Umlaut
The person lives in another world that we can only observe through this collection of movements and presences. The primary focus is the flow and gentleness of cloth.
Shot on a Panasonic Lumix underwater camera (can't remember which at the moment).Edited with Final Cut Pro.
Shot on a Panasonic Lumix underwater camera (can't remember which at the moment).Edited with Final Cut Pro.
Model is the amazingly fantastical Alexei Kowalski.
A few behind the scenes shots
It wasn't meant to be this. We put bed sheets into the pool to cover up the tiles in the background. I wanted Lex to dance/swim in front of the cloth and later I'd add typography in After Effects. In one shot he accidentally got caught behind the cloth, and as scary as the moment felt, I wanted to catch it on video. By paying attention and seeing the potential in this accident, I spun out this whole new concept and pushed it to make it work.
We shot in a pool without a heater for maybe 10 hours. On one day we shot from 10 am until 4 pm. I usually avoid these hours because I hate the lighting and shadows during these times. However, when under water, everything changes completely. Colors are drastically desaturated, and light is entirely diffused with some sharp points. It was very difficult to work with during the editing process. I wanted to keep my files raw and not edit their colors or levels, so I edited out a lot of clips that had the wrong colors when transitioning. The colors always switched between pink and blue, and sometimes a deep blue. I may use them for something else. For this piece though, I wanted it to flow very gently and slowly, something to emphasize the slowness of the frame rate under water, and to tone down the scaryness of Lex getting caught in the cloth.
I named the project Umlaut because of something a professor said. He taught me how to use Final Cut Pro in a day. He asked me who my 'bloo' friend was. Later he laughed and said he said the word 'blonde' in Bosniac. Having no idea how to spell blonde in Bosniac, and with an hour to the deadline to submit this piece for a competition, I asked people how they thought the word might be spelled. No one knew how to, but everyone unanimously agreed that it would be cool if the word had an umlaut in it. I also like the typography sneaking its way back into my work after a semester of typeface design, and I like the symbolism of two things floating above something. Having asthma, and watching Lex get stuck under the cloth repeatedly, all I wanted was both of us to be above water.
Umlaut.
We shot in a pool without a heater for maybe 10 hours. On one day we shot from 10 am until 4 pm. I usually avoid these hours because I hate the lighting and shadows during these times. However, when under water, everything changes completely. Colors are drastically desaturated, and light is entirely diffused with some sharp points. It was very difficult to work with during the editing process. I wanted to keep my files raw and not edit their colors or levels, so I edited out a lot of clips that had the wrong colors when transitioning. The colors always switched between pink and blue, and sometimes a deep blue. I may use them for something else. For this piece though, I wanted it to flow very gently and slowly, something to emphasize the slowness of the frame rate under water, and to tone down the scaryness of Lex getting caught in the cloth.
I named the project Umlaut because of something a professor said. He taught me how to use Final Cut Pro in a day. He asked me who my 'bloo' friend was. Later he laughed and said he said the word 'blonde' in Bosniac. Having no idea how to spell blonde in Bosniac, and with an hour to the deadline to submit this piece for a competition, I asked people how they thought the word might be spelled. No one knew how to, but everyone unanimously agreed that it would be cool if the word had an umlaut in it. I also like the typography sneaking its way back into my work after a semester of typeface design, and I like the symbolism of two things floating above something. Having asthma, and watching Lex get stuck under the cloth repeatedly, all I wanted was both of us to be above water.
Umlaut.
