Thomas Lappin

Last Night

Thomas Lappin entered the University of Maryland as an engineering major, but after his first filmmaking class, he naturally gravitated towards a career behind the camera. Immediately after receiving his bachelor's degree in arts, he went to work as an assistant cameraman on John Water's Hairspray. He went on to work as an assistant cameraman in Baltimore and Washington, D.C., on the TV series Homicide. Lappin has since worked on camera crews on more than 20 films including Something's Gotta Give, Pirates of the Caribbean, Gangs of New York and The Legend of Bagger Vance. His credits also include shooting two independent features and a documentary. Lappin was recently re-rated as a camera operator and is interested in shooting feature films.

Last Night is a controversial story about a woman dying of cancer who decides one evening that her husband must end her suffering through euthanasia. The majority of the film is set at dusk in a house. He says one of the more interesting hurdles was creating the illusion of twilight while shooting during daylight hours. Lappin gelled nearly 50 windows in the house to create the appropriate look and feeling. Last Night was produced in Super 35 format and composed in 2.4:1 aspect ratio. Director Sean Mewshaw wanted an intimate connection between the audience and characters, calling for close-up shots, coupled with a widescreen aspect ratio to accommodate scenes with multiple actors set in their environments. Last Night screened at the London and East Hampton film festivals.