This film uses solely lighting, sound, production design, and camera movement to tell a story. The camera uncovers the veneer that is our particular woman’s life as she publicly appears lavish and exuberant, but truly lives a life of lost hope and neglect.
This film uses solely lighting, sound, production design, and camera movement to tell a story. The camera uncovers the veneer that is our particular woman’s life as she publicly appears lavish and exuberant, but truly lives a life of lost hope and neglect.
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Story
Mission Statement
PASSING is a cinematography production thesis led by a female director of photograph with a majority female crew. In an industry with few women filmmakers let alone cinematographers, PASSING is a step towards inclusion and diversity on film sets.About The Project
This thesis aims at showing how cinematography can tell a story on its own. The art of cinematography consists of lighting, camera movement, framing, and production design. The three pieces of this story do not have actors or any true focus on the diegetic sound of the world we see, only a focus on the structure of the camera and its function as a storyteller. The camera is a character (or invisible eye) travelling within a space, trying to relay back to the audience how the world we are looking at functions - how the spaces, details, and fine points within a frame we see can come to life through just the lighting, camera movement, objects, and score.
The idea originated after reading Emerson’s essay on Nature. In this essay, Emerson recounts his enlightenment while standing alone in a forest, feeling as if he is a transparent eyeball - all seeing yet invisible to the world. My thesis relays this concept through the camera’s role as the transparent eyeball: floating through and discovering spaces while remaining anonymous and unseeable.The camera moves through the house of a woman who used to be a performer at late-night dance clubs. Her life has moved on because of her age even if she did not want it to. The camera explores her home, specifically the kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom, finding out more about her insecurities, her past, and her sense of lost hope. As we progress from room to room, her fears becomes more apparent, revealing a woman who has been hiding her true self from the world as she tries to project an unauthentic version of herself .
Passing aims at creating a space that conveys our main character's psyche and insecurities. The film shows an evolution from room to room: from a kitsch style, functioning as a surface that belies her deeper fears and anxieties, to a space of decay and morbidity that relays a life of lost hope.
Here are a few visual references and inspirations:
Film references include:
A Ghost Story
You Were Never Really Here
Koyaanisqatsi
Photographic References include:
Todd Hido
Gregory Crewdson
Joyce Tenneson
As an aspiring professional director of photography, this thesis is a display of my passion and all that I have learned up to this point. This project means the world to me as the subject is loosely based on a friend of mine, giving me the passion and purpose to relay this narrative on screen.
Because this project is so personal to me I will need the right gear to ensure my vision, and the subject's story, can be correctly and precisely conveyed on screen. Please consider donating in order to fund Passing!
Incentives
$10
Thank You Credit
Pledger will recieve a thank you credit on the film!
$25
Social Media Shout-Out
Pledger will receive a thank you credit as well a mention of their name (and handle) on the Official Instagram Page of Passing!
$50
Behind the Scenes Photographs
Pledger will receive a thank you credit along with photographs from behind the scenes!
$100
Exclusive Digital Copy + Personal Thank You Note
Pledger will receive a thank you credit, an exclusive digital copy of the film, and a personalized thank you note!
$250
All of the Above + Signed Copy of the Script
Pledger will receive all of the above along with a signed copy of the final script by the entire crew!
$500
Exclusive Digital Copy with Commentary
Pledger will receive an exclusive digital copy of the film with commentary and breakdown, scene by scene!
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Wishlist
Use the WishList to pledge cash and loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an incentive directly.
$10
Thank You Credit
Pledger will recieve a thank you credit on the film!
$25
Social Media Shout-Out
Pledger will receive a thank you credit as well a mention of their name (and handle) on the Official Instagram Page of Passing!
$50
Behind the Scenes Photographs
Pledger will receive a thank you credit along with photographs from behind the scenes!
$100
Exclusive Digital Copy + Personal Thank You Note
Pledger will receive a thank you credit, an exclusive digital copy of the film, and a personalized thank you note!
$250
All of the Above + Signed Copy of the Script
Pledger will receive all of the above along with a signed copy of the final script by the entire crew!
$500
Exclusive Digital Copy with Commentary
Pledger will receive an exclusive digital copy of the film with commentary and breakdown, scene by scene!
- Updates
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Current Team
About This Team
Ale Lampietti
Director of Photography
Ale loves the smell of fresh air in the mornings, the taste of bitter, black coffee after a good night’s rest, and the sight of female filmmakers pursuing their dreams. She is very passionate about cinematography.
William Maldonado
First Assistant Camera
William Maldonado is a fast-talking private invisitgaotor from the hard-boiled streets of New York. His favorite activities include staring off wispfully from his car and stopping by the local haberdashery for his fedora fix. He’s also color-blind and smoke inexplicably fills every room he’s in.
Angelica Cucueco
Second Assistant Camera
Hi! I’m Angelica. I am second assistant camera for Ale’s super exciting thesis. I love awkward smiles, good vibes, taglish slang and the magic of movies. I was born and raised in the Philippines. I’m not really into paintings but my favorite one is called bold and brash. My vision isn’t great and I recently got new glasses and my mom said they make me look more vibrant. The camera’s lens compensates for my vision being not-so-great. It allows me to capture moments more clearly as well as capture souls.
Joey Ellis
Producer
Joey has spent the last 25 years working for the Special Victims Unit solving hundreds of cases alongside New York’s finest including Detective Olivia Benson and Ice-T. His latest assignment is posing as an undercover college student at Wesleyan University. As part of his cover he is producing Ale Lampietti’s cinematography thesis and is incredibly excited to be a part of this groundbreaking project. Previously he has produced and executive produced several short films and web series, as well as having gained industry experience by interning at such places as Lionsgate and the Stockholm International Film Festival.
Zack Brida
Producer
To whoever is reading this, PLEASE SEND HELP. Ale has kidnapped me and manacled my cold, athletic figure to a wooden stake and forced me to produce her thesis, the first cinematography thesis project at Wesleyan. Cackling maniacally, Ale constantly lobs stacks of cash and location scouting forms to my pinioned body, denying me any food, but ensuring that I’m becoming a mildly adequate film producer.
Kat Cucullo
Associate Producer
My name is Kat Cucullo, I'm a sophomore with a family tattoo, two fake teeth, and a crippling nose-touching-tick. I'm a prospective FGSS and film double major and learned to longboard and decided I wanted to become a cinematographer because of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.
Jack Warren
Assistant Director
Jack Warren is a third-year student at Wesleyan University where he studies only the finest works of cinema (seen above). He is inspired by human stories, stories about all of us, and has been waiting a lifetime for a project like this one, about superpowered teens coming of age in a loving parody of the American high school environment. He is assistant directing.
Annie Ning
Production Designer
Annie Ning is the co-founder of Instagram account @art.dept.memes. Please like/subscribe/follow, because Ale promised her a substantial follower increase in exchange for signing onto this project. She will be using Vin Diesel's The Pacifier as visual inspiration for this film, and hopes that this may finally give Art Department the respect it deserves.
Beatrix Herriott O'Gorman
Production Designer
Beatrix goes by B because it's easier for you all to spell and say. She has made many of movies look ugly and some look pretty too. B hails from the Land of Eire and takes most of her inspiration from deep sea nature documentaries and 90s music videos.
Caris Yeoman
Production Design Assistant
Caris Yeoman is a sophomore working in the art department, a role which she previously took on last fall on Noah Dirk's thesis Out. Her responsibilities included finding the perfect red hat from a Scandinavian Etsy shop and aging it by soaking the hat in a tub of coffee. Her passions include creative nonfiction and darkroom photography, and her film experience extends mostly to several short silent films that forcibly star her eight year old brother, Finn.
Josh Rode
Gaffer
Josh Rode is an aspiring cowboy, who watches westerns on the daily and rides into school on horseback. He hopes this thesis will be his launching point towards buying a better pair of boots that will match his cargo pants and the flannel he stole from his dad’s closet when he was sixteen. When he is not busy practicing his Clint Eastwood snarl, he enjoys fresh chocolate chip cookies with a nice glass of warm milk.
Jake Brodsky
Gaffer
Gaffing on the first of its kind Cinematography thesis is gonna be quite the experience. I've got little choice in the matter, of course, since Ale and Josh have decided to kidnap my dear Savanah (my beautiful teddy bear, not pictured). If I do a good job they've promised to deliver her back unscathed... non-unionized work at that! I was so foolish to trust them with the light of my life (pun completely intended).
Anik Bernstein
Gaffer
Anik Bernstein is a Junior film and chemistry double major at Wesleyan University. In her free time, she enjoys having the knowledge for how to safely make pyrotechnics for films, while never bringing it up to other film students, because the “safely” part might have been a lie. She has previously worked on six theses at Wesleyan, four of which were on 16mm film. She is excited to be working with Ale and the incredible team of Passing!
Candice Cirilo
Sound Recordist/Graphic Designer
Pros:
-really good at art
-somewhat knowledgeable about film
-has a really fat black cat named Shadow
-can whistle any Christmas tune
Cons:
-has an unhealthy obsession with Starbucks vanilla Frappuccino
-laughs at her own jokes that aren’t even funny
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