|
Home | About | Travel | Weddings | Portraiture | Film Stills | Flora/Fauna | Panoramas | Galleries | Stock | Clients |
Books | Pricing | Links | Blog | Contact Angela Fairbank, Photography
|
Flash file, photography, text and layout by Angela Fairbank.
The above photos are copyright.
The above photos were taken for a Langara College Films Arts student film called Rasa - a fantasy without dialogue using only six actors (three young men and three young women) shot over four days using two locations - Jericho Beach Park and Langara College's Studio58 film studio. The film was publicly screened for the first time in Room A130 at Langara College on Thursday 20 August 2009.
Plot: A girl (Nadie) wakes up in her room, startled, and wonders what is out there. She tries sending a signal through her window, and is shortly visited by a new friend, Imer. Enjoying his company, she discovers something she had never even imagined. She repeats the process and receives two more visitors, Gundo and Terce, again marvelled by her discovery. Alone again, she decides to visit her friends, for a change. Yet, after two visits, she returns defeated. Disheartened she takes a leap outside her world, in search of her third friend. (Taken from the Unlock the Vault Film Festival 2009 brochure of 20 August 2009).
Principle Actors:
Assistant Director: Alisen Hunt
Camera Operators: Koi Izumi and Janin Palahicky
Catering: Adrien Daniels
Director: Frances Fee
Director of Photography: Koi Izumi
Executive Producer: Alyson Drysdale
Producers: Frances Fee, Laura Hope, Ignacio de Freyre
Script Writer: Ignacio de Freyre
Script Supervision: Joe Berube, Christina Robichaud
Stills Photographer: Angela Fairbank
I found that the time I spent on this assignment was unique in that I was able to mix and mingle with a very tight team of 20- and 30-year-old students nearing the end of their 8-month-almost-$7000-tuition course. I had the opportunity to question them about the program and their struggles to survive it, to learn about the stresses of their student lives and how they relieved them, and listen to their plans for future student films, as they all helped each other in their individual projects. These were to be completed on the basis of one film per four-day weekend over the period of a few weeks, while they continued classes at the college the other three days. A somewhat incongruous concept as they were themselves seemingly thrown into the task of shooting their films although they had not yet completely learned all they needed to know to be able to make them.
If you are not provided with a script, you will have to rely on your own intuition as to what the film is about and what message it is trying to convey so as to provide the same message in your still shots and to be able to choose an appropriate image for the film's poster and DVD cover. Comprehension of the plot may be further complicated by the fact that all the scenes of the film will most likely be shot out of sequence. The only assistance provided you to make some sense of the film may be a copy of the shooting schedule and the call sheet for each day of shooting. In this way it should be possible to understand the proper sequence of scenes and rearrange your still shots into the order of the plot.
It is quite an experience to witness the shooting of a full film, and a stills photographer may very well be virtually thrown onto the set without any guidance whatsoever from the director or crew. However, you will have the chance to learn firsthand the protocol of the set and who the various players in the filming operation are, plus marvel at the variety of film cameras used - glide cam, steady cam, crane operation - and types of sound recording.
You may find that the film crew have no clue what a stills photographer's job on set is and they may in fact forget that you are patiently waiting to be invited to come on the set at the end of each scene to take mere seconds to capture on your DSLR what has taken literally hours to record on moving film. You will be required to assert yourself and frequently remind the Assistant Director of your need to get the prime shots of each scene before the order for set tear-down or calls to lunch are made. Although the actors may be responsive to your wishes (and it is to be hoped that they are), the crew may take absolutely no notice of where you are shooting and interrupt your shooting time and space by dragging ladders or other props into the shooting zone in order to fix lights or repair pieces of set as they see fit!
Finally, you may be disappointed to find out that the director and publicist have after all decided not to use any of the still photos you worked so hard on - not only sitting through hours and hours, nay, days and days of watching them work but also hours and hours in post-production on your images - colour correcting (due to the harsh lights on set), straightening, etc. - and instead cut their own poster shots from the actual film frames!
Plot: A girl (Nadie) wakes up in her room, startled, and wonders what is out there. She tries sending a signal through her window, and is shortly visited by a new friend, Imer. Enjoying his company, she discovers something she had never even imagined. She repeats the process and receives two more visitors, Gundo and Terce, again marvelled by her discovery. Alone again, she decides to visit her friends, for a change. Yet, after two visits, she returns defeated. Disheartened she takes a leap outside her world, in search of her third friend. (Taken from the Unlock the Vault Film Festival 2009 brochure of 20 August 2009).
Principle Actors:
- Nadie - Becca Strom
- Imer - Osric Chau
- Gundo - Brandon Bob
- Terce - Laura Hope
Assistant Director: Alisen Hunt
Camera Operators: Koi Izumi and Janin Palahicky
Catering: Adrien Daniels
Director: Frances Fee
Director of Photography: Koi Izumi
Executive Producer: Alyson Drysdale
Producers: Frances Fee, Laura Hope, Ignacio de Freyre
Script Writer: Ignacio de Freyre
Script Supervision: Joe Berube, Christina Robichaud
Stills Photographer: Angela Fairbank
I found that the time I spent on this assignment was unique in that I was able to mix and mingle with a very tight team of 20- and 30-year-old students nearing the end of their 8-month-almost-$7000-tuition course. I had the opportunity to question them about the program and their struggles to survive it, to learn about the stresses of their student lives and how they relieved them, and listen to their plans for future student films, as they all helped each other in their individual projects. These were to be completed on the basis of one film per four-day weekend over the period of a few weeks, while they continued classes at the college the other three days. A somewhat incongruous concept as they were themselves seemingly thrown into the task of shooting their films although they had not yet completely learned all they needed to know to be able to make them.
What exactly is the job of a Stills Photographer?
According to a book I read on film making, one should endeavour to include the following still shots:- Director directing actors.
- Director next to the camera working.
- Camera operator with his or her eye to the lens.
- Sound mixer with good view of the DAT or other recorder.
- Medium to wide shot with the camera and operator, boom, actors and director watching.
- Replication of the scenes that the film camera is shooting - get as close to the film camera as possible and take a look at what is on screen. Shoot only rehearsal unless the shot is MOS. Sometimes good shots can also be taken immediately before “action” and after “cut”.
- Emotional moments between the characters or shots that showcase the emotional state of the character.
- Action shots, if applicable.
If you are not provided with a script, you will have to rely on your own intuition as to what the film is about and what message it is trying to convey so as to provide the same message in your still shots and to be able to choose an appropriate image for the film's poster and DVD cover. Comprehension of the plot may be further complicated by the fact that all the scenes of the film will most likely be shot out of sequence. The only assistance provided you to make some sense of the film may be a copy of the shooting schedule and the call sheet for each day of shooting. In this way it should be possible to understand the proper sequence of scenes and rearrange your still shots into the order of the plot.
It is quite an experience to witness the shooting of a full film, and a stills photographer may very well be virtually thrown onto the set without any guidance whatsoever from the director or crew. However, you will have the chance to learn firsthand the protocol of the set and who the various players in the filming operation are, plus marvel at the variety of film cameras used - glide cam, steady cam, crane operation - and types of sound recording.
You may find that the film crew have no clue what a stills photographer's job on set is and they may in fact forget that you are patiently waiting to be invited to come on the set at the end of each scene to take mere seconds to capture on your DSLR what has taken literally hours to record on moving film. You will be required to assert yourself and frequently remind the Assistant Director of your need to get the prime shots of each scene before the order for set tear-down or calls to lunch are made. Although the actors may be responsive to your wishes (and it is to be hoped that they are), the crew may take absolutely no notice of where you are shooting and interrupt your shooting time and space by dragging ladders or other props into the shooting zone in order to fix lights or repair pieces of set as they see fit!
Finally, you may be disappointed to find out that the director and publicist have after all decided not to use any of the still photos you worked so hard on - not only sitting through hours and hours, nay, days and days of watching them work but also hours and hours in post-production on your images - colour correcting (due to the harsh lights on set), straightening, etc. - and instead cut their own poster shots from the actual film frames!
Text copyright 2009 Angela Fairbank
Website © Angela Fairbank 2005-2012.
|
