Shooting On The Island of Pohnpei

___My latest job as Director of Photography is on a documentary entitled, “Soccermen.” It follows two Englishmen who set out to play on the “worst soccer team in the world.” After wikeapediaing that very statement, they found themselves on a remote Island called Pohnpei. This island, along with 3 others, Yap, Chuuk and Kosrae are all part of the FSM (Federated States of Micronesia), which lie in the Pacific Ocean somewhere Northwest of Australia and Southeast of Asia. Shortly after their arrival, they quickly realized that they would be much better suited to coach the team and made it their mission to transform this group of youngsters into a serious futbol club.

My job is to spend the next 10 days documenting their training and preparations leading up to Pohnpei Soccer’s 3 game tour of Guam, culminated in a match against the Fifa ranked U19 Guam Team. This game involves flying 16 boys (most of whom have never left the island) to Guam to play their first official soccer game against real competition. I will also be accompanying them to Guam and documenting their experiences there for another 8 days before returning to LA on October 8th. These next few weeks should be pretty exciting.

Rise And Shine: The Final Touches

After about 50 shooting Days and only 31 editing days, Rise and Shine: The Jay DeMerit Story is complete. This marks the end of my second feature in which I have taken on the roles of both D.P. and editor. I enjoy both positions and am glad to have taken them on, but shooting is definitely my favorite of the two. As my career continues to unfold, I really want to concentrate solely on cinematography and continue to learn more and more about the art of lighting.

This project has taken me to 3 different continents over the past 6 months and it is amazing to see it finally come together into something great. It has been a crazy ride, from dragging light kits on trains in London to running around shooting in the townships of South Africa. It has been a huge learning experience for me, as every project always is, and I am grateful to have had such an amazing opportunity. As I have said before, I can’t wait to see what is next for this film as it enters the festival circuit. Wish it the best of luck!

Director of Photography: Rise and Shine: CHICAGO

___My last of the many stops around the world for this documentary was Chicago. We needed to pick up a few interviews from Jay's college teammates as well as some coaches at the Chicago Fire Reserves team. We also made a quick stop in Green Bay to interview Jay's old High School coach, Aldo. Jay commented on his calming "grandfather" type coaching style and I wanted this to be reflected in his interview set up. I lit it fairly even and soft to give it a warm, welcoming feel. I was glad we were able to travel with a small light kit. It was key for adding some drama to a few of the other interviews that we wanted to look a bit more edgy. As always we shot non-stop the whole trip. The film is growing nearer to completion every day. It is really starting to come together and I hope that it does well in the festival circuit upon it's completion.

Director of Photography: Rise and Shine: SOUTH AFRICA

___My latest job as D.P. has taken me to South Africa to shoot at the World Cup! It was an amazing trip and I captured some really good stuff. I was able to connect with a guide to take me through the township Soweto. We drove around looking for kids playing soccer in the streets and in open fields. We found some really great locations that really captured both the landscape and the people of South Africa. I shot a lot of footage at a high frame rate, as I wanted to really see the detail in the grass and dirt as the kids kicked up dust while playing. I got some really great moments that I’m glad I shot in Slow Mo, as they could have easily been missed at regular speed.

I also captured the sites and sounds of the city in the midst of the World Cup. There were fans everywhere sporting tons of gear in order to support their respective teams. It was a shame I couldn’t get nearer to the stadiums, as FIFA pretty much had those areas on lock down. I was able to get the massive crowds that gathered in the streets to watch the second South Africa game on a giant projection screen. It was fun yet hectic trying to run around interviewing fans from various clubs. They all had great things to say about the World Cup and soccer in general. I was also able to hop on board some safari trips and capture some of the wildlife as well. I got some really good close ups of Elephants and a few Lions at the Lion Park. Overall, I think I got more than enough footage to accurately portray the atmosphere in South Africa during this amazing event.

Director of Photography: Rise & Shine: LONDON SHOOT

____After returning to LA for a few weeks after my trip to Green Bay, I set out once again with the rest of the crew to London. We spent 10 days shooting all over London. We had about 8 interview setups scheduled throughout the course of the trip. The rest of the spare time was spent shooting various parts of the city and capturing as much B-roll as possible. It seems as though we were always pressed for time, but we got a ton of great footage. Some interviews I was able to take the time to light, but others were pretty much run and gun. I was also able to get some really artsy shots along the way as well. I played around with extreme contrast and rolled on a lot of silhouette shots. Overall it was a successful trip and we definitely added to the ever growing pile of raw footage.

Director of Photography: Rise and Shine: GREEN BAY SHOOT

____My latest job as Director of Photography has been on a documentary feature entitled, Rise and Shine: The Jay Demerit Story. It is the true story of a professional soccer player's struggle and eventual rise to stardom. It begins in a small Wisconsin town in which American football, not soccer, is more than just a game. Jay Demerit grew up here, a world away from the roaring streets of London that he would eventually find himself.

Our first part of the documentary consisted of shooting in Green Bay Wisconsin, Jay's home town. We spent 5 days shooting interviews with Jay's parents, friends, siblings, high school teachers and coaches. We also shot Jay's high school/middle school and numerous fields that he grew up playing soccer on. We got a chance to drive around and shoot the landscape as well. This was really awesome and I think these shots will really help capture the essence of Green Bay living.

We have some really great footage already and we have only completed one of the many trips we have scheduled for this entire documentary. Below is our shooting schedule for the rest of the documentary.

LONDON,ENGLAND: APRIL 20th-MAY 2nd
HARTFORD,CONNECTICUT: MAY 21st-26th
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA: JUNE 7th-17th
CHICAGO: TBD

1st A.C.

_Last weekend I worked as a 1st A.C. on a pilot for an episodic called, The Room. We shot on the 5D with a few different cannon zoom lenses. The setups were relatively simple because the premise of the show is that each character is locked in a room while being recorded by a video camera behind a pane of glass. There is also one other "security" camera shooting each character in their respective rooms. The camera that was supposedly shooting through a pane of glass was obviously relatively simple because it was just locked off on sticks. The only time I really needed to pull focus was if a character leaned in close to the camera to draw attention to a certain line or to "examine" the camera.

The "security" camera setup was really a challenge to pull focus. The operator was snapping the zoom in and out randomly as I was whipping the focus in and out at the same time in order to create a mechanical feel. We didn't want the focus or the moves to look organic and smooth, we wanted them to seem as if they were machine operated, like a security camera would be in real life. It was a challenge to return to the right point of focus after purposely making the image soft on either side of the focal plane but I think the footage came out great. I hit my marks when I needed to and I did a pretty good job of adapting to random movements from actors on the fly.

I think The Room has a lot of potential and if it is cut right, it has a good chance at getting picked up. The crew was small but everyone really seemed to gel and things went relatively smooth on set. I hope we all get a chance to work with each other again in the future. Good times.