I know this is a bit of an unusual time to be posting a new blog, but I’m in the mood for contemplation, and where else can I better express such thoughts than on this very website?
(If you’re interested in my thoughts on cinematography, et al, please bypass the next few paragraphs and head straight to the emboldened text)
Anyhow, down to business. Even though it’s only just 3pm, today has been a great day by all accounts - so much so that it’s worth blogging about. It began with a success in EDP, where I (thankfully!) got all my work done before 2am last night (this morning) then digressed to my small success in Physical Anthropology, where I made a B on the exam. Not the best outcome, yeah, but it certainly could’ve been worse. 
Also, a bit of bad news that no, we were not selected to be on the shortlist for the Empire ‘Done in 60 Seconds’ contest, but we still had a boatload of fun creating the campiest, cheesiest comedy piece we’ve ever done, and are proud to see it go ‘viral’ across our campus. Expect it in the cinema soon (it’s pending submission) or check it out on my YouTube channel right now. Either way, be sure to watch!
And here comes the zinger. Throughout most days, I check my Twitter on my iPhone, probably *almost* religiously. Though I usually lament all-in-one things like the iPhone and useless web services like Twitter; they work beautifully in conjunction. That being said, after checking Twitterific (iPhone app) about ten times over the course of a few hours, I discovered - much to my surprise - that the FXhome Awards (three of which I was nominated for) had been posted.
Needless to say, I pocketed my phone, withdrew my laptop from its bag and ran, ecstatic, to Texas EXpresso to grab both coffee and an internet connection. I opened my notebook, headed to YouTube and sat back to watch the awards presentation which, much to my excitement, featured some great news: that I’d won Best Cinematography. This isn’t just great because of the prizes involved, but because of a sort of personal validation it provides, and there’s more to that than you’d think.
What do I think about the award?
I’m glad to have won the award for cinematography because it’s something I really, really do try to excel at. I’m still learning (aren’t we all!) and still finding new techniques and new ways to approach scenes and I don’t think I’ll ever reach a point in this field where there’s nothing left to be learned. It follows, then, that I want to congratulate my fellow nominees who are just as deserving, if not more, of the award I’ve won.
What about the other films?
Conceptually, I’m not sure I had the best film. Shots in Maze of the Blind are immensely artistic and there’s a certain implacable beauty in them that I can only equate to my own film, Messages, though all-things-considered I think Maze pulls it off much, much better. There’s also Poppies, which I nominated for Best Cinematography and voted for Best Movie, which I found really very strong in almost every category. The thing that sets this apart, however, I think is the production value and not necessarily the cinematography - as I’m not the hugest fan of the present-day bits in it. Even so, it’s clearly very professionally made and I’m exceedingly happy that it won Best Movie. Then there’s the Templars preview, which, despite being produced what seems like years ago, is still an immensely solid effort. Really great, genius stuff all around.
This all being said, I’m so very happy that I won, and for this I require a digression….
Why cinematography is important….
In the awards nominations, I was put up for two films: Messages and Pages. While the former has a more visual, cinematographically-enhanced aesthetic, the cinematography serves only to set the mood, and doesn’t do much else. In shooting Messages I had one goal: to show the beauty of the nature and society within my neighborhood, and how even simple images like a cityscape can elicit deep, message-laden emotions.
With all this in mind, I’m not sure that I’d say that I think that’s what I want to get out of cinematography. I tried dearly to frame and rack focus on cool or pretty looking objects, but the shots were very much just that: shots of things that looked good. Granted, the vacuous nature of the shots was supplanted by a meaningful monologue, but then that would make the film very strong overall, and not necessarily by virtue of the cinematography. In fact, after I’d written my clever bits into the script for Messages it was just a ‘go out and shoot it’ process of catalogue on tape what I’d put into writing. Very simple in approach, my script dictated ‘pan to window, show smile enhanced by the natural light’ and things like that. In the case of Messages it was all very planned, perhaps contrary to the belief of some.
Then we get to Pages, where I think I took more creative liberty than I ever have. With most narratives I’ve done, I shoot for a general edit I have laid out in my head, then pass the torch to Andrew; who normally edits completely different than I had planned, but influential and effective nonetheless. A tough thing for me is scene transitions, which I usually shoot montage shots for and hope that Andrew can artistically seam together with orchestral bits.
With Pages, I tried a lot of new things that I think work well within the fundamentals of cinematography. We normally like to say "show, don’t tell" and I think if you consider my body of work, Pages works the best in that regard. I put a lot of thought into how to convey the story - however simple it was - without much dialogue and without a voiceover. I also had a hard time getting transitions to be clear, but that’s another story.
Essentially, what I did with Pages and what I’m proud of is how intricately the concept of ‘the reveal’ works in it. I made a point of opening every scene with a close up and then slowly cinematographically showing an outward reveal. Why? Because that’s pretty much how our story works: we find a closed in, introverted character who reveals himself once he’s put into a wider play with more people - as evidenced by his car conversation and the final scene.
I took some risks in Pages, and a few of them show through. In terms of color and light composition, I used heavily the neutral density features of the XL2, which helped to show depth in closed-in shots, and worked particularly well in the first shot under the bridge - where Brian comes into view from waking up (my favorite shot in terms of things I’ve DP’ed) - and in the ultimate reveal of the Dallas skyline, where Brian’s relatively darkened (silhouetted, in a way) face is separated immensely by the glowing, ethereal background.
The latter shot was a particularly criticized one by many people I talked to. A lot thought the contrast between Brian and the considerably bright landscape behind him looked bad, because it obscured his features slightly. What I guess people fail to see - and I fail to convey, in a sense - is that there’s a reason for this dimension: we want to show Brian as indeed separated from the world, hence he is contrasted to the world around him (dark and silhouetted in comparison) and far, far from it; as evidenced by the sheer distance between him and the city.
Ultimately, though, I think I’m proud of the cinematography in my film because I didn’t insist on sticking to one parlor trick. Yes, there’s slow motion montage. And yes, there’s light flashes and flickers. But I think, in Pages, it’s less of a trick of visuals and more of a cohesive element of how the story is told. A flash through the journal helps us see what the protagonist sees. A pop-zoom of the area around Brian clues us in on how deserted and confused he feels. And a closely-framed dialogue in the car shows us how potentially uncomfortable and awkward conversations with a hitchhiker can be. And a rack focus on signage outdoors works in tandem as our hero focuses himself on the tasks at hand.
In the end, while it certainly has its faults and is certainly not the greatest thing ever made, I’m immensely proud of what I, personally, was able to accomplish in Pages. While I didn’t quite set a standard for others, I feel like I set a standard for myself in terms of how I used the camera to tell the story, and that’s why I’m just so damn excited about winning this award.
I want to thank FXHome for hosting the awards, and thank all who voted for me - including fellow FXhomers, fraternity members, fellow film students and even strangers who saw things like the ‘Batman’ film and decided to invest further interest into what I was doing. I may not personally know 90% of the people who voted for me, but I can say wholeheartedly that I personally owe them thanks for contributing to my success as a filmmaker.
I’ll have more to say later, likely in a video blog, so stay tuned. But for now, thanks for reading.
