"The Cove"

(I am going to try my best to give my opinion without spoiling the story and plot of the film for all of you who may be interested in seeing this film).


Quote from the Film: "The dolphin's permanent smile hides its true feelings."


The Cove is one of the most powerful documentaries I've seen.  The production quality of this project was excellent (Yes, I have taken into consideration the seemingly enormous budget they had for this undertaking), but more importantly the rhythm of the story telling. Any good filmmaker will tell you that it starts with the story.  It doesn't matter if you have millions of dollars at your disposal; if you cannot tell a story properly, it's all a waste of time.  


The most important thing The Cove achieves is awareness and this is the beauty of documentaries - they say it as one of the opening lines "I do want to say we tried to do this story legally..." The documentary is really about the clandestine methods this team used to expose the atrocities that occur in the small town of Taijin in Japan; the filmmaker Louie Psihoyos really spared no expense.


This documentary is straight out of an espionage movie, complete with underwater cameras, camouflaged devices and a team with important skill sets from free-divers to a moldmaker from the famous Industrial Light and Magic studio.


The documentary is beautifully paced.  The overarching story is never lost but they make sure to bring in subplots, specifically Ric O'Barry's significance to the history of the popularization of dolphins and mercury poisoning.  


Here is a trailer for the film:


 


And here is a commercial I really enjoy. It is a Japanese commercial and I thought of it right away when I watched this film.

Dir. Bruno Aveillan & Louis Vuitton Commercial

This is one of my favorite visual commercials. Bruno Aveillan is a French commercial director who I have been recently following.  I really enjoyed this piece of his because of his amazing use of cinematography, his attention to detail and just the overall aesthetics that comes into trying to visually communicate the concept of "discovering your world."

He combines shots beautifully as if every frame is a still photo.  You can really feel the textures of each shot from the brick walls to the water droplets on the window. He captures the elegance from every location he goes to - not an easy feat.

I personally enjoy (and aspire to direct) commercials like this that go back to the fundamentals of cinema, where directors (even commercial directors) choose to SHOW and not TELL.  The audial aspect of the commercial is simple and exquisite and works perfectly hand-in-hand with the commercial.  

New York, New York

This last trip to New York City was probably one of the best I've ever had. Though I'd been to New York several times, but this trip felt the most overwhelming. My best friend Guillermo and I covered a ton of ground in two days. I got to check out the Metropolitan Museum and see an art installation on the roof built from bamboo and cables (see photos), enjoy central park despite the blistering heat and eat at Lombardi's Pizzeria, which brags being the first pizza joint in New York.

I shot most of the stills in black and white on purpose - no desaturation in post. There's a rustic elegance about New York City that I felt black and white captured better than color.

Enjoy!

Inaugural Post & My REEL 2010

Hello All,

So I know I'm a latecomer to the whole blogging phenomenon, but I never really had anything to blog or share with the world until now. This being my first post, I figured I guess it would only make sense to explain why it is I'm blogging in the first place and what it is I am blogging about...

For those of you who know me, I make films and video and thoroughly enjoy photography. Filmmaking has been my chosen path in life and I love it. I know a lot of people probably never expected it from me, but it was something I always wanted to get into when I was younger but never really had a way of doing it or know how I was going to go about getting into films. It was in my undergrad at Boston University that I really embraced my desire to get into filmmaking.

Today I've worked on music videos, commercials and a feature length documentary (which I will probably be writing more about in the upcoming posts) all on a micro-level. I direct, produce and edit most of my own work, which is extremely stressful and time-consuming (for those of you in the business, you know what I'm talking about), but also very rewarding because you learn to become self-sufficient and you are constantly learning.

This blog is really about two things... It's a way for me to present my work to the world and a place where I want to be able to share my thoughts on film/video, cinema and photography with all of you. I want to be able to share my experiences as I grow in this art because it really is a process and I have a long, LONG way to go before I reach the ranks of the Jean-Paul Jeunets, the Aveillans, and the Gondrys of this world.

So I hope you'll all enjoy what I have to share with you and I really want to hear all your opinions and recommendations on films, photography and cinema as I am always looking for new inspirations and gain new knowledge.

Before I go, here's a montage reel of some things I've shot in the past year or so.

Enjoy!

Jullian Ablaza's Director's/Editor's Reel from Jullian Ablaza on Vimeo.