m not a fan of zooms, unless you are using it for technique like creeping or snap zooming. They do save time, but if you have a fast AC you can stick to primes. I think they look better.

I really liked how you incorporated the narrator into the story. He was both the Doctor and the Bartender. I loved his “matter of fact” approach to the story. He sort of guides you along in this strongly opinionated rant but then, in the end, he turns out to be wrong. Did you have this idea at the beginning of your writing process or was this idea something that slowly started to emerge later on?

I love narrators in films. I think my all time favorite narrator is in Magnolia. We are trained to accept the omniscient narrator as all powerful and an absolute truth. And in Handsome’s case the narrator is literally this presence in his life telling him what he can and cannot be. I wanted Handsome to sort of break the 4th wall in a non-traditional way and say “hey, I know I’m in a movie, but I don’t have to listen to you!” I feel that way sometimes. Like a narrator is dictating my life and I just want to defy it. I also like playing with the audience’s expectations. It’s funny because just a few months after I finished my short, I saw 500 Days of Summer and in a way I consider my film a companion piece. Its narration is similar.

For many of your shots you’re lighting on the “upstage” side of the camera. Was that a look that you’re drawn towards? For example: 1:13 (above) and 1:15 and 1:32 (above).

You know honestly, it didn’t occur to me until you said that. Perhaps that’s more a signature of the DP, Jay Visit. We attended USC’s MFA Film Production program together. We both were in the Project: Involve program and this was our first collaboration. You can check his reel at www.jayvisit.com and see if you spot more upstage lighting! I think the images in those shots are stunning. What I can say is that it was designed so that 1:13 and 1:15 matched up as closely as possible and for 1:32 I was very specific that I wanted little Christmas lights behind her to go out of focus and appear like stars for a little added magic.

1:18 (above) – How are you lighting this shot?

There’s an illusion of greater depth in this shot because there’s a huge mirror behind our actress in the center. The camera team was low to the ground and we did a push in on the doorway dolley. We turned the chandelier on and then added about 8 small practical lamps, one in each corner of the couches. I believe we shaped light from a chimera soft box we rigged overhead for a soft source on the actress and the table.

2:48, 2:51, 3,41 (all above) – You incorporate a strong sense of symmetry to your shots. In fact it’s kind of the visual signature of this short. What was the creative reason behind the stylistic choices you made (in terms of composition and movement)?

Wes Anderson’s “Royal Tenenbaums” and Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s “Amelie” were influences. I like their use of symmetry and wide angle lenses. I’m also a fan of the narration. I wanted the film to have a very storybook quality to it.

Your casting was incredible. How did you find your actors? Can you tell us a little about your casting methodology?

Well I had first seen the incredibly talented Angela Sarafyan in an indie film called Kabluey that I watched as part of a seminar for my Project: Involve fellowship. By coincidence, a very talented indie filmmaker friend of mine recommended her and set up a coffee meet. We had auditioned several girls, but none of them captured my attention. We were very lucky to get Angela and her career has since taken off (not because of me!). She’ll be seen next as a vampire in Twilight: Breaking Dawn.

Jason Stoll submitted on lacasting.com and when I saw his headshots I knew I had to have him. He looked like a live-action version of the human in Ratatouille. I knew I needed an actor who had the perfect look and who could emote without saying much of anything, like a silent film actor. Handsome literally only says two lines in the short and it’s the same line, “Hello, I’m Handsome”, and yet there’s so much to Jason’s performance.

In auditions I like to read actors in pairs. I had the women pretend to be having a drink at the bar and then told Jason to approach them. He really became the character in the room. I can’t wait to work with both of them again.

You have a couple sponsors for this film: Banana Republic and Vanity Fair. What role did they play in helping you get this film made? Is the film a “branded short”? If so, how can other filmmakers look for similar opportunities. Can you outline how this partnership worked?

Fortunately, the year I was in the Project: Involve fellowship we had some excellent sponsors. Banana Republic and Vanity Fair came up with the general theme of “City Stories” and they wanted the French New Wave to be our inspiration. About 40 or so scripts were submitted from the group of fellows. The talent development team at Film Independent whittled it down to 20 or so and from there we pitched our projects. My producer pitched how our budget would be spent and I showed them storyboards and visuals. Luckily my script was selected as one of 10 films to be made.

Reps from Banana Republic flew to LA to oversee the selection of various clothes from their new spring line to be featured in the films. We pretty much got a shopping spree at the BR on the 3rd street promenade in Santa Monica. All of our actors got to keep their clothes as well which was a bit of an incentive for them!

Vanity Fair advertised the short in their magazine and launched a co-branded site with BR featuring the films. People could vote for their favorite and get more info on the making of the films. I had to make a 3 minute version for their site, but on vimeo I put my director’s cut.

Here’s the branded-content site:
http://www.vfagenda.com/bananarepublic/default.asp

The sponsors teamed up with the W-Hotel to have our shorts playing worldwide on a channel in all the hotel rooms and they also threw us a classy party at the W Hotel Westwood. Don Cheadle, Catherine Hardwicke, and Terrence Howard came out to support the program and give awards to the winning filmmakers. (Nope we didn’t win!) But, I considered the whole process a win.

The sponsors were very supportive and made sure not to intrude on the the creative decisions we made. I’d still consider the film a branded content short. A matter of fact, that short lead to me being signed by Partizan (www.partizan.com).

What extra support did NBC Universal Studios provide?

They gave us $2000 in-kind credit to their grip/electric department and $2000 credit for waredrobe/prop rentals. I think we went over a bit, but got away with it.

What was the budget for the film?

That’s tricky. We only had a $2000 budget which was provided by Film Independent, but as mentioned above we also received about 6K worth of in-kind donations from our sponsors.

What is the “Film Independents Project: Involve”?

It’s part of Film Independent’s Talent Development program. I highly recommend applying to it and their other labs.

http://www.filmindependent.org/labs-and-programs/project-involve/

You don’t publish films too often but when you do publish your work it’s great. So what project(s) are you working on now and when can we expect to see your next film?

The last thing I directed was Machinima.com’s “Bite Me” web-series http://www.youtube.com/show/biteme. I’m currently attached to a feature length project that should be filming in the fall and have some branded content work I’m being considered for.

Thanks for taking the time to talk with our blog readers about your film and best of luck on your future projects!

The two-minute elevator pitch is an integral part of Hollywood folklore, and it goes like this: when you have a movie you need to get made, you must have a two minute pitch ready and you must be prepared to deliver it at the drop of a hat. Because, living in Hollywood, one day you might just find yourself in an elevator with an executive or a studio head who – because he’s in an elevator with you and can’t get out until it reaches his floor – is essentially trapped with you. Trapped in the elevator with you, the studio head will have no choice but to hear your pitch, love it, shake your hand, and make you the next big Hollywood filmmaker before you’ve even reached your intended floor.

As we are all storytellers, we can plainly see – this is a fable of sorts. Surely it happened to someone at some point in some iteration, but frankly, elevator rides do not take a full two minutes and even if they did, this scenario is far-fetched. However, the core of what’s being expressed within this elevator fable is very true and it’s essential for every writer and director to understand and put into practice.

When you are working on a project that you want to get made, you must be willing and able to talk about it in a way that is brief, interesting, and compelling. Two minutes may not be a time constraint placed upon you by the world’s slowest elevator, but it sure is existent in people’s attention spans!

Whether you are seeking independent financiers to come up with your budget, pitching at studios to get a big Hollywood budget, or pitching to professors to get approval to begin your thesis film, you must have a compelling pitch prepared.

A pitch is like an appetizer and is meant to create an appetite for your film within those you’ve pitched to. You want to spark interest and you want them to want more – enough so that they’ll help you make the film. Don’t go into every little detail.

A good portion of what makes a pitch compelling is the ease and enthusiasm of the person pitching. Excitement is contagious. If you feel good about what you’re saying, people’s attention will be sparked. Remember, you only have two minutes, so use it to really paint an emotional and visual picture of the palette of your film. Describe the world; create a character people can automatically care about. Talk about the film like you’re describing someone or somewhere you know well.

In formulating a pitch, you might consider the following outline:

- Introduce the time and place of the film. “Hollywood – 1950’s”. Describe the place a little, paint a real picture – what does it feel like, what does it smell like, what’s going on there?
- Introduce a character. Give us something really human about him or her – really make him or her feel real.
- Describe the character’s plight. What is he or she up against? What is his or her journey going to be in this film?
- Describe what your film is about. Remember, what your film is about is not necessarily an outline of what happens in your film. It’s a description of the themes and goals of your film – what you’ll teach or communicate to your audience.
- Close with a hook – something to keep your audience wondering what might happen and wishing for more. A pitch that ends on intrigue is a perfect pitch.

Be prepared to talk about your script or project with pride and enthusiasm to anyone who will listen. You never know where opportunities lie!

By Lauren S. McGrail

Directing a music video is a great way for a filmmaker to practice their craft. Music videos are generally short, they don’t require sound work (Foley, sound FX, dialogue etc) and they are less restricted by the shooting and editing conventions of narrative filmmaking.

Many film Directors started their careers shooting music videos. For instance, Michel Gondry, Director of “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”, started off directing music videos for his own band “Oui Oui” and then went on to direct music videos for Bjork, Chemical Brothers and Radiohead.

Spike Jonze, Director of “Where the Wild Things Are” started out shooting skateboard videos and then moved on to shooting music videos for groups such as Daft Punk, Fatboy Slim,  Notorious BIG, The Pharcyde and most recently for the Canadian indie rock sensation; Arcade Fire.

Then of course there is Gus Van Sant who shot a Red Hot Chili Peppers video, Martin Scorsese who shot a Michael Jackson video, Sofia Coppola shot a White Stripes video, Chris Robinson shot Nas, Jay-Z and Kanye West. Even Michael Bay shot a music video for Meatloaf.

Directors are drawn to this format because visually and narratively music videos provide a lot of creative freedom. Most feature films on the other hand are grounded in a reference to time, human behavior, style and space that audiences are familiar with. Music videos have always felt less constrained by those technical details.

However, recently we’ve noticed an emergence of a new breed of filmmaker: The fashion filmmaker. Filmmakers are flocking towards fashion films as a means to focus on particular elements of their craft.

Before we go any further, it should be pointed out, as as fashion filmmaker OZER put it, that “fashion film is not moving fashion photography. Although it’s not necessary to have a literal story in a fashion film, there must be something to track. A feeling, a cinematographic attitude, a movement or simply a story. Again even if we talk about a story it doesn’t need to be a literal story. It just can be a flow of events. Whatever it is, it needs to be something more than posing models”. You can see his fashion film “The Birth” below.

Fashion and design have always been a big part of the filmmaking process which is why the music video has always been such an attractive medium for filmmakers to experiment with. However, it turns out that the fashion film offers just as much room for directorial flourishes as a music video does. In fact, fashion films may even offer filmmakers a little more.

You see, many filmmakers love to watch, study and admire films by design inspired filmmakers such as Jean-Luc Godard or Wong Kar Wai. The wardrobes, the styling, the hair, the way the actors walk, how they live and the design of the world around them.  These films will leave you breathless.

Fashion films are great for filmmakers because they allow filmmakers to isolate and focus exclusively on those design elements. What’s not to be inspired by? Take a moment now to watch the trailers for Wong Kar Wai’s “2046″ and Godard’s “Breathless”.

This mutually beneficial relationship has existed between other industries for a long time.  Take for example, the fashion world and the world of celebrity. These two worlds have always searched for a co-interest. The same can even be said between the fashion world and the music world. For example, DJ KRUSH and fashion designer Kosuke Tsumara collaborated because the two artists felt similar in the tonal qualities of their “worlds”. They are both tough but not aggressive, fragile but not weak and reflective but not sad.

Today a new relationship is being born: One between filmmaker and fashion-maker.

Both independent filmmakers as well as some of the biggest names in cinema are jumping on board for this creative ride.

Martin Scorsese, for example, directed a fashion film for Chanel entitled “Blue De Chanel” which can be seen here:

David Lynch directed a 16-minute fashion film for Dior entitled “Lady Blue Shanghai”.

Darren Aronosfsky directed the latest commercial for La Nuit De L’Homme.

Guy Ritchie directed a fashion film for Dior Homme.

And the relationship works the other way as well. Fashion designer Tom Ford’s film “The Single Man” was not only his debut feature film, but also a great feature length fashion film.

The Single Man by Tom Ford.

In fact, if the collaboration is right both filmmaker and designer can work towards some common emotional territory. Of course, this can also be coined “lifestyle branding”, but I suspect that many designers and their filmmaker counterparts are not simply looking for a means of communication to talk to the largest buying audience possible, but genuinely want to communicate an emotion, a political belief, or simply just show off a creative new visual invention.

OZER told Lights Film School that “both music video and fashion video create a cinematic reason to watch something. In a music video it’s a song. In a fashion video it’s a design. So we can say these forms of film need a prior creation. Music or design. The main difference between these is that one of them is auditory one of them is visual. Design should appear as a part of the image so the filmmaker should put the design into the frame. Although it may seem that music wouldn’t limit the filmmaker visually, a song comes attached with a rhythm and mood that a filmmaker needs to be sensitive to. Similarly, a song comes with it’s own editorial structure. Design is a single photographic element while music has a rhythmical structure.”

It seems natural that the fashion video would gain ground on the music video as the best vehicle for filmmakers to hone their filmmaking skills.  This is not to say of course that the fashion video cannot be a stand-alone venture for a Director, just as the music video doesn’t need to be used a stepping-stone towards a feature film. Neither the fashion film nor the music video need to be used as a sort of springboard towards longer format work. Both fashion films and music videos can stand on their own two feet and be an end in themselves.

Lights Film School asked Felipe Meneghel (The fashion filmmaker that shot the fashion video “Waiting For You – Brazil“) about how the fashion video fits into his overall vision of being a filmmaker. He replied that “most of the time i work with tv commercials, so the fashion video is a nice change of pace. As a DP, the idea is to plot objectives aiming for something fresh and new. For me, the conquest of new challenges means constant self development – so i cannot say that i will be exclusively working with any specific format.”

What the Fashion Video Can do that the Music Video Can’t

Fashion videos have exploded onto the scene because they provide the filmmaker many of the same creative opportunities that music videos do with a couple major advantages.

1. Soundscape Design

Music videos often don’t have any room for dialogue beyond what’s already in the song. Sure, there are cases where music video directors include a short 30 second short film in the middle of the song, but such examples often annoy the listeners rather than inspire them. Fashion videos on the other hand can combine all of the audio elements from a film (Foley, ambient, music, dialogue, environmental, sound FX) that allow the filmmakers to practice that element of their craft as well. Now filmmakers not only need to concern themselves with great visuals, but also captivating soundscapes.

2. Narrative Freedom

Likewise, fashion videos don’t come attached to strict story concepts. A music video will have lyrics that a filmmaker will be beholden to. Of course there is room for indirect translation and metaphor, but a fashion video is even more of an open slate. As Felipe Mengeghel stated in his interview with Lights Film School “the creative freedom is what drew me towards fashion videos in the first place.”

A fashion video gives you the same clearance for experimentation as a music video does, while at the same time leaving you some room to design your own soundscape.

When asked about freedom of intepretation OZER told Lights Film School that “the fashion film gives editorial freedom for sure. The beginning is simple; a dress. What do you feel before it? It’s totally the filmmakers perception. A fashion filmmaker interprets a design to cinema. Although the dress should appear in the film, the filmmaker is totally free when deciding on duration, pace, structure, acting and music or sound. There is only one purpose, to create the same feeling that the design creates. The purpose is certain but the way you go about it is totally up to the Director. Personally I always tried to create visually perfect yet cinematicly strong films. I believe that fashion films give filmmakers the perfect opportunity to create beautiful visuals. If you have a film instinct, then you can be a perfect fashion film Director.”

3. Short and Compact with the Option of Being Longer

Fashion videos, not unlike music videos, are short. This allows filmmakers to put all of their energy into a 30 second, 60 second or three minute commercial. Of course, some videos may be longer. Essentially, a fashion video is more flexible with the amount of time it requires to be effective. For filmmakers, with a shortage of spare time on their hands, a 30 second fashion video may be more appealing than a 4 minute music video. At the same time a filmmaker with more time to spare may be attracted to a longer fashion film. Either way, the fashion film is more likely than a music video to provide this type of flexibility.

It will be interesting to see how this industry evolves in the next couple of years. If you have an interesting fashion video you’ve shot yourself or a fashion video you’d like to share with our readers feel free to post it below.

And on that note, we’ll leave you with one of our favourite fashion videos. Prada’s “First Spring” Directed by Chinese Art Star Yang Fudong.

The film along with our interview can be found below. Enjoy!

Before we begin I wanted to thank you both for sharing your insights into your film for our filmmaker audience.

Let’s talk about Chatter in its pre-production stages. Leo, you wrote the script. How many people did you have on board at the beginning and how long did it take you to write the script?

Chatter was really just one way of doing the opening scene of a project I wrote a couple of years ago. It didn’t take me long to write it, but I had to make a few adjustments along the way. In the beginning it was only myself and a story, I contacted Espen and he liked it. Together we found a way to make it happen on a very limited budget. I did most of the work when it came to the locations and the actors while Espen did most of the work when it came to camera and equipment.

Espen, the opening shot is beautiful (above). You really start out with a visually powerful composition. This opening shots gets my interest right away. Can you tell us how you lit that shot? What rig was your camera on to stabilize the shot?

This was actually the last shot we did on the film. We (Leo and myself) thought this would be a nice way to start the film, with something visually interesting while introducing the main character. This staircase was just outside the door of our main location, witch was an old wooden house in Ålesund, on the west coast of Norway.

The camera is on a jib and it is lit from below with two 800w tungsten lights bounced off the wall and ceiling.

Espen, how are you lighting the shot at :51 (above)?

This shot is lit with one 800w shot through some white de-fusion in the kitchen, one 800w with a softbox shot up in the ceiling in the hallway and one dedolight with some blue gel in the ceiling of the bathroom.

What camera was Chatter shot on?

We used the Red One camera, at 24fps and 180 degree shutter. The film is shot at 4.5K 2.35:1.

When you were starting out to make the film how did you guys agree on the look of the film? What was the Director / Cinematographer relationship like during the pre-production stages?

Leo: Our main focus was to see if we could make something scary. We had a great location and great actors so Espen and I spent a lot of time on the main location trying to figure out how we could use the different rooms to our advantage. We had a good Director/Cinematographer relationship, we had alot of fun.

Espen: I think the look came from visiting the locations and talking with Leo about what he wanted visually. It was a collaborative process that just came from talking about the characters and story.

When you’re using your camera handheld what emotional impact are you trying to communicate to the audience? How does your camera movement help you tell your story?

Leo: All shots were planned to tell specific parts of the story. We wanted to use the crane and the dolly in the beginning to open the story, I didn’t want to show the main actress’s face until the third shoot. This way we could use sound to create the illusion of the apartment building the main character is living in and make us curious about who she is. Camera movement can help you create these illusions and enable you to keep the audience’s attention. When we use handheld it enable us to come a bit closer to the main character where “the action” takes place, we felt that it would be the right way to film most of this specific project.

Espen: We wanted to do it handheld because it gives the film an edge and the camera can respond more to the emotion of the characters. It just felt right for this film.

Espen, what lenses did you use?

We used a Red 18-50mm T3 zoom lens.

Leo, your casting is incredible and your actor’s performances are really strong. Can you tell us a little bit about your casting methodology?

Karoline Stemre was the only person I wanted for the part of Liz. Luckily she liked the script and wanted to do the project. For the other parts I wanted someone who would be able to portray the action within an almost static frame. I knew both Tom Larsen and Anniken Løviknes and even if they weren’t professional actors I knew they could do the part. Tom had some experience, but I think this was Anniken’s first time in front of the camera. When I write I try to imagine who could play that specific part, but I don’t think I have a specific casting methodology. I use the best actors I can get and hopefully we enable them to give their best performance.

Leo, how do you approach design, wardrobe and styling?

With Chatter we had a great location, we just needed to make it look like there was a girl who lived there. So I went to a lot of female friends and asked if I could borrow specific items. Then it was just dressing the set. For the wardrobe, due to our limited budget, we asked the actors to provide for it themselves, however the clothes used for the “blood” scenes were provided by the production. We asked the actors to bring four different changes of clothes to the set and then I would chose what I liked the best. We had Yvonne Andreassen on the main set to help with hair and make up.

Your locations are great. Can you tell us a little bit more about what you were looking for in a location? When you enter a space what types of things are you looking for? How long did you location scout for?

We wanted an old apartment for the main location, and I was looking for a location that would enable us to create exciting shots and give the actors plenty of room to portray their character. When I enter a location I look for specific things like:

- Corridors
- How the rooms are divided
- Doors
- Ways to divide a shot into different moments within the location

The main location I didn’t scout for at all. I wrote the script in Oslo and when I came back to Ålesund I visited a friend of mine who had moved into an old apartment at the edge of town. It felt like I wrote the scipt for that specific apartment. The other apartment was Espen’s and the “university” location we found at “Høgskolen i Aalesund”. I probably spent 5 minutes location scouting.

Espen, what were you using to stabilize your shot at 2:22 (above).

Most of the shots are all handheld with no other rigging. Basically, I just try to make the movement feel a little organic, and follow the emotion of the characters.

Espen, how are you lighting 5:36 (ab0ve)?

This shot is lit with the lighter, and a dedolight from above on a boom, and a dedolight shot directly on the glass of the door from outside in the hallway. When the lights come on we used a 800w tungsten with a softbox shot up into the ceiling from behind the camera.

This was really one of the more fun shots we did, with many people working together with the different lights and the timing of it, we where happy when it all came together.

Leo, your sound design is great. What are you recording sound on?

I can’t remember what we recorded the sound on, but I spent a long time in post production with Stefan Olsen who was the sound recordist and was responsible for the sound design. I wanted to create a specific sound to the world where Liz lives. From the sound of the apartment building, to Liz creating her own world within her apartment through music, to the eerie sound of the apartment after Liz sees the murder on the computer. Stefan did a great job.

Leo, where the musical references decided before you started shooting or did you find those songs once you started editing?

I didn’t know what I wanted until I heard it. I invited Anette Furnes Brendjord into Stefan’s studio one day and asked her to sing some of her songs, Stefan recorded it and worked on the song “Black Bile”. The creepy music during the end credits was created by Bjørn Helge Lervåg.

Leo, what was the budget for the film and how did you go about financing it?

This was a no budget production, I had enough money to get the actors to set, buy fake blood, cover all windows with plastic bags to prevent light from getting through and feed my crew.

Thank you both both greatly for taking the time to talk to our audience about your film. We wish you continued success with your future projects.

Lights Film School has recently finished shooting an assortment of  incredible new video tutorials covering the topics of Cinematography and Design. We will be publishing these videos over the next few months on our blog and YouTube channel. Stay tuned!

Topics covered include:

1. Tonal range / shooting black and white video
2. Contrast ratios
3. Molding & shaping light / using flags and diffusion
4. Lighting for independent film
5. 1 point lighting / 2 point lighting / 3 point lighting / 4 point lighting
6. 180 degree rule / 30 degree rule
7. Framing heights
8. Types of light
9. Color temperature
10. Light direction
11. ISO & noise
12. Lenses & impact on the image
13. Color psychology & simplicity / color wheel
14. Camera movement
15. Wardrobe & styling for film
16. Depth / lighting the foreground, middle-ground and background
17. Designing & lighting a frame from the ground up (tying it all together!)

From the insular Orthodox Jewish communities of Brooklyn, NY to the harsh underworld of international drug smuggling, Holy Rollers follows Sam Gold (played by Academy Award Nominee Jesse Eisenberg) as he struggles to straddle these two starkly different worlds, while watching as his decisions begin to tighten around him like a noose.

Holy Rollers – nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival – is a suspenseful, vivid, and – at times – claustrophobic film, loosely based on true events that unfolded in the late 1990s when young Hasidic Jews were recruited to smuggle ecstasy from Europe to the United States. The film is stark, emotionally rich and a clinic in character study.

We recently had the opportunity to speak with Antonio Macia, the screenwriter of Holy Rollers, about his process in the development of his characters and how he approached translating a true story into a beautiful work of fiction.

Lights Film School: Holy Rollers is based on actual events that took place in the late 1990s involving young Hasidic Jews taking part in an international ecstasy smuggling ring. As a screenwriter, what drew you to this subject matter in the first place?

Antonio Macia: I wasn’t drawn to the scandalous headline, but to the humanity of the journey. I instantly gravitated to the idea of moral compromise. How does a Hasidic Jew or a person of faith become involved in a crime and then justify their actions.

I’m fascinated by choices. I believe we all make small compromises each day. We each have a moral code we swear by, but then we face the world, or our aspirations, and we begin to rationalize our code.

I don’t believe that a singular choice defines our lives, but I do believe in the cumulative effect of small choices.

Lights: How much research was involved when writing this story and what sources did you use?

AM: I read various books and watched documentaries focusing on the Hasidic community. More importantly, I boarded a subway and walked the streets of Brooklyn in Hasidic neighborhoods. I was able to see and visualize Sam’s world.

As the material progressed and the director (Kevin Asch, who won the Breakthrough Director Award for this film at the 2010 Gotham Awards) and cast became more involved, each of them brought personal experiences and research to their characters. We were very concerned with accuracy and detail, but we didn’t want to be beholden to a particular sect.

Lights: Are the characters in the story based on particular people or are they amalgamations of different people?

AM: They are not based on anyone. After the film was completed, I heard comparisons to particular youth, but Sam Gold was a fictional creation. His family, Leon (Jason Fuchs), and Rachel (Ari Graynor) were fictional creations. I based Jackie (Danny A. Abeckaser) on an amalgamation of a few Israeli drug dealers.

Lights: What was it like writing about a traditionally insular community such as the Hasidic Jews of Brooklyn? What type of research was done to understand and write from that perspective?

AM: Great question. The irony is that I feel like I completely understand that perspective. I’m Mormon. I converted to Mormonism in my teen years, so I have a very clear understanding of this worldview. We are constantly reminded to “live in the world, but not be of the world.” The secular world is viewed as a potentially dangerous place.

The producers and I felt that it would be easy to make a religious sect the ‘scapegoat’ or have religion be the bad guy. The fact is many people enjoy organized religion. It provides a spiritual paradigm. I thought it would be a much more interesting moral compromise if he loved his culture and family. The seduction is that much more complex.

I wanted to write the film from an ‘inside out’ perspective. I didn’t want a detective investigating a neighborhood. I wanted a member of the small community to investigate the world at large.

Also, I think it’s easy to forget that Sam’s family is like any other family. They are happy, and fight/argue with each other like any brother and sister. There is no mystery to writing the family dynamics of a Hasidic family.

Lights: There are quite a few scenes where the audience sees the two worlds of Sam – his conservative religious background and his foray into the secular underworld – grating up against one another. When developing your protagonist, how did you go about building these juxtapositions? Did you have specific scenes in mind that showed Sam’s slow slip beforehand, or did they rise organically throughout the process?

AM: I think you can walk down the street in any major city and see that juxtaposition. Early on, we wanted to see Sam with peyos (sidelocks worn by some Orthodox Jewish men) inside the nightclub. That to me was striking. How does he get there?

Kevin Asch (the film’s director) and I spoke at length about the religious experience of temple and the religious experience in a nightclub in the late ‘90s. We wanted to take advantage of Sam’s ‘fish out of water’ view of the world. I think that Kevin captured that so well in the clubs.

I was also interested in Sam trying ecstasy for the first time. We didn’t want to sensationalize the drug experience. Kevin was adamant about that.

Lights: The metaphors of temptation and hiding from God play a big role throughout this film – from the Rabbi’s sermons to the almost serpent-like role of Yosef (Justin Bartha) in his temptation of Sam. Did this metaphor serve as the focal point to form your story around, or did it come later once you had your characters and plot in place?

AM: This was the heart of the story from my point of view. This was the first thing I discussed with the producers when I pitched my take.

This morality tale of the Garden of Eden was told to me when I was a Mormon Missionary and has always stayed with me.

Lights:: Sam’s pseudo-love interest, Rachel, is an extremely complex character. As Jackie’s girlfriend, there are signs in Act III that a dangerous love triangle may be forming. However, the romance between Sam and Rachel quickly dissolves. What was the role you envisioned Rachel filling in this screenplay? Was she there to expose a facet of Sam’s character that we wouldn’t have seen otherwise?

AM: Rachel represents a lost innocence. They are dual spirits. She acts much older than she really is. They recognize that innocence in each other. Early on, she was our ‘Penny Lane’ character.

I believe a stronger love triangle would have developed and in earlier versions of the script we play that out. Ultimately, those scenes were dropped for scheduling and budgetary reasons.

Lights: The character of Leon is also very interesting. If his brother Yosef is the devil on Sam’s shoulder, Leon fills the role of the angel. What was your intent on giving the audience a character – such as Leon – who never strayed from what was expected of him?

AM: Leon is very personal to me. He is morally grounded and doesn’t have the same questions or yearning that Sam develops. I’ve always felt a certain yearning as an artist, as a storyteller, and I like to ask tough questions.

Part of me wishes I could ‘settle down’ and be a Leon. Maybe on a subconscious level, I am rewarding Leon for his diligence. I’d like to think that Sam’s education will be all the more richer through his experiences, but we all know “Leons” in our life that have chosen safer paths and are quite content with their decisions.

Lights: There is a powerful scene near Plot Point #2 where Sam is virtually disowned by his father, Mendel (Mark Ivanir), followed by Sam’s cutting of his peyos. However, instead of being a completely devastating scene – there is a feeling of liberation in it as well. Could you speak a bit about the duality of this scene?

AM: I believe there has always been a duality to the scene because in my mind the father always knew what Sam was doing, and while never stopping him, he himself is complicit to a degree.

So, this scene is just as much about Sam’s father as Sam. I don’t know if Sam’s father is upset at Sam or himself. I also wonder if there is an underlying resentment that Sam is able to explore in the world and live life on his own terms.

And lastly, yes, Sam is liberated from living a double life.

Lights: The film ultimately ends on a high note, with Sam reconciling with his father. Did you consider the possibility of not showing the scene, to leave the film with a more ambiguous feeling? If so, how do you think the tone of the film would have changed?

AM: We didn’t want to spell out the ending and give a complete resolution. Our objective is to show that the father and son are communicating to certain degree. They are listening to each other, which is a far cry from the beginning of the film.

Lights: Do you have any advice for indie screenwriters looking to adapt a true story into a fictional screenplay, especially if the subject matter might fall outside of their knowledge base? Are there any pitfalls to avoid?

AM: I would say two things:

1.) Ask yourself what the heart of the story is and how do I tell that story?

I say this to indie screenwriters because I’m assuming you want to tell it via an indie film. The beauty of an indie film is its limitation. Embrace those budgetary limitations and find the heart of the character’s story. You probably won’t be able to pull giant set pieces, but you can focus on making it character driven.

2.) Make it personal.

We ask our actors to make it personal. Make the writing process personal. Why do you want to tell this story? What is it about this story and character that you want to explore? Why? And what do you bring to the material?

Whatever genre you face, you need to make it your own.