mike
I've basically been living under a rock for 2 months (big contract shoot then mammoth edit) so I apologise for being quite so late to a long quiet discussion.
I don’t think any of us casual observers that don’t know either party on a personal level can, or should, comment / speculate on the truth of the allegations Philip Bloom faces. I also think a lot of the reaction so far has been pretty awful on both sides, be it the frankly disgusting victim bashing/blaming from one side, or the self righteous rants on the other. I’ve been asking myself how should we react to this? And I think the answer isn’t as black and white as people want to make it.
Philip Bloom is a much loved and respected member of the film making community (by me included). But our image of him is carefully constructed by the man himself. We don’t know the guy. All we see is the 2 dimensional heavily edited image he wants us to see. I repeat. We don’t know the guy.
Taking that into account, if anything has diminished my respect for him it is the statement he put out. I personally found it pretty distasteful. Underneath all the carefully constructed sentences for me it essentially read: Don’t listen to her, she has mental health issues, you all know I didn’t do it. It meets accusations with accusations. If he is proven 100% innocent, Ill still see that as a low blow.
Being in the public eye doesn’t diminish the right to be innocent until proven otherwise, but it does make things complicated for everyone involved. It just does. I don’t blame Kessler Crane for wanting to sit this one out on the side lines, it must have been a difficult decision for them. I also don’t blame the companies who have chosen to stick by him. I’m going to feel sorry for the victims, while hoping for Phillips sake that non of it’s true. I don’t think there is anything more us casual observers can or should do.
a7s is best 1080 image I've seen from the small cameras. I'd go with that over GH4 for that and the low light performance, which is mind boggling...