An unforgettable visit to the Taj Mahal in India, consumed by a fascination of it’s visitors desperation to capture their moments on camera.
As I myself spent most of my time capturing their moments, it became brutally clear to me that neither this film, nor their photographs can ever capture the heart-wrenching beauty of that stunning building, yet only succeed in completely detaching us from the moment itself.
No actors, artists or performers were used in the making of this film, only real people and real moments.
Shot, edited, and directed by Simon Mulvaney, using a Sony A7sii, Canon 24-70mm f2.8 lens, Metabones EF to E-Mount adaptor, Tiffen VND filter and Adobe Premiere Pro CC.
Music: ‘Castells’ by Armand Amar, featuring City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, from the album ‘Human’
I’m currently on a round-the-world trip, working my way east from India to the United Kingdom. For more films like this, feel free to subscribe to my Vimeo Channel and visit smulvaney.tv to find out more.
A few old university buddies and I ventured up to Windermere to explore the woods and lakes of the British countryside – The perfect opportunity for my Sony A7Sii’s first outing. My aim was to use as little kit as possible, limiting myself to the camera, one lens and an ND filter only.
All footage was shot handheld at 120fps, with the camera’s built-in image stabiliser turned on, Slog3 picture profile and APSC mode. No noise reduction is used in any of this, as I actually like the look of the A7Sii’s digital noise. Some of the shots are helped along with Premiere’s Warp Stabalizer effect. I’m not a colourist, so when grading, I worked from one of Premiere Pro’s built in LUT’s and tweaked from there.
I purposely under and over exposed certain scenes to test out dynamic range and noise levels. When grading, it became very clear that over exposing by two stops was key, as most correctly exposed images (according to the built-in histogram) would become too noisy when pushed in the grade. Another thing I learned is that peaking is a bit too generous for my liking, so a lot of images ended up being slightly soft – I’m going to make use of the digital zoom function in future to ensure images are sharp.
Find more at smulvaney.tv
Kit:
Sony A7Sii
Metabones EF – E-Mount mkiv
Canon 24 – 70mm f/2.8
Tiffen variable ND
Simon Mulvaney is a commercial, documentary and music video director represented by Film Good (Italy), Doofer (London) and The Gate Films (Manchester). For all enquiries please visit http://smulvaney.tv
Released in 2011, Ground Control came to define a years worth of achievement from the blading community. Featuring a strong roster of talent from the team itself and directed by Simon Mulvaney, this film documents the story of the frames beneath the feet of each of the GC team.
http://gc-uprising.com
http://smulvaney.tv
A film by Simon Mulvaney
Starring Brian Aragon, Joey Chase, Julian Bah, Chaz Sands, Damien Wilson, Gabriel Hyden, Alex Burston and Nils Jansons.
Also featuring Dre Powell, Stefan Horngacher, Sammy Chase, Yuri Botelho, Mathias Silhan, Lyle Shivak, Kåre Lindberg, Marc Moreno, Dominik Wagner, Andrew Jaccuzi, Keaton Newsom, David Andrews, Derek Henderson, Chris Haffey, Michael Braud.
Camera Operators: Simon Mulvaney, Chaz Sands, Damien Wilson, Joey Chase, Max Manning, Phillip Long, Josh Glowicki, Gabriel Hyden, Rolsn Rollschauch, Martin Jansons, Marc Moreno, Brent Hicks, Sammy Chase, Pete Dearden, Dre Powell, Julian Bah, Stefan Horngacher.
Script Supervisor: Tom Roberts
Audio Technician: Simon Mulvaney
VFX Artist: Simon Mulvaney
Editor: Simon Mulvaney
Second Unit Directors: Chaz Sands, Damien Wilson, Gabriel Hyden, Max Manning, Phillip Long, Josh Glowicki, Martin Jansons, Marc Moreno
Line Producer: Andy Wagener
Assistant Producers: Simon Mulvaney, Jan Welch, Geoff Acres,
Director: Simon Mulvaney
Executive Producer: Jon Elliott
We started Ground Control in order to fill a void in the industry. Skating had evolved into a high impact stunt orientated art form and the frames on the market wouldn’t hold up to our rolling. We needed a frame that the elite pro’s could trust under their boots, a frame that allowed them to continue to push the envelope. After months of working with a structural engineer and CAD designer we released not only the first after market UFS frame but the industries first symmetrical frame as well. The standard was set and GC was born.
My close friend Chris Peel helped me put together the logo. I wanted something that we (the rollerbladers) would recognise each other by. From across a crowd in any given airport or park the blade would serve its purpose. The GC sickle was designed to be your flag, like a secret handshake it only belongs to those who just ‘get it’. I’m proud to have had such an elite team over the years and be involved in such an eclectic industry. The current roster has given their blood for this film so do them the favor and soak it up. Enjoy the trip.
The World Obscura: Taj Mahal
