ABOUT FACE, AFI Cycle 1, Cinematography by Justin Kane

Puppy love can be a dangerous thing.

Checking in from AFI land to give a special update on my newest cinematography venture. I completed my first AFI Cycle film this week, titled ABOUT FACE, directed by Daniel Kragh-Jacobsen. It’s looking pretty amazing, and I’m excited to see how it turns out in a few weeks. I will be posting a private link as soon as I get the final cut, but in the meantime, please enjoy the poster image.

The New World, 2005

A single still image can tell an entire narrative for the thousands that follow.

It’s officially been a month at AFI, and so much has been covered already. This week we will finally call action on our Bootcamp shoots and I think it’s safe to say that all fellows are ready to crush it. So what have we done in the meantime? Lots of administrative orientations, course introductions, and bonding within our disciplines. It’s amazing how close I feel with my fellow cinematographers already. So many different walks of life, yet with a very similar point of interest. One big happy family!

And now back to the post:

One particular exercise that I really enjoy is titled, “Story Within a Frame”. It is what it is: We have a cutline, drawn from a fishbowl, telling an event or emotion in first person. From there we must design and shoot a still that tells as much of that story as possible. We have 3 sessions in the exercise. The first is pairing with our directors, the second with the production designers, and finally one with the screenwriters. So far we have completed the first two. It’s a teamwork exercise. Getting to know one another in the creative zone is the best way to form successful communication and collaborative vision in our cycle films down the road. And it has been great. For me the first round proved to be the most challenging. I won’t go into detail, but my director and I didn’t dig deep enough into our story, and the audience was left questioning it’s point. For the second session I went too literal, and the floodgates opened with great constructive criticism from the group. I’m quite confident that I’ve learned the over/under of the assignment (I’m somewhat rusty with school assignments like this…it’s been a few!) and I know that the third session coming up will be better. I’ll find a nice middle-ground to engage meaning behind my frame.

So…This assignment has inspired me to dig up a few still frames from some great films that do justice to fulfilling a story within a frame. It’s really amazing how much meaning can be packed in to de-mystify (or mystify) these images in context to the films they are taken from. Yet at the same time, they can tell so much on their own, apart from the film. Think about the things you see in the frame. What are they doing? Where are they going? What emotions do we get from it? Is it familiar? What ideologies can we automatically identify? Time to define these moments.

Children of Men, 2006

The Thin Red Line, 1998

Never Let Me Go, 2010

Schindler's List, 1993

La Haine, 1995

The Diving Bell and The Butterfly, 2007

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, 2008

The Road to Perdition, 2002

2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968

Black Narcissus, 1947

Badlands, 1973

There Will Be Blood, 2007

Solaris, 2002

The Godfather, 1972

The Assassination of Jesse James by The Coward Robert Ford, 2007

A vintage mix from the future.

I finally picked up Trentemøller’s Late Night Tales album. I’ve followed various LNT releases over the years and this one is really amazing. It’s truly eclectic in the finest way. Trentemøller is generally known for his electronic surf grunge, but in this mix he gives doses of indie ballads from artists like M. Ward, The Black Angels, and Thee Oh Sees, and then places them beside classics from Velvet Underground, Jacqueline Taieb, and Nick Cave. Don’t worry, he’s also included some chest thumping beats from Chimes & Bells and his own Trentemøller collection.

Of course I brought samples:

Noriko Furunishi

Ori Gersht

Soo Kim

Walter Niedermayr

A Group Show at Angles Gallery.

Took a quick artwalk through Culver City last night and checked out some pieces old and new on exhibition. Each room at Angles Gallery contains selected works by the aforementioned artists above and they fit perfectly within the space…of our living room.

See for yourself until September 3rd.

Angles Gallery

2754 S. La Cienega Blvd., Los Angeles, California, 90034

Hydrated and Headlamped.

So yeah, like I was saying earlier…I went to REI and scored these 2 very rad items for survival purposes in dark parking lots and many moments parched in the summer heat.

REI Nalgene Bottle

Black Diamond Spot Headlamp

Untouched land is a beautiful thing to capture.

I’ve always been in love with images of crisp trees, canopies, forest landings, fog, dirt roads, snow-capped pines, and the unknown wilderness. It’s only a matter of time before I splice this side of nature into my cinematography. There has always been a clear motif of nature in my work, yet I would like to expand my depth of nature and include more vast landscapes like these into my work. Which reminds me, I think I’m going to stop by REI and get some outdoors goodies. Please click on the photos to check out the source pages for each artist’s work. They’re brilliant.

J. Crew’s Slim Broken-in Pocket tees are essential to my daily nutrition…

So I guess I have a little malnutrition.

Painted antlers and baked mini deer heads galore!

My buddy Haley had an opening at Pop Gallery in Culver City on Friday night. By the time I caught the end of the show there was a flurry of red dots on the walls. Success!

Haley Ann Robinson

A beard is sacred in this house. A combed beard is what keeps the birds out.

Beard Comb by Baxter of California

Need Supply Co.

I picked up Other Lives’ previous album over a year ago and I thought it was pretty good, but when my buddy Jenn gifted me their newest release, I discovered a band more composed, with more variety, and a deeper sound. I’ve yet to go a day without turning a few tunes off Tamer Animals since.

Here are the first 3 songs of the album. Enjoy.

1.Dark Horse

2. As I Lay My Head Down

3. For 12

I have less than 2 months before I start AFI and I’ve yet to think of a good summer getaway.

Where should we go? Thoughts?

Last summer we went to Cape Cod and that’s pretty hard to top. I don’t have a valid passport or money, so it should be something within the country. Maybe I’ll just build a fort and imagine I’m able to go somewhere nice. Faye’s going to SF today until Friday. I’m jealous, but I’m sure I will try and get up there before the big 8/18 apocalypse.

Since I ventured into unemployment last fall, I’ve had very little to say for the things that inspire me. When I post, I’ll usually state a disclaimer about why I’ve been a bad blogger, share one small thought, and then disappear again… Now it’s 6 months into 2011 and the front page still has posts from 2010. That’s bad.

My lady Faye tells me that I helped inspire her to start her blog, you are the river. Her site is now one of the top design blogs in the scene, and yet I still don’t post on my own. I just need to find ways to share things in my life with interesting candor. Faye is an interior designer, and a darn good one at that. She posts for the eyes of other female bloggers, fashionistas, and home-lovers, but she has her niche: something that I’ve yet to grasp  for Peace Invisible.

So with adjustment, I look at what I am, who I am, where I’m going, and what could possibly be interesting for others to enjoy.

I’m a cinematographer in Los Angeles.

I love images, music, clothing, food, and nice things that borderline geeky gadgets (okay fine, they are geeky gadgets).

I just need to remember that when I see something…and when I like something, I should share it! Sound good? Great.

Let’s begin.

I haven’t had as much Vimeo time as I should lately, but after a few moments of catching up, I stumbled upon MGdM | Marc Gómez del Moral‘s “Bombay” video for El Guincho, and It’s quite impressive. No, not the massive amount of tatas in it, but the homage it pays (whether they knew to or not) to surrealist filmmakers like Luis Buñuel, Alejandro Jodorowsky, and Jean-Luc Godard circa 1960′s-70′s. The video exploits a theme of high-class people experimenting with lower-class sexuality and strange fantasies involving repressed violence. It’s so odd that it just becomes a chaotic mess of socio-political angst among youth in a revolutionary environment. Or at least that’s how I used to write about it in film school.  Either way, it presents a different type of disturbance for the mind to play with. The 16mm and washed color grading is also very fun  and I love it when old things find their way into new avenues.

Watch this video, then take a look at some of the classics from the aforementioned gentlemen:

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie – Luis Buñuel, 1972

The Holy Mountain – Alejandro Jodorowsky, 1973

Week End – Jean-Luc Godard, 1967

A new tab has been added up top on the blog. Last month I quickly established a website for my work as a cinematographer. In choosing the domain, I was sad to find that my name, or any logical rendition of my name was taken already…So I chose to go with a pun. Please check out my work at Justography. I will be updating content as new projects emerge.

Another update in context to this post is that I am in the final stage of admissions at the American Film Institute for the MFA in Cinematography Fellowship. Just had my interview this past week and now I get to wait for weeks upon days upon hours upon minutes upon seconds upon…Ok I’m obviously excited and nervous.

Wish me luck and enjoy the site!

The denim jacket. It’s one of those basic items that I always attempt to get, but they either fit weird, have a really nasty stain on the back (the back?), or they are just too pricey to praise. Yet, I keep looking at Pendleton’s spin on the original Levi’s trucker jacket. It’s the real thing, and it’s got a little bit of cozy lining from the Portland blanketeer.

Looks like it’s the one. Oh wait, nevermind, it’s almost $200. Next?