Why Shooting Today Sucked
Ugh -- for many reasons. Its freezing in Jerusalem and was supposed to rain all day. So we decided to start at 11:30 instead of earlier. It was sunny and lovely all morning, up until 11:30 when we started shooting. So fine, you can't control the weather. Good thing Tulik brought a rain coat for the camera -- made my camera look like a daschund.
The bigger problem is that we're looking for a useful/fitting visual language. Stupid "Nancy in Jerusalem" shots are so contrived and don't feel right. I personally hate when I see them in any documentary, and think its ill-advised that I have them. Maybe two seconds here and there, really beautifully framed, but otherwise its just a wreck of cheesiness.
We took a come inside and warm-up break and watched some of what we shot. We realized we both like when the camera is slowed down a bit, the colors are more beautiful and it is more expressive. This is how I shot so much of this film anyway, but it goes against my editor's verite sensibility (Nancy get some footage of you here, of you there, just regular) -- but from our point of view, its what works and what is interesting. The verite stuff of me wandering around is just contrived and stupid, but simply slowing down the shutter ain't gonna do it either.
Another issue was my outfit. I wore my beloved purplish legwarmer boots, which are great -- but horrible in rainy, hilly, slippery Jerusalem. Plus my jacket doesn't cover my bum and much of our shooting felt like "Nancy's Ass In Jerusalem" which could be interesting done another way... but for real, not today. We got some good bits, but really, they're just bits.
But now the worst part is the shmutz on the lens-- that actually existed beneath the glass of the filter -- so no matter how many times we wiped it, it remained. So basically the whole day with the exception of what, 15 seconds?? was a bust.
On the zen side of things -- we will treat today like a test, of what we like, what works, what doesn't, how to make my face look less red in the freezing cold -- (mind you its beet red in the summer, too), but more importantly, what kind of visual language feels right.
I'm not crushingly disappointed because its not like we missed some fantastic action -- we can go back and create it. Just an overall sense of disappointment -- but a good place to start fresh. If anyone has any ideas of films I should look at for inspiration or something, I'm game.
The bigger problem is that we're looking for a useful/fitting visual language. Stupid "Nancy in Jerusalem" shots are so contrived and don't feel right. I personally hate when I see them in any documentary, and think its ill-advised that I have them. Maybe two seconds here and there, really beautifully framed, but otherwise its just a wreck of cheesiness.
We took a come inside and warm-up break and watched some of what we shot. We realized we both like when the camera is slowed down a bit, the colors are more beautiful and it is more expressive. This is how I shot so much of this film anyway, but it goes against my editor's verite sensibility (Nancy get some footage of you here, of you there, just regular) -- but from our point of view, its what works and what is interesting. The verite stuff of me wandering around is just contrived and stupid, but simply slowing down the shutter ain't gonna do it either.
Another issue was my outfit. I wore my beloved purplish legwarmer boots, which are great -- but horrible in rainy, hilly, slippery Jerusalem. Plus my jacket doesn't cover my bum and much of our shooting felt like "Nancy's Ass In Jerusalem" which could be interesting done another way... but for real, not today. We got some good bits, but really, they're just bits.
But now the worst part is the shmutz on the lens-- that actually existed beneath the glass of the filter -- so no matter how many times we wiped it, it remained. So basically the whole day with the exception of what, 15 seconds?? was a bust.
On the zen side of things -- we will treat today like a test, of what we like, what works, what doesn't, how to make my face look less red in the freezing cold -- (mind you its beet red in the summer, too), but more importantly, what kind of visual language feels right.
I'm not crushingly disappointed because its not like we missed some fantastic action -- we can go back and create it. Just an overall sense of disappointment -- but a good place to start fresh. If anyone has any ideas of films I should look at for inspiration or something, I'm game.
posted by No Longer Active at 9:30 AM
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