Transcript:
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Justin Joseph Hall:
Hi, welcome to Feature & a short, a podcast made by filmmakers for filmmakers. This is Justin Joseph Hall, owner of Fourwind Films. By the way, if you want to be at the live event, please sign up for our email or write us on social media and we will add you to the list. Currently, we are just showing in New York, Brooklyn mainly, and in Los Angeles but you have to RSVP ahead of time. This week, we have Andi Obarski,
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Andi Obarski:
I'm Andi. I have no connection to film whatsoever.
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Audience:
(laughter)
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Andi Obarski:
I’m a DP.
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Justin Joseph Hall (as narrator):
Uh, who I used to work with at a rental shop, at Hello World. Andi is, like, an amazing human being, always in a good mood and is there to answer questions and do whatever is needed to make whatever you're making better. She's well-rounded in, in lighting and grip and she's been working as a cinematographer for the last couple of years.
So for this month's screening, Andi brought Overslept, a short film which is actually part of an internet series called Countdown, which uses a countdown device as it’s through line connection between the different pieces.
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Andi Obarski:
So this is about four-and-a-half, five-minute short film that was shot in a day (laughs). Um, actually it's Sam's apartment, another friend of ours. But yeah, it's scrappy, Brooklyn indie filmmaking at its finest. So they're mostly character-driven uh short films and they all have their own individual styles. Most of them are comedies, actually. This is probably the outlier. This is like the most serious one of them. I like shooting comedy, but this is a little bit more dramatic than what we usually go with.
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Justin Joseph Hall (as narrator):
If you'd like to see more on the series, just probably google “Countdown, Overslept.” That's how I usually find it. After Overslept was finished, we asked Andi a few questions.
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Audience:
What made you choose this one?
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Andi Obarski:
Um, I think it's the most interesting to me as a cinematographer because it's the most visual, there's no dialogue in it. Like, it's all told through frames and cuts and actions which I really like.
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Audience:
How many of the artificial lights did you guys use? It seems to be really natural.
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Andi Obarski:
It is. Yeah. We used um in the opening scene, we put a HMI outside. I think I might have had, like, two Astros or something, but other than that it was mostly, like, just picking the time of day.
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Audience:
Nice, nice job.
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Andi Obarski:
Thank you. I try to not do so much if I don't have to.
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Justin Joseph Hall:
Did you bounce around a lot later, is it mostly?
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Andi Obarski:
Honestly. Um, yeah, we have, I mean there was like one gaffer grip person, I had one GE person and then one AC. So it was mostly like, honestly the, the most challenging was making morning lights, in that really white bedroom where everything bounced around. I, there was no way I could put a lights out, the unit outside of the window, which is what my ideal situation would have been. So in this, like, I guess the bedroom was about the size of this room, but it was a lot to fit, you know, a queen-sized bed and, like, basically a book light that we'd made to mimic morning light.
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Audience:
How many days did you…?
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Andi Obarski:
We shot this in one day.
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Audience:
Uh, huh.
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Andi Obarski:
Yeah, it was a very long day (laughs).
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Audience:
How many hours?
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Andi Obarski:
Oh, yeah. He, he was really good and he kept it under 12, including lunch. And then we had beer around the fire.
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Audience:
(laughter)
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Andi Obarski:
(laughs)
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Andi Obarski:
Sorry?
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Andi Obarski:
When we did this shot of her running outside again, we did that like seven times and he used the first or second. Um but if you listen to it, he, she passes this group of women who just say, oh my god! Because there's a car that's tracking a woman running, we have the AD running behind her. So it just looks like we're trying to kidnap her.
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Audience:
(laughter)
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Andi Obarski:
So these poor, these women are like, oh my god, are you okay?
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Audience:
(laughter)
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Andi Obarski:
And then we had to explain to them, yes, we're shooting a movie. Uh (laughs), but it was.
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Audience:
(laughter)
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Andi Obarski:
But yeah, it was all one day and we just, the director and I, like, are very meticulous. We storyboarded the hell out of this. Like, we knew exactly when we wanted to shoot.
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Audience:
You feel you okay with the time you had?
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Andi Obarski:
I mean, I always wish I had more time, but yeah, especially considering we shot a scene that you didn't even see. So, actually the
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Audience:
Oh really?
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Andi Obarski:
Yeah, that, I was talking about the, the button that happened at the end. That had the most artificial light because we, like, chained up their, their, like, dining leg and we rig that, we put that on a dimmer, we did all this other stuff with the lamp light that was in there. So, the most time that we spent lighting was in a scene that wasn't even used in a short film which is kind of ridiculous if you think about it. And I think he's going to, like, do something with it now. But I was like, damn it, we spent so much fucking time planning this.
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Audience:
(laughter)
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Andi Obarski:
And, like, we shot it and it was part of our day and we could have spent more time on something else. But if it's not, if it doesn't enhance the story, I guess it doesn’t need to be in the film, you know (laughs).
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Audience:
(laughter)
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Andi Obarski:
Yeah.
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Audience:
Do you produce it as well as?
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Andi Obarski:
I mean, as much logistical things as I can in regards to communicating with the rental houses. Um, but beyond that it was mostly Nathan who would, you know, talk to the locations, made sure everything was, like, kosher when we, when we started shooting. But no, I was mostly involved in the coloring. He's like a pretty sound editor, so he, he pushed through a piece pretty quickly.
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Justin Joseph Hall:
How did you work with color when you… like, you seem like you did… cause you just came from going outside.
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Andi Obarski:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think it depends, I think, you know, we didn't really have a choice of lenses on this. We just, we shot on um a Dragon with Zeiss CP.2’s which are, like, kind of soft and contrasty. I think I might have had, like, a ⅛ Black Pro-Mist. So I knew that I wanted there to be a lot of shadow, and I wanted there to be, like, soft, creamy blacks. Um, but it's really, you know, depends on the film and the look that I go into it with the director. You know, he's pretty good about thinking what he wants ahead of time and we're able to, like, kind of achieve that look, you know. Um, yeah! All of them were colored by the same colorist too which is very advantageous.
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Justin Joseph Hall:
Do you, do you like, with the colorist, do you like um sit with them the first day or do you let them come up with a new look? Or…
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Andi Obarski:
Sure, yeah. He definitely did like a clean up pass. He was like, I'll do a, I'm, I'm totally cool with that just to, like, kind of get everything on the playing field. If I give rough notes, then I can come in and see, you know, what they've done.
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Justin Joseph Hall:
Yeah.
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Andi Obarski:
You know, if I'm working with the colorist for the first time, I like to be able to, like, know… their ability as to what, you know, interpreting what I can say via email or via the phone. Totally respect colorists and I have zero desi-desire to ever do their job, you know, like.
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Audience:
Why, why is that?
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Andi Obarski:
Ah, ‘cause I like to move and I like to, like, operate. And I like to be ergonomic and, like, sitting in a chair for 12 hours sounds like the fucking death of me. But I love going to coloring sessions and telling people what to do
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Audience:
(laughter)
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Andi Obarski:
But I don't want to know what (laughs),
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Audience:
(laughter)
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Andi Obarski:
I don't want to know how to do the program, but I like to think that I shot it in a way that was, there was really only one shot that I was like, I have to, like, push this. Um and it, you might have noticed it, it was when she was walking.
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Audience:
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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Andi Obarski:
Is, it's very, it's very grainy and I was like, fine, it works. It’s very, it’s the RED…
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Justin Joseph Hall:
I didn’t notice.
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Andi Obarski:
Okay, well then that's good. If it didn't detract from the story, then there you go. Um.
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Audience:
Oh…
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Andi Obarski:
Oh, no. No. Yeah, we could talk about it, I can talk about this all day, so.
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Audience:
Yeah, yeah, I'm going to talk with you later.
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Andi Obarski:
Okay.
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Justin Joseph Hall:
Do you like, I know you shoot RED all the time, um, what do you like about it, like, like better or what do you like about it, what do you not?
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Andi Obarski:
I mean, it depends. I don't, I pick it if it's good for the projects. Like, I'm not married to one format or camera or the other. It totally depends on the story. I actually really liked the Dra-the Dragon and then we, we upgraded our camera to the EPIC-W and it's just, I don’t know, it's fine.
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Audience:
Yeah.
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Andi Obarski:
It's a camera.
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Justin Joseph Hall:
So what do you think is different about the, the RED versus other. Like what do you get on it that's unique versus another camera.
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Andi Obarski:
Do you really want to have that conversation (laughs)? It's like a whole, whole thing. I don't know, the, the colors tend to, you know, arc a certain way. There seems to be a little bit more, at least in this new sensor to me, tends to be a little bit green. I do like, it can operate very well in low light if you know how to, like, expose for it properly. It has an amazing amount of latitude, you can do a ton with it in post which can be advantageous and disadvantageous according to, like, whatever you, you know, choose. You know, I like its high-speed capability. But unfortunately at the end of the day, cinematography has become such a game of, like, “oh, do you have an Arri or do you have a RED? Like, what do you have? And so it's totally, like, if you don't have one, then you have the other…
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Audience:
It’s just a tool.
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Andi Obarski:
Exactly, but for producers that don't know the difference between the tools and or the capability of the DP to be able to do something over the other with one, then it's like, so. I don't have one preference over the other. I could give two shits about what kind of camera I have.
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Justin Joseph Hall (as narrator):
After that, Andi presented her feature film which is called Thelma from 2017. It's a sci-fi classified as a horror, although it's more of a slightly experimental drama. Very cool film that everyone took in deeply. Very interesting subject matter, semi-magic realism. Very cool.
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Justin Joseph Hall:
Did you say anything about the…
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Andi Obarski:
Oh, it's good. I like it. I like the color scheme uh of it and uh it's a little gay, so that’s kind of cool too.
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Audience:
(laughter)
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Andi Obarski:
You know, I like gay things (laughs).
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Audience:
(laughter)
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Andi Obarski:
It's just like a thriller. It's like a thriller, but it's not scary, but it's cool. It's a little like if you've ever seen Let the Right One In along the same visual veins of that. It's spooky, it's supernatural. There's a um film critic I like who comes out every year with this, like, best film of best top 25 films. And he, like, edits it together in, like, such a way that you get excited about cinema. Like, every year, his name’s…
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Justin Joseph Hall:
Was his name Urlich?
(chatter)
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Andi Obarski:
Yes! Exactly! Yeah. He does, he works for Slate, I think. Um, but I love watching his stuff and this was on the movies, one of his lists from 2017. And I was like, this is amazing.
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Audience:
Yeah.
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Justin Joseph Hall (as narrator):
During the film, we served red wine, orange juice and tea at the appropriate moments. After, we had a very curt discussion about the contents of the film and then went home as everybody was processing.
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Andi Obarski:
It’s a lot slower than I remember it being (laughs).
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Audience:
Maybe that’s definitely like a really exciting first…
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Andi Obarski:
It’s very visual.
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Audience:
I could see how…exciting… the second time.
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Andi Obarski:
Did you guys like it?
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Audience:
That was a good movie, I really liked it.
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Andi Obarski:
Cool.
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Daria Huxley:
It kind of gives me chills, though.
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Andi Obarski:
Cool. I'm glad you guys liked it.
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Andi Obarski:
Dead markish?
Justin Joseph Hall:
(laughs)
Andi Obarski:
Dead markish.
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Audience:
(laughter)
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Andi Obarski:
I think my post discussion is going to sleep.
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Audience:
Oh, yeah.
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Audience:
(laughter)
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Audience:
…
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Justin Joseph Hall (as narrator):
Thank you so much for listening. Write us on social media, wherever you get your podcasts. Just let us know what you like about the show, what you'd like to hear more of, what you guys want to hear more from actors, cinematographers, post-production people, animation. Just reach out and let us know and you can reach us either at info@fourwindfilms.com or pretty much any social media site @fourwindfilms. That's f-o-u-r-w-i-n-d-f-i-l-m-s. And this episode was actually hosted by New Revolution Arts, so thanks to Cisco Bradley and Jenny Roemer for bringing us into their space. Thank you much and see you soon. Or you can hear me soon. That's more likely what’s gonna happen.
