A sad reality I discovered over the weekend: I'm more comfortable driving in LA than in my hometown of Austin, Texas. That can only mean one thing. I'm a really aggressive driver.
Another sad reality I discovered: TV shows and movies increasingly rely on green screens to fabricate background scenes and scenery. It's a cool effect and it saves a ton of money, but it's incredibly bland. When you shoot on location, you capture a sense of time and place, you establish a personality, there's a beat and a rhythm to the location, the people, and the culture. You can move the cameras around to capture unique angles and points of view, piecing it together in a style that showcases the talent of the director, editor, and cinematographer. This is not so for a green screen, where everything comes out looking like an overproduced travel brochure, where the sites are familiar but completely lacking of soul.
This video illustrates my point exactly. Special thanks to The Anchoress for posting it, who adds "It makes me sad." And congratulations to Jessica and Randy Herrera on their marriage this weekend. The wedding in LA was truly a blast, and they are blessed to have found each other.
