I’ve started doing some research for Project Brief 3, after deciding on my subject: a local Melbourne sign painter named TJ Guzzardi, whose work can be found on hipster restaurants and barber shops all over town. I thought TJ would make a good subject because his work is visual by nature, allowing me to shoot some great B-roll footage of him at work, and from what I’ve seen he appears to be quite knowledgeable about the history and principles of his craft, which would make for a good interview.

My inspiration for this was the short film Up There, which is an amazing portrait of a group of American painters who hand-paint giant advertising murals on the sides of buildings. I saw it on Vimeo when it was uploaded (six years ago, apparently!) and it’s stuck with me ever since. I would obviously have to be careful not to actually replicate anything from this film, but use it more as a guiding light towards what’s possible in the medium.

But after a bit of Google research, I discovered that someone else made essentially the same film about TJ Guzzardi, only three years ago. It even utilises some of the shots that I had visualised trying to create for myself (shooting through glass, at work in his studio, slow pans of his previous works, etc.). This is a pretty frustrating development because I feel like I can no longer pursue this idea, and will have to find a new subject for my interview. But it’s a good little film that I think I can still get something out of, in terms of inspiration and example.

And now I have to pick a new subject – I think I have one potential option, but we’ll see.