When I've been Invited by Lighttols.com to speak about the use of Egg Crates in my photography I thought it would have been a great opportunity to challenge myself with a cool project.
My team at digitalmovie liked my visionary idea since the very beginning when I briefly described what I had in mind. Of course having my team's full support is one of the best way to get started... so we moved on to the actual production right away. Thanks to the hard work of my brother Andrea (production manager at our company) we were ready to shoot in a matter of days if not hours. He arranged for everything in no time: from location to props and models .. including the parrot and its incredibly skilled trainer Pietro.
We've had a great time on the set as you may see from the 2 behind the scene videos down here.
In facts I wanted to work on 2 different scenes. Both situations are about the little girl (Anna) and the blue and yellow macaw (Moi).
On the first set I had my original visionary scene full represented ... at least all the elements I wanted were right there.. than I had to work my way through the shooting trying to make my models act properly.
On the second set I've tryed to build what I called the 'silent dialouge' having Anna and Moi simply seated there into an evocative atmosphere of mid night situation.
Hope you enjoy the project as a good mix of photography, videography, and fun.
Cropping detail view.
Watch the video featuring my lighting tools here and see how I worked on this first set.
More shots out of this first scene..
Moi wants to go more 'into the picture' .... !
Anna having fun with Moi ... perhaps Moi is clapping hands (wings actually) to her painting.
A great take off from the chair in the background..
Cropping detail view.
My Lighting design for the two set-ups:
On Set 1 I've had my main light from top (Chimera 5feet Octaplus with Egg Crates), 2 rim lights (Chimera super pro plus) from behind the line of subjects, one active filler light from down below the camera, a square reflector for the effect on the ladder, finally soft spot light coming from the right hand side. Total of 6 light sources.
On our 2nd set I had the Chimera OctaPlus on its 7feet mode doing a beautiful job as main light. Than a strong backlight has helped on the two and a separate effect worked on the gambrel roof. I finally pushed slightly on MOI's colors using a beauty dish positioned a bit off camera on the left.
Watch this video featuring the lighting tools I worked with on the 2nd set.
Cropping detail view.
Concept and copyright: Matteo Mescalchin
Set Design & Photography: Matteo Mescalchin
Production manager: Andrea Mescalchin
Grip: Giovanni Santon
Model: ANNA
Videographer: Michele Piazza
Illustrator an Painter: Francesca Dafne Vignaga
Video Editor: Paola Balasso
Bird Trainer: Pietro De Gasperini
Video Editor: Paola Balasso
Bird Trainer: Pietro De Gasperini
Sponsored by: Lighttools.com - chimeralighting.com
Crew & production: digitalmovie.it
NOTE:
This production ensured safety and well-being of animals on stage.
The animal in this project has been treated humanely being constantly under the supervision of its trainer.
Thank you for watching.
I appreciate your like and comments.