Kathryn Ferguson strongly recommended me this movie as a reference for the film I am making. Zabriskie Point (1970) was directed by Michelangelo Antonioni. Blow up is the only film I have watched by this director, so I looked into some of his directing and visual techniques before watching Zabriskie Point.
Set in southern California at the height of the late-’60s student unrest, the two main characters of Zabriskie Point exist outside the context of the reality of the country and epoch they live in. My story also creates an inside reality that seems like a parallel dystopian reality to the real world, so it was interesting to see the way Antonioni uses the place to enter this parallel fiction.
Choosing models to act in fashion films can be risky sometimes. This film also made me think about the casting, the characters in the movie are non-professional actors but you wouldn’t notice unless you’d read it beforehand.
Antonioni uses wide to extreme long shots, especially in the scenes that happen in the desert.
I would also like to mention the color palette of the movie, I think the color is an important part of my piece as I discussed with Liam in my previous tutorial. Antonioni’s palette is similar to what I would like to achieve, yet a bit more goldish and saturated.
Illumination: long shadows and backlighting
Music in Zabriskie Point: featuring the Grateful Dead, Pink Floyd and Rolling Stones. Stunning final scene.
