Jul/100
First footage of the ballet project
An early edit of our test footage of American Ballet Theatre's principal dancer Michele Wiles.
Shot 6/28/2010 at Manhattan Movement and Arts Center to RED 2k, 3k, 4k formats.
Director: Nicholas LaClair
CO: Michael Cano with Unfolded Films
Gaffer: Katie Vukovich
Sound and moral support: James McCullough
Only a test to get us out of the dark woods of high frame rates with the RED. In the end (because we didn't have enough light to keep the noise down) I decided to retreat to the Aesthetic of Paul Himmel and his wife Lillian Bassman - the pair of fashion photographers who were married for 73 years before his death in 09 and whose work is strikingly similar ... I've been looking at a lot of his work lately, and just added two of his books to my collection: the first is a mid-fifties printing of "Ballet in Action" and the second is a recent retrospective. They're gorgeous and easy to get lost in; I'll have to post a handful of the images soon.
Paul Himmel - Ballet Sylvia “Pas de Deux“
Lillian Bassman
May/100
Short Film Project
I'm really excited to be working on a short film highlighting the spirit and process of ballet - a treatment idea I've had for some time and is recently taking shape. It will feature a principal ballerina with American Ballet Theatre (ABT) named Michele Wiles. She's simply amazing - one of the best in the world. For more on her see her site and her profile on ABT).
She moves like no other, and I eagerly look forward to capturing that on film. Here are a few clips from another video collaboration of hers: | 1| 2 |.
See what I mean?
I sat down with Michele and her fiancee James last week to discuss our treatment and begin the process of logistics with a hopeful shoot date in the fall. I'll keep you posted. Meantime we're going to kick out a small studio project later this month filming her turning - more of an instructional film on proper technique, which will serve as my camera and lighting test and a chance to see what the RED can do at 120 fps.
I'll keep you posted.
Favorite
NYTimes Photography Blog
- Top Award Winners at Perpignan Festival 7 September, 2010Frédéric Sautereau, Stephanie Sinclair and Damon Winter were among the top award winners at a photojournalism festival in France. […]By JAMES ESTRIN
- Shooting Film in an Afghan Police Station 3 September, 2010Christoph Bangert wanted to try something new for portraits he was taking in Afghanistan. He used film. […]By DAVID W. DUNLAP
- Pictures of the Day: Havana and Elsewhere 3 September, 2010Who else? […]By MERRILL D. OLIVER and DAVID W. DUNLAP
- Pictures of the Day: Mozambique and Elsewhere 2 September, 2010Protests turned deadly in the capital. […]By MEAGHAN LOORAM and KARLY DOMB SADOF
- Watching a Teenage Girl Die by Mortar 2 September, 2010In war, emotions run high. Adam Ferguson has found that can help as well as hinder, Eirini Vourloumis reports. […]By EIRINI VOURLOUMIS