Shooting ‘Cochino’

by Jason R. Johnston

We did have a few problems on the set of Finding Cochino, mostly between the director and the writers. While they were having production meetings I was picking up the slack (and relieving the director of unnecessary stress) by pulling second unit duty and shooting some scenes on my own: the fluffing scene, the love scene and the goodbye scene.

As Director of Photography I was responsible for the overall look of the film (lighting, composition) and my style allows me to block actors according to the composition of the shot and the mood of the scene. Also, I tend to shoot long, dynamic master shots that don’t require cutaways to hold an Audience’s interest.

For example: the scene that takes place on the set of the adult film where the actors are dressed like pigs; that entire scene is a single take that goes from three-shot, to four-shot, to three, to five and back to a three-shot with small zooms, pans and tilts to suggest nudity and sexual situations when there is none at all. Also, the camera is at the actors waist level shooting upward with a wide lens and small lights a few inches from the actors and walls to suggest a very large room when in actuality it was only about fifteen feet from the lens to the wall in the background. But it looks huge in the shot.

I was actually a bit disappointed not to have won cinematography, but I suppose if the audience didn’t notice my work then I must have actually done a good job that my work didn’t interfere with the enjoyment of the story.

It’s not that our movie looks like we took our time — it was obviously rushed — but I’ve been doing this for a long, long time and I know how to move a production along. We had thirteen unique setups spread across two locations and one studio. Eleven of those setups were entirely accomplished at the studio. Audiences can’t tell this because I shot and lit each scene differently each time. You’d never know that 80% of the movie was shot in the same room because they never look the same.

Ultimately, I had fun putting the old Hollywood film philosophy of “economy of shots” into practice. I’d rather have a few hours to light a shot but sometimes, you only have twenty minutes. In the end, though, I am quite pleased with the film we entered.

On Being a Cinematographer

A week before shooting Cochino we had built a dolly but I never used it. It would have been nice to have had a drama to show off with light and fancy camera moves but part of being a good filmmaker is knowing when not to do something.

In other words: it’s all about restraint.

Just because you can have your camera circling the hero as he rises from the ashes in slow motion doesn’t mean you should. Just because something looks cool in theory doesn’t mean it adds anything substantial to the story that’s trying to be told.

And that’s the problem with a lot of movies today: they’re more interested in looking cool than having substance or being clever. Sure, the chick at the bar has a nice body, but will she be able to discuss something other than her job at the hair salon? Probably not.

I’m not saying nice-looking big budget summer blockbuster movies aren’t nice every once in a while, but don’t expect anything meaningfully long term from them. Style over substance is the bane of a true storyteller, but things were always thus.

The job of the cinematographer is to visually communicate the director’s vision to the audience (I particularly enjoy the visceral approach — sometimes literally). I study the works of Alfred Hitchcock, Akira Kurosawa, Francis Ford Coppola, Ridley Scott, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Michael Mann, David Fincher, Brian de Palma, Clint Eastwood, Jonathan Demme and a few others to get the creative juices running.

On Telling The Story

When you dumb yourself down to adjust for the lowest common denominator you limit yourself artistically. And just because you live in south Texas near the Mexican border doesn’t mean your work has to be limited to quincineras and taco stands. Write what you know. Do what you’re passionate for. The ones who get it will get it. The ones who don’t won’t and there’s no point trying to please them when they can get their kicks someplace else. And we all know what happens when people try to please everyone.

On The Future

Each of us at Orange Media have ambitious upcoming projects: individual short films where we will take turns at the helm. We are each knowledgeable, intelligent and emotional people and our films represent that; even in movies like Cochino.

In the next few weeks I will be writing, directing and shooting a short very much like Reservoir Dogs, but just a quickie like Files that we can produce in a day as an exercise before we start turning out the films we really want to do.

But for right now, Ed, Gibby, Erick and myself are working on Finding Cochino: The Director’s Cut and are shooting brand new scenes and re-cutting others. The soundtrack will be completely re-recorded and mixed properly for a motion picture. We expect the new version of the film to be closer to half an hour in length and just as clever…as well as offensive.

© 2008 Jason R. Johnston. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission.