Waves
Finally got a chance to see Waves (2019) directed by Trey Edward Shults and it was absolutely stunning. The cinematography was lush and rich, the story was heart rending, and the acting was phenomenal. I took screenshots upon a second viewing and posted them below; keep an eye on how the aspect ratio changes throughout the movie.
Side note, Shults was also the director behind It Comes At Night (2017), a fantastic horror film that signaled to me a resurgence in the genre along with Hereditary (2018) and The Witch (2015). Both of Shults’ films, Hereditary, and The Witch were all produced or distributed by A24, quite possibly the most consistently awesome entertainment company today.
Key takeaways for me as far as inspiration goes:
Don’t be afraid to step out of my comfort zone with cropping. It’s easy to get tied up with 4x5 verticals because that’s what grabs the most attention when scrolling through Instagram, but I’m considering wider, more cinematic crops for portraits that would benefit from it.
I loved the film’s color palette. I tend to go for warm, airy, bright photos but as you’ll see in an upcoming post, I’m getting more comfortable with intentionally blurry photos, deeper/darker tones, and and exposures that are less than perfect while still “working” because they contribute to the mood.
