SOME OF WHAT I KNOW ABOUT TOMMY

GIDEON'S ARMY

A HORRIBLE WAY TO DIE

THE THING ABOUT BEING AN ASSASSIN

FATHER CLOWN

CHRISTEENTH PARAGON

A FACE IN THE WOODS

FREEDOM JUNKIES

CURRENT EXAMPLES OF WORK

DP for TRILOGY FILMS
Below you will find links to teaser/trailers of some exciting material I had the opportunity to contribute my eye to with Dawn Porter and Trilogy Films out of NYC.

Chefography: Alex Guarnaschelli (teaser 1of4)
Chefography: Alex Guarnaschelli (teaser 2of4)
Chefography: Alex Guarnaschelli (teaser 3of4)
Chefography: Alex Guarnaschelli (teaser 4of4)

Gideons Army (feature documentary in production)

DP: A Horrible Way to Die

This was a feature I DP's last year. We used my Panasonic HMC 150 with a Brevis DOF Adapter and a set of Minolta 35mm lenses.

DP: Man in the Glass: The Dale Brown Story

This is a feature documentary I DP'd with Patrick Sheehan a fews years back. We shot this with the Sony EX1 and Z1U.

UPDATES
So it is now 2009 and I have not really kept up with this blog for 2 years, but have discovered that people do look at the blog so decided I should attempt to catch up with the times.

I have been busy working mostly on documentary productions as a DP and have traveled the country as a camera/sound operator for market research projects as well. I have also been on larger shows as a 1st AC.

So my recent experiences have been more related to using available light or at least minimal lighting setups and also lenses. I'm Planning a trip to NYC this summer to work on some big shows so that I don't loose my touch with the more elaborate light plots.

My latest personal project is a portrait of a local character named Tommy. Which I shot with the Panasonic HVX200 and sometimes used the M2 Redrock DOF Adapter.

I also have a feature that I am soon to begin production on if I can just work out one bug in the script.

I am gearing up for a lot of portable filmmaking with my production van and laptop to document this America I live in now. Strange times. For this project I may can only afford the Canon HV30 but its size is favorable and the picture it produces is hands down the BEST BANG FOR YOUR BUCK.

There are several other projects in the works big and small that I will use to frame a working knowledge around for this blog.

At this point some of the things I hope to write about include the changes that come with tapeless workflow, depth of field adapters and new affordable camera systems such as the Canon HV30, Canon 5D Mark II and Panasonic HMC-150.

Another area I may address is the importance of content. It seems we get so bogged down in all the technical know how stuff that we loose sight of why we are shooting what it is we are shooting. And this, I believe, is much more powerful than any lens or camera or software.

We now have reasonable access to the means of production so it will be interesting to see how we use it.

TOMMY

Here is a framegrab from the Tommy documentary.
(acquired with the HVX200 and M2 DOF Adapter)

INTRODUCTION
This blog will serve as a resource to collaborators on all variety of projects that I find myself invovled with. It also gives potential clients a look at some of my work. It is simply a record of experience. For now its' theme is independent filmmaking with an emphasis on more affordable production scenarios.

The primary type of projects I am involved with relate to independent low/no-budget filmmaking. I have been active as a film/video maker since around 1990 and am currently practicing as a Director of Photography for short narrative projects being produced in Alabama. So far these have been mostly Horror movies in nature.

I am absolutely fascinated with the fast changing expansions in no budget filmmaking via digital technology advances.

Linear and non linear editing is where I began my professional pursuits in the field. Knowing what can be done after image/sound acquisition helps me tremendously in achieving the hope of a certain moment in a project.

After 15 years of experience ranging from a public-access sketch comedy show, corporate video, weddings, car commercials, reality television, documentaries and now about 15 short narrative projects I am a FIRM believer in concentrating ones' effort at the top of the process. "Fix it in post." is a scary phrase in my opinion. Although, these days, you usually can fix it in post; I believe that if you can get it right at the lense - why not?

The reply: time.

Sure.

But if you do have the time, do all that you can to make it LOOK and SOUND as close to or beyond the caliber of your vision. And if you planned well - at the tip top of the process such as writing/methodology - you'll have SOME time (even with all the planning, time is a gift that seems a fancy for chaos and thus a bit of a luxury)

So with that as my first post I'll begin work on gathering thumbnails of some of my work and supply helpful links to fellow filmmakers taking part in this whirlwind digital revolution.

CLICK HERE TO SEE A COMMERCIAL WORK

Some of my other commercial experience includes work with The Learning Channel, The Food Network, Walmart TV, HGTV, U.S. Space Camp, Mercedes-Benz U.S. International, The Dream Network and AmSouth Bank.

This is one of my commercial shoots with the Virginia Realtors Association. I ran the B camera getting all the close up coverage. Hope you have fun taking the tedst!

LIVE BURN WINS SPECIAL JURY AWARD FOR DOCUMENTARY CINEMATOGRAPHY AT SIDEWALK '06

FILMOGRAPHY

-Interplanetary (Current Project: Birmingham, AL)
Key Grip/1st AC (feature Super 16mm Sci-Fi)

-Ruby Ribbon (Current Project: Birmingham, AL)
Technical Director, Cinematographer (short experimental stop motion drama)

-Cup of Joe (Current Project: Birmingham, AL)
Writer, Director, Cinematographer, Editor (short comedy)

-Live Burn (2006: Birmingham, AL)
Director, Cinematographer, Editor (short documentary)
Special Jury Award-Best Cinematography Documentary Sidewalk Sept 2006

-Don’t Worry (2006: Birmingham, AL)
Lighting, Star, Additional Photography (short drama)
{48hr competition} Best Editing, Cinematography and Directing; 1st Place for Sidewalk Scramle Feb 2005

-Muckfuppet (2005: Birmingham, AL)
Lighting (short comedy-drama)

-Golden Age (2005: Birmingham, AL)
Associate Producer, Lighting, Additional Photography (short horror)

-The Talisman (2004: Birmingham, AL)
Director of Photography (short sci-fi)
{48hr competition.}

-See You On The Other Side (2004: Birmingham, AL)
Director of Photography (short musical horror)
{48hr competition} Best Cinematography, Editing, Directing & Original Score; Audience Choice Award and 1st Place for
Sidewalk Scramble Feb 2004

-The Girlfriend (2004: Birmingham, AL)
Director of Photography (short horror)
A.C.E. for Cinematography Sidewalk 2005)

-Who Is Colin Cherry (2003: Birmingham, AL)
Lighting and Sound (short comedy)
{48hr competition}
Audience Choice Award Short - Sidewalk 2004

-The Little One (2003: Birmingham, AL)
Lighting and Sound (short horror)

-Survivor On The Quad (2000: Tuscaloosa, AL)
Editor (feature documentary)

-Harbinger (1996: Tuscaloosa, AL)
Writer, Director, Camera, Editor (short sci-fi narrative)

-Nihil (1995: Tuscaloosa, AL)
Writer, Director, Camera, Star, Editor (short action narrative)

-The Backdoor (1994-1997: Buffalo, NY)
Writer, Guest Star, Director, Editor, Camera (cable access sketch comedy)

-Turkey and Cheese (1994: West Nyack, NY)
Writer, Director, Camera, Star (short comedy)

CUP OF JOE (an insane comedy)

Cup of Joe is my latest creative endeavor. I wrote this short with my friend Stephen McClurg over the fall of '05 and went into production during the spring of '06. I am currently in editing with this project. It will run around 20 minutes when complete and I believe will make people laugh hard. These behind the scene stills were taken during production over summer '06 by Julia Lewis.

Stills courtesy of Julia Lewis

CUP OF JOE in post production FINALLY!

MUCKFUPPET

Muckfuppet is the latest project I have worked on as of now. I did lighting (not a surpirse - one day I want to do lightning...one day - oh wait I actually did do lightning for "Sewing a River" - well geaaaooollie...what do ya know).

To read and look at more accounts of this shoot go to Muckfuppet.com and then click on the updates link up top. Wade and Kenn have a really nice account of the day with pictures too.

Anyway, it is a 15 page script that we shot in 1 day. It is a conversation over a couple of cups of coffee about unconfessed love. It is written and directed by Ken McKracken, shot by Chance Shirley and stars Scott Ross and Melissa Bush. This shoot went really smooth and I feel that the footage obtained will work great to tell Ken's story. I'm excited to see it whenever it gets back from the lab. Oh yeah we shot it on Super 16mm 500T film stock with Chance's "old reliable" Aaton. Chance never used sticks. It is all shoulder/handheld "Law andOrder" type material.

All of theses stills were pulled from footage shot on a DVX that day. These are not from the movie. We have to wait on the lab for those.

Enjoy!

Blind Shadows may be "typical" but I like 'em...typically

Some big shots

A Few Moments with Melissa Bush

The "Dolly"

The Background

Ode to Chance's Shoulder

A few moments with Scott Ross

McKracken is Kracken

Here's Ken. Keeping it real with the slate.

Deep Focus

Here's a candid frame I pulled off the DVX stuff stacey was shooting. You can see a 1K in the top right frame. That's Melissa's hairlight. I almost put up a hairlight with CTB for scott but decised that the windowlight was taking care of it for me.

An approxiamtion

This may be similar to what the Super 16mm footage will look like color wise and framing(?) Above Scott I rigged a 300W with diffusion, the sun is coming through the window to blue the back of his neck and a 1K with CTB is sidelighting the extra's back (frame right).

Chance...taking a chance.

Scott is in "the zone"

Here's Scott waits for his lunch date. And Chance warms up his shoulder for a long day with the Aaton.

Melissa doin her thang

Here's Melissa Bush during the first few takes of Muckfuppet. I framed this up with the DVX and set the white balance to 32K so it gives an idea of the color's we may could expect to get out of the film stock. Of course those colorist fellows can make it look neon pink if they want to. You can see the bluer blind shadow playing in her hair. That CTO 1K is popping her ear a little. I suspect that the white glare on the coffee cup is sourced by the 1K shooting through the blinds. Nice smile.