Man...planning to direct is stressing me out. I'm directing a modern envisioning of shakespeare and so I've been drawing a lot from Romeo + Juliet with Leonardo DiCaprio because that movie's gold. The picture above is a "sword" from the movie.
I've been doing some location scouting, trying to find the right place but don't think I've found it yet. I'm working on a shot list but its going to have to stay pretty general until I'm certain of where I want to shoot.

I know I want to shoot a low-key scene with lots of shadows but I can't plan my lighting without a location. So i guess, I'm pretty hampered by my lack of location but I'm fixing it.

More soon...

Slash Zombies

http://www.shortfilms.com/video/546/SLASH-ZOMBIES

I don't know if "Slash Zombies" is my favorite online short but its definitely one I like. There is some pretty impressive camera work in here. There is a lot of racking focus on parts to show a character's confusion or frustration. There is a lot of quick zooms to show intensity. You never forget that you're watching a film, the camera work almost breaks the fourth wall in a sense. Since these kinds of movements are throughout, it works; such as when the camera flips upside down then pans to the next character. The girl is incredibly lost and the camera suddenly flips her on her head. This is very overt visual storytelling but it works. The whole thing is very high-key and color corrected (or filtered, I'm not sure). The look is a little futuristic because of the color but not distracting. Plus, I love zombies and I love the middle east.