GOOD PEOPLE AND GUNS (movie style poster shoot)

This post originally was going to have little to do with people, and more to do with lighting and art direction, but hey....

When the chips are down and life sucks I find it very difficult to actually ask for any sort of help or support. It's just the way I was raised - to be completely self sufficient. In some ways it's great because I always find a way to carry on, keep living the dream and pushing forward through what sometimes seems impossible. On other hand, it's rough because I FEEL like I'm literally on my own. That's clearly not the case since I have a loving family, wonderful friends and the best lover anyone could ask for :) 

I was going through a rough patch earlier this year, but whatevs, shit happens. What came from that was awesome though. My perspective on people and support became clearer and so did my vision of what I want to achieve with my career. The last shoot day of CORRUPTION was made possible by some awesome people of who'm I've already mentioned and thanked in previous blog posts, but I thought I'd take this opportunity to REALLY thank Paul Norton. 

I met Paul when looking for an armourer in Melbourne to get my film finished earlier this year and wow, what a breath of fresh air! There are really good people in this world and I feel lucky to have met and befriended Paul. Not only is he a talented DoP, but he also has one of the craziest gun collections I've ever seen. His respect and understanding of the craft of film-making sets him apart and makes working with him on any shoot an absolute pleasure, but on top of that, he's just a really good bloke :)

Not long after our first collaboration, Paul asked if I would be interested in shooting a poster for him to help promote his services as an armourer. We briefly spoke about the steampunk styled theme he was looking to achieve and what sort of lighting he would require. My job was simple since the styling and concept was left to their respective departments - all I had to do was light and shoot (and in this case it was a luxury only shooting for one single frame!). Below you'll see how I lit it, and some of the post processing I did for the finished shot.

I spent a lot of hours perfecting this shot, but I'm really happy with the results. It really is a luxury working on a still frame, as opposed to correcting a film which is constantly moving, but it does make the challenge more considerable since there seems to be no limit with what you can do in Photoshop.  

Finally, to give credit where credit is due, most of the "look", posing, styling, makeup, etc, was not done by me. Those things all add up to make something awesome, as does working with a crew who respect each other's job.  

Concept:  Paul Norton

Art Direction: Dan Johnson

Models: Kate Elizabeth Jean, Paul Norton, Steph Elkington

Makeup: Lucia Mammarella

Lighting, Photography and Post Production: Matthew Scott

Shot at: Portfire Studios 

Also a big thanks to Matt Weekes for his help on the shoot.

*For an overhead lighting diagram of this shot, click HERE and thanks for visiting :)



Posted on March 24, 2014 .