« Ferrara on Ferrara | Main | Sodium Light »

October 19, 2008

Shooting A Trainwreck

It's a general practice of mine to avoid talking about whatever I might be working on until someone else talks about it first, but sometimes this will towards nondisclosure swings in the opposite direction, and I get excited about something and spill the beans. What's getting my excited right now is the image above, which is from Frank Ross' new picture Audrey The Trainwreck, and it's the one that, for whatever reason, completely sums up the film to me thus far. I can't quite say why that is yet, but I'm proud of the shot, as simple as it is (also, if you can see any detail in that face, your monitor is too bright). One light, married to content that didn't need anything else.

This is the first time I've DPd a project of this stature. I don't actually consider myself a cinematographer, but when Frank asked me five or six months ago if I'd be up for the challenge, I had just the right amount of hubris and self confidence to say "sure, I guess so" or "why not?" or maybe even a simple "yes." That confidence (or hubris - precisely which one to be determined, I suppose, not by me but by the final product) kicked into even higher gear when I read the script, which is absolutely outstanding.

Another fun about the film: it has roughly 205 speaking parts. We've had a constant cycle of actors and actresses flying in and affixing themselves to our focal points before abruptly departing in the advent of some new ingenue's arrival to our wintry clime. Last week we shot with Jess Weixler from Teeth and Amy Judd from Yeast; this week brings in a new slate of characters, all of whom I'll do my best to get a semi-decent exposure on. We're at the halfway mark now, and this month is only going to get colder (and coming from my lips, that's not the non-sequitur it might seem).

Posted by David Lowery at October 19, 2008 8:28 PM