This piece took place in a Santa Barbara hotel room as an impromptu film project. Blackbird was the first piece I learned on guitar and still holds a special place in my heart. I was in love with the calm of the morning, and felt inspired by a recent film I had watched, "People, Places, Things". Using a Panasonic GH3 with a Voigtlander 42.5mm f/0.95, this self-filmed video was a challenge to execute. With the intention of giving a raw look into the beauty of the uneventful everyday, I started filming.
I wanted to execute the mood I was searching for in the simplest way possible. I wanted this video to feel, like the words "sleepy Sunday morning" sound. Featuring primarily still shots, the pacing of this project is intentionally slow; the simple act of sitting on a bed and playing the guitar shouldn’t require a complex shot list. As a whole, this brief look into a breezy weekend AM serves nothing less than its purpose, and nothing more.
I edited the whole video on Final Cut Pro X, before I knew how to use Premiere. The color grading was done completely by hand, set to mimic a warm Kodak Porta 400 film grade.
I also had just learned to play the guitar. Blackbird was one of my favorite songs and I made it a point to learn it first. The problem was, the school's GH3 didn't have anything near a proper microphone. I dubbed over using my phone.
Fun fact: I was very inspired by the melodramatic feel of Napoleon Dynamite. I enjoy things that take time to think about, not necessarily climactic but thought provoking nonetheless.