The “Art of Lament” is the third video in the Lent series I have directed for Sanctuary (Tulsa). 

With the help of a photographer friend in town, I located this abandoned house in between Amarillo and Canyon Texas. With the only entries on my criminal record having to do with trespassing, I was a tad bit nervous about using the location. However, without a “NO TRESPASSING” sign or a barbed wire fence guarding the dilapidated residence, I made myself at home.

This video was shot at sunrise (a great time to shoot anything) and I think it worked to my advantage. The concept for the video was to have rough and gritty textures illustrating the dark message of scriptural Lament. With the sun peeking over the horizon and slowly ascending into the sky, each wall of the house provided many different and interesting looks due to the changing shadows and light.

Another exciting technique I used while shooting this video was a tripod lean. The shots in the footage where it appears to be on a dolly, I was just simply leaning the tripod slowly back and forth on its legs. I don’t think that technique would work well in a traditional video, but the abstract concept allowed it to be an easy and effective way of creating an interesting shot.

What I would do different: I didn’t know there would be text in the video until after I was done shooting. Any time I have text in a video I try and imagine it while I am shooting. If I had done this, it would have been a lot easier to find less distracting placement for my text.

Thanks for reading.