Reel & Artist Statement

Director / Cinematographer Reel from Lucas Parente on Vimeo.

As what I consider an “Artist”, I try to see and capture beauty in everything that I can. Our eyes easily can find it in something grand, so I look for it in the small details. Also, this same beauty is not complete if is not meaningful to the major piece. I gather information from my memories, the style of those who inspire me and try to put it at my service, at the service of a major project. In the end it seems that is all about feeling—which it is mostly, but I'm aware of the limitations between my mind and the world around me so that's why each new work is a potential way for me to learn and make the link of these two stronger.

Scene Assignment - Pineapple Express

Pineapple Express - Scene Assignment from UA, Telecommunication and Film on Vimeo.

Visual references and goals for the scene assignment

The scene chosen to be recreated comes from the film Pineapple Express. The original scene has a shaky camera style with a strong use of yellow. My goal is to make the scene with a darker atmosphere, but without losing the humor: more fixed camera angles and less use of back light. Here are some references about framing and the original scene (at 1:03).

Which is the best camera?

We all can say that there's no such thing as The Best Camera but again, we all have our own preferences. The problem is that even with our own preferences, we can't determine which is the perfect camera (at least on my point of view).

The first camera that I really had a lot of contact was the JVC HM100u. People usually say that it has a terrible image quality, something that I disagree in a certain level. That aside, the JVC camera is one that I got very familiar with, although I'm aware of its limitations.

Now I'm entering in the world of the DSLRs, with great image quality, more accessible price, and portability. However with the portability, it also comes the design made for still photography and this makes me forget constantly how to mess with certain options on the camera, not to mention the extreme difficulty to determine with your own eyes if your focus is correct or not.

Not saying that it is the best camera, but one that I had a brief but pleasant touch was the Sony FS-100U. I really liked its design: a mix of the JVC with the DSLRs in a simple and efficient way that made me find what I wanted in just one night with the camera. The only issue is the price, inaccessible for a film student. With that, it leaves the DSLRs as the “winners” of the competition thanks to the easy access.

Inspiring Lighting Styles

Maybe it's because of love for drawing, but overall I'm a big fan of the use of the back light (specially when it comes naturally). The way I see in photography the use of it is like “literally” drawing silhouettes with light. But there's also different meanings behind the use back light or any kind of light for that matter since it all comes on what kind of feel or particular image you want to pass, and how much you want pass.

Smooth sources of light in The Deep Blue Sea show us intentions without action.

In Lawless, the use of... lack of light actually... show us small spots of Jessica Chastain's face and just a small spot of brightness in her eye, telling us that she's uncomfortably awake when she should be relaxed and at sleep.

In Killer Joe, the contrast of temperature in a single framing, details on how the light behaves on the character's eyes and hair strands.

In Brokeback Mountain, there's a sea with waves made of silhouettes of light provided by the moon. It's beautiful and work like a canvas, the man surrounded by the Nature.

Lincoln has a similar effect of Deep Blue Sea, delivering intentions. The action can be happening but its hidden by the light, instead of the darkness.

In The Beasts of the Southern Wild, the contrast of light and dark in the rain creates some kind of mosaic mixing the animal's hair and the raindrops.

In Hannibal (TV Series), the use of back light draws a contour around the character Will, a silhouette of light.

The Forgiveness of Blood

True Detective

True Detective

Finally, The Forgiveness of Blood. I couldn't find pictures that showed exactly what I wanted but this film has a great use of back light as well, can be similar to the Hannibal's case or more subtle like this the first image. The film takes a lot of exterior locations and they balance the light shown in the characters at the same time that they show the beautiful contour of light in the clouds and the environment around them. I didn't find screenshots for this movie, but the TV series True Detective does a similar job with that.

Well, I hope you find this interesting as I did!