Similarly Crazy!

For all who dug that last post about the yellow bird camera, and also the X-Men. "The AlloSphere Research Facility is differentiated from conventional virtual reality environments by its seamless surround-view capabilities and its focus on multiple sensory modalities and interaction." check it out

WO this is crazy!

Emulation 3 Vittorio Storaro

Hello it's been awhile, but here is the latest short from my emulation series. This series is a chance for me to learn about, and interpret the work of some of my favorite visual artists.

Last week I focused on cinematographer Vittorio Storaro. In Storaro's long career he has explored many different techniques in order to turn light into an active character in his films. He shot films such as The Conformist, The Last Tango in Paris, Apocolypse Now, Ishtar, The Last Emperor, Dick Tracy, Goya in Bordeaux, and many others.

Though there is a seemingly endless amount of techniques and themes that Storaro evoked in these films, I confined myself to two or three that I found interesting. The overarching consept that seems to resonate in all of his films is the attempt to have light and color dictate the tone, emotion, political climate, or historical moment in almost every shot.

for instance in the conformist Storaro and Bertolucci use light and architecture to create a geometrically rigid feeling throughout the portion of the film that takes place in fascist Italy. Their intent here was to visually imprison their characters in these cages of light and order.

As the story progresses the Italians make there way to Paris. The city is portrayed as a land of freedom of thought, politics, trade, and sexuality. As they make this transition, the entire color scheme of the film changes into a beautiful deep blue dappled glowing tungsten bursts. Storaro says that this blue is to sooth and invite the viewer into this enticingly free society.

Also to note is the transition sequence where the protagonist and his fiance make love on the train to Paris. The scene starts out with obviously warm tones and then rapidly shifts to these deep blues.

This was the main concept behind my interpretation along with the confused haze that is created with colored smoke in Apocalypse Now.

Hope you enjoy it. We had a great time doing it. Thanks to the amazing musicians Gabe Pollack (Trumpet) and Cory Rogers (Drums) and other helping hands Sam Lawrence, Eli Steltenpohl, and Sashi Conway.

Emulation 3: Vittorio Storaro from Jake DeVito on Vimeo.