Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters
Film Notes/Review
Abstract
Filmed over a decade, Brief Encounters follows internationally renowned photographer Gregory Crewdson's quest to create his unique, surreal, and incredibly elaborate portraits of suburban life. He sets a house on fire, builds 90-foot sets with crews of sixty, shuts down city streets...all in the service of his haunted image of American life, and his own anxieties, dreams and inner desires. Brief Encounters is an intimate portrait of one of the most heralded image-makers of our time.
The key to Gregory's work is approaching his photography projects as a film. Some of his prints sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars, which help fund his other photographic projects
His photography projects have a production value of a film.
Between 2002-08, Crewdson worked on a project called "Beneath the Roses". These would become the most elaborate productions he had ever produced.
'Beneath the Roses' was originally conceived as a film. It marked the first time where his photography project had a production crew (all of whom worked in the film industry). Gregory Crewdson has an extensive attention to detail and micro-manages every different area of his photo shoots. He is a perfectionist.
Crewdson meticulously composes his large-scale images with stunning narratives of small-town American life—moviescapes crystallized into a single frame.
Crewdson’s photographs have become benchmarks in the fine art photography world due to their high production value and eerie suburban settings. These photographs are elaborately produced works of art that provide a “brief encounter” into the lives of fictional characters. His photographs are either shot on location, or in a sound studio. Shapiro, the director of the documentary, focuses on a handful of photographs from 'Beneath the Roses', showing everything from location scouting, production design, all the way to the execution and post-production process.
This film has made me realize how much work and effort needs to go into the creative processes of photography and film production.
The most powerful moment of the whole process is the 'perfect moment'. When all the pieces of the puzzle come together and match up perfectly.
Photography has an association with capturing a moment.
Crewdson has dyslexia.
Crewdson took inspiration from Diane Arbus, Edward Hopper and films such as “Vertigo,” “The Night of the Hunter” and “Blue Velvet” in creating his elaborately staged photographs. His work has a cinematic, documentary style to them.
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