From "The Smoke Series" an exploration in Film Noir.
By blue mitchell
30 September 2008
JPG is running a photo challenge "homage to cinema" and it seems to be perfect timing for me as I dig into my back catalog of images. My first 2 years of college were spent studying film. My favorite part of the film program was doing research...which meant I was assigned to watch older films and write essays about them. What a great program. Thursdays were film day and we'd shuffle into the campus theatre with popcorn, sodas and other delights. I'd stare anxiously at the flickering screen waiting for the Ah Ha moment in each film. Of course I was required to take notes but often I would settle on renting the movie again later and take furious notes - which also led to me pausing and rewinding quite a bit to catch the subtle nuances in certain scenes.
For instance I've probably watched the last scene of French New Wave film "400 Blows" by François Truffaut at least 20 times. Apparently it was one of the longest uncut scenes of it's time. Basically our main character is running away from a boys home and ends up at the ocean. The long shot follows him in profile as he runs. (watch the ending here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJ0Bi_5TNuc )
Studying these old films inspired me to really get caught up in the essence of the images presented in classic Film Noir and thus spawned this photo series. I felt like I was directing my own scenes to a slow paced silent thriller inspired by "Touch of Evil" or a Fritz Lang film or even Igmar Bergman...now we're talking.
As noted the images were shot on 35mm 3200 speed film, printed silver gelatin.
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