Hook, Line, and Sinker

Hook, Line, and Sinker - IMDB Trailer

A short film that I shot a few years ago is beginning to see the light of day in the film festival circuit. I'm quite proud of my cinematography on this project. Hook,Line, and Sinker stars Jeremy Sisto (Six Feet Under, Law and Order) and was written and directed by Trevor Lawrence Young who also co-stars.

The IMDB tag-line reads, "a successful lawyer crosses paths with a friendly gas station attendant, leading to deadly consequences."

Trevor flew up from LA to shoot the film here. In pre-production we both decided on a gritty stylized look for the exteriors. British Columbia is very green so in order to get a rusty look for the exteriors I used a light red filter on the camera. Once this colour is corrected out it makes the greens a lot darker and adds a roughness to the skin tones which was appropriate. I pushed the film (over developed it) to add more grain and contrast. I desaturated it a bit in post to get the final look.

The fact that you can't see Jeremy's eyes is intentional. It makes him more threatening. It's a departure to photograph a major actor this way as the old rule of cinematography says to always get some extra light in the eyes so they pop or sparkle. Breaking this rule felt right for this situation. They did that in The Godfather and that one turned out pretty good.

For the interiors, I used a cleaner high-contrast look with swashed of colour. This was long before CSI Miami. Maybe they copied me? Hmmmmmm.

I still haven't seen the entire film in its completed form! Please watch the trailer and post your comments below.

Hook, Line, and Sinker - IMDB Trailer