oooooh, smokey and fire-y.
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I’m lazy, don’t wanna make a Top10.
I hate photographing social events, mainly because I’m anti-social. Also because social events are usually all about who you photograph, and them posing, and faking their smiles. There’s nothing I hate more about photos than fake-smiling. But alas, we must photograph those sometimes… not so much about social events parties, but the events themselves.
I have a few rules that I follow. They might be strange rules, and nobody probably does it because they’re not anti-social like me, but I always keep them in mind.
– I never call out celebrities so I can take pictures of them. I don’t want them to see me — I do carry weird hair, and that calls attention… but that just goes with the hair — I don’t want them to look into my camera. I like that when they don’t look at my camera, it feels voyeuristic. LOL
– I never use flash. Flash is hard on the skin – mind you, sometimes events are so badly lit, it’s impossible to take photos without it. However, in those cases, sometimes I borrow/steal other people’s flashes. I believe the use of flash is only appropriate on studio settings, because when flash is used in a natural or “non-set-up” setting, it just makes it look out of place.
Plus, women who aren’t necessarily made-up like models for a shoot look rough with a flash hitting on their faces. Clear skin women looks very pale like zombies… and overall, people have shiny skin. Plus PLUS, flash in these cases make wrinkles pop up as if they were the grand canyon.
I have a lot of issues with flash.
– A natural pose is better than Pose-Hard. I rather catch a person standing naturally in conversation with someone else, than having to photograph them standing in pose and smiling at cameras.
– Be a tourist. I love photographing the stages and how the light hits different parts of the scenery. It makes the event about the place, as well as the people behind it. You know, the people who work on the stage and the lights.
So having said that, these are my Top5 Tips for Red Carpets Events from my photographing point of views – as well as a viewer at home ;P
I swear to god, Asians release single after single. It’s been like 2 weeks? And BoA has already release this 2nd single… which is more dance, and I dig more than Game. I still think she looks potentially Hyori-ish with the blond hair, but I also think that this blond hair washes her out.
Having said that. BoA dances in here. She can’t still match that rocking choreography on I Eat You Up, but this one is more my flare. This is her forte.
Just started a Greta Garbo Fake Criterion Collection, from the TCM Garbo Signature set. The only one I’m choosing not to do is Grand Hotel… and of course, the TCM archives. So I’m only missing Queen Christina, Anna Karenina, Camille and Ninotchka. ;P
My favorite fake cover… is between The Mysterious Lady and Flesh and the Devil.
In this one, I like the flame… which you know, I picked from the classic scene where they are lighting their cigarettes and the shot gets so awesome with the light. Of course, I couldn’t find a lighter, so decided to just use the flame. And in it, you can see a bit of that scene if you squint enough.
Plus, Flesh and Devil sounds so sinful and all about kinky passion. LOL Fire, right? xD
And The Mysterious Lady plays the whole spy thing. I’m not even sure if the gun fits the movie, it just looked like it did… it wasn’t too “period-like” and it wasn’t a modern shotgun.
It just didn’t feel right to use Greta Garbo and/or the movie stills. It seemed kind of… dull. That’s why I’m kind of disappointed on my version for Mata Hari. I couldn’t find a still of just the head piece, and I didn’t want to use Garbo’s face — as striking as it was — and I was about to use just the ring, but I guess it’s not really that striking.
And of course, Anna Christie plays on the whole “Gimme a whiskey!” line. After all, Garbo Talks! LOL
You can check the rest of the set here.
Anomalous Material just posted a Meme about 10 Things that Bring You Joy.
But before we start with mine… let me just say… “Forehead Titaes!” *giggles*
Okay, moving on… what are some of the things that bring me joy?
1. The sight of chocolate
In any shape or form. It doesn’t matter how pissy or how gloom I may be, I see chocolate and suddenly the world seems a better place. And forget about having a taste of the chocolate-y goodness.
Only without the Cannes part. xD
The Lima Film Fest opened tonight, at a freezing night for reporters. I saw people shivering, but we had to wait outside for people to go in before us… and you know I don’t do “social photos” I HATE, LOATH the social section on magazine and newspapers. So I decided to take more photos of the sceneries xD
And then camera people screamed at people “please, such-and-such a pose for this side too” so I felt obliged to take photos. And you know I hate using flash, even though it’s so dark… but I like blurry grainy photos anyway… so when I was going through the few photos I took, I thought… Hmm… wouldn’t they look nice in black and white?
So this is me trying some “classic” look.
I’m thinking of writing a 10 Tips for a Better Red Carpet event list. xD
Remember guys, it’s PASO, PASO, POSE. Not PASO, PASO, PASO… OKAY I’M GONE.
When did Eminem get such good DPs for his music videos?
Anyway, new single from Eminem’s Recovery album. Man, what a recovery. I don’t even like Rihanna, but this song is pretty good… and I hate Megan Fox so so much, but this is her best role yet, because she doesn’t speak.
Also Dominic Monaghan is looking kinda hot… always been, but it’s just him, being an abusive asshole on the video, and with the CGI fire – LOL, there’s something to the character. But then again, Eminem is also kinda hot there, so maybe my hot-radar is skew… I still wonder what he did to his face… but still some quiver. People kill the quiver when they speak usually… I never read Eminem interviews or articles. xD
I think I might need to do a shame-f*ck list. LOL
La Casa Muda (2010) – aka. The Silent House
Genre: Horror, Suspense
Directed by: Gustavo Hernandez
The Silent House tells the story of Laura, a young woman, and her father who decide to install themselves in their country house to fix it for sale the next day. At night time, Laura hears noises, so her father decides to check it out without ever returning.
The film, directed by Gustavo Hernandez, is supposed to be based on a true story from the 40s — I can’t tell for sure, though. The Silent House is very stylish, with prime photography, and nice sound design. The acting is fine, and it all should make a pretty good film, except it isn’t that great. Sure, the film is supposed to be a horror suspense, and it is in the beginning, but it gets boring 30 minutes into the film with repetitive running around, and cheap thrills without moving the plot… or lack thereof.
In the end, there’s a big reveal… of sorts, which isn’t that surprising. However, the lack of plot is just too much for a one 78-min-long shot — was it really one shot? It seemed like a DV camera, so it’s possible. Like I said, The Silent House looks really REALLY good, but that’s it.
2.5/5
COMPETENCIA OFICIAL – FICCION
Screenings:
Monday 9 – 8pm – Cineplanet San Miguel – Sala 1
Tuesday 10 – 5.15pm – Cineplanet Alcázar – Sala 1
Wednesday 11 – 3pm – Cineplanet Alcázar – Sala 5
Thursday 12 – 8.30pm – Cineplanet Risso
Saturday 13 – 8pm – Centro Cultural Católica – Sala Azul
Agua Fría de Mar (2010) – aka. Cold Water of the Sea
Genre: Drama
Directed by: Paz Fabrega
Cold Water of the Sea tells the story of a young couple about to get married that go on a holiday trip to a tropical “paradise”, when they run into a girl who seems to be lost in the middle of the night. When they try to find her parents, the girl has long gone, which creates a bizarre connection between the girl and the woman.
Perhaps Cold Water of the Sea’s best feature is its locations in the “exotic” beaches of Costa Rica, because neither characters nor situations live up to anything. It’s not as if we wanted high tension drama on this, but we at least expected to sympathize with the characters. However, we end up knowing little about them, having spent a bit less than 1.30hr into these people.
A lot of the time is spent on the little girl, who tells the couple that her whole family has died in a transit accident, when in fact they were alive. Why is that? “Kids are like that” stated the mother, but why did she come up with something like that? She is certainly more than a spoiled brat, treated differently from her three older brothers by her dad. There are certainly hints of Electra Complex in the girl, but nothing is explored. Instead, director Fabrega decides to make some sort of distinction between social classes? Just because one side of the story is set with a poor family at the beach, and the other of a well-off young couple at a fancy resort?
2/5
COMPETENCIA OFICIAL – FICCION
Screenings:
Monday 9 – 3pm – Cineplanet Alcázar – Sala 5
Tuesday 10 – 8pm – Cineplanet Alcázar – Sala 5
Wednesday 11 – 8pm – Cineplanet San Miguel – Sala 1
Thursday 12 – 10pm – Centro Cultural Católica – Sala Azul
Saturday 14 – 8pm – Cineplanet Primavera – Sala 1
What happened to MTV Breakthrough Videos?
The VMA nominations have been announced with Lady Gaga taking the lead with a record 13 nods (10 for Bad Romance, 3 for Telephone featuring Beyonce. Plus, 5 for Video Phone by Beyonce featuring Lady Gaga). Following that, Eminem with 8 nominations for I’m Not Afraid.
Gaga also makes a record by getting Video of the Year for Bad Romance, and Telephone. Plus, they were also nominated for Best Choreography alongside Video Phone – To make that clear, that’s 3 Lady Gaga related videos in the Choreography category. Like I said, Lady Gaga is pretty much the only thing worth keeping an eye out now.
Pink, or should I say Dave Meyers [I should really get to work on my Meyers Music Video Director post] who directed the video for Funhouse, was nominated for 2 VMAs including Best Directing and Best Editing. But you should really check out how fun Please Don’t Leave Me is. Wickedly twisted.
But here we are because of the Breakthrough category, because we all know that the Breakthrough category is the only category that is or could be potentially interesting. And here was the surprise… the most likely to win this year would be the one that won Video of the Year 2009 at the UK Music Video Awards. How outdated is that for the VMA?
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