Vincent Laforet interview

Honestly folks,
The cult of Vincent Laforet is a little overblown. Kudos to him for what he was able to do given the limitations of time and money (a weekend basically) , but really Reverie is a series of clichés filled with models and fashion that reminds of the eighties and isn't really strung together in anything other than a superficial way. It feels commercial, is unsurprising and just about what I would expect if a camera manufacturer wanted to show off a new product. You just have to go to dpreview and look at the sample section of practically any camera, to know what I am talking about. Ok it looks good if you are used to shooting on an HVX200, so what?
Don't get me wrong, Vincent Laforet took the initiative, invested in it and did what he could in the time he had, but please if this is what people are raising to the level of art, I say go take a second look at some other independent film and see what people are doing with just a Vixia and a strong idea.
The real strength of Reverie wasn't the film, it was how forcefully Laforet seized an opportunity to do some personal marketing and take a real step forward in his career. That is a lesson for all of us.
 
Last edited:
How does he describe the video - 'a perfume ad pastiche' or suchlike in the intereview - It was a great camera test - he never pretended more

S
 
yoclay said:
The real strength of Reverie wasn't the film, it was how forcefully Laforet seized an opportunity to do some personal marketing and take a real step forward in his career. That is a lesson for all of us.
Click to expand...
I wish I could seize an opportunity like this.

Reverie does not make sense as a short film, but it looks great as a sequence of beauty shots, which is more than enough for a camera advertisement. This is not a feature film.
 
I think we all agree here. Probably even Laforet agrees. He is a Pulitzer Prize winning photographer for the New York Times after-all. He knows what real image making is about. What I am alluding to is the "reverie" with which a lot of videographers are referring to him. At first I thought it was professional respect, then I realized that they want to be him. He has become their reference, and they think that by owning this camera and producing images like in this clip that they will. Which is exactly what Canon was hoping for to begin with.
 
Laforet has never advanced "Reverie" as anything other than a bad cologne commercial, ... ever. It was purely a point and shoot endeavor. He didn't even know how the camera fully worked. It was an experiment, and he took a risk in doing it. Canon told him he would in no way be compensated for it. Once Canon started using it, I'm sure they paid up, but it was completely on spec. The whole thing was a rush job from the moment he picked up the camera from them. He is the one that opened the door to the possibilities of the VDSLR as professional production tool. This camera has really redefined who he is as a photographer. He's moved to LA and is becoming a DP because of it.
 
djkarn105 said:
Reverie was remarkable in that it showed what the camera could do in terms of low light and shallow depth of field.

I've seen it projected on a big screen and was not blown away.

I think Vincent LaForet is a good still photographer. I've seen way better cinematography out of the 5d since then. I don't get why there's all this celebrity around him now.
Click to expand...

Agreed.

I realise tastes vary considerably from one country/culture to another, but I work in the UK, mostly London, and if I were to present 'Reverie' to anyone here - as my own work - I would, to be honest, feel very embarrassed, I doubt anyone would go as far as to say it was a string of mediocre, technically proficient clichés masquerading as something special, but I have not doubt that would be what they would be thinking.
 
Nik Manning said:
You sound like a hater buddy.
Click to expand...

I love the term 'hater' - simply wonderful. :)

We used to say (back in the pre-'hater' olden days) 'you disagree with me'.

It's much easier to label someone who does not share your own view 'a hater' - kinda stigmatises valid argument without the problem of recourse to sound epistemology.

Excellent.

Grow up.

:)
 
Lee Wilson said:
I realise tastes vary considerably from one country/culture to another, but I work in the UK, mostly London, and if I were to present 'Reverie' to anyone here - as my own work - I would, to be honest, feel very embarrassed, I doubt anyone would go as far as to say it was a string of mediocre, technically proficient clichés masquerading as something special, but I have not doubt that would be what they would be thinking.
Click to expand...
Here is why I am used to have in high consideration both of you, L/I and L/II. :beer:
 
About taste

About taste

I agree generlly on the issue of the geography of taste. However "taste" is not an ethnic quality, clinging to the genes of people.

In my view general taste (public and private) is more a social class issue (ask how many coal miners of the Appalachians like sushi ....).

Professional taste is another matter: it is very much linked with the demand of a particular sector, e.g. advertising. It is also linked with the "inside" culture and ambitions of communication professionals and the pressure added by the prevailing genre practised. e.g. by TV channels.

To me, no irony here, Rêverie looks like a rather well-made eau de Cologne ad. The visual style of Vincent Laforêt, though, appears to be much more influenced by the photographer's look at a motive rather than the by cinematographer's approach to an unfolding narrative. Vincent's emphasis on the details of skin textures , of décor, of light plays in the bokeh-ish backgrounds more than on, e.g., the body dynamic of actors, presents the two main characters more as static models - almost lifeless status - than as acting performers. Vincent's attraction for the geometry of lines and mirror reflection, though, brings us back to some well-known techniques in painting (e.g. Vincent dwelling on the reflection in the glass of the main character). These features of Rêverie not necessarily a flaw in Vincent's cinematography, but, as I see it, rather a reflection :grin: of the photographer's conscious or unconscious ties linking him to a long history of image-making.

Indeed, - how know? - the Laforêt style may herald a new approach to moving pictures (remember French directors Luc Besson's innovating cartoonish style). After a whole period of breathless quick-cutting and jump cut frenzy, we may witness a return to the camera that dwells as a human eye may dwell on details in a new way...

What really bothers me is the narcistic, utilitarian culture of some self-appointed "creative" directors in the advertisement industry, who tend to treat their end-viewers as insects expecting them to respond to a dosage of stimulus from the marketing übermeister. A lot of TV ads seem to operate on such manipulative, behavioural assumptions. These self-appointed "artistic" directors, in my view, tend to hijack and cannibalise genuine artistic cinematography for their own purposes.

Vincent's Rêverie appears to me as an exercise in style, a healthy and fairly common practice among artists.

Taste and style, however, is more than packaging.


The genius of such film makers as Eric Rohmer, is that he has refrained consciously, stubbornly and purposedly from all of decorative and sugestive enhancements (e.g. overexploitation of perspective lines, distortion of faces of characters using wide angles, kitsch depth-of-field etc.) in his cinematography.

It remains to be seen how the properties of the Canon 5D mark II can be exploited for more than decorative imaging and serve new ways to tell stories and stir new kinds of emotions in people.


Got it guys?
 
Last edited:
Wow I am thankful some people have woken up and started speaking frankly about this. I was nauseous by LaForets self congratulatory tone about the film, and the preface, "and now, without further ado, I give you, Reverie" which when watched is quite possibly the worst student film i have ever seen. When his site was inundated with compliments about the artistry i felt pity for the people that climbed on this bandwagon to crazy-town. He should call it a test. It goes to show that even a brilliant photographer is not a good filmmaker or vice versa. It reminds me exactly of the feeling i get when Jim Jannard so boldly self congratulates with sweeping statements years before his newest camera is operational. Puke. He's be sure to lace his statements with caveats about release dates, of course LaForet did the same with his "we only had it for a weekend/i don't know anything about filmmaking" excuses. He may as well had stormed into the field of microbiology, because he just got the newest latest greatest microscope, days before its official release... "I don't know much about this micro-bio stuff but what the hell man I'm gonna heat up some petri dishes and just go balls to the wall taking pictures of micro-organisms - before anyone else can - and i don't care that its not my bag! I'm gonna do it first and broadcast my successful results to the scientific community cuz HEY I GOT THIS MICROSCOPE FIRST MAN ! ... Without further ado ... my scientific findings .... I call them... "Impermanence" And then the scientific community is like, what? These results are confusing and sure, they're in focus but its not even a living microorganism, Vincent, this is an extreme close up of a Connecticut quarter, and this looks like a piece of leather, maybe a tassle? ...but Vincent LaForet banishes the thought that anything is wrong with his lovely and bold scientific experiment, and he cites several amateur science sites and quotes from leading 4th grade science buffs to prove his point, toasting rose wine with ice cubes over the success of his scientific findings, and sleeping soundly knowing he has effortlessly conquered Microbiology on a wing and a prayer and over the span of a weekend!

"And next weekend ... i will conquor ... the art of ... Interpretive Dance! Because I have a line on some Capezios that have yet to hit the market! Without further ado ... I give you my new interpretive art-dance... I'm calling it... "Intelligensia!"
 
Last edited:
Easy man! Some jealous hating doesn't bring you anywhere. You even joined DVXuser just to post this rant.

If you guys all think you can do better, just go ahead and do it! But don't come here and ***** around about other people.
 
lol Jealous? please explain how you came to this conclusion. Please tell me why i should think that his 5D mark 2 video is 'good' and we can all leanr something from it? Sorry the standard is just to low for me.
 
deadfish said:
lol Jealous? please explain how you came to this conclusion. Please tell me why i should think that his 5D mark 2 video is 'good' and we can all leanr something from it? Sorry the standard is just to low for me.
Click to expand...

The standard is to low for you? This is exciting. I eagerly await some posted links to your work on vimeo. I will watch and learn.


Laforet with one short and his first attempt ever at film making has launched a career for himself as a DP in LA. Yeah, but what do those hollywood people know about film making anyway.
 
Yes, deadfish, please post a link to some of your work so we can be the judge of how high or low your standards are. Anything else is just a lot of hot air signifying nothing
:grin:
 
Simon Höfer said:
Easy man! Some jealous hating doesn't bring you anywhere. You even joined DVXuser just to post this rant.

If you guys all think you can do better, just go ahead and do it! But don't come here and ***** around about other people.
Click to expand...
jealous? wha? hahaha! of what ? cheesy test shots of non actor / models, strung togetehr and called a "film?" Look - its not realistic to have a discussion because were so diametrically opposed - - if you like "Reverie," (and i quote barney frank) "talking to you would be like trying to argue with a dining room table, i have no interest in doing it." I do agree with an earlier sentiment that we can commend LaForet for his get up and go. And if he's made a shift into cinema, i applaud him for that, it takes a lot of nuts and he'll probably prosper with some unavoidable bumps in the road along the way.
 
blufarr said:
jealous? wha? hahaha! of what ? cheesy test shots of non actor / models, strung togetehr and called a "film?" Look - its not realistic to have a discussion because were so diametrically opposed - - if you like "Reverie," (and i quote barney frank) "talking to you would be like trying to argue with a dining room table, i have no interest in doing it." I do agree with an earlier sentiment that we can commend LaForet for his get up and go. And if he's made a shift into cinema, i applaud him for that, it takes a lot of nuts and he'll probably prosper with some unavoidable bumps in the road along the way.
Click to expand...

more hot air...
 
blufarr said:
jealous? wha? hahaha! of what ? cheesy test shots of non actor / models, strung togetehr and called a "film?" Look - its not realistic to have a discussion because were so diametrically opposed - - if you like "Reverie," (and i quote barney frank) "talking to you would be like trying to argue with a dining room table, i have no interest in doing it." I do agree with an earlier sentiment that we can commend LaForet for his get up and go. And if he's made a shift into cinema, i applaud him for that, it takes a lot of nuts and he'll probably prosper with some unavoidable bumps in the road along the way.
Click to expand...


Who are you? Because I doubt you'd speak this way if you were using your real name. If you don't like it that's fine, that's your taste, but you've veered into personal attack territory and that's not tolerated here.

Please tone it done or keep the strong words to yourself. :dankk2:
 
ok Issac, ill leave it at that. No more Reverie bashing, but i urge everyone when looking at films to draw on their powers of critical thinking. Try not to become intoxicated with technology. Now, I go, I must resume work on my two new shorts, "Melancholic Dreams of a Sad Orange Ghost" and... "The Distant Memoirs of the Nape of Your Neck," that i'm hoping will explode onto the internet like a vibrant cinematic tapestry splattered with my creative juices.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top