 Edgar has worked in the camera/lighting departments and as director of photography on various productions shot in Baja California and throughout Mexico, from commercials and music videos to feature films such as the upcoming 'Hands of Stone' (Robert De Niro), the upcoming 'Point Break' remake, 'Ruta Madre,' 'Buscando Esperanza,' the Netflix original series 'Sense 8' by The Wachowskis (creators of 'The Matrix Trilogy'), 'Little Boy,' 'A Father's Journey,' 'All Is Lost' (Robert Redford), James Cameron's 'Ghosts of the Abyss,' 'No Country for Old Men,' 'The Death and Life of Bobby Z' (Paul Walker), 'Babel' (Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett), 'Harsh Times' (Christian Bale), 'The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants' and many more. Edgar and I met in Baja California, Mexico when we worked on the indie feature A Father's Journey in 2013. He was the director of photography and I was a green 1st assistant director. I was deemed too nice and not aggressive enough for the position (no one is supposed to like the 1st a.d.) but Edgar and the Mexican crew helped me learn quickly. They were more experienced than most of us having worked on multiple major feature productions and I knew they had much to teach us all. A word of advice to new filmmakers: shut up, listen, observe, question and learn. I didn't show up on set thinking I knew it all after working on a few short films. This was my first feature film and I knew what I knew but understood that there was always something new to learn especially since it was my first time as a 1st a.d. Ego is not your amigo! When Edgar and the crew whispered tips in my ear on set or advised me during our private conversations, I listened and thanked them. Not once did I take it as they were telling me how to do my job because they did it respectfully and I recognized that they knew more than me. Because of this, our working relationship was completely free of friction the entire shoot and I've said the following countless times, it was the best damn film school! I want to give a shout out to my AFJ crew brothers and sister in Mexico: Annis Duhart, Aleck Guzman, Heriberto Luzanilla (Edgar's brother), Jack Crivelli, Gerardo Vladimir Aguirre Zapien, and Javier Ismael Garcia Acevedo. Los más chingones y chingona! Mucho respeto y gracias por enseñarnos como se hace! Originally, I wanted to be the d.p. on Super Gabby. Gasp! Writer, director, editor and director of photography!? Filmmakers are rolling their eyes right now. I actually addressed creative control from an independent standpoint in an interview – I won't get into it but check it out if you're interested in what I had to say. Anyway, I was willing to compromise and told one of our producers that I would delegate the position as long as I could choose the person. The only person I had in mind was Edgar due to his professionalism and my experience working with him in Mexico. He requested the script, we discussed my vision and he committed to the project. And when I say committed I mean he took the first week off a feature film that overlapped with our short film production. He flew in from Mexico City and producer Sandra Lopez and I picked him up at the Oakland airport. The rest is history. Working with my brother Edgar again was just as I had expected and I'm also glad that he's still onboard to finish Super Gabby. Until then, here's some new screenshots below, his work speaks for itself... NOTE: Footage not yet color graded.        Teaser trailer coming soon!
Adrian Nava Writer/Director
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I want to start off this Super Gabby blog update with one of our Indiegogo perks: a social media shout out to all our backers. Although we did not reach our goal and were unable to complete the film we still appreciate your support and thank you all for believing in us and our film. We still intend to honor the perks we can very soon and the rest once we complete the project. We're not giving up and you are all a part of this journey now. Thank you for your patience as we actively outline a new plan to fund the film. OUR SUPER GABBY INDIEGOGO BACKERSHoward Knight Stacey Speer Madeline Derenze Nora Brouder Colleen Bacchus Anonymous #1 Justin Lyn Beti Gathegi Kristy Guevara-Flanagan Arnold Quindiagan Armando Dubon Jr Private Jimmy Adem Anonymous #2 Anonymous #3 Deanna Horvath Michael Knudsen Sebastian Sdaigui Elisandro Gonzalez Thank you all so much! You are AWESOME!!! Where do we go from here? Well, we shot what we could for a teaser trailer which I am currently editing and the footage looks great! The production team and I have tossed around two ideas: to use the trailer for a new fundraising campaign to finish the short or a proof of concept to attract investors for a feature film version. We want to keep everyone in the loop as we move forward and this is where we stand at the moment. We can't wait to share the trailer with everyone! Until then, check out the screenshots below from the footage! Cinematographer: Edgar Luzanilla. NOTE: Footage not yet color graded.     TOP to BOTTOM: Jocelyn Pearl as Gabriela Espinoza / Camille Werder as Camila Espinoza / Karen Karatz Gonzalez as Mrs. Espinoza / Gabby's favorite comic book heroine, Scorpion Girl.
What do you think of the footage? Please leave a comment, we'd love to hear what you have to say! Look out for the next blog update with more new screenshots! You're all super, Adrian Nava Writer/Director [email protected] |
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