Course Reflection

TCF 312 was a great experience for me and it helped me learn how to work with a director or DP instead of both shooting and directing myself like I do for documentaries. At the beginning of the class I had already worked with a variety of cameras, but it was good to get experience using some different ones that I would not have used otherwise, in particular the Sony EX3 and F3.

I think the class is structured well. Having the documentary storytelling assignment early in the semester helps introduce students to working as a director/DP team and is good preparation for the scene assignment. It also presents its own challenge of only using existing light. The time spent in the studio working with different lighting setups is good experience and serves as practice for the scene assignment.

I mostly work on documentaries so while directing and shooting the documentary storytelling assignments came naturally to me, planning out a whole narrative scene as a director was not something I had really done before this class. I think it was a good experience and helped me learn how to plan better and communicate what I want to a DP. It was a challenge for me to work that way since I am used to shooting everything myself, but Sarah Lane was a great DP and she understood the look I wanted and made it happen. I discovered that while I am capable of directing, I prefer to be a DP for narrative productions.

Working as a DP for the scene assignment was definitely my favorite part of the class. I have been a DP for a few narrative projects before, but never with this much pre-production. It was helpful to meet with the director and plan things out together before getting to the location. The scene I worked on presented a number of unique challenges and solving those problems was a great experience. Shooting a night exterior with a fire as the key light was challenging from both practical and creative standpoints, but it was well worth it and I learned a lot from that shoot.

DP Reel and Artist Statement

Evan Terry DP Reel Spring 2016 from Evan Terry on Vimeo.

When I started college, I was an aerospace engineering major. Although I had discovered my love of film and photography in high school, I had always planned on working as an engineer. However, after working as a teaching assistant for a documentary production class for a year and a half, I realized that I needed to go in a different direction with my education and my career.

While I thoroughly enjoy the creative freedom and opportunity for expression of shooting a narrative piece, I like to work mostly on documentaries. There’s a certain excitement about shooting in the field, in an uncontrolled environment where you can never anticipate everything that will happen. It forces to me to work quickly and under the pressure of only having one chance to get the shot. To me, this style can feel very free because I don’t have to wait on a full crew or cast to be ready. This carries over into the way I shoot most of my still photography, as well. Always run-and-gun, capturing whatever catches my eye using almost exclusively natural light. Working with natural light presents interesting challenges and forces me to be creative with framing and composition to work with what is available to me.

I enjoy how I can tell a story in a documentary in a way not possible in any other medium. The freedom in shooting is mirrored in the editing process, and I prefer to both shoot and edit my work myself. Unlike following a script, with a documentary the editor can build the story up from nothing using just the pieces that are available, yet the same pieces can be crafted into an infinite number of possible films that each tells a slightly different story in a different way.

Film Scene Assignment: Blade Runner

TCF 312 Scene Assignment - Blade Runner from Evan Terry on Vimeo.

Shot List

1A – WS Leon and Holden at their table, back of coffee shop in BG

1B – MS OTS Holden

1C – CU Holden, straight-on

1D – MS OTS Leon

1E – CU Leon, straight-on

1F – ECU Leon’s eyes

1G – CU Holden’s phone in her hand

1H – CU Holden’s phone with Leon in BG

1I – CU Leon’s hand on his plate, grasping muffin

1J – MLS Leon throwing muffin and jumping up

1K – MCU Holden – muffin impacts

1 L – WS PAN tracking Leon as he runs to front door

Storyboards

Floor Plan

Shooting Script

Visual References

Film Lighting

Low key - L.A. Confidential


Low key - Blade Runner


High key - Chuck


High key - Friends

Documentary Storytelling Assignment

Gear Head Blogs and Sites

I found Vincent LaForet's blog very interesting. I have read about his process for the AIR series of photos before and it was fascinating to learn about the challenges of aerial photography and how he worked around them. His blog goes into a lot of detail about camera bodies and lenses, and he discusses them both in terms of stills and video. This is especially useful to me as I also do a lot of still photography. I enjoyed his review of the new Canon 1DX Mk. II. It looks like a very impressive piece of hardware and the ability to shoot 4K at 60fps is a nice surprise on a DSLR.

The NoFilmSchool article on the cameras used by Sundance filmmakers showed a wide variety of cameras, ranging from film to DSLRs. A surprisingly large number of films were shot on Canon DSLRs and the C100, which I have used extensively. It was especially interesting to read about Operation Avalanche being shot digitally but converted to film and then back to digital, which is an unusual approach.

Cinematographers of My Favorite Works

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey: Geoffrey Unsworth

Unsworth began working as a camera operator at Baurmont-British in 1932, then worked for Technicolor beginning in 1937, followed by Pinewood Studios. His first film as cinematographer was the documentary The People's Land (1941). He received two Academy Awards, five BAFTA awards, and three British Society of Cinematographers awards. He worked extensively on period pieces as well as sci-fi. His films include Cabaret, Murder on the Orient Express, and Superman (1978).


2. Blade Runner: Jordan Cronenweth

Cronenweth began his career in the still photo lab at Columbia studios and then became a camera assistant for Conrad Hall in 1961. He was a member of the ASC and BSC.


3. Mad Max: Fury Road: John Seale

Seale is a member of the ACS and ASC. He won an Academy Award for The English Patient. His work also includes Rain Man, Dead Poets Society, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, and Poseidon. He began working for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, where he was a camera assistant and then operator, working on news, documentary, and drama. Seale moved to working on low-budget feature films as a camera assistant and operator, before becoming cinematographer for Death Cheaters in 1976. He began working on American films beginning with Witness. Seale frequently shoots with multiple cameras simultaneously, not just for action scenes, but for dialogue-driven scenes as well. This helps preserve continuity even if actors improvise or change their performances between takes.


4. Gravity, Birdman: Emmanuel Lubezki

Lubezki began working in the Mexican film industry in the late 1980s. He attended film school at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. His other films include Children of Men, Sleepy Hollow, The Tree of Life, Ali, Shine a Light, Birdman, and The Revenant. He has won Academy Awards for best cinematography for Gravity and Birdman. Lubezki is a member of the ASC and AMC.


5. Citizen Kane: Gregg Toland

Toland is known for his lighting schemes and pioneering use of deep focus. He started out as a Hollywood camera operator and quickly moved up to cinematographer. He won the Academy Award for best cinematography for Wuthering Heights in 1940. Toland's deep-focus techniques involved using very fast film stocks, bright lighting, and specially-designed lenses with anti-glare coatings. This resulted in more available light so that he could shoot with smaller apertures. He also used non-traditional lighting schemes with hard shadows and and lights placed low instead of above the set. This low-key lighting was a strong influence on the development of film noir. His other films include The Long Voyage Home, Intermezzo: A Love Story, and The Grapes of Wrath. He was a member of the ASC.


6, Black Swan: Matthew Libatique

Libatique attended California State University Fullerton and received an MFA in cinematography from AFI Conservatory. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Black Swan. His other films include Requiem for a Dream, Iron Man, Iron Man 2, and Straight Outta Compton. He is a member of the ASC.


7. Days of Heaven: Nestor Almendros

Almendros studied at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome. He worked for the Castro regime in Cuba making documentaries before moving to Paris, where he worked with Eric Rohmer and Francois Truffaut. Days of Heaven was his first Hollywood film, and he received an Academy Award for best cinematography. His other work includes Kramer vs. Kramer, Sophie's Choice, The Blue Lagoon, and Imagine: John Lennon. He was a member of the ASC.


8. Days of Heaven: Haskell Wexler

In the Heat of the Night

Haskwell Wexler began his career making industrial films in Chicago, before becoming an assistant camera operator working on documentaries, docu-dramas, and television. His first Hollywood film was America, America in 1963. He won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography (Black and White) for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in 1966. He won another Oscar for Bound for Glory in 1976. His other films include In the Heat of the Night, Matewan, The Thomas Crown Affair, American Graffiti, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and Medium Cool. He also worked on a number of documentaries, including the Academy Award-winning Interviews with My Lai Veterans. He was a member of the ASC.


9. Apocalypse Now: Vittorio Storaro

Storaro studied cinematography at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, then worked as a camera operator. He first worked as a cinematographer for Giovinezza, Giovinezza, in 1968. His films include Last Tango in Paris, Tucker: The Man and His Dreams, The Conformist, and 1900. He won an Academy Award for Apocalypse Now, Reds, and The Last Emperor. His cinematographic philosophy is based on how different colors have psychological effects, and he makes use of these effects to help convey the tone of the film. He is a member of the ASC and AIC.