[mann] is pissing me off

Michael Mann is really pissing me off with his inability to use a digital camera. He really pulled it off well on Collateral, but when Miami Vice came, the only thing that kept my eyes on it was the few minutes here and there of well shot film. Mann opened the film with stunningly beautfiul visuals, but ended it with the ugliness equivalent to that of a camera phone’s picture. Now I appreciate film grain, in fact I believe that at certain points it is crucial, but when there is not a sufficient amount of lighting in a shot, a digital camera cannot handle capturing the picture as well as a film camera can. The values within the image get “shifty” and there is a lag on the movement of colors. When a film camera has insufficient light, the shot is just really dark; the camera doesn’t work harder than it’s abilities to brighten it. I cannot see how Mann can just let himself get away with utterly terrible picture quality. I hated Miami Vice — not just because of its mediocrity, but because of Mann’s shortcoming with digital technology. Now Mann is releasing Public Enemies and — after having viewed the trailer — I can see that he has done this once again. I’ve got one word for him: lighting. It’s as simple as a lightbulb and an outlet and he can’t put the two together for some reason. Now of course I saw some rather promising visuals, but the second half of the trailer held many shots that just looked terrible. I really hope this is not the beginning of a trend for Michael Mann.

[first] place in psf comp

Yesterday I competed in the PSF Competition at De Sales University. I took home the 1st Place Monologue and $5,000-a-year scholarship awards. I also got selected to showcase my monologue after the final round of competition.

[lost] is still great