NEW SHOTS: PARIAH, BEAU TRAVAIL, CLOCKERS

03.21.21 / New Shots

Today we’re releasing newly-tagged shots from three fantastic films we want to call to your attention.

Starting off this week’s new additions are images from the absolutely gorgeous 2011 coming of age drama PARIAH, the feature film debut of director Dee Rees and an early achievement from one of ShotDeck’s favorite and most popular cinematographers, Bradford Young. This film is an incredible example of how to find beauty and visual poetry in simple domestic interiors through the use of creative framing, bold colorful lighting, and shallow depth of field. Despite being shot mostly in closeup, no two scenes feel the same and the entire film has a clearly defined visual arc that can be felt even just scrolling through these still images from beginning to end.

We’re also very excited to finally have fully tagged images from Claire Denis’ art house classic BEAU TRAVAIL, shot by her frequent collaborator Agnes Godard. Photographed on the coast of Djibouti, this film is a beautiful example of how the location/landscape of a story can shape, inform, and sometimes even feel like an extension of the characters’ emotional journey. If you’re shooting a project near the ocean or in the desert, make sure to check out these images for some amazing references on how to make even harsh direct sunlight and cloudless sky feel soft, melancholy, and beautifying.

And finally we’ve added Spike Lee’s 1995 Brooklyn crime drama CLOCKERS, the first feature film from influential cinematographer Malik Hassan Sayeed. Lee and Sayeed made several uncommon choices in establishing the look of this project, including the use of Ektachrome reversal film stock as well as cross-processing lab techniques. The result is a movie with a unique look that probably shares more in common with the visual language of music videos at the time than it does with other studio crime dramas of the mid-90s.