For any visual medium of art I work in, design is always at the forefront of my mind. The depth and richness of worldbuilding, motif and character that can be found in the minor choices (both subconscious and conscious) is one of the most satisfying things for me to impliment in work I am apart of.
Since this ws my capstone, I was focused on directing and writing, but additionally I also was also the PD. I deligated on set work to the Art Director. With the film's color pallette it was important to me that shades of purple/blue and yellow/orange were maintained. This allowed the greens in the film to pop out comparatively.
This pushed me to my limits. I couldn't execute some of the depth I was looking for in the night scenes compared to what I had written in the script. However, I think I still maintained a reasonable and cohesive design. With the help of the director of photography and sound design I was able to wrap everything together in a painterly and divine way, which was ultimately the goal.
This film (as of date) was my largest undertaking, as well as my most refined look in a film. Lambkin is about a medieval tavern owner's daughter surviving a raid on her village. The film isn't entirely period accurate (for budgetary and time reasons), but the goal was to avoid having anything that overly distacting about the film's look. For that I think I waas successful. The art team was completely understaffed, leaving me alone the majority of the shoot to handle, design and build props, practical effects, makeup, hair, costumes and dressing for the entirety of the film.
We rented from a local costumer/collector who had plenty outfits to choose from. This included weapons, set pieces and other props. This was the major reason the script was remotely possible. I designed who had what, what made the most sense, what was the most comfortable for actors and then dressing and undressing actors. Many minor details within character's outfits represent social standings as well as different motifs.
The whole of this film was shot in an empty barn that was being converted into a wedding venue. I managed to turn it into a passable tavern for the day of the shoot. Via thrifting, antiquing and borrowing everything I could get my hands I fully fleshed the barn out.
I only worked for one day as the PD on set. My goal was to give character to the decoration of the protagonist's childhood bedroom. The design of the film fell towards eclectic and childhood whimsy. Yet it is also underlined by inevitabilty and cycles of nature. A lot of this was recycled from my own life, allowing me to focus on minor details: imperfections like the cards not all perfectly stuck to the wall or toys messied about, etc.
Another film I wrote and directed, this film is a little different. The focus of this film was just to make a cohesive piece blending digital volume and real life elements. The whole film was shot on a soundstage inside a popup trailer on a LED volume. I was mostly focused on the look of the film rather than the normal directing duties.
The film was really trying to find the cluttered and cold feeling of living isolated and away; this sense of dread, neglect and regret filling the mind of this old man in the coming apololypse scenerio. The focus lay in the close details of the wardorbe, as well as in the items scattered about. With the nonexistent budget and little time used to make this film, I believe that the elements blend very well and satisfy the goal of this film. The main takeaway I learned was importance of real life elements when working on an LED volume.
For sophmore film the goal was to make a neon-noir aesthetic film. Each character has their own color: cyan, magenta a yellow respectively. Taking place in just two locations, I used color very verbosely in lighting and objects to make each moment pop and draw your eye. This is amplified with the music and inclusion of the dance number.
The film was very speical effects heavy. I built my own rain machine, I developed my own co2 powered blood squib and I worked on all of the sfx wounds in the film. I also handled the use of prop firearms. I handed off the project to have an editor to sell the bullet hits, as well as an instance of breakaway glass.
I have worked on many films throughout college, as well as one donation video professionally. Here are some stills from them I found worth showing.
