“The very meaninglessness of life forces man to create his own meaning. Children, of course, begin life with an untarnished sense of wonder, a capacity to experience total joy at something as simple as the greenness of a leaf; but as they grow older, the awareness of death and decay beings to impinge on their consciousness and subtly erode their joie de vivre, their idealism – and their assumption of immortality.

As a child matures, he sees death and pain everywhere about him, and begins to lose faith in the ultimate goodness of man. But if he’s reasonably strong – and lucky – he can emerge from this twilight of the soul into a rebirth of life’s élan. Both because of and in spite of his awareness of the meaninglessness of life, he can force a fresh sense of purpose and affirmation.

He may not recapture the same pure sense of wonder he was born with, but he can shape something far more enduring and sustaining. The most terrifying fact about the universe is not that it is hostile but that it is indifferent; but if we can come to terms with this indifference and accept the challenges of life within the boundaries of death – however mutable man may be able to make them – our existence as a species can have genuine meaning and fulfillment.

However vast the darkness, we must supply our own light.”

-Stanley Kubrick

It’s this mission to create meaning that makes storytelling and art so important and powerful.

We’re ramping-up for the shoot with designer Anthony Franco that I posted about previously.

It’s going smoothly thanks to the team in place which includes not only Anthony, but also Francis overseeing casting, Geordy our brilliant master of all things audio, Lonny the master of digital infrastructure & workflow, JP helping with location scouting and visual effects planning (yes, a some fun effects planned), and Raymond who will be leading the editing with the two of us working closely on shaping the final form of the short film — I plan to be in the edit booth too, I love the film editing process (tinkerers like me can’t help it).

I cranked out the script with more speed than I expected, the concept came to me in three pieces over the course of a week at which point it just felt right. The team is pumped up about it, you can tell when the people around you are into a project — that makes such a difference.

This script is consistent with my style and tone in some respects, but in other ways a departure. I’m looking forward to it as a step into what I see as a new creative phase. Periodically there are clear changes in the vibe of my work, and I feel I’m at one of those points right now. I always feel when one of these transitions is coming on — it’s a mix of eagerness to move forward and break the old mold and some ambiguity in that I’m taking new risks by abandoning many of the methods and techniques that have served me well in the past. But this kind of performing without pre-established muscle memory is how we advance our work (and, in fact, ourselves).

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Since the earlier post detailing the HDSLR rig we were using for the ABC Family commercials, my team has done several more tv commercials and along the way we have extensively refined the kit. The last setup was highly functional but a bit of a Frankenstein monster.

The new rig is more compact, cleaner and more functional, especially from the standpoint of pulling focus — which is kind of a big deal. You can see the new rig in the slideshow below. The major changes outlined underneath.

The major changes have been:

1. Viewfactor Cage with power routing – tighter, cleaner, more compact, better balanced, and better power routing.
2. Zeiss CP2 cinema lenses instead of Zeiss ZE still photography lenses – wider focus ring travel for more precision, geared, same size diameter on all lenses for faster lens switching with Matt Box, smoother focus ring.
3. Preston wireless follow-focus instead of Bartech – smoother, more precise and more reliable motor.

All of these changes were a big step forward toward dialing-in the system. This rig is solid.

I was in the sound studio this weekend with my audio guru and master sound designer, Geordy Sincavage (Emmy recipient from work on Lost, Alias) who I work with closely on motion projects, and with master audio mixer Onna who mixes the sound for CSI among other projects.

Several elements contribute to creating the final audio for a film or dramatic tv . There are endless effects and audio accents that enhance the depth and emotional impact of the work. Every little smack, tap, click as well as braking glass, punch sounds, wind, traffic, etc… is recorded independently by the foley artist. The the mixer blends the volume and level of emphasis for each of those individual audio recordings layered on separate tracks. Then each is directed to an output track for the full surround sound experience.

This is the same sound studio where CSI is mixed (see slide-show). In a facility like this you have a giant screen (maybe 30 feet here) with a fully equipped surround sound installation. In front of the screen is a large space for musicians or an orchestra to setup and play while the film plays above them. The sound engineers work on an elevated platform overlooking both the screen and the musicians, recording and blending the performance with he other audio components and the visuals. On an even further elevated level behind the mixer’s platform sit the director and clients overlooking the entire process but in easy conversation range.

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If you are 100% completely confident when first releasing your work into the world, then you played it too safe and/or waited too long (and are probably wrong anyway).

Public exposure is like oxygen for ideas and art.

All art is risk.

I just returned from a week in New York mixing with photographers, filmmakers, music composers, and other artists. This was on the heels of participating in a filmmaking expo where a core group of us ran around town late into the night after the events of each day. This slowed down the progress on my new projects, but I think spending time with other creative people is essential to growing as an artist.

Influential artists typically come out of creative clusters. Look at the movements in literature surrounding Hemingway and Fitzgerald, or the Russian greats, or the Latin “Magical Realists”, or the Beat Generation. This happens across fields: the British musical invasion, or the New York pop artists, or the collection of friends around Lucas and Spielberg who are now a who’s who of directors in Hollywood. This is one of the reasons geography still matters in the age of the internet and easy communication — being a part of the community is important.

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As I hinted at earlier, the beginning of a lot of changes are starting to kick in around here. One I’m particularly excited about which will lay a foundation for many for the others to follow is the new website.

So I present the newly upgraded www.AugustBradley.com

It will be a platform for a wider range of media content, and serve as a hub for a more active engagement in a broader dialogue with the creative community. A lot of deliberation went into it, so I wanted to share a some of the thinking behind it.

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I have been invited to contribute periodic pieces to PhotoCineNews, a blog rapidly establishing itself as a leading source of information on the convergence of photography and filmmaking.  I’m excited to be a part of an impressive roster of creative professionals contributing to that digital publication. If you haven’t seen it, check it out: PhotoCineNews.com

When I write something there that’s relevant to the conversation here, I’ll make and announcement here as well. Though it will first appear published at PhotoCineNews. Below is my piece on “inspiration and creativity”…

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