Moody muay thai footage - Film Promo Short

[Conor Sullivan]

My buddy shot some footage of us training last year, and i editted it. I gave it a sort of dark vibe so i thought it might fit here . I havent done much video work since school but ive started up again the past couple months. 

 

 

[Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu]

What an interesting artistic coincidence, I just put up my own film short sharing very similar aesthetics a few weeks after you. I was inspired by watching the film Blancanieves I think, wanting those very inky blacks. Very cool that you were thinking along the same vibe:

 

Our podcast on the film:

 

If Interested, for a while now I've been pretty obsessed with bringing the deep blacks of Film Noir to Muay Thai, writing about that here:

 

[Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu]

This is very cool! I like your editing and music choice to express the gym and your team. There's nice pacing to the edits, not the "highlight" blender cut so there's space to breathe and really see what's happening, but it has movement to it that feels energizing.

[Conor Sullivan]

11 hours ago, Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu said:

What an interesting artistic coincidence, I just put up my own film short sharing very similar aesthetics a few weeks after you. I was inspired by watching the film Blancanieves I think, wanting those very inky blacks. Very cool that you were thinking along the same vibe:

 

Our podcast on the film:

 

If Interested, for a while now I've been pretty obsessed with bringing the deep blacks of Film Noir to Muay Thai, writing about that here:

 

Oh yeah, the high contrast and very little grey. I think in general b&w can be great for muay thai because it helps to minimize the footage down to shape and movement to help better display the fundamentals of the art. I like your camera movement during action as well, it doesnt over-literalize what is happening and captures the emotion and intensity even in a seemingly calm environment.

Ill have to share another short experiment i did that has a similar dark mood that you seem to go for

 

[Conor Sullivan]

11 hours ago, Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu said:

This is very cool! I like your editing and music choice to express the gym and your team. There's nice pacing to the edits, not the "highlight" blender cut so there's space to breathe and really see what's happening, but it has movement to it that feels energizing.

Ah i appreciate that! Yeah, most people just throw some face paced footage on an EDM track and call it a day.

I was trying to convey the more serious samurai spirit and the calmness and clarity that comes from training.

[Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu]

15 hours ago, Conor Sullivan said:

I think in general b&w can be great for muay thai because it helps to minimize the footage down to shape and movement to help better display the fundamentals of the art.

I agree with this. It isolates the form, the mechanics/dynamics beautifully, but it also does something else as well - or at least has the potential to. Photographer Harry Gruyaert noted, in his move from black and white to color, that black & white tends to put the person at the center, their psychology, cut out away from the ground, because color ceases to become an organizing principle. This makes black & white even stronger for Muay Thai because it cuts with both blades of the scissor (form/dynamic and personhood), which can bring out a lot of what Muay Thai is ultimately valuable for. Those kinds of stories.

I say this about without adding the layers of historical genre styles in B&W, those for instance in boxing (classic photos), and in cinema, which also can provide a commentary and a grammar woven into what is depicted, perhaps more readily than color.

[Conor Sullivan]

On 1/16/2021 at 3:20 AM, Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu said:

I agree with this. It isolates the form, the mechanics/dynamics beautifully, but it also does something else as well - or at least has the potential to. Photographer Harry Gruyaert noted, in his move from black and white to color, that black & white tends to put the person at the center, their psychology, cut out away from the ground, because color ceases to become an organizing principle. This makes black & white even stronger for Muay Thai because it cuts with both blades of the scissor (form/dynamic and personhood), which can bring out a lot of what Muay Thai is ultimately valuable for. Those kinds of stories.

I say this about without adding the layers of historical genre styles in B&W, those for instance in boxing (classic photos), and in cinema, which also can provide a commentary and a grammar woven into what is depicted, perhaps more readily than color.

On the subject of reducing the visual field to emphasize different qualities, typically when im making a video or drawing or painting, ill take a moment to slightly cross my eyes to blur what im seeing so that i can better see the overall composition and shapes. Similar techniques are simply standing further back from the piece, or even turning it upside down, so that the focus is on shape and composition, rather than letting the brain work off of preconceptions of the subject matter. It is an interesting subject - of limiting a sense to improve the others.

[Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu]

On 1/19/2021 at 8:08 AM, Conor Sullivan said:

of limiting a sense to improve the others.

Great cinematographer Roger Deakins (he has a brilliant podcast which covers so many aspects of filmmaking) say one of the things he does when he shoots digital, which is all the time now, is that is turns his monitors to black and white while shooting. So interesting, for a cinematographer who is known for his color use. Once he sets his color/lighting, he just wants B&W.