Donn Lawler

I am a filmmaker. I use images and sounds to tell a story. I am enthralled by the use of light, shadow, color, tone, and contrast to compose an image which conveys a message that elicits an emotion. I am equally passionate about the use of sound in filmmaking. Sound is the second half of the experience of cinema. I marvel at the artistry of sound design and mixing sound by creators such as Ben Burtt (STAR WARS: EPISODE IV A NEW HOPE), Mark Mangini (BLADE RUNNER 2049) and Walter Murch (THX 1138). A film can suffer from bad color, bad acting, horrible editing, and loose plot design, but an audience will abandon your film if the sound is off I have spent countless hours watching films and television to get a sense of what it means to tell a story with images. I study directors like David Lynch (TWIN PEAKS), Terry Gilliam (BRAZIL) and David Fincher (FIGHT CLUB) to understand how they draw out emotion by the stories they craft on film. I emulate the compositions and color palettes of Andrei Tarkovsky (THE MIRROR), Stanley Kubrick (EYES WIDE SHUT) and Denis Villeneuve (BLADE RUNNER 2049) I am inspired by the cinematography work of Roger Deakins (NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN), Bill Pope (THE MATRIX) and Darius Khondji (SE7EN).