Bringing Non-Paradise Postcards to Life

I've been spending a lot of time looking at the work of Gregory Crewdson. His work features incredible attention to detail, unbelievable lighting, and complex relationships between characters. It subtly seduces yet is uncomfortable and beautifully familiar at the same time. I'm excited to see he documentary "Brief Encounters" highlighting his process and work when it comes out on DVD:  http://www.gregorycrewdsonmovie.com

All of this comes into play as I begin to sketch out how to bring the postcards from last semester to life. I was worried that some of these are still too forced or too cheesy but after meeting with my mentor Scott, I feel as though I might be on the right track. There's much more work to do to perfect these scenes (technically and conceptually) but below shows my start. I plan to go back to each location and shoot again. I also have a number of ideas for new locations and am particularly excited to begin focusing on the island's utilities centers - water, electric, sewer, trash, etc. Even "paradise" still has to contend with urban logistics and I think utility centers are solid grounding points to use as my backdrops for the non-paradise postcards. 

As a triptych.
My mentor Scott and I played around with grouping these verticals
and decided something might be working as a trio.