Some people are talking in our recent times Instagram the post asked about the “how” to explain the lighting and placement of the banner image on top. Others have asked, simply, what is going on? Still others might be thinking of asking exactly what kind of pharmaceutical regimen I’m on.
I’ve been photographing dance my whole career, and it’s definitely a great thing to see and create for photography. These days, ballerinas are everywhere – subways, landscape settings, on the counters at lunch bars (sin!) and many places where you don’t seem to want to drop into an arabesque diner.
What could be different? Unique? Silly? Twisted? Import The Mystery of the Pointed Shoe, a noir-ish series imagining a beginner ballerina who, to ensure a certain degree of casting in the lead roles, is losing her competition. Detective Nik Night is tasked with investigating these creepy, ghastly flashes of light from the dark side of dance.
A dancer was found in the dryer at a laundromat in Brooklyn.
Another person puts shoes in a trash can outside 6th Avenue in Dinner episode.
The intrepid Nik Night, played by his close friend and great actor Nik Pjeternikaj, heard rumors of music and floating dancers in a cemetery where these recently deceased dance divas were buried. Is it spooky magic? A cry from outside? Music to lament the premature passing of these talented dancers as they went from first to last?
Nik investigates only to confront terrifying zombies, leaping into ragged dogs.
Okay… this involves gels, smoke, tree lighting and highlighting our amazing actresses, Marisa Roper and Natasha King on the tombstones. This process is done by taking shots in which the film has no photos, and then locating the little vagabonds to give them time to air. The smoke is thick, because the smoke tends to follow the moving wind. Therefore the lamp has an inner and outer part, an inner and outer part. Brighter, more smoky, then dimmer and stiffer. Just the way it goes.
Stills of BTS here courtesy of Seth Miranda, the owner of SFX. Method of treating zombies by Catrina Grieco, who is amazing with these types of transformations. Produced, as usual, by Lynn DelMastro, perfect as always. Light is everything Profoto – large and small units. Systematic Gitzo for the camera set up in each episode that you will see in BTS videos. As night approaches, the shutter speed lengthens. It is extremely important to be absolutely steady when you are taking pictures because everything needs to be registered. Systematic is a formidable platform.
Oddly enough, it’s not a difficult picture to create, despite the fluctuating smoke, and the on-and-off intensity of the way the gel color spreads. It’s all in your head, so you can’t really “make mistakes”. Because there is no “right way” to shoot the floating zombie ballerinas. Wing it! Put some lights on, arrange the action and get going.
Wishing everyone a great and safe Halloween!
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