In my first attempts I used the typewritten font which echoes the themes of the writer in the story and composited the television static with blending modes to give it a screen quality.  The connection between the dream and nightmare world in the film was central to the story, so I placed the image of Joe framed in a vignette lit by the blue screen while  No Face and Anika  are engaged in a struggle in the distance. I liked the melancholy and strange dark mood of the image, but it lacked the strength and energy that I wanted. I began to experiment with some texture effects and also discovered the great font, “Steel Tongs” which was great for creating a very quick billing block. I continued to work on a few fast and dirty incarnations while simultaneously working on a web site, finalizing mixes, and onward.  I approached my longtime collaborator Everett Weng who was in the midst of working on a series of portraits and a sketchbook portfolio, but he agreed to lend a hand. We decided to start from scratch. I went back into the film and pulled many stills. We used our I Disks on MobileMe to transfer images back and forth.  Then we’d meet up and discuss further steps. Everett’s first incarnation was already very different from mine.  Coincidentally the version I was working had the same core idea. Everett’s eye for line and detail came into play as a landscape in shadow began to emerge. However fascinating this new direction was, we both agreed that it felt far from complete. Continued later this week….

Besides our issues with resolution we were confronted with the very awkward format of the movie poster. The elongated rectangle we all know and love evenly lit under the movie marquee, enticing us to enter the movie theater and go on a ride for an hour or two, was in effect a design headache. We started thinking more about the psychological perspective of our main character, since much of the film is from his experience of memory and time. Everett took lead on design.  He simplified the keyhole shape drawing greater emphasis on the figure. He also greatly stylized the features of our lead actress Michal Sinnott. At first I was a little worried that this creative license might take away from the actresses real life beauty. But I also believe that our common aesthetic has become too slick and plastic subduing innovation, interest and originality. That Michal is both stunning and genuine as a person and actress only heightens the fact she is playing a complex character with more than one mask. I knew when I gave another artist some creative freedom of interpretation that the results might push the boundaries of my own creative vision, but this is exactly why I believe that collaboration is so important–whether it be one image in a poster or a hundred thousand moving in a film.

cinematography reel2 from Damian Calvo on Vimeo.

I like a lot of things, but reels aren’t one of them. I’ve edited reels professionally and have seen more than my fair share. Taking moments on film out of context  is antithetical, in my opinion, to the goals of cinematography. However, I agree it’s a necessary compromise when you are trying to expand your reach and get more work. I was impressed by the way Final Cut Studio 3 handled all the different formats in the same time line. I had difficulties in compressing and creating a high-quality DVD to send to a producer who requested it.The settings for “best quality” did not yield favorable results. The amount of aliasing, and the loss of color was unacceptable. The information on the net was surprisingly scarce. One tutorial said for short content, the uncompressed master imported directly into DVD Studio Pro would yield a better result. But this version did not play with the right aspect ratio or on a computer. Another tutorial said to boost the quality settings in compressor. This version turned out better, and for now it’s the one I’m sending out. The option of spending 500 dollars on a professionally authored DVD isn’t practical on a tight independent budget.

It’s been a wild and crazy couple of weeks. I’ve been working with a collaborator to photograph ten years worth of huge oil paintings. We’ve been shooting with the Cannon 5D MII and the Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0 L. Both the camera and this particular lens have performed very well.  Shooting in tethered mode we were able to quickly see the results on a laptop. Using Skype we were able to work with our sister studio Fotofuelle in Madrid who was able to see and interact with us while we worked. We used a mix of fresnels and open face 1ks and 250’s to achieve an evenly distributed light.

Later in the week we set up a couple of large industrial tables for some tabletop photography and future stop motion tests. The idea is to go back to the fundamentals: light, shape, color, surface refraction and reflection but on a smaller scale.

Finally one day I devoted to trooping through the snow in LIC to take some street pics. It’s important to me to keep working on subject matter in different scales.

motion and workflow test 7D from Damian Calvo on Vimeo.

Sadly, I realized I would have very little time to work the sound design which I personally consider to be 50% of any project. But I promised my cast and crew that we would participate—and I had to make sure I had time to upload the project.

As the compression started, I was dismayed as the estimated time kept growing. The next four hours were spent in super suspense watching a little bar move across a screen. The bar moved very slowly. It was going to be close. I had another compressed version going on a laptop when I probably should have somehow networked the render. I uploaded my first test compression to my page well before midnight but it didn’t work. After some investigation the settings had been off. The back up compression was correct but would land on or just after the deadline.

With five minutes to go, I filled out the form and began my second attempted upload. But it cut out and sent me to a page “not found”. When I returned to the contest page I was greeted with the red letters. The submission time was over. Several min later I succeeded in uploading the 3rd attempt which worked with synced sound.

Days of no sleep and feeling like I disappointed the people who worked with me weighed on me. I tried to make it back home to my bed but instead fell asleep on the F train and ended up somewhere in Brooklyn. While waiting on an empty platform for what seems like hours, I started to get some of my focus back.

Obviously, we didn’t do all this work to win a camera lens. Even on my small budget, I had already spent a sum equivalent to the cost of a lens and zeroed out my bank account. My motive was the challenge of the project and the exposure and feedback the work might get. The actors also liked the challenge, but the ultimate reward would be exposure and a body of work to add to their reels. The next morning I’d wake up as early as possible and follow up.

The next morning I hit the forums and wrote a letter. Meanwhile my cast joined vimeo and shared the video on their facebook streams. Although we did not receive the direct support of the contest we started getting views, comments, and likes. Immediately we channeled them through flickr, twitter, stumble upon, dig ect. The exposure was less than we would have gotten if I had been able to get the project into the competition, but we were able to garner sustained attention to our work through our own independent efforts. However the “Beyond the Still” forum was very supportive. Vimeo continues to be one of the best online communities. The quality of the work there can be very humbling.

On the forums other filmmakers wrote about difficulties they had encountered. Vimeo responded saying that we should follow up. And finally just before the next still was released we heard back, with some encouraging words – But no go on being able to participate in the group.

It is frustrating to work so hard and not see our work in the contest, but as of this writing, the producers, actors, and I seem to want to go for it again. The discipline imposed by the 4 minute format revealed areas that could be simplified and streamlined. We have begun building a team that works well together and that can produce quality work with limited time and money. We understand some of the limitations of High Definition—especially when it comes to further study of the process in post. I think we’ll see a lot more short projects in the near future.

The Heist from Damian Calvo on Vimeo.

Laura began to schedule the weekend shoot, draw up call sheets, script breakdowns, the endless tasks of a production office of one. We searched for props: gass mask hazmat suit, sighting telescope. Laura wrestled with Mandy and Craigs List for crew and we contacted a few but due to technical problem they didn’t receive their call sheets and so I was left to dress, light, and shoot scenes by myself.  Despite this setback we otherwise used Gmail calendar and Google docs with great success for organizing and sharing information.
The day we got access to the LIC studio, just under a week before the deadline, we began our load in.  In addition to helping my friend move, I also had to transport all my cinematography equipment: lights, stands, sandbags, etc. In a day there was perfect chaos of stuff beckoning work for the next day.

The studio had one obvious problem.  It had been painted very poorly. The linoleum floor had been removed but the black tarry glue remained just under a coat of cheap common house paint. It easily came up and got over everything, so we covered the floor with as much Masonite and cardboard as we could. Already the dirty part of the project was introduced.

Production began on Saturday, the day before the Super Bowl.  The night before I had set dressed a “stake out room” improvised with cardboard milk crates and anything else I could find, and set up my lights. That morning, as I prepared to work with my actors I was elated and all my fatigue faded away as I plunged into the project. I forgot about the contest, stopped worrying, and entered into a happy here and now with Jason and Ray working through nuances of expression and dialogue.

That night I reviewed some of the dailies and attempted to color grade a still in Photoshop. Half of our shooting time was over and we had only covered one page of pretty static dialogue. I quickly had to reformulate, cut out an extra character, condense what I already had, and prep for day 2:  Super Bowl Sunday.

I was amazed to learn that Ray had been a football player in college and he had been invited to watch the game at the house of someone very important but instead he chose to be making movies with us. All throughout I thanked my lucky stars for this cast who suffered but never complained. It was almost too much fun, but hard on the body. The long hours all evaporated like water on a hot day.

Sunday started with a decision: Whether or not to include a van for the get-away scene.  I had not been able to get a van donated, so we would have to come up with the money.  At the last minute a beneficent angel investor came to the rescue, so Jason and I had to take time out from acting and directing to go rent a van.  We walked through misdirection all over Long Island City, but we finally found the rental company even though it strangely had a different name, and the van, which I thought was going to be unmarked had large logos.  At this point, I was just going to have to find a way to shoot around them.

Back at the studio, shooting went up quickly.  My shot list was the loosest it’s ever been. I shot some MOS pickups, Directed them through a dream sequence I hadn’t storyboarded. But this wasn’t about storyboards and previz this was more flowing the actors dogma style and using natural light and simple studio light.
I shot and shot. I had a van, a few hallways, the elevator—there must be a way of using that too.  I began to experiment with different shots and dialogue, and working hand held. We worked until late at night. When we finally wrapped Jason and Ray promised to give me more time if needed.

I had been looking forward to working with Sofia since we met in casting. Her grace and professionalism were second to none. We set up to shoot as the news promised a huge blizzard. She trooped through the long cold streets in heels just to capture a few moments on film. She brought her own magnificent wardrobe, gave to the camera, and worked like a star.
Finally, I was alone, on the roof in the middle of a snow storm shooting a scene where I was both camera person and subject at the same time. The film needed a strong last still.  At 8am after being awake for over 24 hours I finally got the opportunity I had been looking for: The water tower amongst the smoke and snow:

Watch The Heist here
One night I was surfing around the different groups on Vimeo, and found the contest “Beyond the Still” co-sponsored by Canon and Vimeo.  I watched “The Cabbie” by Vincent Laforet and read the contest rules. I liked the idea of continuing the story of another through a single evocative last still:

and after working on a feature-length project in post for a few years, I was attracted by the idea of doing something quickly with a ‘hard’ deadline.  Best of all, I had access to a Canon 7D and felt the contest would help me test the possibilities of this camera.  After reading the contest rules, I said to myself, “I want to do this”.

For me personally, it was both the best and worst of times to embark on a new project.  The good news was that I could pool resources that I had established in New York City while shooting previous projects.  The bad news was that I was stretched very thin financially, so this project was going to have to come about quick and cheap, which also implied dirty.
Because the contest emphasized the visual aspect of film, giving 75% attention to photography and cinematography,  it was an advantage to use New York as the setting because of the inexhaustible opportunities the city offers for beautiful imagery.  From a writer-director’s point of view,  however,  the story was more important than the  25% allocated by the contest and depended on having a good script and professional actors.  Again, the City offered the advantage of a large pool of  talented, well-trained actors.  However, shooting in New York had its disadvantages:  Cold weather and high real estate prices.  We would be in production during February, the coldest month of the year.  That meant finding an interior location where I could work with actors in relative warmth and safety for next to nothing.  Fortunately a fellow artist was about to move into a small studio in Long Island City and allowed me to use it as a location during the week prior to the contest deadline.  That would be cutting it very close, but I decided to go forward with the project anyway.

Photography is one of my greatest passions and my haven.  If I am worried or distracted, I sling a camera over my shoulder, go out for a walk, and start shooting pictures. I like to find the extraordinary and beautiful inside the ordinary and overlooked. It is my version of zen meditation.
Filmmaking is not like that.  In fact, it is just the opposite.  As preproduction gears up, there are thousands of little details to take care of, and not enough time (especially in this case) to resolve them all.  That is why filmmaking is seldom a solo affair, but a team effort.  Fortunately, Laura Hammer and Chris Ferretti came on board, and I was able to concentrate on the script, and plan the photography.

Laura set up the fastest and most efficient casting I’ve ever seen a producer do, using online networks. Then BTS drama conservatory threw us a lifeline by letting us cast in their studio. Out of the 500 head shots and resumes submitted we narrowed our selection down to 20. In many ways we weren’t casting for a particular type but out of a pool of ideas for characters that we could cast into several projects. I wrote several scenes for sides the night before. Being an actress herself, Laura had an expert eye for scanning through resumes and the turnout was impressive. The session had the elated energy and movement of a workshop rather than the cold judgment of the usual casting call. At least this was my intention because I knew actors, young in particular, took a little bit of patience to crack open and let themselves shine.

I was immediately struck with both Jason Vail and Rayland Van Blake as Laura had them read together. There was a tension onscreen and a respect off screen that reminded me of the film The Defiant Ones by director, Stanley Kramer—Obviously this was a vague reminiscence and the two had tons of experience and good reels on You Tube.  Sofia Szabo had a combination of beauty and strength tempered with patience and strong work ethic. I also cast veteran actor Peter Disenna to bring grounding and wisdom. Given the time constraints I couldn’t shoot the role I had originally intended for Sofia so I rewrote her a new role. We had only days before the deadline…

Yew-Tree
There is a Yew-tree, pride of Lorton Vale,
Which to this day stands single, in the midst
Of its own darkness, as it stood of yore:
Not loathe to furnish weapons for the Bands
Of Umfraville or Percy ere they marched
To Scotland’s heaths; or those that crossed the sea
And drew their sounding bows at Azincour,
Perhaps at earlier Crecy, or Poictiers.
Of vast circumference and gloom profound
This solitary Tree! -a living thing
Produced too slowly ever to decay;
Of form and aspect too magnificent
To be destroyed. But worthier still of note
Are those fraternal Four of Borrowdale,
Joined in one solemn and capacious grove;
Huge trunks! -and each particular trunk a growth
Of intertwisted fibres serpentine
Up-coiling, and inveteratley convolved, -
Nor uninformed with Fantasy, and looks
That threaten the profane; -a pillared shade,
Upon whose grassless floor of red-brown hue,
By sheddings from the pining umbrage tinged
Perennially -beneath whose sable roof
Of boughs, as if for festal purpose decked
With unrejoicing berries -ghostly Shapes
May meet at noontide: Fear and trembling Hope,
Silence and Foresight, Death the Skeleton
And Time the Shadow; there to celebrate,
As in a natural temple scattered o’er
With altars undisturbed of mossy stone,
United worship; or in mute repose
To lie, and listen to the mountain flood
Murmuring from Glaramara’s inmost caves.
-William Wordsworth

The poem obviously treats an experience in England and not Spain, but I felt that the Image coupled with the description in the poem had the desired effect. Words and images are part of a soul of a film and sometimes you have to go back to the roots.

Share The Streets: Lighten Up! was chosen to screen at the Biking Rules PSA Festival premiering November 17th, 2009 at BAMcinématek.

The short was photographed with a point and shoot camera, and finished with titles and music in After Effects.

Along with the short to promote bicycle safety a selection of my photographs was also featured at the festival.

flickr.com/photos/damiancalvo/sets/72157622483859406/

I was inspired to share my filmmaking with a cause that promotes better living in my city. The music is NIN Ghosts 29 IV.

The event was really great. It’s both humbling and exhilarating to see your images so big.
I was impressed at the quality and creativity of the work presented. I sincerely hope that it will happen again next year.
Inspired by the theme of biking life in the city, I will continue to post pictures on flickr as possibly the start of a longer series,

Over 80 artists submited new and creative images, documentaries, narratives and animations that promote safe, civic-minded cycling as part of T.A.’s Biking Rules campaign. Come see the premiere of jury-selected PSA entries at BAMCinematek.  The evening will include prizes and a special reception afterward with free beer courtesy of the Brooklyn Brewery. http://bikingrules.org/

Special thanks to Laura Hammer

http://www.laurahammer.com/blog/?p=85

Special thanks to Marin Tockman

http://www.youtube.com/user/BikingRulesPSA1

Check out Street Films

http://www.streetfilms.org/biking-rules-psas

Written and Directed by Aaron J. Wiederspahn With David Strathairn,  Ian Somerhalder, Daniel Gillies, Jane Adams, Joseph Mazzello, Elisabeth Waterston, Scott Wilson. Executive Producer Buzz McLaughlin Cinematography By Christophe Lanzenberg Edited By Mario Ontal

“The Sensation of Sight” tells the story of Finn, a man who is overwhelmed by a tragic event, the exact nature of which remains a mystery until the end of the film. This personal storm destroys his inner compass and leaves him drifting without a sense of purpose.  He resolves to leave career, home, and family and set out on the quest for “Why”?

Aaron J. Wiederspahn the American writer/director of this film weaves a tapestry of seemingly disparate lives, which are all connected just under the surface. The film is divided into 4 sections, called verses, plus a prologue and epilogue. Upon this loom the story is slowly woven until the final pattern is revealed in a powerful climactic moment. Throughout the film the director employs long takes and sustained moments, while he manages to eschew cliché and go against the audience’s expectations. For any film, this would be its crowning achievement, but ‘Sensation’ holds us close and thus gradually pulls the audience into its world and characters.

Each section begins with a black and white memory.  These are not so much flashbacks as psychic imprints of moments too painful or joyous to forget. Without allowing us a crutch of information with which to protect ourselves and form judgments, Wiederspahn refrains from manipulating us, but rather treats us as equals–which may actually disturb the audience member who likes to “get it” immediately. But this isn’t the same old film stencil. We are allowed into a man’s private thoughts, into his world, and through him, into the lives of others.  However, structure alone could not sustain us through a prolonged period when we have more questions than answers.  The characters generate the interest and therefore the patience to wait–the patience to be open and curious. Released from the understanding of the full context of the characters’ behavior we are free to admire the humor and strangeness of everyday moments.

David Strathairn [Academy Award nominee for Best Actor for “Good Night and Good Luck” ] develops a physicality for his character, Finn, that expresses  thoughts that remain unspoken as effectively as it sustains the spoken dialogue. He is sure footed but burdened; meticulous and methodical but lost in his own logic. The acting becomes invisible, as Strathairn morphs into Finn. For Strathairn [Finn is] “a bit of a fool—not a silly person, but a fool in the tradition of the great fools who are out there slipping on banana peels … and laughing about it…or like Beckett’s great image of a man face down in the mud laughing.”

“A Prologue to ‘Why” begins with a blurry black and white memory, a sad dispute between a husband and wife. The audience doesn’t know why there is sadness and confusion, but we are allowed through an uninterrupted take, to witness the despair of these people without knowing why they are in distress.  Finn says “ would you prefer me feigning some locked grasp on the Seed of Wisdom?”  “Who ever understands the complexities of ‘why’?” asks his wife Deanna played by Ann Cusack. At moments the dialogue moves into poetry, where the context weighs both the specific and the universal.

Throughout the movie Finn pulls a wooden box ferried on a child’s wagon.  The box contains the only worldly possessions he has chosen to take with him on his quest.  Among these is a set of encyclopedias that he sells one by one to each of the supporting characters in turn.  Ironically, the encyclopedias are of no use to Finn because they do not hold the answers to his questions.  In this sense they are a meaningless burden.  However, they do serve the purpose of giving him a reason to get up in the morning and an activity to carry him through the day.  They are also a link to the past, an anchor, an inheritance, a promise…

We meet each of the characters in beautifully composed single takes absorbing their lives through the spaces they inhabit, and all the while gaining an intuitive sense of these people, of a connection, or commonality that is present and accessible but never obvious. We meet Dylan,  Daniel Gillies , (Spiderman II, and Bride and Prejudice) surrounded by American floral patterns in a house where the objects have accumulated over time; The Drifter, Ian Somerhalder, (Lost, the Vampire Diaries) and Tripp, Joseph Mazzello, sitting in front of a fireplace listening to a  record;  Tucker, Scott Wilson (In Cold Blood, Dead Man Walking, and The Last Samurai.”) saying goodnight to his daughter, Daisy, Elisabeth Waterston;  Alice, Jane Adams , (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Little Children ,HBO series Hung) playing with her daughter, Ruthie, Cassidy Hinkle. Through these full figured portraits we form a first impression of these characters and their individual joys and struggles.

Dylan (Daniel Gillies) sees Finn at the local dinner and invites himself to sit down. His manner is bitter, confused, even blatantly cynical and condescending. “Are you still having trouble figuring things out?” He asks Finn.  Dylan speaks of everything Finn is trying to avoid–his teaching job, his wife, and painful memories. This interaction deftly exposes their failure to communicate or understand one another in spite of a common history in the same hometown.
Even the minor characters in the film are played by talented actors who contribute greatly to the tone of the film. Dylan asks a Police Officer played by Lisa Bostnar “you wanna box? ” Leaning in slightly, she replies with a cold deftness “you don’t want none of this son”.  As outright annoying to his fellow man as Dylan can sometimes be, his haphazard lack of tact provides a pivotal comedic counterpoint to the film. Simultaneously his tragedy, his estrangement from his wife and child, is at the root of the film’s central dialogue and exploration.

A young boy coasts through the landscape on his bicycle. He’s alone and out of sync with the world—a world that isolates the lonely even more.  Although the film focuses on themes of loss and isolation, it also explores a diverse array of human interaction: Mother and daughter, husband and wife, father and daughter; and centrally, the relationship of a father towards his son. It’s a story that manages to deal with tragedy as well as find sweet redemption for it’s main character. The ending doesn’t pretend to universally cure the loneliness of all the characters. Instead the satisfaction comes from a plot that has been intelligently tied together and characters that continue to live on in our minds far after the screen goes black.

Rent it, buy the DVD http://www.thesensationofsight.com/buy-the-movie
Read more about the movie and watch the trailer. http://www.thesensationofsight.com/