Films
We're telling a story in sixty-five still images. The work is so detail oriented that we only make one image per shoot day. Here's a quick glimpse of all the setup that goes into making just one image for the series.
Shot on January 25, 2013.
Videography by Tyler Sparks. Edited by Einy Åm-Sparks.
Over two days in the living room of my new apartment Emily, Maggie, and I setup and shot a crowded party scene hosted by one of Marc's classmates, Jason. I'm grateful to the cast (1:11) and the eleven extras (1:22) for packing into such a small space to make the party look crowded, putting up with the intense heat even with the A.C. going full blast, and helping me get this shot made. I definitely recommend watching this (and the other timelapse videos) full-screen and in HD so you can see all the little changes to the bits and pieces we're moving around.
Jason's Party Timelapse from T.G. Wilkinson on Vimeo.
We went to CT to shoot using a taxi cab shell from Cars on Location. You can see E.C., one of the set dressing apprentices, hang through the empty windshield several times as he reattaches the rear view mirror in a better position while other set dressing apprentice that day, Nia, done with prepping the car shot some behind the scenes footage. I do a lot of shifting around with the camera while under the dark cloth to change the composition; the silver side of the dark cloth is to keep the sun from building up too much heat under there. The last frame is kind of fun because you can briefly see E.C. and I comparing polaroid test shots of the mirror placement.
Taxi Cab Timelapse from T.G. Wilkinson on Vimeo.
We had to move the time lapse camera after we setup the china ball style softbox lantern, so here's part two. One of the things you'll notice in this clip is that we gradually break down and replace each of the three modifiers we're using on the lights. I realized that the large softbox in the back right, serving as our key light, wasn't doing what I wanted it to (it was spilling too much on the back wall and I didn't have a grid for it) and as a result of changing that out had to adjust what all of our other lights were doing in relationship to it in this new arrangement. So there's the "best laid plans" in action for you.
Lighting our Second Shoot (Phil's Apartment) - Part 2 from T.G. Wilkinson on Vimeo.
We had our first two shoots of the revamped narrative photography project this past weekend. With the help of my assistant Corinne and six apprentices from the college my wife works at it took us two and a half days at this single apartment to make two photographs. Here's a quick time lapse of a small sliver of our second day as we setup the lights and set dressing.
Lighting our Second Shoot (Phil's Apartment) - Part 1 from T.G. Wilkinson on Vimeo.