Why Can't You Relax?!

One of the reasons I particularly love documenting the creative process on film sets is because there are always a bunch of people, each with a specific role, roaming around doing the best work possible to make a creative project come to life.  Film sets are the places where you get to see the unexpected, the original, the strange, the inimitable, the odd and everything else in between all at the same time (a bit like Life, come to think of it!). 

Last November, I got to photograph the beautiful and the musical on the film set of the Can't You Relax videoclip. The entire crew made up of one singer (Ruth Damas), 2 co-directors, a DP (director of photography),  2 lighting/technical assistants, 2 makeup artists, 1 hairdresser, 1 film set photographer and 4 dancers, came in at 8 am on a Saturday morning and left 10 hours later after a very long day of filming.

Before the day of the shoot, months of preparation went into pre-production which usually involve finding the location, the equipment, the crew members, planning the budget, the shots, etc.  And once the filming is done, everything goes into post-production where long hours are being spent editing the film, mixing the sound, adding special effects,  etc. And then when all is done you have 4 minute video ready to be show to the world!

Are you exhausted yet by the thought of how much work went into a 4 minute video?  Now can you imagine the work that goes into making a full feature film?

Relax! Just check out the video and more photos of the filming here. 

BEAUTY

A few weeks ago, someone posted this video on my FB wall. I'm always amazed to see what other artists are doing and how they provide us the opportunity, through their own work, to rediscover art to which we should all be exposed to more often.

Link to video: Beauty by Rino Stefano Tagliafierro

Never Sorry

The first time I heard of the Ai Wei Wei was a few years ago when the Sunflower Seeds project was being exhibited at the Tate Modern in London. The art installation was made up of one hundred million handmade porcelain sunflower seeds, covering the ground of the Tate Modern Turbine Hall. Each sunflower seeds had been painstakingly moulded, fired at 1300 C°, hand painted and fired again.

The process of fabricating these seeds is fascinating and seeing how real they look almost makes you want to eat them. But imagining creating a space filled with one hundred million seeds was absolutely mindblowing.  I was beginning to like this Ai Wei Wei.  There was something uncensored and limitless about his art.

So when I heard about the documentary Never Sorry, I just had to go see it.  The film — which received a special jury prize at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival —, takes you on a journey where you discover not only an audacious contemporary artist, but also an individual who confronts, opposes, denounces and disses the Chinese goverment with unrelenting verve and creative effrontery. Behind that soft spokeness, is a deep roar that seeks to bring change for his country and his people.

So if you do get a chance to see this unique film at a theatre new you or to rent the dvd, don't hesitate.  You really won't be sorry.