by Sandy | Jan 10, 2013 | Art, Blogroll, Museums
I love them. “Posters of Paris: Toulouse-Lautrec and His Contemporaries examines the story of the French artistic poster in all its complexity. The show will highlight additional artists well known to the public… Alphonse Mucha, and Théophile-Alexandre Steinlin—as well as names less familiar but equally powerful in their impact. “
Posters of Paris: Toulouse-Lautrec and His Contemporaries
Dallas Museum of Art until January 20, 2013
1717 North Harwood, Dallas, Texas
by Sandy | Jan 7, 2013 | Art, Blogroll, Culture, Exhibits, sculptures
The Schomburg celebrates Ms Catlett, painter, sculptor, printmaker, activist (1915 – 2012), with music and poetry on Saturday January 12, 2013 at 6 PM.
“Inspired by the Civil Rights era, the late Elizabeth Catlett became one of the world’s most treasured artists of the 20th century- defining the courage, hope and beauty of African-American life in America. Join notable scholars, poets and artists remembering her life and contributions!”
“Art must be realistic for me, whether sculpture or printmaking, I have always wanted my art to service my people—to reflect us, to relate to us, to stimulate us, to make us aware of our potential…. I try to tell young artists, black artists, that there’s a great need for their work. Some are only interested in doing what they want to do, not what people need.—Elizabeth Catlett”
For My People: A Musical & Poetic Tribute to Elizabeth Catlett
Saturday, January 12, 2013 * 6PM – 9PM
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
515 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York, NY
(Sculpture: “Mother & Child”, 1939 – recurring theme throughout career)
by Cybel Martin | Jan 4, 2013 | Actors, Art, Directors, Film, Photograhy
CYBEL MARTIN for Shadow and Act
JUNE 25, 2012
I saw a recent tweet from a fellow DP. It went something along the lines of “Filming in NYC. That’s a lot of brick”. I understood the frustration. Beyond the miles of concrete and cliched shots, how do you tell a New York story that’s uniquely your own? Without “Men in Black 3” money? You have to think differently.
Why are we discussing NYC?
I am a native New Yorker. I went to New York University for my MFA. I live primarily in New York. The majority of my features were shot in New York. That’s a lot of New York centric. I know first hand what it is like to be released onto the streets with a camera, well meaning PA with bounce card and a director dreaming of “Citizen Kane” or “Remains of the Day.”
And I suspect more no-budget projects are shot in NYC, per year, than anywhere else. This article will help you whether you’re shooting a feature film, short, web-series, music video or promo. If you’re shooting a Nike commercial? Call me.
As mentioned in my first post, “5 Things Cinematographers Look for…” I love when my director approaches with a clear idea for their vision. The next step in the creative process is to take that visual idea and mold it, twist it and spin it until it’s the best representation of your (the director’s) voice and best aesthetic to support the narrative. For example, say your reference material is “The Devil’s Rejects” (I love love Rob Zombie). You decide to shoot your film in the same hectic, visual style but in black and white.
Once presented with your creative brilliance, the producer will take note of your needs and counter offer. Your genius helicopter shot will be reduced to a 7 foot jib. You’re given the resources to shoot film but you’ll only be able to rent two prime lenses.
Keep breathing! Your film will be great. Do this:
1. Get out of your own head and into a different director’s – Your view of New York and what it has to offer is a perception. It’s not the only reality. During pre-production, watch other low budget films shot in NYC. Definitely watch ones not in your genre. Any resistance you have to watching a film because you dislike the cast, dislike the message, dislike the dance numbers, dislike the violence is stifling your inspiration. I am amazed by how much I learn from films I thought I would dislike.
Off the top of my head, here are some low budget films shot in NYC. I’ve also included films with a healthier budget yet an innovative shooting style that increased their production value: (in no particular order) Half Nelson, Pi, Little Odessa, Living in Oblivion, She’s Gotta Have It, Tiny Furniture, Laws of Gravity, Just Another Girl on the IRT, Midnight Cowboy, Taxi Driver, Barefoot in the Park, Chop Shop. Naked City, Party Girl, Smithereens, In America, Kids, Fresh, Rope, Pickup on South Street, Shaft, Brother from Another Planet, Desperately Seeking Susan, HBO Subway Stories, Straight Out of Brooklyn, Requiem for a Dream, Day Night Day Night, Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, The Visitor, The Imperialist Are Alive.
2. Declutter your New York experience – This city can be visually overwhelming. I think when filmmakers attempt to capture everything they see, it ends up looking like an “I Love NY” PSA. It’s through the repetition of specific colors, architecture, lights and exclusion of the extraneous that creates a visual style.
My director, Kevin Baggott for “Flora’s Garment Bursting Into Bloom”, was in love with Christmas lights. Not only did the story take place during the holidays but it represented something more to him. The story of a man falling in love with a transgender woman was at times tense and brutal, but the Christmas lights brought some levity. I remember taking walks, throughout Manhattan, in the hunt for streets and shop windows with the most lights strung. We remained focused on holiday lights in non-touristy areas. The lights were also used for various reasons in the interior locations.
You can create a lot of texture in your film by focusing on color (I always think of that red wall in Spike’s “Do The Right Thing” ) or costume design (Mobolaji Dawodu, the Costume Designer on “Restless City,” blew me away)
Does your film take place in DUMBO? You’ll obviously have shots of the bridge. Find other bridges in NYC to shoot. Use it as a metaphor. Bridges connect people. Bridges are a way out. A way to invade. Yes, I can overthink things but these considerations will strengthen your film.
3. Make Your Restriction The Aesthetic – This is my credo. Low budget means plenty of restrictions and relying on favors from friends and family. If you can only afford two lenses? Shoot the entire project on one lens and use the other for a pivotal scene.
Every DP remembers their first feature. Mine was “The Dregs of Society” by Rich WIlliams. We shot on Super 16mm, in 12 days, with over 20 different locations, in three different boroughs and over 15 actors. We worked 12 hour days (or less) and always broke for a respectable lunch. I credit my director with not only being creative, but being a creative problem solver and having a very efficient 1st AD living in his head.
For my part, I knew our time was limited and found inspiration in Mary Ellen Mark photographs. The photos I gravitated to tended to be wide shots of a person with a lot of personal effects in the frame. I felt I knew that person intimately. For Dregs of Society, most of our coverage was static wide shots. We relied on props and production design to underscore our eccentric characters and their dialogue. When time permitted, we went in for close ups etc and some very fun handheld.
4. Expand on Your Locations – One Twitter account I love to follow is @nyscout. He is a New York based film Location Scout. I was excited to see him featured on CBS Sunday Morning. Even though I am a native NYer, I have not heard of half of the places he mentions. If you are shooting no-budget, your interiors will probably be your own residence or office, or that of a personal friend. However, your exterior shots can be visually dynamic and different from other films. There are a lot of bricks, but also a lot of community gardens, boat houses, cemeteries and music stores.
One of my favorite films is “Medium Cool” by Haskell Wexler. Many scenes were filmed during the 1968 Democratic National Convention. So you understand why I was thrilled to film “A Ticket For Hope“ during the 2009 Presidential Inauguration in Washington, DC.
You can also chose a location with a special event and incorporate that into your film for major production value. It doesn’t have to be a huge event with tight security. It can be the Mermaid Parade or Ninth Avenue Food Festival.
5. Browse Photo Books – Low budget filmmakers can learn so much from photographers, especially “street photogs”. I highly revere the photographs in “The Americans” by Robert Frank. When I first learned about him in school, the emphasis was that he captured the “true” (whatever that is) essense of America because he was not from here. He observed what we could not. That concept of not being able to see what is in front of you fascinated me. A dear friend and talented photographer, Joanne Dugan, teaches a course at International Center of Photography called “On Seeing What’s Right in Front of You”. She and I often have the discussion on how to film NYC with fresh eyes. I find her approach very liberating.
There are several extraordinary photographers who have focused on New York. A recent find that might be useful is“New York in Color” by Bob Shamis. This is a collection of different photographers. You can start your search here and see who inspires you.
Feel free to mention below any links to films, photographers, tricks and tips etc that have been beneficial to you in filming NYC.
Photograph above is a production still from the film, “Jackie” directed by Tamika Guishard and DP’d by yours truly. Courtesy of uber talented photog, Quinn Miller-Bedell.
Chat film with me @CybelDP.
by Bob Martin | Jan 2, 2013 | Art, Film, Live Performance, music, Theater
Picky, Picky, Picky is how I describe much of the conversation surrounding the 2012 release of Les Misérables. The noise is that the movie is not the (Musical) play and that of the director’s choice to shoot and record the actors singing live on camera, (no lip syncing) making some viewers uncomfortable. Too bad.
There have been over ten theatrical or movie interpretations of Les Miserables and not one of them was the original story. Critics and some viewers wasted their time in not seeing this movie production as something new vs. comparing it to what they had already seen and knew. It’s OK not to like this film, but dislike it because it’s a movie you don’t like and not because it is not the play.
Les Miserables 2012 is an original piece of art, a spectacular movie, beautifully staged, acted and in most cases well sung. If your thought is that the Broadway musical is the only experience you want to remember or have then don’t see this film. It is different and special in its own way.
by Bob Martin | Dec 27, 2012 | Actors, Art, Concerts, Directors, dvd, Exhibits, Film, Movies, music, Writing and Speaking
Christoph Waltz and Jamie Foxx
Quentin Tarantino, the over hyper creative genius, and his new film Django Unchained flirts with mastery. The film is maybe 15 min too long but its close enough(more about the 15 min later). If you’ve seen a ton of movies in your life, you will find a reference to just about every one of them in Django Unchained, that’s what Tarantino does, except in this one “The Guys with the White Hats” loses out. Directors like Sergio Leone, Alfred Hitchcock, George Stevens, Tim Burton and many more have contributed unknowingly to this creative effort and again this is no knock on Tarantino’s creative talents, it is his creative talent in using themes we are all familiar with and in some cases turning them upside down that makes us laugh and maybe even think.
The film makes no pretense that the story of Django is based on anything remotely true and yet still is able to paint an ugly picture about this country’s past. The movie is often hilarious, heart breaking (for some of us) and outrageous. Tarantino has created an African America Super Hero who rides a horse that mimics Trigger and thus slaps down the fable of “Guys with White Hats” being the good guys. There is room here for a sequel(s), the son of Django Part 2.
The movie is gory, so if you find vampires, Bruce Willis, Jason Bourne or Bambi disturbing you should avoid Django and not see it. The dialogue at times is that of two 9 year old inner city kids acting out scenes from a movie, with a child’s emphasis on vulgarity. As promised, the wasted 15 min: Cutting the number of times the N-word is used in half to about 70 would make the film shorter giving Tarantino his masterpiece. Spoiler alert, no other movie that I’ve ever seen has approached the subject of Black Slavers (Blacks who enslaved other Blacks) and while its not gone into in great depth it has not been swept under the rug either and I am not sure how open Black America is to this fact. In addition Stephen (Samuel L. Jackson) is an important and complex character in the film, similar to, but a more repulsive, Colonel Nicholson (Bridge on the River Kwai) who are both blinded to their own culpability.
Django Unchained is enormously entertaining and not a source for cultural or political debate and yet people will feel a need to see it as some referendum about current, past or future events. What can be debated is that Tarantino got to do a film that no African American director would be allowed to do, and that should be debated (and not with me). Django is a movie, just like Les Miserables, Jack Reacher, Lincoln and Silver Linings Playbook are all just movies. Django just happens to be really good.
- Django Unchained: A love Story (visionarywateringhole.wordpress.com)
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- Django Unchained is a heroic love story
- http://sonofbaldwin.tumblr.com/post/37790755920/to-be-unchained
by Sandy | Dec 22, 2012 | Art Travel, Exhibits, Museums
The De Young Museum in San Francisco, CA offers an exhibit of several paintings and sculpture owned by CBS founder William S Paley, (1901-1990).
The selections include work from the late 1800’s to the 1970’s. “Particularly strong in French Post-Impressionism and Modernism, the collection includes multiple works by Paul Cezanne, Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso, as well as significant works by Edgar Degas, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, Paul Gauguin, Andre Derain, Georges Rouault and artists of the Nabis School such as Pierre Bonnard and Edouard Vuillard.”
The William S. Paley Collection: A Taste for Modernism
Until December 30, 2012
De Young Museum, Golden Gate Park, S.F.
(Image: Paul Cézanne (French, 1839–1906), Milk Can and Apples, 1879–80)
by Sandy | Dec 19, 2012 | Arts, Entertainment and Music, Museums, Photograhy
I really enjoy looking at scenes of everyday life, the faces of everyday people. The Studio Museum in Harlem’s presentations always reflect who the inhabitants, of this small section of NYC, are and who they were so well. The latest exhibition is no exception: Harlem Postcards.
“Represented, revered, and recognized by people around the world, Harlem is a continually expanding nexus of black culture, history and iconography. Venerable landmarks, such as the Abyssinian Baptist Church, the Apollo Theater, Hotel Theresa, Audubon Ballroom and 125th Street, remain popular emblems of important historic moments and moods. The Studio Museum’s ongoing series, Harlem Postcards, invites contemporary artists of diverse backgrounds to reflect on Harlem as a site for artistic contemplation and production. Installed in the Museum lobby and available to visitors free of charge, Harlem Postcards present intimate views and fresh perspectives on this famous neighborhood.
This season we feature images by Albert Maysles, Philip Maysles, Frank Stewart and Deborah Willis.”
Harlem Postcards
The Studio Museum in Harlem – Until March 10, 2013
144 West 125th Street
New York, New York
(Image: Experiment on 114th Street (film still), 1964, Albert Maysles)
by Sandy | Dec 16, 2012 | Blogroll, Culture
There has been lots of talk regarding the Mayan Calendar and its apparent end of days date, 12.21.12. Last week, we celebrated 12.12.12 – a date thought by many cultures to be lucky, fortunate, blessed – best day to marry, to be born, etc. This week, we have the 21st of December, 2012. A date said to denote the end of the world because the Mayan calendar, prepared around 3000 BC ends, suddenly. Hmmmm.
I distance myself from “Dooms Day” scenarios and align myself with those in countries such as Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador or Honduras, where there will be joyous celebrations, with fireworks, on this date. They think of the following day, 12/22/12 as a beginning of the next phase – a “sequel”. Perhaps, an opportunity to create something different than what went before. Exciting, but certainly not an ending. As amazing as the Mayan civilization was with all its accomplishments, I just assume that at the time their calendar was prepared, 2012 seemed a very long time into the future and due to the size of the rock (tablet size constraints) on which it was carved, they may have just ran out of room. (Yes, I’m being facetious, but you follow my drift – don’t send me any nasty tweets.)
I don’t know about you, but I would prefer to celebrate 12/21/12, while acknowledging the Mayans for all they have given us, which includes the chance for the world to start over.
See ya on December 22!
by Bob Martin | Dec 14, 2012 | Art, Concerts, Events, Live Performance
Milton is inviting you to
‘The Party’
Come and let there be an experience of a wonderful event . .
Portrait of Jazz
full of fun, dancing, laughter and genuine enjoyment!
Sunday, December 16, 2012
The Prescott Jazz Society has continued this
Birthday-Christmas event through
the years offering the best in entertainment.
* This year you may review videos of ‘Prescott Jazz Legends’,
enjoy dining choices from a great American Buffet,
listen to a top-shelf Jazz Quartet featuring vocalist & pianist Steve Sandner
w/Ray Carter and drummer Jesse Yarbrough w/myself, Milt Cannon.
* Cocktails, dinner and concert will be from 3:00 – 7:00 pm.
* For the first time ever there will be dancing from 6:00 – 8:00 pm with
the disco band FUNK FREQUENCY (a very very exciting dance band).
* Also for the first time there will be the auctioning of a ‘Portrait of Jazz’.
(handsome adornment for the wall of any home or office)
Milt Cannon and Bob Martin’s Birthday.
The artwork has been donated to the Society by the gifted Phoenix, AZ
artist Bob S. Martin who will attend and also celebrate
the same birthdate as myself. Milton is inviting you to
‘The Party’
Come and let there be an experience of a wonderful event . .
full of fun, dancing, laughter and genuine enjoyment!
Sunday, December 16, 2012
The Prescott Jazz Society has continued this
Birthday-Christmas event through
the years offering the best in entertainment.
* This year you may review videos of ‘Prescott Jazz Legends’,
enjoy dining choices from a great American Buffet,
listen to a top-shelf Jazz Quartet featuring vocalist & pianist Steve Sandner
w/Ray Carter and drummer Jesse Yarbrough w/myself, Milt Cannon.
* Cocktails, dinner and concert will be from 3:00 – 7:00 pm.
* For the first time ever there will be dancing from 6:00 – 8:00 pm with
the disco band FUNK FREQUENCY (a very very exciting dance band).
* Also for the first time there will be the auctioning of a ‘Portrait of Jazz’.
(handsome adornment for the wall of any home or office)
The artwork has been donated to the Society by the gifted Phoenix, AZ
artist Bob S. Martin who will attend and also celebrate
the same birthdate as myself.
* Pricing: the Prescott Jazz Society remains true to our history of
offering you the maximum for the barest minimum.
$45.00 pp (reservation only- membership discount applies)
ADVANCE V. I. P. is only $38.00 pp (until Dec., 1)
(comes w/preferred seating with table service)
General Admission: $25.00 pp (no dinner; no table service)
* Please call now! (928) 237-7908 for early reservation
HASSAYAMPA INN~MARINA, 122 E.GURLEY ST., PRESCOTT, AZ
* Pricing: the Prescott Jazz Society remains true to our history of
offering you the maximum for the barest minimum.
$45.00 pp (reservation only- membership discount applies)
ADVANCE V. I. P. is only $38.00 pp (until Dec., 1)
(comes w/preferred seating with table service)
General Admission: $25.00 pp (no dinner; no table service)
* Please call now! (928) 237-7908 for early reservation
HASSAYAMPA INN~MARINA, 122 E.GURLEY ST., PRESCOTT, AZ
by Bob Martin | Dec 10, 2012 | Art, Live Performance, music
Chic Gamine
I really like this group. Nice clean sound and would enjoy seeing them live. Maybe at The Musical Instrument Museum (MIM) in 2013. Maybe someone is listening? Listen to more here Chic Gamine
