Michael Morlan . Director of Photography

Michael Morlan . Production
cinematography

Haunting Kate – 2004

genre: length: format: logline:	thriller 25 page independent short Mini-DV "A girl recovers from a dark past only to find herself immersed in another tragedy."
notes:	We shot twenty-five pages in three easily-paced days by covering most scenes in single shots ("one-ers in industry parlance.) That's always a risk at the micro-budget level since one isn't guaranteed the actors can sustain a scene without depending on coverage nor whether the pace of the scene will ultimately serve the edit when it's all cut together. Fortunately, our cast was quite strong and came prepared from rehearsals with director, Jimmy Wilden.
cine:	I lit Haunting Kate as a journey from chill memories through the warmth of friendship and new love then to the cold terror of murderous intent. At times, I used color to foreshadow. When Kate first encounters Forrest, a latent killer, he is lit entirely by blue as she stands in the warmth of an open door. (This choice was actually a lucky accident since the practicals on the location were already cast these colors. Given I was shooting with the equivalent of 800ASA film, I just went with the flow.) In juxtaposition to Forrest, Kate's moments with her girlfriend are warm and inviting. Almost every shot involved purposely casting the camera's color balance away from "white." For this I placed select colors from a Lee cine-gel swatch book in front of the camera lens as the camera was white-balanced. Read more about this technique here.
design:	While there wasn't any purposeful production design per-se, I noticed the color red kept appearing in the frame; in Kate's clothes; in couches, curtains, paint, and bed covers. The red motif became another foreboding element that supported and countered Forrest's cold light.
tools:	camera – JVC GY-DV500 lighting: Mole Baby's, Lowel Pro-lights, Mini-mag Lights, lots of diffusion, reflection & black