Rullajem Talak
Bachelor’s thesis film - Director of Photography
I was responsible for the film’s visual language, working closely with the directors to translate their vision into a clear and cohesive cinematic form. My work spanned from early visual references and storyboards to shot design and lighting, with a focus on supporting narrative and mood through deliberate visual choices.
Crew:
Producer: Kristiana Kalnina
Director: Oto Klavins & Rinalts Ignass
DOP: Gert Tali
1AD: Greta Binger
Set Designer: Carolina Kask
Gaffer: Nikita Hmelnitski
2022
Preproduction
Car shots
In preproduction stage my job started with reading the script and discussing with the directors how the film should look like and feel like. We found visual references for each main location that we thought would fit the films atmosphere.
Location scouting
After creating the shotlist it was time to begin finding actual locations for the film. We explored many locations near Harjumaa
Color palettes
After creating the shotlist it was time to begin finding actual locations for the film. We explored many locations near Harjumaa
Storyboard
After finding most of the locations, I started making a storyboard for the whole film.
Production
During our 7 day shooting period my main responsiblity was operating the camera and assigning tasks to all the people in my department. Collaborating with the gaffer to light the scenes and art department regarding art.
Color grading
When the film was edited, I began color-grading the film according to directors vision, visual references and color palettes.
Conclusion
One of the main take aways from this project is, that we had too many locations. We already cut out a few scenes from the script, but it was not enough. What also contributed to this was, that the equipment van broke during our first shooting shooting day, so we lost quite a bit of shooting time.
Due to this the quality of one beach scene really suffered and I am not happy with that. As always there are many places of improvement, but overall I am quite happy with the result.
Stills from the film
