25 Nov Aequainimatas
Aequainimatas is a word of which I will eventually conquer the spelling (hopefully by the end of this blog post) and the title of the recent short film from Director Denis Kirkman-Moriarty. If that name sounds familiar it’s because Denis and I have worked together a lot in the past 2 years. He was 1st AC on The Gathering Storm, Chainsaw Maidens from Hell, and Most Likely. Denis was determined to shoot this film on 35mm film and I was more than happy to support that choice. He also envisioned the film mostly in black and white. We discussed various methods of achieving a b&w look. When we looked at various films that finished in b&w we both thought those shot on b&w film stock looked superior. Kodak had one 35mm b&w film stock available- 5222 Eastman Double-X Negative. I remembered shooting the 16mmm version (7222) in film school and that the stock needed a lot of light. Fortunately we were able to shoot the majority of the film on the soundstage at Emerson College and achieve the necessary exposure. For the scenes shot on location we decided on 5219 because those scenes will have a special color correction process that mixes color and desaturation. It was a pleasure to shoot on the Arri 535 provided by Rule Boston Camera. The film should be finished by December 2015.
Director Denis-Kirkman Moriarty discusses the scene with April (Maya Starr)
35mm Negative was developed, scanned at 2k resolution, and sent back for archival purposes.
A screen shot from the film “Aequainimatas” featuring John (William Galatis) and Randy (Noah Tully Sanderson).
Denis and I moments before shooting the film’s final shot- a one take jib move.
Gaffer Jack Garrett pauses for a photo op.
Key Grip Dean Covert explains the Fisher Jib to BBE Luca Vaccani and 1st AD Alex Monto.