Anyone see the BROWN BUNNY???

January 7, 2006

Saw the movie last night. The film looks great!!! The story sucks. Great example of what can be done with S16. I read the guy used two A-minemas and shot the film mainly by himself.

My question is what lens do you think he used because the images are very crisp.

Evan Guilfoyle · January 7, 2006

Gallo used an Aaton A-Minima and an XTR Prod with Super-Baltar Lenses that he had retro-fitted with PL Mounts from Mitchell BNCR Mount. The DVD does an accurate job of the way it looked in the theater. The DVD even has a well-thought out, unobtrusive layer transistion. (Gallo is a perfectionist, if nothing else.)

Surprisingly, I find the transfer crisp in revealing the grain of EXR 50D and the imperfections of the lenses (inspiring lens flairs, soft focus fall-off, less contrast), but the lens themselves didn't seem sharp. In fact, I'd go so far as to say he used them because they weren't crisp.

He used an interesting suction cup system for the Camera Mount for the driving sequences. (I'm sure cinematography.com members will mention the brand name of this system.)

Gallo tried to sell (maybe did sell?) the PRODUCTION PACKAGE for Brown Bunny on eBay. Its reserve wasn't met at 81,000 USD. If anyone has any info on the whereabouts of this package, please add it to the thread.

As for your comment about the story, watch it a second time. The longing and sadness of the story comes through once you know what happened to Daisy. Plus, all the girls he encounters are named after flowers.

Last side note, "Buffalo 66" was a '60's aesthetic (Ektachrome-NFL Films Look, Contrasty High Key Lighting, Ben Gazarra) whereas "The Brown Bunny" was a '70's aesthetic (Non-Directional Bounced Lighting, Use of 16mm-Porn Style, Lens Flares, the number 77 on his motorcycle, Cheryl Tiegs). Sadly, people (Professional Cinematographers) don't mention Gallo's films as Important Works of Cinematography. He might have the persona of a ranting jerk, but in my book the guy is an artist with a capital A.

Evan Guilfoyle

Filmmaker-www.chlorofilm.com

Baltimore, MD

Tim Carroll · January 7, 2006

I saw Brown Bunny when it came to the States, the shorter tighter version compared to what he showed at Cannes, the one Roger Ebert hated. I was pleasantly surprised. Having been an ex-motorcycle roadracer, I am sure parts of it were more interesting to me than to your average viewer, but as it meandered along I thought, "Well, maybe not so good." And then when the ending came, I was like, "Oh poop." It really snuck up on me. (And please, no one give away the ending for those who have not seen it yet.)

I would certainly not rate it as my all time favorite movie, but I would rate it up there in the top ten of self made independent flicks along the lines of Clerks, Stranger than Paradise, El Mariachi and a few others. The ending is what made the piece work, and it was very powerful.

As far as the cinematography went, I thought part of the appeal of the movie for me was the feeling that this was shot by some guy himself as he drove across the country. And so all the "problems" with the images I thought enhanced the feeling of this guy out there all alone with no one to help him.

-Tim

January 8, 2006

I saw it a second time and it is like a movie from the seventies and the cinematography gets even better. I love the lens flares. I also love the motorcycle scenes. Something you rarely see in movies. Nice bike.

Is it possible to achive that type of crispness with basic Arri prime lens. The arri lens I have are 2 optic.