Rabbit Hole

Artist Statement (late)
This video is from the film Rabbit Hole (2010). The film centers around a mother and father who lose their son in car accident. This scene is when the mother finally meets the boy who was driving the car that killed her son. It is an intense moment where the two are able to finally talk about what happened and come to terms with the guilt and remorse that they are feeling.

I chose this scene because i really wanted to experiment with my ability to direct actors and try to get them to an emotional level. I had been playing with this idea the last half of the semester. I chose this scene to contrast my last one, since this film was both emotional and redeeming/heart warming. I think the acting was great, not too much my doing either. They were able to follow my direction and portray the characters exactly as i had hoped, which was great. I also worked with some technical aspects to achieve depth in the scene. I used the recurring musical theme (which is pushed a bit too much) as well as juxtaposition of imagery--dead trees, the statue resembling them, etc. I also did a slow progression inward from wide to medium to close ups, which matches the scene's tone fairly well i believe. Good acting, great scene.

Artist Statement

Revolutionary Road (Scripted Scene with coverage)

(I realized that this never got posted, my bad)

This was by far the most difficult scene I took upon myself. The content is heavy, the thematic elements are pretty dark, and overall it required certain elevated levels of commitment that I worried about achieving. All in all, I am overly satisfied with the end product. I was really trying to go for the raw emotion, the conflicts of couples who love one another but that love is complicated, and tainted also with slivers of hatred and loss. I mostly shot for a focus on the blocking and style of camera work. I wanted April's character to constantly be backed up against a 'wall,' while still trying to lash back from this cage. I wanted Frank's character to be violent and evasive, controlling and harmful--but still held in by the love he knows he has.

I played with camera style by using handheld shots, close and up in the action to add a sense of reality/documentary feel. The original plan was to build tension this way, though with some editing conflicts, we jumped to the handheld much quicker than I anticipated. I wanted the distant handheld shots to convey an overseeing audience feel, and hit you right in the feels, which i think worked well. Overall, the editing was the bulk of the time mixed with finding and emotionally sufficient soundtrack. Kudos to 'bensound' for the score, and for my amazing actors who committed much more than i could have ever hoped, finally to Drew for his excellent skill with camera work. Great job everybody.

Projection

(Wednesday) This was a fun image with a lot of contrasting lines; i like the mixture of curved and vertical lines mostly. Theres also a nice symbolic connection with the church and the feeling of 'broadcasting' itself to the world, or receiving a message from above. 

"For Dust We Are"

(Thursday) I have to admit that i stole this idea from Ammon. I really likes the smoke mixture with light idea, so i went for one. I am happy with the subtle focus being on the random floating specs, while the background is a dynamic blur. 

Encroaching

Another cool image of lines, very Kubrick style i guess. I really like the harsh straight lines trying to hold up against the jagged curves of nature that is slowly creeping onto the frame. It is also interesting that the tree, though smaller in size, is still 'taller' in the frame than the harsh building.  

Symmetry 2

I just really like how well everything lead directly to the law building. The trees line up nicely, the pavement gives a clear shot, and even some of the rivets on the mountain lead you down to the building. Also, that sunset.