I shot this short film for first time director Martha Early in late summer, 2009.  It stars Alicia Rose and Rosalie Lowe. TAGLINE: After a nasty breakup, a young woman must choose between companionship and sanity when her new confidant exhibits sinister tendencies.

Sinister indeed. In conceptualizing the look of the short, Martha and I wanted to progressively reflect the relationship’s descent into darkness through camera work and lighting- a process I will cover more deeply in subsequent posts.  At this time, I’d like to share a few insights I have about the trailer itself.  Fair warning: its about to get both technical and philosophical up in here.

I color corrected this trailer in Apple Color, after Martha edited in ProRes 422 HQ 1080p24.  Using ProRes ensured the footage stayed a little bit pliable, which for me was more important for the trailer than the actual film.  When shooting a scene for a film, I maintain consistent light levels from shot-to-shot so that all coverage can be consistent.  Color correction is usually about small tweaks in skin tone values in different shots- a natural extension of the photography that allows a scene to cohere, assuring a viewer’s attention to the performance.  When the photography works, color correction can make a great contribution on a subconscious level.

A trailer ends up an amalgamation of shots broken away from scenes, edited together more for representative value than any other trait.  Just like an individual scene, there is a thread to each trailer that must hold together.  The stakes aren’t just that the performance might not get across, but that the viewer will pass up the film entirely.  With this in mind, it was important to color correct the trailer as if it were a scene itself.  The challenge being shots pulled from scenes that are entrenched in different lighting moods with very different skin tones and color temperatures.  This is where ProRes came in handy in this situation, allowing me to give some of the footage a tug and a nudge without sacrificing quality.  The photography in this film was largely about the actress’ facial expressions telling the story, and for that to be preserved through the trailer so naturally made me very happy.