SeeingEyeBlog

I’m pleased to announce that my latest feature, Broken Windows, has been released on DVD. Get it on Netflix, Blockbuster, or buy it directly from the film’s website. I even did a commentary track with the director and producer.

I won Best Cinematography at VisionFest’08 in New York, for Yesterday Was a Lie! This is my first cinematography award, and it’s a great feeling. Hopefully many more to come. The trophy statuette is shaped like a candle flame, which I like, because I love to use natural light sources, like candles.

Yesterday Was a Lie recently won the top prize at the 2008 Park City Film Music Festival, and recently screened at the SSG screening series in Beverly Hills, at the Fine Arts Theater. Here’s a shot of the marquee.

I just recently watched a movie called Mademoiselle, a French-language film from 1966, about a schoolteacher in a bucolic French village, who fancies a man who doesn’t feel the same. So she starts doing things….bad, bad things.

The film was shot in 35mm anamorphic, and was black & white. There is something about the anamorphic format that, when rendered monochrome, creates a better representation of reality than reality itself. I say this about a film which has zero camera moves. No pans, no tilts, no dolly moves, no cranes, no zooms. Yet the photography is stunning.

I’m not sure I would say the same thing if the widescreen 2.35:1 aspect ratio were achieved with a spherical lens format. There is something richer and more textured about the anamorphic squeeze. An anamorphic lens has the field of view characteristics and depth of field characteristics of two different lenses in one. Vertically, it has the characteristics of itself (50mm for example). But horizontally, after the 2x squeeze, it has the characteristics of a lens half its length. This is a departure from reality, and an anamorphic image is a unique way of viewing the world that only really has a place in cinematography. On top of that, black and white is already a big departure from reality. This gives black and white anamorphic cinematography a truly unique vision in the world. A vision I think we should see much more often in films today.

We finally wrapped production on Art of Betrayal, which to the viewers at home will be called Wicked Wicked Games. To me, the first title was better, and the second one sounds like a Chris Issak song.

It is the second tele-novella for MyNetworkTV that I’ve worked on, the other being Fashion House. I had a great time working with some wonderful actors, among them Tatum O’Neal, Debbe Dunning, Jessie Ward (who I think will explode soon), Kate French, Azie Tesfai, David Smith, and Jack Krizmanich. Although I liked working on Fashion House more (because the budget seemed to be larger), I sure liked hanging out with the cast on WWG. They were cool people, and right in my age group (well, not Tatum or Debbe).

The next novella is starting up next Wednesday, and I hope to have a great time. Hopefully the budget will be ready for prime time.