As I thought about the challenge, I wanted to make a lyrical film, and thought that the best use of the theme would be to literally fill each frame with as much glass as possible. I would try to completely capture the viewer's attention with a glass object. In order to do this, I figured I needed some glass that was large, glass that was beautiful and glass that was interesting enough to show in a film.

A friend of a friend designed this building, and generously went out of his way to assist me in securing access to film it. It is the headquarters for a large corporation. The outer skin is made up of 700 large glass “scales” which are all very similar in size. Each one is constructed from a double layer of specially designed clear glass, with thin white lines printed on the surface. The resulting composite shape and form is breathtaking to see, and looks completely different depending on how you view it. It is essentially a giant complex sculpture and I have attempted to capture its many personalities and moods in this film.

Coming from a musical background, I may be biased, but I believe that a great soundtrack is an essential element of a great film. I recently read about Moby's film music resource for independent filmmakers, and thought that this project would be a perfect opportunity to license one of his pieces. I needed music that was beautiful, calm and repetitive (like the building), and a piece that would support, yet not overwhelm the visuals, and his music does this quite well. If you ever have a project that could use Moby's music, his website is: mobygratis.com

I hope you enjoy this tour of Galeo, on a windy day in August, as seen through my eyes.


The Vimeo password is: dvc
Galeo

Andrew,

Visually intriguing! What building is that? In what city? The coolest shot is the last one with the clouds reflected in the glass. Was that a real refection or after effects? It looked cool.

Great tip about the free music site, thanks for sharing.

It has a very peaceful feeling to it. But the glass seems cool and austere to me. Almost sad in a way.

I recently read about Moby's film music resource for independent filmmakers, and thought that this project would be a perfect opportunity to license one of his pieces.

I had read about that some time ago and forgotten about it... my first reaction upon seeing the credits was "well, that one will be disqualified..."

Glad to see your entry is on the "up and up"!

Loved all the shapes and framing. I enjoyed it. What camera did you use?

Andrew,

Visually intriguing! What building is that? In what city? The coolest shot is the last one with the clouds reflected in the glass. Was that a real refection or after effects? It looked cool.

Great tip about the free music site, thanks for sharing.

It has a very peaceful feeling to it. But the glass seems cool and austere to me. Almost sad in a way.

The building is called Galeo, and is in Issy-les-Moulineaux, France.

I was so fortunate to have the most beautiful lighting to shoot in. The sky was mostly overcast, making the light very cool, and the light was really bright yet diffuse.

Yes, the reflections were real, I of course adjusted all the shots with some simple color correction, but there were no motion graphics involved. In "real life" the reflections were so bright you could barely look at them directly!

I had read about that some time ago and forgotten about it... my first reaction upon seeing the credits was "well, that one will be disqualified..."

Glad to see your entry is on the "up and up"!

Of course! I'm a musician, and often perform on recordings for film- So I'm absolutely going to be on the up and up!!

Loved all the shapes and framing. I enjoyed it. What camera did you use?

Thanks, Mark! I shot this on a 5D Mark II.

A very aesthetically pleasing peace, quite meditative! And I didn't get bored. :D
Really, no comments, just that I enjoyed it greatly. Less is more. :)

Oh, and thanks for the free music resource!

Very nicely shot, capturing so many different points of view of your "actor", the building. It is really more like a work of art than architecture. When in cities, I always enjoy looking at similar reflective buildings, they seem to capture so many moods.

I thoroughly enjoyed this short film. I loved seeing the different ways you filmed the exterior and semi-interiors of the glass and the panes.

It's a simple, lyrical piece of work and I think the music you chose is perfect for the film.

What an awesome location! I really liked the shot at 0:30 that is straight on one of the corners - it reminds me of something out of Mordor from Lord of the Rings. Pretty amazing. The walkway around 1:19 looked pretty scary, with giant looking gaps for falling trough. I thought your compositions were beautiful and keep the viewer wanting to see what was going to be shown next. Not starting with a wide overview of the building was certainly a good decision.

By the end though I was wanting to see something wider - the building in it's entirety. Which isn't a bad thing necessarily because the film is about glass and not just a showcase of the building. After I finished watching I did find myself googling to find out what the building "looked like" and found you had several shots that a pretty close to showing it the way I was longing for by the time your film was over.

I also though the building looked pretty cool lit up at night but felt that shooting during the day was the right call on your part. It kept it more about the glass, where as shooting at night would have probably been more about the building.

Anyway, wonderful job sir!

Thanks for making us aware of mobygratis.com, it's very cool that he makes that available.

You found a great subject for your film, and there were a lot of stunning shots. I didn't quite feel the building was enough to hold my attention for the full length of the film, however. Maybe editing it back a little further would keep it strong for the entire piece. It was gorgeous, though, and I particularly liked the opening and closing credits -- they looked really sharp and professional with the clean white text and the cloud running over the glass surface.

Beautiful!

Great location, nice music! I love the reflections and lighting in several of the scenes. The camera movement was smooth and steady. Overall nice work!

Thanks for the music info also!

Thank you

As I traveled to the Detroit airport yesterday, I began to realize that I started to pay attention to the glass architecture of these modern airports more and more.

I echo what others have said about your shots. I also have to add that your moving shots are also beautiful! They're subtle, don't distract, and blend in with the other shots perfectly. I would love to know more about how you created some of those shots, and more importantly, how you chose some of those shots as well.

Your work on Galeo is more than I could have ever imagined myself, Andrew, and congrats on a job well done!

There were some really great images here; I like how you managed to breath life into a static structure. Great details, and subtle movements. I liked the Moby track too.

You certainly nailed the theme!

Very "glassy" for sure. Nice subject pick and great imagery once again.

Hi Andrew

Wow, great shooting. This was a journey through shape, light and reflection! Really nicely shot and I found the journey an interesting one. As an idea to add more focus it might have been nice to add a character that was traveling through the building in some sort of function. That said it might have also detracted from your more architectural journey which was more abstract but interesting and impressively shot. Love that closing shot and the building you chose. It's also very cool to have so much variety in this film challenge!

Great work, thanks for sharing!
M

As I traveled to the Detroit airport yesterday, I began to realize that I started to pay attention to the glass architecture of these modern airports more and more.

I echo what others have said about your shots. I also have to add that your moving shots are also beautiful! They're subtle, don't distract, and blend in with the other shots perfectly. I would love to know more about how you created some of those shots, and more importantly, how you chose some of those shots as well.

Your work on Galeo is more than I could have ever imagined myself, Andrew, and congrats on a job well done!

Thanks Joeseph, for the kind words! I really appreciate it!

At the risk of talking way too much, I'd be happy to share some info on creating the movement and shot selection for this film:

All but one of the moving shots was done using either a fluid tripod head or a glidecam stabilizer.

I handheld one shot, the one of the train with the focus pull. I was crouched down on a catwalk taking some shots of the building's lighting installation installed on the metal grid floor (lights are used to make it change colors at night- didn't make it into the film), and saw the train out of the corner of my eye. I turned quickly and had just one take on that shot, I'm lucky it worked!

All the walking shots, such as the ones from behind the glass looking out, were shot with the glidecam. The catwalk was windy, and a little scary. It was fun going out there, and provided a unique view that even people who see the building every day don't get to experience.

All the closeup slow camera moves of the exterior were shot with a telephoto lens on a fluid video head. There were a few gentle moves with a wide angle lens as well.

The interior shots were a mixture of the two pieces of gear- for a couple of the shots I was really trying to mimic the look of a slider or crane. I was inspired by an article Vincent LaForet published recently on his blog about just leaving gear at home, and making nice moves with what you have available. You have to be gentle, and sometimes you'll have to try it a few times before you get it. It's not the traditional use, but I've found that in a pinch, you can do very nice things while gently elevating a glidecam in the air.


I don't know if I do anything different than anyone else while editing, but as far as choosing the shots:
I first took a general look at what I had and selected the music. I needed to have the score in my head, so that I would select shots that could connect emotionally with the music. (I've done this the other direction many times while performing music, you think of an image or idea while playing and it will add quite a bit more emotional impact to your music rather than simply playing notes. It is an interesting exercise for me to do this in reverse.)

I listened to the piece (on repeat) the entire time I spent carefully selecting all the shots that would create the film. After many “rounds” of elimination, I had a nice selection of clips, and they flowed well with the music. I organized them into a logical progression that would take the viewer on a simple tour around the building. Something along the lines of: Outside, glass scales, back side of the glass scales, details of the rear edge, front; then the “bones”, shots from behind the glass and construction details; the flag leads us to the nice wide shot of the front (you can see the flag in this shot too), and the classy address typography leads us inside to the stunning conference room, wide shots first for scope, and then narrow for glass details (of course showing as much glass as possible, it is a contest after all!); the flower arrangement is used to transition back outside for the shots contrasting the motion of the trees and the solid glass; to wrap things up I continue the shot which opened the film.

I didn't want to be too obvious with the “script”, because I'm a fan of films with depth and repeat watch-ability, (especially for short films!) but I was hoping the subtle connection between shots would draw the viewer in for a meaningful experience.

Andrew! Such beautiful photography! The building / subject you chose is clearly beautiful too, but you did an excellent job in how you captured it. I love pieces that any still frame would make a nice photograph, and this is true of your piece. The only note I would have is that you have two VERY similar shots of the metal structure by the windows, at 1:09 and 1:21, so they are also close in time as well as content and composition. I would choose the best (or favorite) and only keep one. It was the only shot in the whole piece that seemed a little repetitive. And of course, that is about as minor as a quibble can get.

Also, thank you so much for that Moby resource! Very cool, I am sure it will be useful, and it makes me like Moby more! Thanks for sharing.

Just awesome. Thanks for the detailed explanation, Andrew! This is one of the best parts of the forum -- seeing how other people pulled their shots off, what was on their mind, etc. I totally thought you had a slider with you; but then I read that you worked alone on the project and I know how clunky that piece of gear is!

Thanks again for the insights, and again, great cinematography!

@Mitchell
Good eye! I agree. I wish I had just a shot or two more of the support structure, because it's a cool part of the story, but I didn't have a lot of time in the building and was moving really fast! I actually had another pair of shots that were similar, so I reversed one of them, playing it backwards, and that looks great.

@Joeseph
Without forums like this, who know where you would go to learn all these things! And yes, I'd love to own a slider someday- until then, I'll fake it. There are some gorgeous slider shots in the dialogue scenes of the show “Downton Abbey”, inspirational stuff!

Ah, yes, the filmmaker's endless quest for toys. I just saw one not too long ago that listed for $1,200. I've already plunked by budget (and then some!) into new camera and audio equipment, and new lenses. So, no slider for me.

However...

I just went on youtube and looked up the "Downtown Abbey" opening. Like you, I was so inspired by the opening, that I typed 'DIY slider' afterwards and found a ton of videos! So I'll make a pact with you (and anyone else interested):

Let's make a pact with each other to build a slider. Whoever finishes first gets to show the other (along with our board here) how they made it, the end result, along with some silky footage. Or better yet, we all finish and compare notes -- and silky footage -- at the end! Sound good? No, no... that sounds silky!

(apologies for the temporary thread hijack...)

I just went on youtube and looked up the "Downtown Abbey" opening. Like you, I was so inspired by the opening, that I typed 'DIY slider' afterwards and found a ton of videos! So I'll make a pact with you (and anyone else interested):

Let's make a pact with each other to build a slider. Whoever finishes first gets to show the other (along with our board here) how they made it, the end result, along with some silky footage. Or better yet, we all finish and compare notes -- and silky footage -- at the end! Sound good? No, no... that sounds silky!

(apologies for the temporary thread hijack...)

Then all you need is a DIY Arri Alexa, a DIY castle, and the next dvc theme as "family", and you'd be good to go!

In all seriousness, I've read that these machined parts can work pretty well with a minimum of tinkering: DryLin W1040-B Linear Motion System for Camera Sliders - mini pre-drilled version,ready to go: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific I'm not sure what you were looking at, but these metal ones probably last longer and would be more reliable than the pvc pipe versions out there.

You should also watch Downton Abbey if you get a chance, it's like a clinic on nice shots. The episodes stream for free with Amazon Prime, or you can buy them for a dollar or two. The cinematography, costumes and lighting are gorgeous.

Great -- I'll take a look at that slider tonight.

And WOW -- I just watched the first 15 minutes of Downton Abbey, and every shot is absolutely beautiful! Thanks for the recommendation... and I can definitely see some "Abbey-esque" shots in your piece!

Those who love "Downtown Abbey" will be pleased to know 3rd series starts this weekend in the UK.

Great -- I'll take a look at that slider tonight.

And WOW -- I just watched the first 15 minutes of Downton Abbey, and every shot is absolutely beautiful! Thanks for the recommendation... and I can definitely see some "Abbey-esque" shots in your piece!

This one looks interesting too, and not as much as the real pricey ones, although it's not available until Dec.

Rhino Slider for DSLR Cameras by Kyle Hart — Kickstarter (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rhinocg/rhino-slider-for-dslr-cameras)


Those who love "Downtown Abbey" will be pleased to know 3rd series starts this weekend in the UK.

Excellent! I recently finished watching season 1, nice to know there is more coming. I assume the same team is shooting it?