"Last Look" Trailer Released!

Shooting "Last Look" was a wonderful experience for me as the Theatrical Lighting Designer. Now that the film is almost complete, this trailer has been made in anticipation of it's expected Jan 2012 release! To read more about my experience working on this design and the shoot, please check out my previous blog post from this past summer.

I hope that you enjoy the trailer! (sorry for the ad, trailer starts soon after)

Last Look - First Trailer from Hernando Bansuelo on Vimeo.

Lighting "Something Strange"

 

     This weekend we wrapped up shooting the feature film "Something Strange," written and directed by Bryan Kramer. The film is a series of interviews which will be intercut with various imagery. Each personal story is told by an individual in the first person. What ties these stories together is their intention to explain the unexplainable such as coincidences, phenomena, pure chance, and scientific theory.
    Since these stories are all conducted in an interview style with the character seated speaking into the camera, we decided to keep the lighting identical for every character. To create interview style lighting, I went with a simple three light set up of a key light, fill light, and hair light. Instead of going for a realistic, even, and flattering look, I lit the subjects to emphasize their human qualities. Considering the film will be in black and white, the facial shadows will help bring more dimension to the final look.
      Compared to my usual lighting experiences, this project felt like I was designing on a very micro scale. Usually I am working with the look of a scene with multiple people rather than focusing on the type and placement of catches in one person's eye or the shape of the shadow from their nose. I very much enjoyed this new challenge, and found that this experience greatly appealed to my tedious nature. The film will begin editing stages soon, and is expected to be complete after the new year. I had a great experience working on this project and I am very eager to see the completed film.

That's a Wrap on "Last Look"

     Last week we wrapped up shooting the feature film "Last Look," Directed, Written and Produced by Hernando Bansuelo. This was my first experience working on a feature film! The shooting for this psycologically twisted and horrific drama spanned two weeks of shooting at a few locations. One location was in the Hollywood Theatre District inside a small black box space.  Here we shot nine scenes where we created an intensely surreal theatrical environment.

Photo By: Brigitte Bartholdi

     As the Theatrical Lighting Designer, I collaborated with Director of Photography, Aaron Torres, to illuminate a world of distorted reality through the use of dramatic colors and steep key sources from the lighting grid above. Gaffer, Corrin Hodgson, stepped in to create even fills from the ground keeping with the visual goals Aaron and I had set. Being in a theatre space, we were able to use the dimming control console to adjust the intensity levels for optimum balance in our exposures. The lighting board also came in handy for some cues and simple effects we used in a number of scenes to enhance the theatrical feel.
    I had a great time working on this film in collaboration with Aaron, Hernando and the entire team. Having the opporotunity to use my theatrical style in an art form that is often more realistic was an amazing experience where I learned a lot. By using my knowledge about light and combining it with what I know about photography, lighting for digital cinema began to really click for me. I hope to be able to work on another project with this level of creative lighting again in the future.