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Supernatural - Filming
Sep. 2nd, 2008 09:30 pmHi all -
Well, it's been a while. This is a brief entry on Supernatural which a friend of mine got me hooked on this summer. Season one it took me, oh, two-three weeks to watch. The first couple of discs, I thought, "Oh, ok, typical paranormal stuff, neat characters." I was drawn in with "Home", "Faith" (poor Dean - more lives than a cat this one), "Nightmare" (I love psychic Sam -- I wish they'd used the idea more), "Shadow" -- which pretty much starts the freight train to "Devil's Trap" and Second season's "In My Time of Dying". Second season I watched in a single week -- and thus while working full time as an adjunct professor. Mind you, I didn't get a whole else done that week. But I was HOOKED. Fave second season eps. include: In my Time of Dying, "The Usual Suspects", "Croatoan", "Nightshifter" (I've lived in Milwaukee -- there's some great in jokes in that one -- such as the address of the bank, which is a hockey rink! To get off topic a bit -- it's like the bit of The Blues Brothers where they list their address as the address of the Cubs Stadium), "Houses of the Holy", Born Under a Bad Sign", "What Is and Never Should Be" (they managed to do "It's a Wonderful Life" without being annoying), and of course "All Hell Breaks Loose, parts 1 and 2). What, angst fan, who me? <flutters eyelids sweetly)
Yeah, I'm hooked. I caught a few third season eps (including the suburb "Mystery Spot"). I've pre-ordered S3, and hopefully it will arrive soon. -- For some reason Amazon seems *really* slow lately.
Anyway, I wanted to mention a bit about the beautiful Fim Noir-ish filming on SN as well as the great angst and two lovely young actors (Jared and Jensen are WONDERFUL!).
One thing I've noticed with Supernatural -- the show is *incredibly* shot -- about half the time the guys are in shadow or partial shadow (and I love HOW they use shadowing, too). And of course -- it's raining and/or wet just about all the time, which adds to both the tone of the show -- and the cool rainy weather drops the color temp of the film (which is why it looks so blue so much of the time -- and also why you get that "soft"/pastel look).
They also do rack focus' alot. A rack focus to Sam or to Dean (which means the focus switches from the entire frame being in focus to just part of it being in focus. Or it will go from say, Sam in focus and Dean out of focus, to Dean IN focus and Sam out of focus. This happens a lot when the boys are either talking in a hotel room or in the car.) Gods, I love it. I'd be willing to BET they are using FILM not digital media. If they are doing this with digital, somebody's a darn good dp and they've also got great dolly grips.
I've also seen a technique that Alfred Hitchcock was famous for inventing - where the dolly pushes IN on something while the camera itself pulls the focus out (or the reverse). The technique makes the viewer feel like they are moving in two opposite directions at once, and it's meant to be very unsettling.
Anyway - awesome show!
--Olivia
Well, it's been a while. This is a brief entry on Supernatural which a friend of mine got me hooked on this summer. Season one it took me, oh, two-three weeks to watch. The first couple of discs, I thought, "Oh, ok, typical paranormal stuff, neat characters." I was drawn in with "Home", "Faith" (poor Dean - more lives than a cat this one), "Nightmare" (I love psychic Sam -- I wish they'd used the idea more), "Shadow" -- which pretty much starts the freight train to "Devil's Trap" and Second season's "In My Time of Dying". Second season I watched in a single week -- and thus while working full time as an adjunct professor. Mind you, I didn't get a whole else done that week. But I was HOOKED. Fave second season eps. include: In my Time of Dying, "The Usual Suspects", "Croatoan", "Nightshifter" (I've lived in Milwaukee -- there's some great in jokes in that one -- such as the address of the bank, which is a hockey rink! To get off topic a bit -- it's like the bit of The Blues Brothers where they list their address as the address of the Cubs Stadium), "Houses of the Holy", Born Under a Bad Sign", "What Is and Never Should Be" (they managed to do "It's a Wonderful Life" without being annoying), and of course "All Hell Breaks Loose, parts 1 and 2). What, angst fan, who me? <flutters eyelids sweetly)
Yeah, I'm hooked. I caught a few third season eps (including the suburb "Mystery Spot"). I've pre-ordered S3, and hopefully it will arrive soon. -- For some reason Amazon seems *really* slow lately.
Anyway, I wanted to mention a bit about the beautiful Fim Noir-ish filming on SN as well as the great angst and two lovely young actors (Jared and Jensen are WONDERFUL!).
One thing I've noticed with Supernatural -- the show is *incredibly* shot -- about half the time the guys are in shadow or partial shadow (and I love HOW they use shadowing, too). And of course -- it's raining and/or wet just about all the time, which adds to both the tone of the show -- and the cool rainy weather drops the color temp of the film (which is why it looks so blue so much of the time -- and also why you get that "soft"/pastel look).
They also do rack focus' alot. A rack focus to Sam or to Dean (which means the focus switches from the entire frame being in focus to just part of it being in focus. Or it will go from say, Sam in focus and Dean out of focus, to Dean IN focus and Sam out of focus. This happens a lot when the boys are either talking in a hotel room or in the car.) Gods, I love it. I'd be willing to BET they are using FILM not digital media. If they are doing this with digital, somebody's a darn good dp and they've also got great dolly grips.
I've also seen a technique that Alfred Hitchcock was famous for inventing - where the dolly pushes IN on something while the camera itself pulls the focus out (or the reverse). The technique makes the viewer feel like they are moving in two opposite directions at once, and it's meant to be very unsettling.
Anyway - awesome show!
--Olivia
