Short: "Cheat Day"

___In the middle of November I worked as a Gaffer on a short called "Cheat Day." Friend and fellow D.P Jess Dunlap was shooting and asked me to come on board as Gaffer. We were shooting on the RED MX and working with a small G&E package but it was enough to get the job done. For the interiors we keyed through a big window with a 1.2 HMI through a 8x8 light grid with a 4x4 250 in between the fixture and the big frame to soften the light even more. We filled with either 44 kinos or 24 kinos through 4x4 frames of 250 or opal. We also used a joleko bounced into a small bounce card a lot to create subtle back edges or even provide fill in small hallway areas where it was impossible to squeeze a fixture in.

We had one pretty big exterior setup that consisted of a model walking down a red carpet up to the front steps of the house. We bounced a 1.2 HMI into a big bounce board off camera left for general ambiance/key. We then set up four Lekos. Two played in frame as part of the red carpet scene while two others were just off camera creating two edge lights, one on each side of the models hair. We then positioned the Joleko off camera right and had an electric pan the light back and forth to flare the lens during the shot. We shot it at 120 FPS while dollying through the doorway towards the model and red carpet outside. Playback looked pretty awesome with the flares and smoke.

One SFX shot included mounting the RED to a remote head so that a motion controlled 360 degree pan of a bedroom could be captured. We lit the room by placing two frames of 250 tight to the two windows outside the room and shot an 800w Joker through one and two 44 kinos through another. We couldn't really put any other fixtures inside the room because everything was seen in the 360 degree pan. I didn't get a chance to see playback on this shot but I'm interested to see how it came out. Overall it was a good shoot with good people. Jess was one of the only people I knew on set but it was cool to work with some new faces. Hopefully we will continue to work together in the future.

Short: "Rays Of Darkness"

___In the middle of October I shot a short called "Rays of Darkness." I was pretty excited to be hired to D.P this job because I knew the director was looking for a dramatic low key look and that it would be fun to light. We shot on the RED with a set of CP2 lenses. I rated the camera at 320 ISO most of the shoot but there were a few scenes that I pushed it to 640. I was concerned about doing so at first but looking at the dailies after the fact I actually like the slight graininess of the scenes shot at 640 better than the footage that was shot at 320. It definitely adds a grittiness that fits well with the look of the piece. We used our 1 Ton lighting/grip package on this gig as well. This was the first shoot I've D.P'd that consisted of sets as opposed to practical locations. It was definitely challenging because obviously every light had to be placed and created without looking fake or unnatural. It was a lot different than working in a practical location where you would be augmenting and or adding to the existing light. It was fun in the fact that it was like starting with a blank pallet every shot but it was challenging because it was tough to make each light feel and look natural.

One of the lighting set ups that I was most proud of was in a "morgue" set complete with real body slabs. (TOP LEFT) Gaffer John Hafner and Key Grip Jeff Marlowe were able to have a decent amount of time to pre-light and it definitely payed off. They did a great job. We had spoken about the morgue set earlier and that I wanted it to have a green feel off in the background but I wanted the key to feel a bit more neutral. The mix in color temperatures really looked great, the green background with a slightly more neutral key and fill. We ended up gelling the recessed practical lights with green gels to light the background and then a 750w par was rigged to the ceiling pointing straight down bouncing into a silver operating table. This provided a key for the actors in the middle ground as they stood around the table. The par created a really cool hot spot on the silver table that was motivated by a crazy circular"operating lamp" visible in the frame. The "operating lamp" also provided a nice back light for the actors on the right side of frame. We then added a big CFL softbox to help raise the light level in the foreground as well as add some fill to the actors in the middle ground. The only other small tweaks we made were adding another floor practical lamp to the background to balance out the frame on the left side and then flew in a 1x1 light panel to key the actress as she moved closer to the foreground later on in the scene. We added some haze to the scene as well which looked great.

1st A.C Austin Ahlborg did a great job all around as well. There were a lot of hand-held scenes in the short and they were definitely challenging to pull. It was really one of those deals where I just had to feel out the scene and go with the flow as I was operating and he just adapted well on the fly. I learned quick that the RED fully decked out with two on board monitors, hard drive, brick, matte-box etc. was not easy to shoulder for long periods of time but It it all worked out. We shot about 12 pages in two days. It was stressful at times and we were rushed at points but I think all things considered the footage looks great.

Feature: "Love's Christmas Journey"

___At the end of August I worked as an assistant camera on a feature for the Hallmark channel called, "Love's Christmas Journey." It will be a total of a 40-day shoot that will make up a two part mini-series set to air around Christmas. This was a really cool shoot to work on for a ton of reasons; one being that it was my first Western. We started shooting at Melody Ranch which had a huge exterior western set complete with sheriff’s office, general store, saloon and more. We were shooting on 2 "Panavised" RED MX's, which was awesome. (ABOVE RIGHT) Panavision buys RED bodies and modifies them so they can be outfitted completely with Panavision accessories. The standard PL mount is removed from the RED body and a special mount is attached to fit the Panavision PRIMO ZOOMS that are used on both cameras. Panavision also developed a power box that bypasses RED's power system and allows the camera to be powered off two sources simultaneously. On set, the cameras are powered off a set of Dionic batteries, which mount to the top rail system, as well as a big lead Panavision block battery. The camera runs off block battery power while we are on sticks shooting, and then when we have to move the camera to a different set up, we switch to the Dionic power source. It's a really great system that is quick and easy and it allows us to run the camera constantly on set without powering down. The “panavised” RED’s also feature a side rail system for the swing away matte box, Panavision’s microforce zoom control and a bunch of other sweet Panavision accessories.


Over the course of the 7 days I was on the project, we shot some really awesome stuff including a small fight scene and a scene in which a barn goes up in flames. (LEFT) The D.P, Maximo Munzi, uplit a lot of the scenes in the film using “covered wagons.” They were pretty simple home made lights made up of 6 practicals on a 2x4 with chicken wire and light grid wrapped around the globes in a semi-circle. He placed them on the ground and used them as fill and even key at times. Mostly all of the smaller tungsten sources as well as any HMI lights that flew were outfitted with soft boxes and grids or shot through 4x4 frames of diff. He rarely ever used a hard source. For night exteriors we had a condor with two Maxibrutes shooting through 4x4 frames of opal or other diffusion. This was used mostly as a moonlight ambient source. He used 4x4 frames of double net to control light coming from broad sources at times, which was pretty cool. For day exteriors he used some powerful HMI’s as fill or table topped a 12x12 rag of ¼ silk or similar to soften the harsh overhead sunlight. He also used an ultra-bounce a lot as well. Overall it was a great shoot with a fun crew. I hope to continue working for Hallmark as I really like everyone in the camera and G/E department. I learned a lot about Panavision accessories and it was nice to work with some higher end camera equipment.

Commercial: "LA Weightloss"

___In the middle of August I worked as a swing grip/electric on a commercial shoot for LA Weightloss. We were working off of the 5 ton truck at this amazing house in Malibu high in the hills. It was a pretty small crew but we still got some great looking shots. One of the setups was in a bathroom that had two big windows that looked out into the canyon below. The D.P wanted to retain the detail outside in order to see the canyon so he stopped down a lot. This meant we had to blast the bathroom with light in order to get the exposure inside close to the same stop as the exposure outside. We blasted two 1.2 HMI's through a 4x4 frame of 250 for a key, then bounced a 2k mighty into the ceiling to raise the ambient level. We floated a 2 foot 2 bank Kino around for fill as well. We also used various Lekos as specials to accent certain background elements like cabinets or the bathtub. We used a mirror board outside and reflected it in through a window off screen to up the light level in the background as well. It was really tough to raise the light level inside the bathroom to match the light level outside in the canyon but in the end the image looked great despite the insane amount light we had to pump into such a small space.

A couple other setups were in the kitchen in which giant sliding glass doors were visible in the background of the shot. The D.P wanted to once again retain the detail outside in order to see the infinity pool, canyon and ocean backdrop. Instead of trying to blast the whole kitchen with light, we spent a lot of time cutting rolls of ND6 and carefully taping them over all the sliding glass doors. This brought the outside light level down two stops so it was a lot easier to match that light level in the kitchen. We used a 1.2 HMI through a 4x4 frame of 250 for key and two Image 80's for fill and ambient. The image 80's are nice lights for pretty pieces because they are a big soft source and really fill in shadows nicely. The last few setups of the day were outside in the pool. We used mirror boards through 4x4 frames of 250 and opal as key and an 8x8 ultrabounce for fill. We also used mirror boards to accent certain spots in the water behind the talent. Overall it was a solid day and because it was a small crew I had a lot more responsibility in terms of gear. I'm really getting to know this 5 ton truck and am starting to feel comfortable with all the equipment and how it is stored. A couple more gigs on this truck and I'll be even more confident with all the gear.

Commercial: "Eleven Skin"

___At the beginning of August I worked as a swing grip/electric on a commercial shoot for the skin care product "Eleven Skin." We were working off a 5 ton truck plus another 30 fixture add on order from Acey Decy lighting. We had an entire day to pre-light for the shoot so it was a pretty relaxed environment as there was no serious rush to roll. We were shooting on a giant stage stage in which we had to light about 270 degrees worth of set. The set consisted of a circular step up stage in the middle where 4 chairs were positioned for the talent to sit around and discuss the amazing product at length. The background of the set was built to look like the outside of a house, complete with giant doors and a ton of windows. I would say when all was said and done we hung about 50-60 fixtures in that place. Most of the lights that played was hanging from the massive grid above the stage. We started by hanging nine 6K Barger lights in a circle around the circular stage in order to bath the talent in soft light. We then used a serious of Lekos to accent anything the D.P wanted to draw attention to in the background. We put them high up in the grid and tilted them down at steep angles to throw hard beams of light on different cabinets or other elements of the stage. Lekos are really awesome lights because they are super controllable as you can cut the beam from any angle with the blades as well as focus or defocus the beam by pushing the lens further or closer to the globe. You can also switch out the lens for a narrow or wider beam. (we used a combination of 19, 25 & 40 degree) It was a lot of work to hang each fixture but it was fun because I got to learn to drive a scissor lift.


Once we hung all the lights from the grid, we accented other items of the set by hiding single Kino bulbs behind them. We hid two bulbs on the side of a staircase so that the stairs looked like they were illuminated, as well as a few other bulbs behind display cases to draw attention to the products in them. To give life to the background set, we covered each window and door with 1000H (tracing paper) and then bounced a combination of 5K's and 2K's off the white wall behind the set back through the 1000H. This gave a soft glow to each window and door as if the sun were shinning through. We finished off with various accents from a few tweenies and Lekos on baby plates positioned on the floor off set. It was amazing to look at all the lights that we put up at the end of the day. I checked out the generator and we were running just over 1000 amps. That's definitely the most power I've pulled on any set since I've been in L.A. I like being a swing Grip/Electric because I can learn both the grip and electric side of things. I'm pretty set with most of the grip stuff, so I tried to hang with the electrics on this set. I learned a lot about 3 phase and also about SACO cable, which I had never worked with before. It's a giant cable that splits off into about 8 Edison plugs at the end. This cable was really useful because we could hang it in the grid and run a ton of lights off of one main cable. Overall, it was a great shoot and I learned a lot about both the grip and electric side of things. I've worked off the same 5 ton truck a bunch of times now and I am really getting to know the ins and outs of all the gear and where it all belongs on the truck. Hopefully I'll continue to work with the same crew as they are all great guys.

Music Video: "Triple Threat"

___Last weekend I worked as a 1st A.C on a music video for a song called "Triple Threat" by an artist know as "The Analyst." The video was directed by Austin Ahlborg, who developed an amazing concept and visual style for the video. In the video, "The Analyst" is depicted as 3 separate individuals in 3 separate worlds, each representing a different part of his personality. Throughout the video, these 3 separate characters and their respective worlds intertwine until they eventually become one. We were working with a Sony F3 and a set of ZEISS CP2s. This was my first time working with the F3 but it was pretty simple as the menu structure and exterior configuration are VERY similar to my EX1. We also had the AJA External recorder in order to bypass the native compression of the F3 and record PRORES 422 files via CF cards. The AJA was a bit tricky at first but with some troubleshooting we got it up and running correctly. This was also my first time working with the CP2s. It was refreshing pulling focus with them as opposed to the DSLR lenses that have been so popular in the indie world lately. It was great having precise marks on the lens for accurate pulls. The D.P, Wess Tracy, liked to shoot between a 4.0 and a 5.6 so he made my job a bit easier as the depth of field was not crazy shallow. I respected him a lot for this decision as I think with the rise of DSLR's, the hand held shallow depth of field look is just way overdone and played out at this point. We had some awesome set design and locations and I agree with Wess completely that it would be a waste to throw it all out of focus. Sometimes I feel like not many people appreciate frame composition and wide shots anymore. Everyone just wants close ups with nauseatingly shallow depth of field so it was cool that Wess didn't like shooting wide open.


It was definitely a crazy weekend full of insane camera moves and lighting techniques, straight from the mind of Austin Ahlborg. We pulled off some insane camera moves that we really had no business pulling off with the equipment that we had. What was cool about this shoot was that nothing was impossible. If Austin thought it up in his head, he was going to figure out a way to pull it off, regardless of if we had the right tools. If a shot didn't turn out as planned or wasn't working, Austin would improvise and find a different way to pull it off. One shot was supposed to consist of the Artist sprinting down a narrow hallway with a home made"doggy cam" attached to his chest. The shot ended up being too shaky and it just wasn't working out the way Austin and Wess had hoped. Instead of cutting the shot, Austin opted to put the artist on the dolly WITH the doggy cam and pull it down the hallway at 1000 miles an hour instead. Despite that being insanely unsafe and crazy, we did it anyway and the shot looked amazing. For these "doggy cam" shots as well as a few other shots in the video we used an 11-16mm zoom in which the artists face was extremely close to the lens. I really liked the look of all these shots because they came off very uncomfortable and weird and that's the look I think Austin and Wess were going for. Also, this lens offered a wide depth of field at a close distance and it once again broke the mold of the nauseatingly shallow depth of field look that is so stupidly popular right now.

Another memorable shot consisted of "The Analyst" hitting his head on the wall (which was playing to the viewer as the floor because the camera was tilted 90 degrees to start) then rolling forward in a chair while rapping to his female companion at a table. Another complex shot consisted of connecting two dollies together on the same track with 2x4s. The artist was on one dolly while the camera team was on another. This allowed the artist to "float" down the hallway while rapping. Austin and Wess also constructed a vest that had a built in 1k Tota light attached to it. So the artist was not only floating, but also emitting 1000w of light from his chest. Overall it was a crazy fun weekend of shooting. I think the creativity and uniqueness of this video will really make it stand out among the masses. I can't wait to see how it turns out in the edit.

Music Video: "Pepe Aguilar"

___At the beginning of August I worked as a swing Grip/Electric on a music video for spanish guitarist Pepe Aguilar. We worked off of a 5 ton truck and were shooting with a 4 camera set up. We had 1 ALEXA as A camera, 2 Sony F3's as B and C cam and a Cannon 7D as D camera. We lit the location with an array of Leko's and Pars. We posted up 6 "trees" surrounding the set and mounted a combination of 4-6 pars and Lekos on each tree. Each light had a specific band member that it was to be focused on. We also had six 9 light fays that were positioned behind the performers to bring up the ambient level in the background as well as create a soft back light. We also brought in a few tweenies and positioned them on baby plates to create splashes of light on background walls and foreground elements.

It was great to have a 4-5 hour pre-light time to concentrate on getting everything perfect before the cameras rolled. Once we were done lighting I volunteered to dolly grip so that I could talk to the guys in the camera department about the ins and outs of the ALEXA. It was cool to talk to the lead camera operator as he was really nice and answered all the questions I had about shooting on the ALEXA. This was the first shoot I worked on that shot on it so it was great to learn so much right away. Overall it was a great shoot with a great crew and I hope I continue to work off this 5 ton truck in the near future.

TV Series Pilot: "Love Finder"

____At the beginning of July I worked as a Key Grip on a TV series Pilot called "Love Finder." It was a 7 day shoot and we were working with a 1 ton lighting and grip package. The shoot consisted of some pretty involved night exterior set ups as well as a bunch of scenes in a night club which offered an outlet for some creative lighting techniques. I was really impressed at the area we were able to cover for night exteriors even with a small package.
The biggest light we had on the truck was a 2k Fresnel but we were still able to light every night scene properly.


One of the setups I was most proud of was a night exterior in which the main character walks down a long patio along side a house and then stops to talk with another character at the far end of the patio. (LEFT) This was one of the widest night exterior shots and one of the most complex lighting setups of the entire 7 day shoot. We used the 2K Fresnel on a high roller to illuminate the bushes and ground on the far side of the patio as well as a Daylight CFL softlight behind camera to provide a backlight as well as additional ambient "moonlight". We then strung an array of tungsten bulbs under the bushes along the bottom of the patio walk way to back up a few practical units that were in frame. We then placed 2 Kinos with tungsten bulbs and an additional tungsten softbox on the inside of the house shooting out onto the patio walkway to provide a warmer light source motivated from the house. The tungsten softbox at the far end of the house also provided the key for the second character.

One of the other locations that was pretty cool was a night club on Santa Monica called Voyer. The producers had a connection there and we were able to get the location during the day when the club was not open to the public. It's a great looking place and added a ton of production value to the film. (ABOVE) We used a fogger a lot in this location as well as a mixture of party gels on a bunch of 650w fixtures. The smoke gave the colored lights shape and created a cool atmosphere. I have heard that the pilot is being pitched to networks like SPIKE TV and Comedy Central. I hope it all comes together in the edit as we were able to capture some pretty sweet images.

Short Film: "Open Road"

___In the Middle of June I worked as a 1st A.C on a short film entitled "Open Road." We were shooting on the RED with a small crew. Mostly all the coverage was on sticks so there weren't any insanely hard pulls. We used .9 ND Hot-mirror all day in order to open up the lenses to around the 4.0-5.6 range. We used the 50mm mostly but we did pop on the 200mm for a specialty long shot of an actor riding his bike toward camera from a distance. That was probably the hardest pull all day.

We had a great location on a long dirt road in the desert and were able to capture some really great visuals. We had a 12x12 frame that we used 1/4 Grid in to knock down the harsh sunlight. We also switched out the 1/4 grid rag for an ultra bounce when we needed a strong key. I really liked working with this D.P as he used a light meter for every set up and was open to sharing his insight with me. I haven't worked with many D.P's who meter light and it is something that I have been trying to do more on sets in which I am D.Ping. It was a solid day with the only issue being the insane amount of planes that were flying over our location the entire day. Overall it was a relaxed shoot and I definitely learned a lot from the D.P.

Director of Photography: Music Video- "Bummer Summer"

___At the beginning of June I shot a music video entitled, "Bummer Summer" for The Hub Network. It was a simple shoot consisting of all day exteriors. We had a 6x6 frame with full silk along with a few reflectors. We used the 6x6 frame to knock down the harsh sunlight and we used the silver side of the reflectors to give strong back and edge lights to the actors. I had an ND fader that I used a lot on the 35mm lens in order to open it all the way up to a 1.4 when I could. There were a few shots which involved the 70-200mm but for the most part we stayed on the 35mm.

The director, Jason Perlman, is a good friend of mine who I have been collaborating with a lot recently. He is meticulous when it comes to pre-production and I wouldn't have it any other way. I like working with Jason because I always know exactly what the day consists of and how much time we have to get it done. I'm a huge fan of planning ahead and I'm glad Jason is too. He is also great at keeping the energy level up on set which is really important when working on pieces for The Hub. Everything is always high energy and the actors need to have exaggerated movements and animated facial expressions because the target audience is young kids. It was a good shoot and I think we got some really pretty stuff despite the small amount of grip equipment we had to work with.

Director of Photography: "The TKO 2.0"

____In the middle of May, I traveled to Orlando Florida for a 7 day commercial shoot for professional magician Jeff Kaylor. We shot mainly in the "Magic Estate" where a stage was set up for performance purposes. We used this stage as our main backdrop for the commercial piece, "The TKO 2.0." We had a very small lighting package but it got the job done. To light the scene, I used a 650w fresnel to rake the background curtains, two 300w fresnels w/ 216 diffusion as back/edge lights and a 300w bulb threw an umbrella as a key. For fill I bounced another 300w bulb off an umbrella. It was a simple set up but it worked well. For product/close up shots I just made small adjustments.

We also shot some run and gun street magic over the course of the week and that footage looked great as well. It was a relaxing shoot and a great time over all. Check out Jeff here: www.thekayloroption.com.

Gaffer: Short Film- “Last Words”

____I recently gaffed a short film entitled "Last Words" staring Mark Pellegrino (LOST, Supernatural) and Jon Bernthal (The Walking Dead). Friend and fellow D.P Jess Dunlap asked me to come on board and work as his gaffer on the project. Jess and I have collaborated on a few pieces together in the past and I really enjoy working with him. The short, written by Dan Perrault and directed by Tony Yacenda, is a comedy about a dying civil war soldier’s not so profound last words to his comrade.


The film consisted of all day exteriors so our main goal was to utilize and shape the natural light to create contrast. In the early morning hours there was cloud cover so the light was relatively flat and diffused. We used a 6x6 frame of griff plus scraps of duvetyne that were hung from the bottom of the frame for negative fill. As the sun rose higher and the cloud cover cleared we switched out the griff in the 6x6 for full silk and used it to knock down the harsh sunlight. We brought in a 4x4 bead board to bounce for a key as well as a smaller show card to wrap the key even further. Eventually we had to tabletop the 6x6 silk as the sun rose directly overhead. To avoid seeing the hard edge of the 6x6 frame shadow on the ground, we cut off branches from a nearby bush and clipped them to the edges of the frame so the shadow would blend in naturally to the shadows already thrown on the ground from a nearby tree.

Everything looked great based on the few times I was able to see the frame. The location worked well as a civil war setting as the framing was kept relatively tight to avoid any nearby houses, power lines etc. The wardrobe and hair/make up was spot on, I really believed that these were civil war soldiers in the midst of battle. There was even a battalion of 7 fully outfitted extras bearing muskets as well as one on horseback. I’m sure the “battle sounds” that will be added in post will really help bring the scene to life even more. Overall, it was a good shoot and it was great to work with some new people. I’m looking forward to seeing the final product.

Director of Photography: Short Film- Blackstone (Day 2)

___The second day of production took place at a private residence that we used for a total of 5 different locations in the film. In the interior of the house, we used a bedroom and a living room (more affectionately coined the "murder room") and the exteriors took place in the front yard, a storage shed and a small alleyway at the side of the house.

The scene I was most proud of on Day 2 was the "murder room" (ABOVE). When we did the original location scout, I saw that the room had a fireplace and immediately wanted to incorporate that into the scene. I knew that it would be a great motivation to use some creative lighting techniques. One of the main goals I had with this production from a lighting standpoint was to mix color temperatures. I had done very little of this in prior projects and it was something that I really wanted to explore. In the scene, a mother and father are tied back to back on the ground by numerous "assailants" who circle them ominously before going in for the kill. We shot the scene day for night so all the windows and doors were tented to eliminate any sunlight spill. We left a small portion of a window uncovered in order to key with a 1.2 HMI through 216 diffusion from outside the house. We gelled this with 1/2 CTB so that it would play as moonlight. We added an additional 1K Open Face with full CTB as well to bring out some more detail in the book cases. Then we hid a flicker box with a 650w fresnel gelled with 1/2 CTO on the ground behind the two subjects. This was our motivating fire light. It provided a nice flickering hard edge. Our last light added was a pepper shooting up from the floor also gelled with 1/2 CTO to fill in the mother's face with a soft orange glow that was also motivated from the fire.

The set dressing was amazing and the Christmas lights added a nice touch to the background elements. Overall, the scene came out almost exactly the way I had envisioned it in my head, which is great. I loved the way the blue moonlight looked mixed with an orange flickering edge as well as a soft orange fill. We ended up having to open up all the way to 1.3 on an 80mm lens at the end of the scene in order to save time. I was extremely lucky to have 1st A.C Austin Ahlborg there pulling focus as the depth of field was insanely shallow and he nailed it all the way. Camera Operator Garret Williams also did great work as well as Gaffer Stephen Chang who quickly became the other half of my brain on set.



Director George Tunis commanded the whole operation and did a great job despite the tremendous amount of pressure that must have been on him to complete a 15 page short with "name talent" in 2 days. Producers Eric Goldrich, Ian Wallace and Adam Kuyt also worked extremely hard getting everything organized. I don't think Eric slept for the entire week prior to shooting. 1st A.D Jon Melick and 2nd A.D Brianne Richards did a great job keeping us as close to on schedule as humanly possible. Everyone on the crew was amazing and there are too many names to mention but as I said before, I was extremely lucky to be able to work with everyone and hopefully "Blackstone" is just the beginning of our collaboration together.

Director of Photography: Short Film- Blackstone (Day 1)

____I recently shot a short film entitled, "Blackstone" starring JK Simmons (Spiderman, Juno, The Closer) and Sasha Grey (Entourage, The Girlfriend Experience). We shot on the RED MX with Zeiss superspeed primes. The budget was around $30,000 so we were able to get a great camera package, lighting/grip package and hire a great crew. It has been a long time since I have had the luxury of working on a project in which I was given both an amazing camera and lighting/grip team to work along side of. I was especially proud of the amount of pre-production that went into this project. There is a great feeling of confidence when you can walk onto set knowing that you are as prepared as you possibly can be for the whirlwind of activity and "organized chaos" that is about to consume your life for the remainder of the production.

I met with director George Tunis numerous times to discuss overall visual style and to create overheads of every scene that outlined the blocking as well as the coverage/camera position. I was also able to do a walk through of each location with Gaffer Stephen Chang and Key Grip Jeff Marlowe to discuss exactly where/what kind of lights would be needed for each scene. Stephen and I then sat down together and added these specific fixtures to the overheads so they could be handed out to the rest of the grip team. This way while we were shooting in one location, another location could be prepped at the same time. Without the overheads this would not have been possible. I live and die by those on set, they are more important to me than the shot list or script.

One of the setups I was most proud of on Day 1 was a scene in which J.K Simmon's character confronts Raven (Sasha Grey) in a small "interrogation room." (TOP RIGHT) One of the concerns I had early on about numerous locations in the film were the abundance of WHITE WALLS. I hate white walls. In order to break up the walls, Stephen and I discussed creating a subtle striped pattern on them by shooting a 1k through a single net that was taped off with black gaff. Mixing color temperatures also helped break up the walls as well. We discussed creating a sodium vapor look as if a street light were shining into the room through a barred window. We also had a skirted Kino mounted to the ceiling that provided a top-light as well as a key as it bounced off the silver table in between the actors. We gave Raven an edge light using a 650w fresnel that was gelled with the same color combination as the 1k. We then gave J.K an edge light from another Kino to help keep him and his black suit from blending into the surrounding darkness.

Gaffer: Short Film- Dogs of War

___At the beginning of March I worked as a gaffer on a short called "Dogs of War." It was about a motorcycle gang and it featured some pretty cool locations. Day 1 we were at a night exterior location downtown near some abandoned railroad tracks. The location featured some cool brick buildings with some nice texture and it was surprisingly well lit with practicals. We used a 1.2 hmi through a full sick as a back light for the 3 main characters that walk down this back Ally. As they settle and stop to converse, there key comes from a diva light that I rigged to an 8 foot chain link fence. We also had a 1x1 LED panel that was held and moved with the subjects as they walked to provide a constant fill. There was also a very strong practical that was reading very warm in comparison to the lights we brought in, which actually made for an interesting color temp combination.

Another location that was really great was a metal scrap yard in the middle of nowhere. I don't even remember where it was, but it was cool. The main lighting set up there was in an "abandoned gang meeting house." It was basically a half finished small room with the wall frames exposed on the inside. It featured a few dirty windows which we half boarded up. These provided a great way to bring in a hard sunlight source. We punched 2 1.2HMIs with wide lenses straight in through both windows. This back lit 3 subjects and served as a key for the 4th that was tied to a chair in the center of the room. We also had a 400w joker that I rigged to the ceiling to provide a hard back light for the actor sitting in the chair. There was another "skinny man" Kino that we hid to provide more overall ambient light. There was one other "worklight" tungsten practical that would play as part of the scene. With a little bit of smoke added, the beams from the HMI's really popped and gave the scene a pretty cool look.

Camera Operator: U.S. Soccer Federation- Guatemala City, Guatemala

Through the end of March and into the first week in April I worked on an 18 day shoot as a camera operator at the U20MNT World Cup Qualifying Tournament in Guatemala. I was responsible for creating an episodic series entitled "20 Under 20" that followed the team as it prepared for and played in the tournament. The series relied heavily on interviews with the coaching staff. These were simple talking head setups that I lit with a small tungsten fresnel Arri Kit and a Rifa light. I used the Rifa as a key and wrapped it a bit frontal to spill onto the fill side. Then I used a 300w fresnel as an edge light opposite key side and one more 300w fresnel to put a slash on the background curtain. The rest of the footage consisted of b-roll from training, recovery sessions, meetings, video analysis and anything else the team may have done together while on the road.

Camera Operator: U.S. Soccer Federation- Montego Bay, Jamaica

_____I recently shot for the U.S. Soccer Federation at the U17 Mens National Team World Cup Qualifying Tournament in Montego Bay, Jamaica. It was an 18 day shoot in which I was responsible for documenting the teams performance as they progressed through the tournament. I had to shoot interviews with both players and coaches before and after every game as well as cover practice and any other activities the team did together during their stay in Jamaica. I also created various "Get To Know Me" segments highlighting individual members of the team so that fans can learn more about their favorite players. It was tough at first because most of the boys were a bit camera shy (as anyone would be at 15 years old) but for the most part they interviewed well.

I didn't have any lighting equipment at my disposal for interviews so I had to spend some time scouting the resort to see where I could use natural light to my advantage. I tried to chose areas that would help capture the flavor of Jamaica and give the audience a sense of perspective. It was tough to keep the highlights from blowing out in the direct sun but I tweaked the gamma settings in the camera so that the highlights held a bit more and tried my best to pick locations where there were not huge variations in light level. After the first day I shot the interviews hand held to give the pieces more of a casual feel. Shooting them on sticks gave the interviews a more professional feel but the static frame combined with the nervousness of some of the players wasn't really working. Overall I think the pieces came out well considering the time constraints and strict schedule that the team had to adhere to. The boys ended up qualifying for the World Cup as well as winning the entire tournament so I would say it was a successful trip from both a shooting and a soccer stand point.

Director of Photography: Gatorade: G-Series Fit Piece

____I recently shot a small promotional piece for Gatorade's "G-Series Fit" products. It was a quick shoot consisting of one interview set up with personal trainer Todd Durkin (www.ToddDurkin.com) as well as various b-roll of him training clients around the facility. This piece will be cut together with another piece about female personal trainer Lacey Stone (www.laceystonefitness.com) that will be shot in New York. For my shoot, unfortunately I couldn't turn off the overhead florescents in the gym so I had to let them play. I added a hard kicker/edge to the right side of Todd's face with a 650w fresnel through 216 diffusion. This added a bit of contrast and helped make the image look a little less flat. All of the b-roll was run and gun hand held but the content fit the shooting style and it seemed to work in the final edit. Fun shoot, good people.