3 days in rome

[Michele Coser]

After reading Charles topic on the Glidecam Workshop he taked, i decided to post this.
It was something i have  already written in october 2005, after taking the workshop in Rome. However this is something diffrent from Charles post, i don't talk so much about the workshop itself; instead i talk about the sensations, throughts and feelings of the trip. Is more a diary than something other.
A small notice: i originally written this in italian, and yesterday translated in eng., first of all, sorry for the language mistake; and probably tere are various in-language jokes you may not undestand, but i'll try to explain if i can (i.e. the "guest/host thing": in italy guest and host are translated with the same word: ospite; but usually this word is used for the person who is the guest. that is why i call guest what is really the my host house)

Chapter I

 



The travel start under a grey sky. I am alone on the train, the lights fliker. I like them, but at the same time i hate them, because your eyes are constantly attracted to them.
The photocamera shows already five photos taken, this is the good side of digital cameras…if you don’t like or need a photo, you can always thrash it.





Someone has paint over Bologna a more darker sky, and, as this wasnt enough, the rain start to fall down. But this is not a problem, because i love the darkest days and the sad feelings that those bring.
The compartment, apart from brief presences, is empty. Later a girl will sit near, and it keep –not so much- company until Rome, because she have to study something like “Treaty on the industrial patents…”  I adequate myself at the situation.





Prato station is one of those old-style stations, a steam train it will look in place, rather than a modern electrical train. Sometimes i wish i had born when Lumière brothers where inventing the movies, gentlemens patronize parisiens coffee, and Sherlock Holmes lead his inquiry on the London underground.
At the same time, the trainmaster reminds me that, thanx to my usual fortune, just for today there is no bar service.
Over Prato someone other has taken the trouble of paint a cloudy but beautiful sky. Unfortunatly the photo don’t do justice to the ability of the scenery designer. And unforunatly, someone other again, under this, try to ruin this with modern building that looks all the same.
But i find them fascinating at the same time; i know that is a contradiction on myself, but i can’t do nothing to change.

The sun is at the sunrise when the train arrive at the Termini station in Rome

 



I can capture the last rays of red sun only when i exit the subway station.
I really love the subway…… but i explain that later.  The first try was unsuccesful, damn those automatic digital cameras! But shortly after i can take what i wont.

The night is coming, i arrive at my guest house, as americans say…  really i am the guest, and i am also enough tired. Is nearly 23’ when i fall asleep.
Minuts later i’ve been awaked by a phone call… it was a friend of mine, that pretend to be a german seller, try to sell me a 15 mt wooden stair…  after a while i realize this is a joke, and we start laughing for at least three minuts. Mentally thanking my friend for ruining my sleep, i remain awake for two hours again.

[Charles King]

Thnks for the trip I enjoyed reading it. Don't worry about your english. I understood every word. Well done. You must have ahad a wonderful experience. I think it's very important for people to travel and a get a smile of other cultures and experience the world. This is one or probably the only method one can go away from 'one-mindedness. Thanks for this.

[Michele Coser]

Chapter II

Thunder and lightning and fire
Are guiding the trip of my life
Insatiable burning desire
As into the unknown I dive

I raise my head in silent anger
Seems there is no place for me
The only way out is to go
Where no one's gone before



Thunder, lightning and fire, as Gamma Ray says in the song "Beyond the black hole"   The fire was’nt here, but the thunder, lightning and the rain yes. Rome awake herself and myself under a gray sky, that is not promising.

The workshop schedule start at 10 this morning. Thanx to my poor knowledge of the city –and, thanx to the confusion that my guest gave me on the transportation systhem- at 10’ i am at Cipro Plaza (nearly two km to the workshop place).
I gently ask some people  waiting the bus. Gently they said me:
“The bus will pass from here, but is always late. You are young, you can walk…”
Yes, but… i wonder why they are all waiting the bus, and i am the only that don’t…
I hate latecomers, but today, i am one of those. When i think i am near enough, i call the secretary, telling she that i’m arriving. She said me that this is not a problem, since i’m not the only late.

And it rain.

Undefined hour: the workshop start. Few members haven’t arrived yet, so we are only three. I, Angelo (his name is fictional), one i can’t show the face in pictures (later i’ll explain why), and Luca, once renamed Frankie for his resemblance to Frankie Hi-Energy (a popular rap/hip hop italian singer)

Today is theory day. To be honest, i know almost all… who, when, why the steadycam was invented, the various parts, “the stradycam manual of style”, Garret Brown and his damned/beloved Shining-style.
But, as long as latecomers, i hate i-know-all people, so i sit here like a child and write down on paper, like Angelo and Frankie.

 

The only daylight picture i can take today, is when we return from lunch (gently, but not so much, considering the price) paid by Medithech, on a pictoresque pub where the most spoken phrase from the manservant-barman-cicerone  was “Your attention, pleeease…” walking fast beetween the tables.  A mix of pasta with salmon and pasta with prawn and asparagus; vegetables: wurstel with potatoes… without mayonnaise.
Someone must make a law that prevent people from cooking wurstel without mayonnaise… damn poloticians, always thinking about stupid thing like politicallycorrect, no global and so on…
The man with the red jacket is Giovanny, he’s not really a steadycam operator, but he know anyway all about. He’s from Rome, a bit raw, he already know Frankie because (Frankie) has not been a soldier, and because of that, he came the target of military style jokes from Giovanni. Next to Giovanni is just Frankie; i can’t show his face just because this is the only picture i took tho him.

I return home, and is nearly 9pm. It still rain, maybe more than this morning. This don’t stop me after dinner from taking a small tour and some pictures.



I try to capture the tears that falls from the foliage, but the picture came out blurred; the problem is that in the small lcd of the camera it looks right.



Donnie, the good ‘old Donnie; Donald McDonald… he pay me for publicity. And who i am to refuse? And who i am for telling him that Mcburgers are disgusting, an abuse to the real cuisine and to the sandwich? And who i am for telling him that his employees are goofy-looking with those uniform and those fake smiles?
“Welcome to McDonald. Choose the type of food that can kill you today?”
I’m noone.
I’m a professionist.
A mercenary.
I’ll take the money, no question asked.
I take pictures.

 

A bit later, i’ll try to capture the lights shining on the wet road… i start thinking i am a bit obsessed with lights shining on the wet.  But a scooter just pass and ruin my shot. Damn those scooters of Rome

 

A few crossroads later i’ll try to immortalize the soul of one of the latest bus of the Rome-by-night



This is “Er Cupolone”, one of the many Er Cupolone of the Rome skyline. This is the nearest, and i don’t have the will to go more far. Because it is still raining. To a careful eye, it looks like the rain is more and more again. But my eyes are not too careful.



The blue of this neon light is so strong that it push me to shoot with my digicamera. I must tell you the truth, i shoot at them even if a film camera was in my hand.
Admit… is beautiful…

 



This is Eur district lake, and his park. I’m alone, in my company, only lights and shadows.









I said that j’adore the subway. I love the unerground mood, the eternal night that reign on the tunnels, the writings on the walls of the trains. Maybe because the american movies, maybe it was Max Payne, but i like it. When they build a subway in Parma, i will be the first to shoot a movie in. With the steadycam



Skycrapers… grattacieli…. Those are not skycrapers, but after all, Rome is not New York, so i must be satifyed with those.



If i will be an artistic photographer, i will call this shot Urban ruins, but because i’m not even close to a photographer, i’ll call this Abandoned stairway with weed.
Beside those stupid consideration, i like the abandoned state. I’d like to see the whole world in this way.



I believe this was the Ministry of Communication… but that’s not the point. I like the steel structure, the external stairway and the neons that lights them. We are at the gates of the future. And when the gate will open, i’ll go to the top of this building and i’ll jump down.  Not now, i have an engagement; i’m a professionist.

Usually…

In the meantime, the rain is augmented, the wind is rising. I’ll try at least ten shots, some blurred, some with a raindrop on the lens.  The first shot was the good one.



If i will be a capable photographer, i will be able to capture the rays of light and the opacity of the foliage. But somtimes reality reminds myself that i’m nothing more than a mrecenary with a job.



As i’ve said, McDonald pay me to pubblicize him. And i take the money, no question asked.



Now i must admit that i have some artistic inspiration, but i lack the tecniques. I’ll try to immortalize the neon reflexes on the wet…… again this obsession.



If i will be… a technical photographer, over than an artistic photographer, i will be able to show how the building, the reddish sky, and the flashes of the traffic lights, complete a contrasting and armonious all-in-one.
Unfortunatly, i’m no more than a lost soul, and i’ll have to explain with words.

[Michele Coser]

Chapter III



Saturday morning, is not raining. But judging from the sky, later it will start. Why in Rome has to rain just when i’m here?
Today change the way and the road i’ll take to the workshop; Subway, line B, than from Roma Ostiense thoward Bracciano, Balduina station.



Now, ladies and gentlemens, here is something i find interesting, very urban. But i ask myself why this tunnel is closed on both the entrances? Maybe in Rome they have fear to leave too muche freedom to people.

 

I said i love the subway. This i Balduina station, a steel and concrete paradise for my eyes. Cyberpunk is the next generation.



The interior of the room where the workshop was. It is not the most happy place of the world… gaffer tape on walls and floors for praticizing.





The two sled we used those days.





“Just for today, you can buy the Gold Vest by 2500 euro, and the Gold arm by 8000 euro; only for today… shipping not included. For the first lucky thousand, a tripod and a Garret Brown doll as a gift.

Today we take luch at “Tristano” (triste translate sad, so Tristano can be translated [other than with Tristan] with somthing like Sadly). Is not his real name, but Giovanni keeps calling him with this name, bcause his face always look sad. And this is true. I’ll take a sandwich, a bacardi breezer lime, this time.  And an hamburger with potatoes (french fries) and mayonnayse. The law about mayonnaise thal politicians have to don’t count for hambugers. Instead they have to do another law, that prevent people from cooking hamburgers without a piece of cheese over it.



A Steadicam arm





This is Angelo. His name is fictional, i can’t show his face. Because he’s a tough guy, one of those people that can walk under the rain without an umbrella or a hat. He’s part of the special forces, and he can’t reveal his real identity to us, otherwise he have to kill us. And i have to kill you too.





Saturday night

Er Cuplolone, the small one. And the big, long, stairway that from Europa Street goes from here. This time i’m more near. It don’t rain, and i’ll take the opportunity to do another tour and another pictures



Over the top of this stairway, Mr. Bruce Willis is shooting Hudson Hawk 2. The place is enclosed, stealthly i penetrate into, sayng to everyone that i’m the steadycam operator that they are searching. Everybody trust me, as long i have a Glidecam backpack with me.
Andie Mc Dowell is on a corner, reading the script



This is a conference center. It looks empty, a good location for a car chase. A few seconds later, a car clashing runs away, as in a perfect action scene, doing a slalom beetween the pillars. I’m not so fast to take a pic.



Here is the mirror of myself, on the door of the conference center. I die by the will tho show you my face, but at the same time i’m too shy to show it to you. I choose an half-way, and i don’t wont to scare out Jion.



The square near the Hudson Hawk 2 location. They are shooting on the last floor. It is so dark, because i have suggested the DP to turn off all the artificial lights, Lars Von Trier style.

I’ll return toward home. I’m searching a take away pizza. Pizza with potatoes (not the french fries ones), my preferred, that i can’t find anywere in Parma. I cant go away from Rome without eating Potatoes pizza, so i’ll take.
I can do three crazy things:
The first, going in Rome, eat a pizza, than return home.
The second, going in New York, eat an hot dog in one of those park cart vendors, than return home.
The third, stealing the crèpes cart from the ones who own it.
I enter a nearest pub, in hope to eat a chocolate crèpes.
“what do you wont, with the chocolate?”
“what do you mean” i ask…
“don’t know… bananas, cherries, ananas…… whatever you wont”
They have a strange way of cooking crèpes in Rome. Those Romans are Crazy. Anyway i’d like to eat salame, with chocolate… but i’m a cosmopolitan morphing man, like a chamaleon i change myself as i need…… and i only ask a bit of sugar over the crèpes.



Slowly i return toward home, i try a last artistic shot, but neither this came out as i hope. Sad and tired, i enter my guest palace, tomorrow i have to wake up early.

[Michele Coser]

Chapter IV

 

It is 7.20 a.m., the sun has rised a few minuts ago. The schedule today is to work all the morning so we have the afternoon free.



This is a building, it looks like is taken by no-global and punk guys… the day before i havent noticed it, when passing with the train. I start believing that Rome is like Alex Proyas’s Dark City, where a superior race change he city moving, rising and lowering the buildings. And i can’t find also another building made of brick, like a ’50 factory, that i’ve seen yesterday.



But i find this metal structure. Ugly and beautiful at the same time. I know, this is a contradiction…  The inustrial progress and things like that…



In Rome they have a good thing: they can simplify things when needed. This skeleton of a scooter is the demonstration of this theory.

Today the workshop is toward pratice (like yesterday), so we try various techniques and movements.
We find also the time to shoot some fictional scenes. I start as a operator, Frankie and Angelo are the actors, they are natural in front of the camera, i remember a phrase from Angelo: (that in this moments was keeping his hands in his pokets)
"Giovanni, i’ll take out my hands only to kick someone ass…"
When is time for Angelo to be the operator, me and Frankie act, i’ll try to speak in Roman, a funny version of the italian dialect; but i realize another time how bad i am in front of the camera (but i was already knowing that; after all it is why i have choose to stay behind the camera)
It became late, Medithech guys have to go to a demonstration in Pesaro; i go home, i have my train in a couple of hours.



This is the last picture i take. And that is for the real Er Cupolone. ("cupola" is dome, you can find many domes in classic architecture, they call Cupolone as is a Big Dome; this in the picture is the one of the St. Peter cathedral in Vatican City) As usual, thanx to my good luck, on the first try, a streetlamp appear in front of me and cover most of the composition.
It is nealry 3 pm, the train Roma-Parma start in two hours… it may seems a lot of time, but i have to return at my guest house, take my things, and go to the Termini station.

I arrive at the station just ten minuts before the train go. No-smoking carriage, but i’ve not seen those for smokers… Here is another girl, an old man, and two other guys.
Talking with those (Giuseppe e Francesco), i’lldiscover that the first is a sport man (but don’t know what sport), he goes to Milan to try a carreer; the second is going to work into a bank in Bologna.  I tink that i have also tried a carreer, or i’ll try in the future.

After Firenze the train is full of people. We don’t have the reseved room, so we have to get in the corridor. I leave my place before someone ask me to do, leaving the place to the old man. After a bit we all are in the corridor, as a lot of other people, you can’t even go to the bathroom. Giuseppe take advantage of the passage of a train technician, when returning from the bath, it take the road of the bar trolley, that despite the moltitude of people, runs for all the train

Next on me, a nice holland girl show me his ticket and ask me if she have a reservation.
I smile and i say “Sorry, no”. I try to talk with them, but suddently i’ve been stopped by the cofusion of the people and by the passage in a tunnel. I’m too shy to try again later as there is a lot of people around.
At Bologna station Francesco leave the train. We wish good luck to each other. There is a place free, i invite the holland girl to sit, since she looks tired. I don’t have seen my face today, but i pobably looks way tired than her. Shortly after, she return to the coridor, due to the reservation.
In the meantime, the satellite signal broke down, and an automatic male voice start to list the name of all the train station from north to south of italy.
We are at Modena, the holland girl is about to leave the train. I wish i had say something, i can’t say something, or maybe i don’t wont to. As i’ve said, i’m shy.
Maybe a lost chance? I console myself thinking that an hollang girl have no reason to go in Modena, unless she have a boyfriend waiting here.
Wen the train is in Parma, the automatc voice is speaking the Puglia country station. I leave the train, with my big backpac on. I have forgot an umbrella to my guest house… i hate big umbrellas, so is not really that i’ve forgot it.
I find my father waiting for me outside the station.
“How it was?”
“Ok”
“It worth the trouble?”
Those and few other words take with us during the voyage to home. He’s not someone who talk a lot. Not even me. I’m more similar to him, rather than my mother.

End of the Journey

And that’s all.  As you may understand there are a few things fictional, but the 95% is honest.  I wish i had a laptop to write down all the feelings and thinkings of the moments, because many of them i have forgot.

OH, and don't take it too seriously, especially the McDonald part.

[Alan Dague-Greene]

Michele, I loved reading this. Thanks for posting it! I would say your fortune is quite good, given your ability to see your surroundings in a unique way.

When I was in Italy a few years ago, I found my own blue neon lights and buildings with strange lights, like your photo of the Ministry of Communication.

I will come visit you and we can do a traveling photography tour together, what do you think of that? Just don't subject me to your strict mayonnaise rules. By the way, when I was in Parma, I could have sworn that the pizza place where I ate served potato pizza. I remember thinking how odd that was (we don't have any such thing here in the US). But if your area is anything like here, restaurants come and go with the wind.

Oh, and the first photo in chapter 4 is amazing as well.

[Michele Coser]

Hi, Alan, i've seen you photos, there are much better than mine.  Anyway, i have probably forgot to say that my photos (good or bad as tey are) don't have too much sense without the written parts, as the same is for the witten parts without the photos.

Ok, my mayonese rules are a bit too....  don't worry this is only a matter of preferences... i find ketchup disgusting.

About the potato pizza... at the time of my trip to Rome, i'havent found a place in Parma (we're talking at almost a year ago...); just some weeks ago i've found a place that do it, just in front of the Pilotta Palace (mentioned by another forum user... sorry, now i don't remeber who).

[alexandre Lucena]

Michele, I sugest you to take a novel writing workshop as well, one day Umberto Eco is going
for good and someone will have to fill the gap. capice ?

Alexandre

[Michele Coser]

I have started numerous times short stories.  I can say that i can think about a great beginning, but i usually end here.  I like spy/thriller stories, but i feel i don't have all the knowledge to write a believable story.  I think that you have to put an eye on this, otherwise you can end with something that a real spy can read and say... "damn this guy is a dumb, this can't happen"

But i don't have put nothing in the trash, almost every word i written (maybe i've lost something into a computer crash) is here again, and i take out of my cylinder at any time.  The last summer i have written down the story for a end-summer short. It was about a girl who return at grandparents home after years in the city. The house is in the middle of the country, and she re-discover a simple life. Nothing special as a story. I wanted to make something with rich and bright colours. But i was searching a 3ccd camera (xl2 or dvx100) to make it. My consumer camera would ruin it.   I was in contact with two guys, that owns a bunch of pro cameras (xl1//s/2; pd170....) i explained them the idea, but it ended dust.   
I have promised myself that i reprise this idea whenever i have the chance.

[Alan Dague-Greene]

I think your photos are great, Michele. They're yours. I'm certainly very nostalgic for my time in Italy, and seeing your pictures brought it back.

[Charles King]

Great photos. One day I'll take a trip to rome. I was in the south of Italy a while back just for a couple of hours. We drove from Monaco to have dinner in a nice little local Italian restaurant. This place was fantastic. Great food. Boy!! can Italians eat. 5-7 course is almost the norm.

[Alan Dague-Greene]

I saw this album cover today and was reminded of your first photo under chapter 4.

[Michele Coser]

Nice find, Alan.

I have other pictures from the lasts "commercial" we shot, but not enough to comment how the day was. Mybe i'll post later.