Jennifer Field
Jennifer had starred in a commercial I shot for a company called Halo a ways back. She is gorgeous on camera. But beyond her being a former beauty queen. I wanted to get a POV from someone who's outer appearance is more important to them than most. I say that with complete respect because as a Actress and model it's important. I knew she had a son but I didn't know anything about him or her. I didn't know until the interview that that was her biological son. And then when she asked if she could talk about her trans sister who had been excommunicated from her family I realized her story was far more complex than I had imagined. I think what I appreciate so much about Jennifer is that beauty to her is excepting it wherever it is. Her part ended up being a love letter to her sister and an honest confession to her family unwilling to see beauty if a form that scares them. Jennifer embraces the idea of beauty far beyond her own and by the end of her interview I was tearing into the view finder.
We went in treating her part like a Fashion film. I have always really been inspired by old vogue covers and wanted her part's look to be inspired by those. I shot tons of different formats and stock trying to recreate that smooth contrast look of the late 80s and 90s fashion. Our main format was 3 perf 35mm. I also shot some super 8 and a tiny bit of super 16. I underexposed the vision 3 stock by 1 and 2 true stops and then lit her key side one stop over. Then I pushed processed 1 & 2 stops to really bring the grain structure out and get a smooth contrast. 35mm really has a wonderful grain structure to it but when you're shooting for Instagram and the internet in general you have to push the stock one way or another to get those wonderful details of 35mm out so the audience can feel them. I shot Vision 320T 5277 and Vision 2 250D 7205 and then over-scanned the frame. I also shot super 8 and scanned that negative at 4K to add more style. Some I wanted to use for a candid BTS look and others I wanted the look to feel even more classical.
I think what we ended up getting worked perfectly. I feel like the visuals and her story juxtaposed each other in a wonderful way. You have the beauty in the visuals of a gorgeous woman right in front of the lens but then you here her story and you know the beauty of her outer appearance falls by the wayside in comparison to what she really believes beauty defines.
Cameras: Arricam LT 3 perf movement, Aaton LTR, Canon super 8 814
Lenses: Angeneuix 10-110mm, Cooke S4i
Formats: 3 perf 35mm, Super 16, Super 8
Stock: Vision 320T 5277, Vision 2 250D 7205, Vision 3 250D 5207 & 7207, Ektachrome