Artist Statement

Filming for me has evolved from something that I used to simply think was fun, into what I find to be the greatest means of expression. You can use an incredible combination of images, words, and beautiful music to say what you want to say. For me this reel doesn't necessarily tell any kind of story that is rooted somewhere deep within me, but instead my hope for this reel was to gain a confidence in my ability to capture awe-inspiring images, so that I might be able to do so again in the future when my images have a story to tell, or a message to convey. Although, the purpose for my work doesn't always have to be clearly defined, it can simply be to inspire, and to appeal to the indescribable desire for beauty and imagination that all men and women carry in their hearts.

Fo Reel

Reel Yo! from Marcus Tortorici on Vimeo.

Library Love

Library Love from Marcus Tortorici on Vimeo.

Money

I honestly don't know what would technically define a money shot. However I can speculate that it simply means THE shot that we've all been waiting for. The single shot that brings the story to a climax. I also feel that the money shot should be aesthetically pleasing. This scene from Slumdog millionare is all I could find.

Preppin

Alright, it's getting down to crunch time on the dialogue scenes and I'm slowly developing the look I want to achieve. The scene takes place in the basement of Gorgas Library and it's a story about a guy sees a girl and attempts to woo her, much to his disappointment, she denies him. The look I want to achieve relies heavily on the mood of the piece which I am still mulling over in my head. I'm thinking that I want the lighting to be very simple and non-distracting, while at the same time, I want the lighting to be visually attractive. My idea is to have two or three lamps with tungsten bulbs, so that I can easily transport them around and also not get burned or burn the place down. I'm really hoping that those lamps will provide soft light while cutting shadows in the background. Also I hope to checkout the rolling tripod so I can do some easy dolly shots. I purposely planned to shoot in Gorgas Library because it is super quiet and the floors are slick. This should be perfect for good audio and smooth dolly shots. Also I am still working on the script some. I got really fed up with trying to find a script, because none of the ones I found really blew my skirt up, so I finally just wrote one up. I hope with some tweaking that it will turn out the way I want it to. I also have a guy that goes to my church who writes and plays some great music that should go perfectly with the project. I hope that I don't end up disappointed with the final product. Peace!

Great Movement

I think that the movement here is incredible. Also the use of lighting, and the addition of the mirror was pretty stunning. At the beginning there was that spoon that fell that really seemed to set up the shock factor that came later when the camera slowly revealed the burning barn in the backyard.

Ben Briand - Apricot from Paraskevi Koutouba on Vimeo.

This is another awesome video, but when it gets to the 6:30 mark I feel that the camera movement really didn't do much except for distract and take away from the film. I understand that it was to portray him losing his memory and the confusion, but honestly I couldn't seem to focus.

Isenseven - TIMES from Vincent Urban on Vimeo.

Man this video is inspiring to me. I saw it on the homepage of Vimeo not long ago but I love everything about it. In terms of form the one thing that really blew me away was the lighting. There were SO many different lights and so many different colors being thrown at you the whole time. Whether it was a screen flare from the Sun, or if it was traffic zooming by at a sped up rate. Also the many different rack focuses gave it a great feel. This worked especially well when it went together with the speed of the whole project. It seemed so fast paced and exciting. This was achieved in part by the editing with the different boxes, but also through the composition of the shots. Some things were zooming by your face blurred out, and then they would have a slow motion skateboard flipping through the air. They helped create that European feel by having bizarre shots, like snow shooting at the windshield, and they created the busy feeling of European towns by always panning, very few shots were stills. Really cool stuff.