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Q&A: UCLA TFT’s 2018 cinematographer-in-residence talks ‘Chilling Adventures of Sabrina’

With characters traversing the spectrum between the human and the supernatural, “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” was an opportunity for Michael Goi to create a visually unstable landscape.

The UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television’s former cinematographer-in-residence directed the second episode of the Netflix original series’ second season, which was released April 5. For the episode titled “Chapter Thirteen: The Passion of Sabrina Spellman,” Goi said he wanted to represent a supernatural universe where characters are constantly on the edge of the human world. The show follows Sabrina Spellman and how she balances her journey as a half-human, half-witch – a girl with a foot in two worlds.

Goi spoke to the Daily Bruin’s Paige Hua about the differences between directing and cinematography, his creative inspiration and how he maintains a chilling atmosphere.

Daily Bruin: Had you been a cinematographer rather than a director, how would your experience with “Sabrina” be different?

Michael Goi: A lot of the sensibilities I bring to my cinematography I also bring to my directing. I am a visual person, so when I read a script, I start writing down shots. I climb into the head of the character, and I find a way to visually depict the world as they see it or feel it.

When I get something like “Sabrina,” with characters who are living on the edge of acceptance in the human world, discovering the powers that they have and are unsure of how to deal with them, it creates this unstable landscape for me in terms of how to visually treat the show.

DB: What were some of your strategies for maintaining the spooky, unhinged atmosphere of “Sabrina?”

MG: It varied quite a bit. In the episode that I directed, there was a moment where one of the other characters was taunting Sabrina about her attraction to this other character while Sabrina was watching him on stage. For me, it became a perfect visual metaphor for a scene from “Persona” where the faces sort of meld together. I used the split diopter filter, and I melded their faces together so that you had a profile of Sabrina and you had the frontal face of the other girl, but you could only see half of her. It’s about finding opportunities like that. When Sabrina sees the Dark Lord in the church, she starts choking and falls to the ground. I did things to give the audience a sense of that disorientation. We used a dolly zoom, and we actually strapped the camera to (lead actor) Kiernan Shipka and had her fall on the ground.

DB: Are there elements or techniques you bring over from your other works like “Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments,” “American Horror Story” and “The Nine Lives of Chloe King”?

MG: Not necessarily from other stuff I’ve done before. The inspirations really come from the script. Usually what shoots into my head is one of three things: a scene from a movie that I had not shot before, a piece of music that I love or a painting or photograph that captured the essence of what I’m trying to convey. One of those three things will ricochet into my head, and I will follow that to see where it goes.

Even though the initial shot list is a reflection of my initial impression of the material, I am a firm believer that you should never go with your first idea for doing anything. I love it when I’m on set and an actor challenges me. In that process, things evolve and change, and I can adapt to whatever the situation is and find the second or third or fourth idea which is invariably more interesting to watch and more exciting to experience.

DB: Did you draw inspiration for “Sabrina” from any of those three things you mentioned?

MG: It’s interesting because now that you ask the question, one of my inspirations for “Sabrina” was from my own life. Nobody in my family was in filmmaking. Growing up in Chicago with the dream of wanting to go to Hollywood and make movies, you feel unsure of yourself: like you have this potential inside you, but you don’t know how to manifest it. I felt like the character Sabrina was experiencing a lot of those similar things in her life. She was being pulled in different directions.

I used that as the basis of visualizing how I would see her in her environment. There was the sequence I did where she’s walking down the hallway with the gasoline can because the Dark Lord has told her to burn down the school. There’s that sense of isolation and the feeling that time is no longer yours. The decision to shoot that in slow motion, with shadowy lighting and the angles that I used really came from my experience wandering around my elementary school. Looking at the walls, and wondering if I fit – if my dreams and ambitions fit.

DB: Given that the directors for each episode change, how did you keep the general atmosphere of the show while still adding your own spin?

MG: I’ve never seen a single episode of the show. For me, it’s most useful to read the script and to have my initial impressions of what that script is telling me I should be doing. And then, I just follow my instincts.

DB: Did you end up watching the episode you directed?

MG: I certainly saw it because I edited it. The director always gets their cut, and then the studio and the network and the production company gets their cut. What ends up on the show oftentimes doesn’t bear much of a resemblance to what the director did, but I’d say in a lot of cases my cuts pretty much survive to air, and “Sabrina” was very close to my cut.

Art to Heart: Art helps physicists comprehend, communicate fundamental principles of the universe

Art, the universal language, can transcend space and time to reach a diverse audience. We hear this all the time, but do we truly feel the weight of these words? A cloud of elitism envelops the “art world,” alienating the perspectives of some while glorifying those of others. In efforts to challenge ideas that reinforce the intrinsic validity of one individual’s take on art over another’s, columnist Lisa Aubry will explore different creative spaces and outlooks on art and reconcile the fields of arts and sciences through discussions.

The physical composition of our universe moves us deeply through its aesthetic and scientific qualities – from particles to planets.

Through the pursuit of science, we can attempt to define the reasons behind our aesthetic appreciation for the natural world. Much less obvious, however, is the idea that that our power of aesthetic appeal helps better understand basic principles of the universe. I visited UCLA’s astrophysics department to learn a bit more about how scientists create and use aesthetics to increase public interest and better grasp the nature of our reality.

Sometimes when we look at art, our immediate surroundings fall away, and the human-made creations transport us to realms light years away. As it turns out, astronomers like Robert Hurt wield this gift in a literal sense. The alumnus works as a visualization scientist at California Institute of Technology’s Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, where he edits photographs of space for press releases and illustrates celestial bodies that are not yet photographable due to limiting variables, such as distance and precision technology.

“My job has to do with the degree to which a scientist or an artist can play with the same dataset and remix it to present it in ways that has both meaning and impact,” he said. “The goal is to find ways of showing the universe in a way that is compelling but also captures the ideas of science we want people to be able to understand.”

Hurt takes NASA Spitzer Space Telescope images, remixing the colors to emphasize and distinguish between the kinds of matter that make up outer space. Yet, because the human eye can only see a small portion of the full light spectrum – the rainbow colors of the visible spectrum – Hurt remixes the basic colors red, blue and green from infrared and X-ray images to portray a reality of space that is legible for human senses. For instance, he may depict the light emanating from hot stars in the form of dust through a tinge of green while portraying gas-based light in a blueish hue. Hurt said he accounts for the transmission of accurate information about the contents of space but also aims to create magnetic images that will grab attention in an overloaded newsfeed.

The importance of aesthetic appeal in raising public interest in scientific discoveries also crops up in Hurt’s illustrations of planets, asteroids and galaxies. In such instances, the scientific community possesses only numerical data – how far a planet is from its star, its size compared to Earth, what class of star it orbits – based on which Hurt must create a possible model of its appearance. Through a combination of 3D graphics, animations, painting and Photoshop, he said he merges his creative hobbies with astronomical formations to create artistic extrapolations while staying within the limitations of possibility.

web.ae.art2heart.3.courtesy.picB.jpg — Apart from illustrating space images, he edits astrophotographs of space for press releases. He takes Spitzer telescope images, remixing the colors to emphasize and distinguish between the kinds of matter that make up outer space. (Courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/O. Krause (Steward Observatory))

Drawing from the same understanding of light waves that Hurt used, Archi Bhattacharyaa explained how color is, at its core, a symmetric light wave. From this, the first-year physics student argued humans favor symmetry as pleasant because it is the very structure of existence. He said the principle of symmetry manifests across physics, chemistry and anatomy – no wonder it also appears in some of our most celebrated artworks and musical compositions.

“What I came to notice is that fundamental natural phenomena are symmetrically arranged,” Bhattacharyaa said. “This is built into the intrinsic nature of what we as humans are.”

Scientific detection and attention to patterns in nature are deeply connected to abstract searches for beauty. To explain why we see self-repeating patterns in nature, Jared Rivera, a fourth-year physics and engineering student, cited the principle of least action. The principle holds that nature is lazy; it will take the shortest, most efficient path to create physical structures. Perhaps this is why humans hold such reverence for visual order, he proposed. In his recent readings about science history, Rivera said he noticed how theorists seek the beauty of simplicity to hone the accuracy of their equations and theories.

“Historically, as we move forward, we need (fewer) parameters to describe the same data as the number of equations and their length seem to get more compact and more versatile,” he said. “So one of the main drivers forward in guiding our theories is looking at whether the equation is as simple and beautiful as it can be without losing information.”

For instance, string theory – a possible theory of everything in physics – draws on the claim that the more abstract, general and simple an equation, the more likely its chances are of being accurate. Rivera said the theory aims to combine the fundamental forces of our universe into a single equation. Such respect for simplicity is a major tenet of scientific theory and certain artistic movements alike. Abstract minimalism and conceptual art comprise methods by which artists usually illustrate complex ideas with a straightforward use of limited material.

Major elements of art – color, symmetry and simplicity – constitute the foundational structure of the universe. As I discovered through conversations with current and future astronomers, physicists and engineers, humanity’s scientific and aesthetic perspectives are not as distant nor opposed as we tend to believe. In many respects, they can even be considered one and the same.

Class strips stigma from pole-dancing, trades fetishization for self-expression

Students will pole-dance to find their inner power on Friday, said TaMisha Greathouse.

In honor of this year’s Sex Week, a beginner pole-dancing class will be held in Kerckhoff Art Gallery. Hosted by the UCLA Sexual Health Coalition and UCLA Housing, the event is targeted toward students who have not previously pole-danced. Greathouse, co-chair of Sex Week, said students are encouraged to enter the space with any motive they choose, whether that be improving fitness or exploring their sexuality.

“The goal with pole is to get in touch with yourself through movement,” Greathouse said. “We want students to leave with a better understanding of their self and more confidence for themselves than they came in with.”

Instructor Candace Cane, who has been teaching pole classes since 2013 at venues around Los Angeles, said she plans to begin the class by allowing students time to get acclimated to the pole. They can then discuss any emotions the apparatus might elicit, from fear to excitement. Initiating open lines of communication will be effective in developing confidence, Greathouse said.

“I am hoping that the students will gain more confidence in their appearance, because when you see yourself accomplishing something that you thought you couldn’t, it opens up a whole other world,” Cane said. “Just feeling good doing something makes people feel more confident.”

Elle Mendelson, a first-year molecular, cell, and developmental biology student, said she is attending the event because pole-dancing has many unacknowledged merits, including sexual empowerment and combating objectification. Though pole-dancing can be thought to increase objectification, Mendelson said it actually decreases it by highlighting that women can be sexy, but are also human beings with emotions and personalities. Having had body dysmorphia for as long as she can remember, Mendelson said pole-dancing might help her move past her insecurities because the classes provide a safe space in which she feels a sense of belonging.

“Having a pole-dancing class available to students gives them a way to take control of the way they present themselves, and in that way people are able to take back the objectification,” Mendelson said. “People are able to be like, ‘Hey, I am here, and I am sexy and a human being.'”

Cane said it is valuable for students to feel comfortable with their own bodies because it may help them better enjoy intimacy in their relationships. Developing a healthy and self-assured relationship with oneself is a precursory step to developing intimate relationships with others, she said.

Meanwhile, Greathouse hopes to convey the idea that pole-dancing is not a method of pleasing other people, but a form of self-expression. There are acrobatic and aerobic aspects to pole-dancing despite its sensual roots, she said. She hopes the class will help eradicate the negative stigma surrounding pole-dancing, including the ideas that it only occurs in strip clubs or is restricted to promiscuous people.

“Pole-dancing is for anyone, at any age, with any body type or any gender affiliation. Literally, if you have limbs – even if you are missing a limb – you can still pole-dance,” Cane said. “People with only one leg, one arm, women, all genders, robust women, small women – everyone is able to pole-dance if they allow themselves to.”

Road to Spring Sing: Sanjana Deshmukh

With the prestigious UCLA Spring Sing 2019 around the corner, Daily Bruin Video gets an exclusive look at Sanjana Deshmukh and her bandmates’ rehearsals to witness what it takes to prepare for one of UCLA’s biggest stages.

No Offense, But: The college admissions scandal(s)

“No Offense, But” is back for the quarter. Join Opinion editor Keshav Tadimeti and columnists Reilly Berberian and Abhishek Shetty as they break down both the college admissions scandals in which UCLA has been implicated. After they analyze the perks rich students enjoy, the trio opens up the age-old debate: quarters versus semesters.

UC community skeptical of Trump’s executive order for free speech

A recent executive order that aims to enforce the protection of free speech on college campuses may not largely impact public universities, members of the University of California community said.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order March 21 requiring United States colleges to protect students’ right to free speech. Colleges that fail to comply would risk losing access to up to $35 million in federal research funding, he said.

Trump said in a speech announcing the executive order that universities receive billions of dollars from taxpayers, but that he thinks many universities have become increasingly hostile toward free speech and the First Amendment.

Eugene Volokh, a distinguished UCLA law professor, said this executive order may have more of an effect on private universities, as free speech on public campuses is already significantly protected.

“Free speech at UCLA is already pretty protected in part because it is a public campus, but (the executive order) might have a much broader effect on private universities where there currently is no First Amendment protection and in most states no other kinds of protection as well,” he said.

Janet Napolitano, University of California president, said in a statement that freedom of speech already exists on college campuses and does not require further protections from the government.

“We do not need the federal government to mandate what already exists: our long-standing, unequivocal support for freedom of expression,” Napolitano said. “This executive order will only muddle policies surrounding free speech, while doing nothing to further the aim of the First Amendment.”

John Abughattas, a fourth-year philosophy student and member of the advocacy group Students for Justice in Palestine, said he does not think the order is going to have much of an impact on the operations of any club on campus.

“It seems (to be) more of a symbolic thing of the Trump administration,” he said.

Abughattas said he thinks this order simply aims to limit speech the Trump administration disagrees with.

“He makes it seem like pro-Trump speech is what is being attacked and harassed on campuses,” he said.

He added he thinks the Trump administration pursued this executive order for their own benefit rather than for the importance of free speech itself.

“Coming from the Trump administration, this is pretty hypocritical,” he said. “They are trying to push for legislation that prohibits people from supporting boycotts and sanction movement in foreign policy and human rights that really is just a matter of tampering down speech that the Trump administration disagrees with.”

However, Abughattas said he thinks his free speech and his club’s free speech rights have been limited by the UCLA administration.

“We definitely feel that we were pushed back by the administration when we were trying to host the national SJP conference back in the fall,” he said. “It went as far as UCLA sending us a cease-and-desist letter for having UCLA on our flyer and having a bear – not the Bruin bear, just a bear – on our flyer, trying to prevent us from using it as advertisement.”

UCLA administrators sent National Students for Justice in Palestine a cease-and-desist letter October 31, 2018 regarding the use of the logo to promote the group’s upcoming national conference, which was held November 16 to November 18.

UCLA spokesperson Ricardo Vazquez said in November 2018 that the university wanted to be consistent in its enforcement of the use of its logo and other marks.

Trump said the enforcement of this order will be left to federal agencies that award funding to universities. However, policies regarding how free speech on college campuses will be monitored and what type of violations could trigger a loss of funding have not been specified.

Volokh said it is up to members of Trump’s cabinet to make the policies and determine how they will be enforced, so it is still unclear what effects the executive order will have.

“What exactly this executive order will (do), we do not know until the specific policies are created,” Volokh said.

UCLA report shows disproportionate arrests of black people by LAPD Metro

An elite division of Los Angeles’ police force arrested a disproportionate number of Black residents from 2012 to 2017, according to a UCLA report.

The report was released by Million Dollar Hoods, a project which analyzes policing and mass incarceration in Los Angeles.

The UCLA researchers found that while Black residents comprise just 9% of LA’s city population, they made up 46% of all LAPD Metro arrests and 31% of all LAPD arrests.

LAPD did not respond to requests for comment.

The report found the most common charges against residents were failure to appear in court and possession of controlled substances.

Metro is an elite division of LAPD, created in 1933, that houses the K-9, Mounted Unit and Special Weapons and Tactics. Homeless individuals made up 19% of LAPD Metro arrests.

While LAPD Metro operates in all 15 city council districts, over 46% of arrests with a home address were in City Council Districts 8 and 9, commonly known as South LA.

Isaac Bryan, public policy director of Million Dollar Hoods and public policy advisor of the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies, said he thinks LAPD Metro has always had a difficult relationship with the South LA community.

“The community often has seen (LAPD Metro) as a hammer,” Bryan said. “What our report shows is that despite having jurisdiction over the whole city, they seem to only be operating in South LA.”

Bryan said the new report was published partly in response to a recent Los Angeles Times article that alleged that LAPD Metro stopped Black motorists at twice the rate of other LAPD officers.

Ricardo Patlan, a co-author of the report and recent UCLA graduate, said the research of Million Dollar Hoods helps community members reinforce their personal experiences with hard data.

“When I went to a community meeting recently, a lot of community members were citing our report when they were talking with the (police) chief,” Patlan said. “They were saying, ‘Hey, this is what we see on the ground and we have these numbers to back our narrative, to support what we’re trying to say.’”

Patlan said he thinks the conclusions of the report question the effectiveness of LA’s approach to reducing crime.

“It begs the question, how do we best work towards reducing crime in LA? Is it increasing policing or is it by diverting resources to community programs or mental health services, (or)

“The Million Dollar Hoods report has been able to give us the tools necessary to be able to advocate for the resources,” Turner said. “It’s not that resources aren’t there, it’s that resources have been directed in ways that harm our communities, not necessarily help our communities.”

Turner said breaking down the costs of incarceration helps community organizations to lay out alternatives to current policing practices. By outlining the current use of public funds, Million Dollar Hoods helps communities demonstrate to public officials the already existing resources that can be redirected to alternatives to mass incarceration and policing problems, Turner said.

Million Dollar Hoods estimated the minimum cost of all LAPD Metro incarcerations was $8,040,953, including $3,722,029 just for the jailing of Black residents.

Patlan said he thinks UCLA students could have a tangible impact on their community.

“Where we are at UCLA, in West LA, we’re not as impacted as South LA, but we’re still a part of the community,” Patlan said. “And as a research institution that has the power and the resources to do this kind of work, it’s very important for students to realize that this is something they can do that makes a difference on the ground.”