Excuse Me

        Excuse Me is a playful film that follows a man tracing the steps of what seem to be a complete stranger, who is unaware of his presence. The piece was actually filmed backwards, which I think is a fun fact. We started shooting on the subway to Grand Central, filmed on location in the terminal with real pedestrians of course, and made our way to Times Square and Hells Kitchen where the film starts. The entire movie was shot handheld, to get the 'shaky adrenaline' feel in order to capture the main character's frantic emotions as he tries to reach this stranger. It was also shot in night and saturated with juxtaposed colors to emphasize the fast nightlife of the city.
         I wanted New York to be a character as well, I wanted to give midtown its own personality. So I shot it with a hint of grain that gave it a backstage Broadway/Late Show/SNL kind of feel. As if each angle is the perspective of a passing pedestrian. I didn't want the film to take place in New York, just because we're situated here; I wanted there to be a reason as to why we were in New York. So I used Manhattan's density and crowd as an obstacle for our main character to achieve his goal. In ways it mirrors the idea that in New York, achieving what you want isn't easy. You see it in front of you, but you have to chase it here in order to grasp it.  I later on used music, that mainly only consisted of fast-paced wacky drums, to saturate this feeling. The music is from Birdman, a film that 'half' inspired this piece, in terms of atmosphere and cinematography.
         The two actors I had are Rene Sun, a fellow classmate in the Media 160 class, though she is in a different section, and Adehm Geller, a veteran student of the same course. I directed, shot, and edited this piece.