We are eagerly anticipating the release of The Tree of Life this week in our theatres. Since quite a few months back, we have been bowled over by the cinematography of this film directed by Terence Malick. Emanuel “Chivo” Lubezki, who also worked on the films Children of Men and Y Tu Mamá También, shares his approach here, here and here.

Just some extracts from the articles we've linked on this blog:

"So the actors are performing the dialogue, but Terry isn't interested in dialogue. So they're talking, and we're shooting a reflection or we're shooting the wind or we're shooting the frame of the window, and then we finally pan to them when they finish the dialogue," Chivo recalled.

“Photography is not used to illustrate dialogue or a performance…[w]e’re using it to capture emotion so that the movie is very experiential. It’s meant to trigger tons of memories, like a scent or a perfume.”

“The most important rule for me is to not underexpose,” he continues. “We want the blacks; we don’t like milky images. Article E does not apply to underexposure!” The cinematographer concedes that there is a single underexposed shot in Tree, an amazing accomplishment for a film shot in such free form.

“The concept was to change, to always vary things,” he continues. Malick would alternate between Steadicam and handheld, go from “an 18mm to a 27mm,” from low mode to high mode, putting the actors in different positions, and sometimes he would redo the scene in another way the next day, perhaps with a different child or in a different setting.

It's near the end of the year again.. As we enter the last quarter, there are some major housekeeping to be done.. Rather than incur the wrath of our accountant, we shall keep things tidy this year? So the question beckons: what do we do with one year's worth of receipts?

PODz Youth mentoring is a community project for youths completing their rehabilitation programme with the Ministry of Community, Youth and Sports (MCYS). Paired with a mentor, these youths receive support and friendship, which enables them to be more resilient against negative influences when they are discharged from the rehabilitation programme. Over the course of a shoot, we had a very meaningful and fulfilling session with one such pair - Yong Zhi (a dance instructor) and his mentee, a photography enthusiast who could not get his hands off Kang Li's camera! These are some of his pictures taken over a period of two hours during our shoot. Talented!



















We are trying to help him source for an unused DSLR so that he could continue to practise this craft, and hopefully, be confident enough to take on photography jobs in the future. Drop us a mail or call us if you have any leads! Appreciate this a lot... :)

We will take on the responsibility to make sure that he takes proper care of the equipment and that he will continue to be disciplined in this pursuit, as long as his passion for photography doesn't extinguish.