“SCARS” is a potent short movie about the part that lying can engage in and the outcomes it can have in our lives. My crew and I had a fantastic — albeit rapid — weekend working along with the movie crew to assistance build the visible content to assistance market this story, from in-character social media profiles to microsites and, of training course, the film poster.
I’ve constantly been fairly fascinated by the hard work it usually takes to put with each other a movie. Whether a complete Hollywood creation or a small art dwelling shorter story, a extraordinary selection of gifted people have to function alongside one another to totally remodel a banal studio or patch of outside house into one thing totally new and wonderful.
When I got the simply call from my acquaintances Tim Frazier and Jonny Zeller to be part of them on set for a handful of days, I jumped at the possibility. They warned me that their futuristic sci-fi thriller termed “SCARS” was heading to be established, shot, and struck in only a few times! If anyone could pull it off, I knew it would be this duo.
Tim and Jonny had the film crew put jointly, as effectively as a video production organization to handle driving-the-scenes images and online video, but no one to produce the significant-resolution inventive however pictures they wanted for a movie poster and other advertising content. Not understanding the complete scope of the brief film yet, I packed up my Nikon portrait kit and Elinchrom portable lighting and joined them for two of the 3 days on set.
A handful of scenes acquire location in a cadet coaching camp, and given that the tale is established someday in the long term, it was crucial to stage the shoot in a locale that was absolutely devoid of any modern day 21st-century markings. So they booked Fort MacArthur, a former coastal defense base in San Pedro, California that dates all the way back again to the 1890s. It is identified for its substantial concrete doors and walls that are sculpted ideal into the grassy hillsides all over the facility. It is a wonderful position to shoot because at any time of working day there is moody tender light-weight bouncing off the light grey concrete walls.
One of the most fantastic aspects I discovered is that images itself plays a job in the story of the film. A single of the characters (Prole) is a photographer, so a large amount of the images we took of her on the set featured her with a prototype sci-fi camera and a digicam bag with an easter-egg patch on it (The patch is a internet address, and if you form that in, it takes you to the character’s photograph website). Prole is just one of the kinder, quieter people. She does not instantly allow the viewer know what brought her listed here, but she is aware of the worth of documenting her story by way of her digicam.
We preferred to emulate the glance of a film nonetheless, so we selected the 50mm f/1.4 lens to lend a cinematic depth of subject and pull the characters forward. The two photos of Aris, one particular on the bus and the other in the firing array, are equally shot at 50mm at 2.2. Both images of Baker and Aris at the firing vary ended up captured performing off the DP’s cinema lights to preserve the mood. We applied Seize Just one Professional to crush the black tones a little bit and soften the colors.
I realized I would only have a quick amount of time with every single of the actors considering that the production program was packed. When on spot at Fort MacArthur, I straight away scouted a little recessed concrete doorway primary into the foundation that was only a short wander from makeup.
The trick to remaining an on-established photographer is carving out the space you need to have, the time you require, and then shaping your flashes… all in a way that doesn’t impact anyone else on the established. My lighting assistant and I desired to form the light into a “sliver” to mild the actors’ faces, hoping that slim slices of mild could enjoy on the film’s concept of scars showing on the entire body when a lie is instructed. We set up two lights on an Elinchrom 1200 pack, one particular bare bulb skimming across the decreased rear wall as track record lights, and the other with a 7-inch reflector guiding two black flags (with a a person-inch hole in between them). The around-spill from the most important light crammed in the actors’ faces although the light peeking by means of the flags highlighted their eyes.
We were being rather pleased with the results! It is often enjoyable to tackle a new challenge and understand about a various artistic outlet, and obtaining to just take a glimpse at the rear of the curtain of movie manufacturing like this was some thing I will not quickly forget.
You can enjoy Scars for you on the Omeleto YouTube Channel, and see some of my do the job on the project on the film’s Instagram.
Graphic credits: All photos by Paul Sargeant and Julio Dueñas
Jonny Zeller describes the film: “Scars” was at first penned as a response to a viral Reddit producing prompt, which was go through by in excess of a single million persons. The job is, first and foremost, a digital limited film. Having said that, my manufacturing husband or wife and I preferred to do much more than say, “HeY, Watch My Shorter Movie.” We’re obsessed (not in a strange way) with 360 Storytelling/transmedia so we developed a wide world-wide-web of above 100 supplementary written content deliverables intended to acquire the viewer on a tale-driven journey across platforms and deeper down the rabbit gap of a cinematic universe. Phony advertisements based on fictional in-entire world products, Snapchat and Instagram filters to accompany competition screenings, and an easter egg website website composed as just one of the most important people are just a couple of of the creative avenues used to garner awareness for the piece.
We’d like to believe that the film stands out in quite a few means, but we did fixate on the value of various cultures getting observed and listened to although creating a fictional one of our possess. The even bigger picture, though, was about the topic and message. In a film about lies and the marks they depart, the concept is relatively straightforward… at minimum on the surface area. “Don’t judge a e-book by its protect,” or, “There are two sides to every tale.” In “Scars,” modern society is split into three distinct castes primarily based solely on a person’s seen scars. The genuine planet is turning out to be extra and a lot more applied to producing snap judgments to the detriment of all. Our film attempts to show its audience that a person’s talent, really worth, or motivations cannot be determined by their outward visual appearance. In its place, it is their steps and, potentially, their individual inside motives for taking them, that ought to mild the way for how we treat a person another.
About the writer: Paul Sargeant is a photographer centered in Los Angeles and operates Sargeant Resourceful with his spouse Leanne. With BFA degrees in Photography and Illustration and more than 15 decades of functioning a successful pictures and artwork exercise, the duo understands the relevance of visible storytelling. Far more from Sargeant can be observed on his web page and Instagram.
