A Face Fixed

Dir: Gan Bi. Cin: Tianxing Wang.

Flesh + Blood, 1985. Dir: Paul Verhoeven. Cin: Jan de Bont.

Valley of the Bees, 1968. Dir: Frantisek Vlácil. Cin: Frantisek Uldrich.

New one shot by me for Celia Rowlson-Hall

by Andrew Droz Palermo

Some of my favorite looks from films I’ve shot come from pre-planned compositions like these. It doesn't always work to be so well planned for every scene and situation, but for this film it was tremendously important because we knew we were going to hold our frames for a long time. Nothing seems out of place and the frame seems in harmony with the actors. Some simple production design changes by Jade Healy and Tom Walker really helped it sing. Shout out to Bret Curry, my gaffer, and a DP in his own right, for helping me try out literally every option on the overheads. I’m really happy we took the time to figure out what was best for us.

Speaking of the costume, I have to applaud Annell Brodeur, the costume designer, who did a fantastic job creating the Ghost. She and Katie Dean, the key costumer, did a variety of things on set to maintain his look - from precise folding, to puppeteering, or whatever was necessary for the shot. It was not an easy job, and without their care we would have been in big trouble. It was really interesting to see how much the Ghost’s “expression” would change if the eyes were off level, or if the nose was pulled down slightly. 

Getting our Spielberg on with a wide-eyed kid seeing something his parents do not. Shout out to Joe Malina for a great job on the color and for going the extra mile on some post-Sundance touch-ups. 👻👻👻

Wanted to share some more stills featured in the trailer. This is one of my favorite scenes from the film and also marks the first time I started feeling comfortable with the ratio, mainly because it was so well suited for singles. At first, David and I really had a hard time figuring out how to stage and compose our wide shots. Eventually we found our stride thanks to persistence, and also the luxury of reshooting a few things that just didn't feel right. Another thing worth noting about this scene is that it was the first time I used our 50mm f/1, which I fell in love with. I started using it on all close-ups of Rooney. Although I was only operating on a 5 inch monitor I was so magnetized to her performance in this scene, she's absolutely phenomenal.

Tokyo Story vs Baskets

One of my favorites near LAX. #GaragesofLA

#GaragesofLA

White car