"Darkness There" - Garden (Maymont)

Excerpt from the 22 min. short film "Darkness There" by Jacob Dodd.

"Darkness There" explores Edgar Allan Poe's dark romanticism through the fictional blending of his life and stories with authentic historical artifacts. Shot on location at the Edgar Allan Poe Museum and Maymont Gardens in Richmond, Virginia, the film focuses on the atmosphere and mythology that surrounds Poe. In a style that references silent cinema, "Darkness There" visually presents the macabre while questioning our contemporary relationship to Poe, the man, and to Poe, the myth.

Cast: Stephen Williams, Meghan Marchetti, Paul Thulin
Filmmakers: Writer/Director/Producer/Editor: Jacob Dodd Director of Photography Dan Currier Assistant Director Kristy Dodd Art Director Tim Dalton Make-up and Costuming Sarah Jarrell Gaffer Bryant Dameron Assistant Camera Christopher Underwood Key Grip Benjamin Rinehardt Music by Sergei Rachmaninoff

Production Format: Super 35mm 1.78:1
Camera: Konvas 1M
Lenses: Cooke S4
Stock: Kodak 5229 Expression 500T

Jacob A. Dodd
Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• Jacob Dodd
• Edgar Allan Poe
• Poe Museum
• Maymont
• Richmond
• Virginia
• Macbre
• Silent
• Movie
• Konvas
• 35mm
• Film
• Kodak
• Technicolor
• Cooke S4
• VCU Photography & Film
• Grain
• Expression 500T

[doddja1]

Thanks! I had Slowmotion Inc in California modify the camera to PL mount and widened the gate to Super 35mm for more resolution. My finder has a 1.78:1 and 2.40:1 ratio markings. I framed the film for 1.78:1 and had Cineworks extract a 1.78:1 image when they performed the HD scan. You can always have markings drawn onto your ground glass which will help you frame for 16x9. Then you just tell the lab to extract 16x9 from your 4:3 image.

[doddja1]

Yes indeed, we combined 3 filters (85B, ND.6, and ProMist) to achieve that reflection effect. The Konvas mattebox only holds two filters - and when I added the third we noticed the reflections on the edges. I really liked the happy accident and felt it enhanced the ethereal quality of the scene.

[rockangel1967]

looks great. i am thinking about getting a konvas KCP but i only have seen films in 4:3 ratio? how did you manage to mount a cooke s4 lense? did you motify the camera? i am specificly intrested in tech aspec. the konvas 2M is to expensive for me but i dont like 4:3. so i would need to know how i can do that aspect ratio on a KPC please? thank you.

[eggbertsmith]

What on earth is happening around 1:27? Are those reflections off the front filtration?