To put my money where my mouth is...

[gwyn]

For my Fast and the Furious friends... I recently had someone ask me for my password for my vid site so she could see Stripped, and she wrote back about the vid (yay, feedback!), and mentioned my favorite sequence in the vid: the part where Vince has the shotgun on Brian, and Dom steps out of the shadows in that v-neck t-shirt. I wrote back to her with this:

That scene, in the darkness, is my favorite in the
whole movie (which is saying a lot, because I love nearly everything
in it, no matter how stupid). I felt like it defined Dom's character
-- stepping from the dark into the light, because of ... Brian.
Mysterious and cool, but potentially volatile... I just adore that
scene. The director did three of my favorite Miami Vice episodes when
he first started out, and I could see in those scenes the things he
picked up from Michael Mann, about how things like shading and shadows
and color and light can define a character without the audience
necessarily even seeing it. In some respects I almost built the vid
around that scene, and the one in the garage where Dom confesses his
sins.

I'd been watching a lot of my old Miami Vice tapes for research purposes (no, really!) and it was such a shock to discover that Rob Cohen directed two of the arguably best episodes of the first season, and one of the best of the second season: Evan and Made for Each Other in first, Definitely Miami in second (the one with Ted Nugent). You can see a lot of the nascent visual stylist he became -- whatever else you can say about Cohen, the man knows how to make the most of his visuals. He's clearly got a DP's eye, and I think that despite my overall feelings about F&F, the thing I responded to even before I felt this way about it as a fandom was: knocked out by its exceptional visuals and stunning set/blocking styles. In watching Evan, especially, there is a scene where Sonny Crockett is confessing his sin and connection to the title character, played by William Russ, and letting out all the built-up pain from years of keeping it inside, when he tells his partner Rico about it all. It's set outside at night, at an abandoned neon-lit gas station, but the blocking, shot styles, focal lengths, and dialogue are all there to match both the garage confessional in F&F and that scene where Dom confronts Brian.

I really admire what Cohen did with what's essentially a moronic movie. Using subtle cues such as the lighting and the staging, he clues us in to his characters and their roles, their status, within the film, even as it's shifting in places. What do you think?

Comments

[thisisbone.livejournal.com]

I don't know much about directing styles, but I'll say that your Stripped vid, and the two others I also watch incessantly -- khaleesian's Never Let Me Down and lierdumoa's The Chemicals Between Us -- show an amazingly pure visual style. The flick is more beautiful than it is good, which is why I enjoy the vids so much -- they distill what I love, which is the emotion between Dom and Brian, and the really really cool visual elements Cohen used.

To your earlier discussion, I was never much for meta, and now I simply don't have time for in-depth discussion, following threads, hell, even thinking things through! I have time to squee, though, and I think we could all do a better job of squeeing in the direction of those who provoked the squeeing in the first place.

[mlyn.livejournal.com]

As you know I've already posted about Cohen's repetitive use of certain shots; the one I noticed was the low push in/pan (whatever, I don't know the lexicon) across sexy car parts. He did it in TFatF and in xXx. My first reaction was a derisive laugh, so I was a little surprised to see that people don't condemn him as much for doing the same things repeatedly.

I do acknowledge that using lighting and staging to develop and explore characters is highly effective, while at the same time subtle, but I'm a bit bewildered by the fact that he does the *exact* same stuff. Like, motion-for-motion, if I understand you correctly.

I think I'm coming at this from a design perspective, where every project is different. Having a hallmark to one's work is one thing (Ridley Scott's falling water and shifting light; Herb Lubalin's ampersand kink), but going "Hmm, that worked well, I think I'll do it again!" to me smacks of unoriginality. I'm not sure why he can't do the same kinds of things in staging or lighting without completeling replicating what he did before.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

No, no, no -- I'm talking about signature styles, too. I'm not saying he's a great director, but he does have an excellent eye for staging and blocking and lighting, and he clearly knows how to pick a DP. He's not copying anything shot for shot, but they elements and aspects are there as a nascent directorial skill that I find fascinating to watch. And like I said, he was learning from one of the best helmers in the business, even at that stage. Mann is a visual stylist par excellence (many would say to the detriment of his stories), and I think Cohen learned a lot from him that shows in F&F beautifully. Color cues for characters, light and shadow -- I think all those things tell us a great deal. When Dom is slatted by shadow and light as he tells Brian about his dad, it's such a gorgeous metaphor for the two elements battling it out inside him. And I think those aspects of directorial eye were there in Vice, which you can see in the similiarities of the shots and what he used there.

[mlyn.livejournal.com]

Firstly...completeling? Forgive my inability to type worth shit.

Secondly: see, I sort of wanted to ask you for more specific examples of the good stuff Cohen has done. I never noticed color cues for certain characters, and the slatted light metaphor completely passed me by. You should mention this stuff more often, because I'm finding myself to be embarrassingly oblivious.

Guess I'll just have to watch his movies again. *Sigh* ;)

[kadymae.livejournal.com]

Okay, Cohen's commentary on TF&TF is my all time favorite commentary track because it gives such insight into what goes into a movie and what a director does to move your eye and cue/suggest.

When I went to go see it with my buddy Geno he turned to me and said, "For an action flick, there's an awful lot of Film in there."

Cohen may only be offered "popcorn" movies (and he may also not have the temperment to direct anything else) but he knows what he can do as a director to tease what's good out of an otherwise mediocre script.

Let me put it this way -- if The Phantom Menace had been directed by Cohen it would be a watchable popcorn flick.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Yeah -- I mean, you can say what you want about the setup and all, but the fact is that it's cinematically stunning and Cohen has a real eye for staging. The only complaint I often have is that he doesn't put Brian and Dom in the same frame, which as a vidder, is a challenge, because you have to do the two shot edit effect all the time, and rarely get the chance to clearly show them interacting. But scenes like Brian by the pool, the Chinese arch/statues, the way the street meet are all filmed, it's just a gorgeous movie to work with for vidding. So maybe it's junk, but gosh, it's really good looking junk and has more between its layers than I've ever seen!

[ixchel55.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, I also found the discussion about the different photographic techniques used by Cohen to be very interesting. Like M'lyn I can't say that I studied them all that in depth, but it is kind of fascinating.

It's also interesting to find out he filmed some of the Miami Vice episodes. I loved Miami Vice with a passion when it was on. (I had such a crush on Lt. Castillo.) That's where I also learned to really like William Russ. Unfortunately, the one character that Russ plays so well (that of someone walking the tightrope of self destruction) can only be played so many times. He did it extremely well again as Roger on Wiseguy in it's second season.

I'm going to have to take another look at tF&tF with an eye toward more subtle subtext.

Thanks!

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

The first season of Vice is coming out on Feb. 8, on dvd! I'm so excited I could scream. Plus, it will be lovely to see Evan in its full glory and compare and contract.

I think the coolest thing about F&F visually is that Cohen and the DP are using light and color to help tell what is essentially a fairly shallow story, and giving it more depth that way. It's an old trick, but it's a good trick!

[elfinessy.livejournal.com]

MV was my first slash fandom, Sonny and Rico. I was watching the show when I was 11 years old and fell in love with it.

The show was always lit in a way that took it just slightly, just a little, out of reality. As if it was one step just off.

They showed it again when I first started working and I had cable. Fell in love all over again and that's when I finally started to write the slash up on the internet.

It's a gorgeous show, even now. The cast, the cars, the chemistry between Sonny and Rico, the whole caring thing, not just those two but the whole squad. I still can't watch the last episode without tears.

Need to import the DVDs next month if anyone can recommend a good UK internet company for US DVDs.

[ixchel55.livejournal.com]

Miami Vice was definitely a pioneer and a trend setter. The lighting and the colors are absolutely gorgeous. I haven't seen an episode in several years but I can still remember some of the scenes quite vividly.

If I remember correctly, it was one of the first shows to blur the lines between the good guys and the bad guys.

And for all that the look of the dress, the atmosphere, etc. is very 80s, it doesn't 'date' the show at all. Their use of music (orig. artists, not covers) was unique, too.

It was a fantastic show and the slashy elements were marvelous.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

For years my friends and I have been telling everyone that MV changed the face of television and entertainment as we know it, that it's cultural significance is much farther reaching than guns and clothes and music. And recently someone wrote about it at Slate in the same way, and I was thrilled to see it acknowledged in print. I've thought about writing an essay about it, but I never thought there was much itnerest -- maybe I'll work one up for the DVD release. ;-)

[ixchel55.livejournal.com]

That would be wonderful and I'd be very interested to read it.

[elfinessy.livejournal.com]

I love that episode - 'Evan' - and that scene with Sonny and Rico. It's always been a favourite.

The wonderful setting of the deserted gas station, the ease with which they talk to one another, the music in the background.

I hadn't realised it was Cohen and I agree that he pulled off a miracle with TFatF. I mean, just look at 2F2F. He gives us not only an incredible action movie, but the characters within it. He also knows how to put actors on screen.

The scene with Brian standing next to the pool at the safehouse is just beautiful.

Whoever directed 2F2F wasn't *looking* at the characters, seeing them, and letting us see them.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

I think that's a great point about contrasting with 2F -- that whole thing is so hyperkinetic and obnoxious and frantic, and so overbright and overlit that it set my teeth on edge. Brian seems so out of place in that whole story, as if he got plunked down, this oasis of quiet and calm, in the middle of some kind of ADD kindergarten class or something. You throw in the near-psycho Roman hyperness, and the whole movie feels like one big jitter caffeine overdose to me! So you're right, there's no chance to see the characters, to let the visuals help fill in the missing pieces of the story.

I love how in F&F, Brian is almost always center-lit. Even when he's in shadows, like in the garage, he's lit when the rest of the scene around him isn't. It gives him a cool glowy effect, and also tells us that he is the film's center, its light -- contrasting with Dom's shadows, darker backgrounds. He's given the angel halo in a way by the lighting.

[elfinessy.livejournal.com]

Paul Walker is such a completely beautiful guy, and I know that's a strange thing to say about a guy. The camera loves him - his photo shoots show that.

Cohen uses that, the lighting, the cinematography, is perfect, with Paul and Vin.

Watch the scene in 2F2F where Brian and Rome are waiting for the two guys to turn up so they can race and win the two backup cars. The scene's filmed from lower than headheight, and this is not flattering for Paul. Cohen seems to understand the angles to shoot from, the lighting to use. Even when the script is questionable and the plot dodgy, he can pull off something like TFatF.

Genius.

[lierdumoa.livejournal.com]

I really admire what Cohen did with what's essentially a moronic movie. Using subtle cues such as the lighting and the staging, he clues us in to his characters and their roles, their status, within the film, even as it's shifting in places. What do you think?

Oh, yes. I meant to respond to this post earlier but forgot fora while. I absolutely love how the movie was filmed, and vidding it helped me realize just how spectacularly lovely TF&TF is. I love Rob Cohen for very conveniently placing people's heads in the same part of the screen. Made things a whole lot easier on me.

One thing that I noticed was that there was actually symbolism between the characters and their cars. Like, really subtle. Jesse gets shot before his car gets shot, but the way it's edited, you actually see the car getting shot before you see Jesse getting shot. Usually damage to car precedes damage to person. All the crash scenes were spectacular, motion wise. One of my favorite scenes in the movie is Brian watching Dom go up the stares with Letty. He just has this soft smile and his big blue eyes and his whole face is in the light while most of the rest of the shot is in shadow.

Just, oh man. I could go on about this movie. I've seen the whole thing multiple times, often in slow motion, and it just takes my breath away.