24 FPS

FILMS ARE MAGIC. TRUTH, LIES OR VARIATIONS OF TRUTH 24 FPS.

down by law sequence

THIS TIME CONCLUSION COMES FIRST, FOLLOWED BY THE 24FPS ARGUMENT.

ENJOY!

MUM'S GLASSES

Plus X, shot at 100 ASA
February 2010

Picture taken while having coffee with my mom and a friend, while mom was visiting last winter. I used to see her more often than I am right now, but today I'm celebrating with this post because she's in town.

2 empty bottles of beer

Agfa APX, 400 iso
March 2010

After the Saturday night party. Life in the film school dorm.

Old man, trainstation

Agfa APX, 400 iso
March 2010

Too bad it can't be seen in a large format, at a decent resolution. Love this old man's look.*

Any ideas on avoiding this "wonderful" compression?

* Glad to be back.

 

Old man

Four years old digital photo, the reason I like it is, that it's almost black and white, few grays, and 2nd, you can hardly see anything behind his eyes, but has such a gentle face that tells you everything about the way he is. I remember that he wasn't upset by me taking this photo, and had an attitude like, why are you photographing me, am I that interesting or intriguing? Maybe he was about to ask me something, but I left before he did. I found him near a market place, in Iasi.

Black and white

First roll of Fuji Neopan 1600,
December 2009, Bucharest

Test shot

Ilford Delta Pro, iso 400, Coloprint camera.

Street kids

Walking, talking and photographing.

Bucharest, February '10

No direction home

I wish myself a warm comeback to Bucharest!

Warmer days, more sleep, sunshine, less (no...) snow, spare time, reggae parties, trips with friends, travels around the world.

Prima ninsoare

Acelasi Canon, alt fomapan, aceeasi fereastra, acelasi etaj 7, alta perspectiva, o zi frumoasa, aceeasi prieteni.

January 2010

Cris and Alex at a friend's birthday reunion. Shot on old fomapan, iso 200, available light, a 60w light bulb.

Snow table and chairs,

Bucharest, December 15th, 2009

There's something about Manhattan...

Treat a boring day, a day which you spend with enormous lack of imagination, with a film. Take Manhattan for example, even though you've seen it before, this time it fits perfect on the situation. Well, you push play and your eyes see these incredible black and white pictures, little moving-picture postcards. Atmospheric gray shots, each with its own story, snowy streets drowned in evening lights, seen from the point of view of a puppy. Everything has a light taste of poetry, from New York's immense buildings seen by night, billboards and street signs that hurt your eyes, fireworks electrocuting the entire sky, leaving light dust behind. Rich blacks, slightly underexposed interiors where characters affected maybe by the city they live in, have endless conversations on a variation of topics, making no point at the end. Simple, beautiful compositions, shots where only highlights guide you through and help you follow the actors inside it. If I wouldn't be writing about a Woody Allen film, I would make a reference about the music played in the background, saying it's so..Woody Allen. Cinematography's so intimate, matching the story and the relation(ship)s between characters. Besides the way Gordon Willis handled photography, I love the fact that there's a joke or reference every step of the conversation, not just common humor, but sometimes sad or (auto)ironical and you find yourself laughing. Too bad that this 2.35:1 film can only be seen on a laptop.
Two things to mention before I stop writing, Diane Keaton made me think of Julie Delpy's character in Before Sunset, and second, Meryl Streep looked incredible, I'm just curious why Allen cast her for this part, not taking into consideration her acting talent.
Enjoy if you end up watching it!

Happy Holidays

Enjoy this time of year and a nice cup of hot chocolate.

A Bad Night

Trailer for Mala Noche

Gus Van Sant is best known by film freaks for his early work (Discipline of D.E., Mala Noche, Drugstore Cowboy, My own private Idaho). Future film freaks know him for Elephant and Paranoid Park and normal people for Good Will Hunting and maybe, Milk, the eight Oscar nominations blast. Whatever category you're part of, it's your business.

25000$ and 16 mm film Mala Noche took to be made in 1985. This high contrast, under and overexposed film tells the story of Walt's friendship with two illegal immigrants and his unfulfilled love with one of the boys. It's not a big deal this mixed up story about 3 guys, but the courage and sincerity behind it turned it into a great debut.
Walt, played by Tim Streeter is a young "privileged" American who falls in love with 16 years old Mexican, Johnny. While having the charm, but not having the money, he fails to make the stubborn Mexican share his feelings. What he gets though is his friend, another young and confused one by the name of Pepper. These two end up having a short, meaningless relationship.

An achievement of this experimental movie is that the non-narrative formula was very creatively sustained by, maybe sometimes improvised, but powerful cinematography of John Campbell. Along with film noir aesthetics there's also a grunge mood and look throughout this movie, and I don't mean Streeter's shirts and torn t-shirt he's always dresses with (he's the stereotypical Gus Van Sant character that you also see with Keanu Reeves and River Phoenix in his next film).
What makes this film a pleasure to watch are the grainy black and white shots (some people know what I mean...) along with the contrastry images. Powerful scenes are shot at night where you hardly see dark streets (by day or by night, I'm sure Portland doesn't look in real life the way this director shoots it) and characters wrapped in cigarettes smoke. In this film the heart shaped ashtray is always full and glasses always empty. A must see for the first category I named in the beginning.

Girl

All I wanna do...

Pe drum spre Peninsula!
There's good stuff when I'm coming back. I hope...:)

Bleach

A so called punk tribute, performance by the band "Cobe". See "Music stuff" post from April to understand.

Safe zone:)

N.O.1 photography

Linkul catre expozitia deschisa in luna aprilie in cafeneau-galerie Mond'art, insa, cu exceptia nudurilor.

feedback would be really nice:)

N.O.1 @ Mond'art Cafe & Gallery

N.O.1, expozitie arta fotografica @ Mond'art, 16 aprilie, h 19.
Be there for really nice drinks and, of course, for my photography exhibition:)!

Urmareste linkul in cateva zile N.O.1 photography