Digital Video - October 2007 - (Page 32)

CLOSE-UPS Jakob Hawkins plays an Iraq war veteran coming home to a crossroads. Patrick J. Donnelly (above) on Divergence: “Even if my eye as a cinematographer was happy, I’d go for extra takes as a director.” LOVE OR HONOR FILMMAKER PATRICK J. DONNELLY’S TRIAL BY FIRE ON DIVERGENCE. F Sunrise (1995) and Before Sunset (2004). or Manhattan-based writer-director-cinematographShooting Divergence on Super 16, Donnelly the writer-director er-editor Patrick J. Donnelly, making the intimate trumped Donnelly the cinematographer—and his planned coverwar drama Divergence was a return to his roots, age strategy was largely abandoned. “I’d originally wanted a ‘lowboth as a filmmaker and a native of the New Jersey shore. budget’ 3:1 shooting ratio to keep costs down,” he explains. “But Tracing the emotionally rocky road to recovery of a conflictbecause performance was the most important part of this piece, I ed Army chopper pilot wounded in Iraq (Jakob Hawkins), always had to bow to that. Even if my eye as a cinematographer the drama finds him grappling with the decision to either was happy, I’d go for the extra takes if necessary to get to where escape to a new life with an emotionally damaged woman the performances satisfied me as a writer and director. (Traci Ann Wolfe) seeking her own redemption, or fulfill his “Actors can’t always do it in two or three takes,” Donnelly commitment and return to the front continues. “We didn’t go to all this lines where his brothers in arms trouble and get up early to get anyawait. As the story unfolds amidst the thing less than our best. This is a trap CAMERAS AND LENSES: ARRI winter bleakness of a seaside resort many low-budget filmmakers fall into: FILM: Eastman Kodak 7245, 7218 town, the location also becomes a they sacrifice takes for the coverage TAPE DECKS: Sony DVCAM character—an approach in part they think they need in the editing EDITING: Apple Final Cut Pro, inspired by L’ Eclisse (1962), Italian room. But if the story, characters and Soundtrack and Motion neorealist Michelangelo Antonioni’s performance are working, then you TELECINE: GV Spirit DataCine tale of modern alienation, and don’t need all that extra coverage to COLOR TIMING AND CORRECTION: Richard Linklater’s naturalistic Before fix or hide anything in editing.” Pandora Pogle BY DAVID E. WILLIAMS DIVERGENCE TOOLKIT 32 dv october 2007 www.dv.com http://www.dv.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Digital Video - October 2007

Cover Contents Letters DV Update R&D Fest Circuit Light Brigade Follow Focus Shootout Image Conscious Instant Expert Close-Ups Eastern Europe Exploit Call of the Wild Four Principles of Storage Storage Media Production Diary

Digital Video - October 2007

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