AS ABOVE

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As Above is a short film created by Roman Hill exploring the tight link between the microscopic world and immensity of the universe. Illustrating our universe’s never ending dance of destruction and creation, in which life can emerge...

In the same ways, recent events have shown us that a microscopic virus could have a destructive impact on humanity. A destructive impact counter weighted by a positive impact on our planets global ecosystem.

The environment in which we live, is at the constant mercy of the ever changing flow of planets, stars and galaxies... As well as the composition of the microscopic world.

“As Above” is an invitation to contemplate the beauty of this perpetual movement of which we are part of... And perhaps invite the viewer to reflect on his position in the universe and the preciosity of life.

INTERVIEW

Here's an interview of Roman Hill by motionographer.com

The full article can be found here :

http://motionographer.com/2020/03/25/and-now-for-something-soothing-as-above-by-roman-hill/

How long did it take to complete this film?
Shooting the film took me 10min with about 1hr of setting up everything. However, post-production took about 9 months to complete. Of course, counting periods when I was working on other projects.

What was your inspiration?
I can spend a day going through space telescope Hubble’s pictures. Same with microscopic views of cells. There’s something magnificent in these images. We know these visions are surrounding us yet they are mostly invisible to the human eye.

Of course, I have also been deeply inspired by Douglas Trumbull. He’s the one who supervised the practical effects on Terrence Malick’s Tree Of Life or Kubrick’s 2001 Space Odyssey. I love the idea of representing something with something completely different. Like representing the immensity of the universe with microscopic imagery…

What programs do you use?
The film was shot with a Red Helium 8K camera.

I mostly work on Davinci Resolve for editing and color-grading. Because the film is made of one single sequence color grading was quite a hassle. For those familiar with the software the color grading was composed of about 60 nodes and hundreds of keyframes on one single shot. Making it a real technical challenge.

Motion design and finishing was done in After Effects.

What was the most difficult part of making this film?
The most difficult part was definitely getting the color-grading process started. I knew it would be long and complicated, isolated and alone in the dark… Haha!

There’s something very introspective in color-grading. In my process, I try to understand what the image makes me think of (fire, water, leaves…). I then work the colors to materialize that vision. Sometimes it can feel very much ungratifying, as you will spend days looking for something until you realize there’s nothing to be found… But I guess it’s part of the game!

Do you have a favorite moment?
When shooting, I get extremely concentrated over this very small, luminous and colorful surface. There’s something deeply meditative and contemplative that happens in that instant.

How did the music collaboration unfold?
Thomas and I currently share a studio in Paris. Although Thomas Vanz is mostly known for his brilliant work as a director he is also a piano virtuoso.

Thomas used the piano as much as possible to create a rich, hypnotic yet natural soundscape. This also allowed the composition to be as spontaneous as possible. With his piano and two microphones in his bedroom we could record everything live during multiple sessions.