[!@#$%!]

lol @ bangbros. okay, you're right in part. but sven nykvist was a fucking film god! starting w/ winter light-- aaaah!

anywebos "el symbols" is my new official name. yeah! awesome.

so hm mr. felikson good to know you getting a crew, will facilitate a ton of things.

and now a lil case study if joo wanna look @ louie.

let's read this bitch together:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zj_4vl_H-SI

0:01 look at all the dark backround and the soft light in louie's bald head. subject > background always. conveniently, the dude behind him is wearing a black jacket-- this is not accidental-- if it was a white tshirt it would be a problem, you'd notice that instead of the ginger bastard.

:08 as the blonde (woman, not light) comes in notice she's lit from camera left (her right). so you don't just look at her cuz she's a hot chick, you also look cuz she's a bright spot on your waveform monitor (ha). once she stands there & starts talking you notice now she even has a hair light from cam. right.

0:33 now that it's been established she likes old dudes look how the shot changes. she's no longer a voice in the background, she's right there with him. actually if you notice she's slightly hotter (lulz) than louie. by "slightly hotter" i mean w/ the lights, ha ha ha. and notice how it's this fucking classic look: the woman in a bright soft light, the man in harder lights with more shadows-- this shit is straight out of film noir. compare:

 

this isn't done here because it's a "film reference", it's done because it fucking works every time.

anyway, as shit gets more intense we get the blonde's first closeup at 0:55. louie is just a blur at the edge of the frame. we're at eye level with her, just like louie.

see the logic of the shots so far?

notice at 1:05 or so the reaction shot-- it's not the same nice soft closeup of louie, no-- he's smaller, from farther away, seems almost to be shrinking in his fucken chair, she's actually bigger-- domination begins, ha ha ha.

cuts right back when she's talking-- she's taking control, he's become her toy, so what's going to happen after isn't going to appear out of the blue.

at 1:20 we finally get the first louie closeup after him sitting at the bar, and it's to reveal his confusion and perplexity at this hot chick who just told him he smells weird. you notice? the emotional contact (closeup) with the blonde is with her cool self-aware seductiveness; the emotional contact with louie is with his fear and helplessness.

now i don't know if it's the light or just his shitty skin tone but the blonde appears to be in a softer warmer light. ("i smell weird?"--cut--"totally" : notice that change in color on both sides of the cut-- you could prolly spot it with rgb monitors in your editing)

at this point also notice the sound mix: she's speaking softly and there is bar noise and music in the background, but it's not "realistic" "documentary" sound. in real life they'd prolly be yelling, but that would kill the mood of the scene. so the level of the sound bed is really low compared to the dialogue. okay prolly the bar noise is from the location, but the music i could bet was mixed in later. still, good micing, the attention is on the dialogue not the surrounding racket.

1:45 "young pussy smells good" goes back to the 2 shot so you can appreciate the body language: she's totally calm and in control and louie is cowering and perplexed. notice she invades his space with her arm to grab louie's phone-- she's in charge. it's nice that we get a break from the monotony of closeups and the shot says something-- it says she's physically taking over.

notice at 2:10 the boyfriend appears, and while he's soft-lit (i.e. harmless, not sinister) he's also semi-dark, meaning: he's not fucking important (she's just been talking shit about younger guys). meanwhile, the chick's perfect blonde hair dominates the screen. and then louie sits there with that cold bluer light on his pasty face.

2:16- fucking!

okay, notice now the following:
1) there is a bright beam of light coming in from the window. that's not "natural"
2) there is some light from behind the blonde that brightens up her hair
3) thank god louie remains clothed

now, the funny thing is, the establishing shot is not of the blonde, who is now without a face. the shot is on louie--why? because the show is about him of course, but also because this isn't a porn film, it's a comedy, so if we look at the bonde cumming and biting her lips for a while we're going to get a boner, but instead the boner dies and we laugh at the absurdity of louie's situation, who's a human dildo for a chick with a weird grampa fetish.

now that this has been established, we start moving to closeups between the two, and that's fine, a little titillation is alright, but see how quickly shots turn back to louie's silly face trying to come up with old shit so the blonde gets hornier. which is fucking hilarious. even as she's near climaxing, she screams "oh shit that's so old" and "yes so does my mom" ha aaaa haaaa haaa

notice at this point also how the edits seem to change quicker as she approaches orgasm. when we get the low angles on them she's mounting louie and we see only his bald head shaking like a fucking rag doll or something, which breaks from her hot face into comedy territory.

3:11 they go to the door, it's all brightly lit, very matter of fact light, though the key light coming from behind+above louie as you can see in his shadow on the door before it opens (in front/below him).

now here's when it's something you can see directly useful for your pilot:

notice as the door opens there's light on the door! you can see it reflected on the black surface. and there's a hair light on the blonde too! that light is coming from beyond the door, but it's not normal "corridor light", which normally is dim-- this matches the light levels from the inside, at least on her. its purpose is to keep the woman a presence on the screen, even as she fucks off. when she says "no" she looks perfectly clear and well-lit not lost in some shadow. she's got the power even as she disappears. and so transposing this to your situation think how when lisa shows up at justin's door there could just be a clamp light of this sort http://www.google.com/search?q=clamp+light on the other side of the wall ($8 at home depot, $9 at walmart)

so, even in a "documentary style" thing you can see now how there's a lot of artifice in the making of it. in other words, don't shy away from wearing lots of face powder and mascara, ha ha-- it' fucking theatre. and while you don't have the bazillion dollars and professional crew, just keeping a few of these ideas in mind can help you make bang bros look like bad home movies.

oookay man, let me know when you get your kickstarter going. you could prolly raise $500 from friends and acquaintances to make your next episode. "being unemployed" is no excuse-- make art pay! :P srsly, you can fundraise. have a benefit or something with the bands you made videos for, those bitches owe you. $10/person for a kegger party. yeah?

alright. go forth & thrash, etc.

[demonrail666]

Originally Posted by Dr. Eugene Felikson

Except for Hour of the Wolf. Everybody should see that.

Tanner Mayes is in that one, right?