Cactus Garden on Abbott Kinney

glow 2010

This was the second time Santa Monica has hosted "glow," an all night art festival featuring large scale modern art installations sprinkled along the beach and in the parks around the Santa Monica Pier. The first festival was in 2008 and was modeled after Nuit Blanche, which started in Europe in the late 1990's. In 2008, we ventured into the world of glow, not knowing what to expect. While numerous exhibits were underwhelming, a couple were visually and conceptually awesome.  My favorite '08 installation by far was Shih Chieh Huang's  deep sea creatures made from trash installation under the pier (http://www.messymix.com/showvideo/exse08.php).

This year, we hoped to see something equally mind-blowing, but were severely disappointed.  While certain pieces were well executed, nothing was as spectacular as the sea creatures, and many things were not only conceptually boring, but they were so poorly executed that it led one to believe tonight was the first time the artist even actually tested their idea.  Projections weren't strong enough, many installations depended on "feedback" from crowd movement, but didn't really bring anything interesting or unique, and some pieces still weren't functioning or even present at 10:30pm (three and a half hours after the beginning of glow).  Among the better pieces were Hadrian Predock & John Frane's Luminous Passage, a "land bridge" leading the from solid ground to the edge of the ocean; Rafael Lozano-Hemmer's Sandbox, an interactive piece that actually worked; 18th St Art Center & LA Commons' Howling at the Sun, an enactment of a Native American myth about the battle between the Sun and Coyote; and Steve Roden's coast lines; two projections of vibrantly colored hand drawn Pacific coastlines, one heading north and one heading south.

DNA Sequencer by Syyn Labs
Would have been cool if it responded to touch and light as promised.
Instead, just a basically a light show to music.

Overall, the whole thing began to take on the feeling of a giant spread out rave.  Drunken teens roaming aimlessly with glow sticks in their hair.  The feeling of rogue creativity of 2008 wasn't even really present and no exhibit really stood up to the night.  It felt like there just wasn't enough light.  I hate to say this, but glow 2010 did not learn from glow 2008.  Despite my ardent hopes to the contrary, glow 2010 was an artistic and cultural failure.

My new toy: Hipstamatic

Capturing Cowboy Life in Modern Montana

After spending a week script supervising for a commercial project in Montana, it will be strange to return to civilization, but I hope and believe I’m returning armed with some valuable information. The project, a hybrid of traditional scripted spots and doc-style webisodes presented many interesting challenges, not the least of which is the location: a set of ranches nestled in the Crazy Mountains that receive no cell phone service and are connected by a series of single lane often dirt track roads tracing their way through valleys and cow pastures. In the spring and summer, the lifestyle there is idyllic and spending a week off the grid in such a beautiful and awe-inspiring landscape is revitalizing. Obviously, moving a film crew through this remote and sometimes forbidding location is a logistical feat of the highest proportions, but all of it is made much easier by the use of the Canon 5D and 7D camera. 

While the Canon DSLR video capable cameras have been transformed by DPs and ACs alike from consumer cameras by the addition of countless grip, focus, and sound equipment and firmware upgrades into professional tools of the highest caliber, many still have their doubts. While I think that with the right lenses and focus pulling, the 5D can look as beautiful as film, after having watched my company pioneer the use of this camera for the past year and a half, I am positive that it is one of the best tools out there now available to documentary filmmakers. Small, inexpensive, and supported by a relatively small crew, this camera allows a director the freedom to get right in the middle of organic moments that cannot possibly be recreated. During this project, I observed at close hand how it can allow the director, the camera operator, and the AC to all get their hands on a body and totally cover an event as it occurs, without getting in each other’s way. This is the only way to shoot verite. Here is the big lesson of Montana for me: equip yourself with a light and mobile camera package, hire an operator and an AC that are eager to shoot, and pick up a camera yourself. This seems like an obvious statement when you are working on a project that relies heavily on verite and has a small budget, but as a filmmaker, you belong in the action.

Montana: Toyota Tundra Shoot Days 0-3

Color Palette

Livingston, MT

 

 

 

Wheeler Butte School