Shoot #2 - Suspects!

As promised, all the photos are scanned in! I ended up taking 30 photos on the day but due to time constraints on the film scanner I was only able to scan 15 of them in. It turns out that my woes about the light changing were for good reason as the entire first roll of film is a lot warmer than the rest but overall I am very happy with the result. Below are a selection of my favorite images in their raw format.

Now that I'm all finished shooting I plan to start editing the images in the next few days to keep posted for a much more refined look!

Shoot #2 - Pending...

I shot my final shoot today down at the Rocks with my four suspects and it all went pretty well. I was just a bit worried about the lighting because it kept changing (clouds etc) but I'm pretty sure I bracketed enough to get a good result. I plan to get them developed tomorrow and have them scanned in by class on Wednesday.

Final Shoot #1 - Photos!

I haven't really been keeping up to date with the goings on and I bet you're pretty interested as to how my progress has been going! Well, last Thursday I had my first shoot which was fanastic. It consisted of the crime scene and the dead victim sporting the 'Glasgow Smile'. Below are the unedited transparency scans.

It was really interesting to watch Yoshimi Kumai, our makeup artist, work. It has seriously given me some respect for that profession and an understanding for the time needed for a good result. I think the scar, bruising, blood etc took about 40mins.

Overall I am very happy with the shoot and am looking forward to editing some of the shots. Below is an example composite with some sample 'forensic notes'. They don't actually say anything of value but I wanted to check that the aesthetic would work.

My next shoot will take place this afternoon and will consist of photos of the suspects.

Thursday's Portraiture Session

Due to the fact that I couldn't organise a makeup artist in time, I was forced to cancel the main crime scene shoot and postpone it until Monday night. But, seeing as I had all the equipment booked, I decided to go out and test some portraiture shots with one of my models. His part in the whole scheme of things is as a suspect. In my story though, he isn't the guilty one...

These were shot on my Canon 400D (10px) and where lit by two slave triggered Metz flashes. I also took some shots on the RB67 but they are only being processed now. I should have them up by tonight.

Monday's RB67 Scans

I spent today scanning in the shots I took on Monday using the Mamiya RB-6x7. Due to the fact that I haven't scanned in any film since first year, it took a bit of refamilarisation before I was able to really get any quality but the prints definitely look great. When scanned at 3200dpi the images are unbelievably large (100mb+) and are perfect in quality. From a medium shot you have to (at the very least) zoom into a person's ear before you hit full resolution!

Below are the three best examples from Monday's shoot. They are all monochrome unfortunately (I think now I would prefer to shoot full colour and slightly desaturate in post) but they are pretty good for my first time using a medium format camera in the field.

All these images were taken on B&W 125 ISO film. Next I want to test with full colour transparency flim. Hopefully these will turn out as good.

Monday's Test Shoot

Last night my actor, a friend and myself went to the rocks to start experimenting with exposures, positioning and framing. All the images below were shot on a Nikon D90 but also borrowed an RB67 to familiarize myself with it. I plan to get them developed tomorrow.

The location has really grown on me even more than before and I think it is absolutely perfect for a murder. Below are some example positions where my dead body could be.

After much experimentation I believe that the photos below best reflect the 'look' that I am going for. Obviously there aren't any props in these shots (you'll just have to wait for the final shoot!).

Reck Shoot Photos - Finding a location

I haven't posted an entry in a while BUT it doesn't mean I haven't been busy! My first reck shoot took place last week and it consisted of me scouting a few locations that I had in mind.

The first location was the carpark of Greater Union Mosman.

The carpark really did have a great eery feel about it but I really felt that it wasn't interesting enough to base an entire shoot around. While I was shooting the movie 'Inception' was playing upstairs and the sound was resonating the walls and making the light flicker! It definitely added to the mood but might have been a bit hard to convey through the still image.. Even while I was taking the photos I felt that the place wasn't special enough.

The second location was The Rocks, specifically underneath the harbour bridge. From the start this felt more authentic and I really felt that I would find a good place to shoot. Here are a few locations that I though could be appropriate.

All these locations looked the part but I couldn't find somewhere I was totally happy with until I came upon this location. It was almost directly under the harbour bridge and was sparcely lit dead end just around the corner from a pub. Here are some rough location shots.

This place is perfect!

The plan is to now have a shoot with my model in costume to see where it would be best to have him. So far I am thinking directly under the light looking down the street towards the road.

Proposed Shooting Schedule

Week 8 is fast approaching and ideally I would like to stick to my original schedule and have everything shot before this date. This gives me about two weeks to finish pre-production and shoot the thing.

PROPOSED SHOOT DATE: Thursday 9th September

What PRE-PRODUCTION do I still have to do?

• Talent
• Victim, Suspect 1, 2 and 3.
• Location
• Where? Permissions and logistics.
• Props
• Blood, razor-blade, drugs? cigarettes, broken glass, police tape?
• Equipment
• Medium Format Camera w/ tripod, D90 w/ tripod, 4 Metz flashes (with "magic-eye" and sync lead), batteries, smoke machine, tape measure, gaffa tape, knife, bubble wrap (diffuser), cellophane (filters),

Finally...a reck shoot!

After being post-poned by more than a week I will finally do something that resembles a reck shoot tonight. I plan to go to two locations:

• Parking lot of Greater Union Cinemas, Mosman
• Advantages
• Interior (consistent lighting, access to power)
• Dirty and run-down (cob-webs, graffiti, looks like a place you would kill someone)
• Lighting (overhead lights give spot light effect)
• Disadvantages
• Permission???
• Lighting (can't turn car park lights off)
• Dull?
• The Rocks
• Advantages
• Beautiful
• Location of previous gang wars
• Lots of alleyways
• Lighting (street lights give beautiful effect)
• Disadvantages
• Public (need council permission, public interferance)
• Lack of control (with lighting, extras, etc)
• Dangerous?

Well, these are at least what I forsee as being positives and negatives without having any material to work with. I will have some photos up tomorrow accompanied by an analysis of where I think works better.

The Razor Gangs of the 1920's: Surry Hills

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Razor_gang
http://www.abc.net.au/dimensions/dimensions_in_time/Transcripts/s485143.htm
http://australiancrimes.com/crimes/razorgang.html
http://australiancrimes.com/gangsters.html
http://australiancrimes.com/crimes/harrynewman.html


View Larger Map

'Reck' shoot plan

'Rec' Shoot Plan -> THIS WEEK


Places:
- Darlinghurst
- West Harbour Bridge (Raxor Gang Wars)
- Carraige Works (veranda)

Record:
- Lighting
- Time/date
- Location
- Weather
- Tripod yes/no

Notes

Rodger Rodgerson -> Killed drug dealers
Lenny McFerson

National Arts School
-> right -> alcove -> courtyards
-> back gates -> hangings occured here

Cumberland Street
-> Black day -> hangings occured here

Raw Photo Processor -> for 'film' look

Maybe link DigiComp Project w/ 'Rose'??? (my Professinal Portfolio project)

Questions that must be answered

I am certain that I want to have shots of crime scenes but I still haven't finalised the idea enough to really be anywhere near shooting. Following are a few drafted questions that I am in the process of answering.

-> Do I base all crime scenes around one criminal?
-> Are all photos from one scene or am I photographing multiple scenes?
-> Are all photos of similar crimes?
-> Where will I shoot?
-> What props should I start sourcing now?

I was talking to my friend Pete Wildman today, and he suggested that I play out a crime in a domestic setting (for example) and be a forensic photographer myself. He and I thought it would be interesting to put myself in the shoes of one of these people and see what would obscure objects I would notice and deem useful as evidence. This is slightly different to my idea of using a real past crimes and recreating them but it would still produce in-your-face images.

It is something to think about!

Famous Criminals: Past - Present

Last week there was a suggestion by my tutor to model the crime scenes off real life events. I found this comment interesting because I believe the scenes will be a lot more chilling if people know that they are recreations instead of random scenes. This has promted me to do some research into criminals (in particular murderers) that would be appropriate. Just a warning, some off these stories are intense to say the least.


Ted Bundy (link) - Serial killer active in the United States in the 1970's. 'Ted' murdered around 100 people and escaped custody two times before being sentanced to death by the electric chair for his crimes.

The 'Craiglist Killer' (link)- Former medical student ordered massage therapists from the website Craigs-list only to shoot them (committed suicide while incarcerated at age 26; 2010).

Influences - Real crime scene photographs

http://vanessawest.tripod.com/crimescenephotos.html

http://www.crime-scene-photos.com/default.html

Image Treatment

Here are a collection of images that I find inspiring. Some are from the book 'City of Shadows' while others of off the internet or from another book called 'Magnum'.

Idea for pitch Week 4

What:

I want to shoot a series of recreated crime scenes where the audience can figure out what has happened by the setting of the aftermath.

Where:

Interesting urban locations such as:

• The hull of a wooden boat.
• A derelict underground carpark
• Warehouse
• Stip-club
• Back-alley
• Dock

Equipment:

I plan to shoot with the university's RB67 medium format camera. I will then scan the exposures into the computer for editing. Ideally I would like to print on A3 sheets and display the series of 5 prints bunched together (arranged above and below each other).

Influences: Quotes from 'City of Shadow' by Peter Doyle

"Crime scene photographers serve three purposes: they contribute an understanding of how a crime has transpired and define the geography of the crime scene for future references; they also furnish proof on behalf of the prosecution that a crime actually took place"

"Photography has always playeed an important part in the investigation of crime..."

"Crime scene photographers see things that ordinary people do not. They linger analytically over scenes of mayhem with a rational gaze and a steady hand. They must 'record the scene from all resonable aspects.' They have to be alert, thoughtful and observant."

"Crim scene images are private images and are not meant for public consumption. They are pieces of forensic documentation recorded for the investigation detectives and the court."

"Any looking represents an intrusion and often a trespass on private grief."

"Film noir dramatised the corruption and violence of the big city and painted the cinema screen in harsh contrasts of light and shadow. The skewed, angular way of photographing spaces and expressionistic chiaroscuro of film noir shares a resonant familiarity with the habit of seeing manifested in crime scene photography."

"Recent popularity of the forensic investigator in television, book and film has several explainations. Undoubtedly part of the attraction is the exploration of the normally taboo worlds of death, violation and decay. But along with this negative obsorption is the macabre is a much more positive emotion that is animated by respect for human reason, and a deep sense of optimism about humanity's ratiocinative capacity to mitigate, contain and defuse evil."

First blog!

Idea... CRIME SCENE PHOTOS

• Shoot the aftermath of a crime.
• Wierd locations for shots
• Boat hull
• Factory floor
• Bedroom
• Blood, bullet holes, murder weapons, drugs etc. as props
• Series of 5 or 6 photos where one includes a dead body (enhancing the shock effect)

Locations...

• Docks
• Abandoned buildings