I have been continuing to consider beautiful portraits. I keep coming back to the idea of the portrait as key to our project. Shelby mentioned that we need to move farther from the event and more to the individual subjects, it would help us turn the costume into the centerpiece. This seemed so key to directing our vision. I wonder if it wouldn’t help us to practice setting up these portraits of ourselves or friends just randomly to learn how to develop this style. The transition to video portraits will pose some significant challenges for us as we develop our style and for the subject to develop confidence and comfortability. We will have to have examples to show and clear direction to achieve our vision.
I was struck by the way Gus Van Sant really slowed down several times during Paranoid Park to take portraits of his characters. He used his signature walking down the school hallway take several times. This simplicity created a slowness that offered a space for reflection that can be challenging for video. I realized that this is one of his signatures that I love from several of his films. One of the strange effects I experienced was that when I was watching the film I found these sections sometimes so slow that I would initially get distracted and even bored. The fascinating thing is that these are the images that really stayed with me for days after the film. If you haven’t seen these films or at least these sections I would recommend seeing them. If you only have time for one I think PP does a great job. I included a portrait from Paranoid Park above and Elephant, Last Days and Gerry following for inspiration.
Finally, I couldn’t leave off the portraits we reference so often from Confessions of a Superhero.
I love the visual theme in all the portrait’s backgrounds. The lines creating depth of field become familiar, and tie them all together nicely. They are a fine example of creating depth on screen and unfolding the space of the world on the other side of the camera.
We should begin making notes on visual ideas we have… maybe we can open a ‘brainstorm’ post and keep editing it
that is a great idea. I like the idea of “Visual Brainstorm”. I also really like the elements that you notice when you look at these images. I don’t know why I like them, I just know that they move me somehow.