It may be years until the day my dreams will match up with my pay

This project has already become the most educational because it introduces me to the entirely unique process of documentary. I began this project in the fall of 2009 with my friend Courtney (lead actress in 'The Runner'). She approached me about co-producing a documentary featuring her (now ex) boyfriend's band. The first part of shooting coincided with the band's first official "tour" outside of Los Angeles. The band would be traveling to the lead singer's hometown and playing several shows in and around the area. With some experience in filming documentary-type footage, I was disappointed that I could not join the tour myself as the cameraperson. Courtney proved a much more stealthy operator in that the band was already familiar with her and comfortable in her presence. I was given the role of director of photography of the film (and filmed some key moments of the film myself) but Courtney's footage is the meat and potatoes of the piece. Before going on tour, I created a shot/wish list - trying to plan for any and every usable moment that could possibly occur (or be persuaded into occurring) while the band was there. Courtney was very enthusiastic and captured some amazing moments. After shooting wrapped (around May 2010), I began the process of digitizing all 40 hours of footage into my newly built Hackintosh equipped with Final Cut Pro.

The most interesting part of this experience for me so far has been the process of 'writing' the script for the documentary before ever touching an edit station. Our initial viewing of all the footage, along with extensive notes, allowed us to create an outline for editing (something that I have deemed essential in attempting to sort through all of the usable moments in the raw footage). I am currently in the middle of what I have dubbed 'pre-editing', which is basically taking out all of the unusable moments (driving shots, minutes of silence, shots deemed too dark/too shaky, etc.) and stringing together any and all usable "soundbites" which will be laid into the edit timeline first to establish a story arc. Visual storytelling moments are second on my list (montages of the band getting from one place to another, concert footage, beginning and end recaps). With b-roll, of course, being the last on the list. Music will come in earlier than normal - at the story arc stage, because it will set the pacing for the piece.

It's been embarrassingly long since I've last posted. I fear I may not remember all the details of the last big shoot I did camera for - but I will do my best.

Back in April, Garrett Rowe (key grip on 'Like the Penguins') approached me about being the DP for a web series pilot he was directing called "Strangely Enough". I was excited right off the bat because Garrett has a real technical knowledge and knows a thing or two about production value. He was also willing to put up his own money to make sure this looked as good as possible. One of the first ideas he pitched to me was wanting to shoot with the RedRock Micro lens adapter and Zeiss primes. It was to be my first time as DP on a shoot with film lenses. Needless to say I was jumping at the opportunity.

The shoot was scheduled over 2 days: July 25th (office scenes) and July 26th (exteriors, web video sequence). The office setups included an interior office room, a conference room, and a common area. I was going to be filming up to 3 people at a time, one of them African-American. The variance in light a subject's skin tone calls for is a great exercise in shaping light around an actor, rather than just blasting it across everybody and everything. We rented equipment from Wooden Nickel for the 'Like the Penguins' shoot and found them to be very helpful people (even after/before hours). Wooden Nickel took care of all our lighting needs for this shoot. I took advantage of the budget Garrett gave me and got everything I thought we could possibly need: 2 4ft. 4-bank kino flos, an array of Arri fresnels (1K, 650W, 300W, 150W), and a 6X6 silk for the backyard sequence. Garrett took care of renting the RedRock and Zeiss primes (an 85mm, 55mm and 35mm). I can't remember where he got them from.


Shooting in the office was straight-forward but lighting it was quite time-consuming. Every setup required a complete breakdown and rebuild. Keeping the light/shadows off of the walls as characters moved through the frame was the most difficult obstacle. One dolly shot took over an hour to light. I still don't feel I effectively used the flags I rented - it just seemed like opening a whole new can of worms and I was already feeling the time crunch. I did make it a point to use a lot more backlight than usual to make sure the series looked sharp and polished.


I am quite satisfied with the lighting for the most part and the film lenses did WONDERS for the image quality. We shot on the Panasonic HVX-200 (one of my favorite cameras). I was astounded by the beautiful colors, shadows and selective focus the film lenses provided and ever since using them, I always suggest reserving some of the budget to rent an adapter and lenses (it's quite costly, so I haven't had any takers just yet - but I'll keep trying!)

That's not to say I didn't make some new rookie mistakes. It being my first time using film lenses - and having a two-person crew specifically to help me run camera - I did not stress the importance of critical focus as much as I should have. Because the depth of field is so small, my AC had to constantly pull focus from one character to the other in a basic 2-shot. Garrett has assured me that the focus issues are minimal or have otherwise been covered in editing.


The exteriors were much less stressful to shoot - a lot of that was because we were forced to shoot them guerilla-style. But again, the film lenses just make everything look beautiful. The backyard "web video" sequence required very little setup. We didn't even end up using the silk. In retrospect, I wish I would have put up at least one silk - I think the sunlight in that scene (at least from my memory of shooting it) are way too bright/blown out. But I don't think it will be distracting for the casual viewer. Plus it is representing a no-budget web video - so I really shouldn't worry.

I haven't seen an edit of the footage from that weekend, but Garrett is enthusiastic. We should be shooting again by the beginning of next year (pickups for episode 1 and all of episode 2). Locations will include a bar and tv studio - wrangling those should be a blast!

It all started with an idea. Wait, it actually started with a lack of time and money. Those hurdles provided inspiration for the concept that came to fruition the weekend of February 21 and 22. After weeks of postponement due to rain, the shoot came and went with plenty of unforeseen problems. Luckily, we had a crew of fantastic, upbeat, go-getters who were all more than willing to come up with inventive solutions. Now, our rag-tag team of production people are definitely not the most experienced people to have on set - but they really want to be there - and for no pay, that's really the best you can ask for. The first challenge came well before the shoot - the building of the set. Unfortunately I could not lend a hand as much as I wanted, but it all came together beautifully.




I wrangled equipment from no less than 4 separate sources to get everything I wanted/thought I might need for this shoot. Camera from Stas, mini high rollers, c-stands, sandbags and shiny boards from Robin, tripod, Arri kit, lavs and boom from Peter, and a 12x silk, doorway dolly, and field monitors from Wooden Nickel (thankfully, the only stuff we had to pay for).

Remembering my time on Mr. Wrinkles, I tried my best to keep the lighting as natural-looking as possible. I had some tungsten Arris, but they were only used to accent what was already a more than adequate light source (the sun behind a sky of clouds).

I threw one backlight on "Martin" (who sat in one spot through most of the film) and a silver flex fill for...well, fill. Since "Jay" was all over the place throughout the film, I just put up this array of Arris to add to the sunlight and tried to keep shadows/glare off the set.



The first day was the hardest. We originally planned to start shooting at 8am. Of course, that didn't happen. First we had trouble putting up the silk (none of us had ever put one together before). Then we had trouble placing the silk where it would be of use. Eventually, we got all of our ducks in a row - largely thanks to Garrett and Brandon's tireless efforts to give me what I wanted - and the shooting commenced. Around noon no matter how high we raised the silk off the ground, there was no blocking that midday sun (and unfortunately we did not get heads for the stands that allowed for rotation of the silk). Our solution: put it on the roof.








The entire first day was devoted to shooting the entire piece in a wide shot. Once we had tackled that behemoth, the rest seemed like a breeze by comparison. The second day's to do list went by so quickly, we found ourselves trying to think of more shots to pass the time. This is where the dolly came in.

Even with no track and very little space to maneuver, the dolly gave us some beautiful shots.

So that's it in a nutshell. We're doing re-shoots this weekend (March 15). We need to re-do the very beginning of the film because everyone was a bit distracted when we originally shot it (audio issues, silk issues, first shot of the day issues). Shouldn't be longer than half a day. Courtney (the writer/producer) is anxious to get myself and Cory (the director) in a room for some post-shoot interviews so I'm looking forward to that (never been interviewed before).

It's been quite awhile since I've posted. There wasn't too much going on ( outside of my full-time job ) but I did pick up a few gigs here and there.

I did a few broll shoot for Planet Green's "Stuff Happens with BIll Nye".

I've also had this ongoing gig as one of five camera ops for concerts put on by Rock Nation, a music program that teaches kids how to play rock n' roll. It's not the most challenging camera-wise but it's certainly entertaining.





Of course, now that I'm about to take off to Texas for two weeks, production has picked up again. My friend from high school, Grace, just moved out here from New York on a writing fellowship (go Grace!) so we've started discussing all sorts of projects to bulk up her hosting reel and my DP reel. Our first undertaking is Gypsy Grace, an internet psychic character she created awhile back. We did our first screen tests this past weekend and are very encouraged by the results. I didn't have the proper tape or nearly enough C-47s so the light quality is not nearly what I'd like nor consistent in the slightest. Thankfully, I should have all those equipment kinks worked out before we shoot our first webisode.

The other big project in pre-production right now is a short adapted by my friend Courtney (she was the star of one of my previous projects, The Runner). The only initial downside to this project was that the whole movie consists of two guys sitting on a bench. Sound familiar? That was pretty much the exact same setting for the last short I worked on, Mr. Wrinkles. There are some key differences.
First off, this film will be shot using my DVX-100B instead of 2 HVX-200s.
Secondly, I plan on physically moving the camera to frame the shots, instead of using the zoom. I realize from looking at the footage from Wrinkles that although backing up the camera and zooming all the way in does help keep the depth of field focused on the actors, it flattens the image substantially.
We've come up with some great ideas to spice up the relatively bland setting. The entire film takes place at a bus stop and Courtney just happens to have a real bus bench in her backyard. Since the benches are too heavy to move out of the backyard, we've decided to create fake, painted backdrops (inspired by Michel Gondry).
I'm excited to try some surreal imagery, something I've never attempted before. We're also including some penguin characters to take the surreal aesthetic even further. It will be a whole new learning experience trying to light for a stage (essentially) that is outdoors. My only foreseeable problem (at the moment) is getting enough lights to properly illuminate everything. I imagine shiny boards might be too unwieldy for this shoot since they would most likely bleed all over our lovely backgrounds so I'll probably be sticking to bounce boards and smaller Arri lights.

Stay tuned for more updates.

Finally, after so much waiting, the shoot came and went...and with very little drama on set. The day started off great and as it went on, I began to appreciate more and more the shiny boards I borrowed from Robin of Banana Grip Equipment. Never having DPed anything with a real budget, I haven't had access to such basic professional equipment before. I was totally amazed by the quality and amount of light we got out of those shiny boards. At first, I thought they were going to be more of a hassle than they were worth (they didn't even fit into the trunk of my car). But after seeing the light they produced and how easy that light could be manipulated, I honestly believe they added a higher production value to the whole film. I'm also excited to have something so beautifully lit with my name on it. But I should really stop talking up the lighting, because I'm sure there are plenty of mistakes to be pointed out and, of course, lighting isn't everything. But still, I'm pretty pumped about it.




All the prep paid off. We had minimal issues with equipment (it took a few minutes to get the wireless lavs up and running) and only one p2 card issue (which was actually a false alarm). What happened was...
I gave a full card to the camera assistant for offload/ingestion. The AC then informed me that there was no footage on the card, even though it continued to be read as full in the camera. After much panicking and gnashing of teeth, the problem turned out to be improper erasing of the card. Basically, the AC had gotten the card back when it was actually full, but instead of reformatting the card using the p2 store, he simply manually deleted all of the files from the card in Finder (which didn't actually reformat the card, it just erased the mxf data on the card).

Towards the end of the day was the only time I began to feel any pressure for time and we still got in everything by 5pm so all in all, probably the smoothest shoot I've ever been a part of. The actors were perfectly professional, the skeleton crew and extras couldn't have been more helpful and there were absolutely no personality clashes. I can't wait to see the first cut.







Next up on the list, my new job. I no longer work for Echo Entertainment, my home for the last year and 8 months. And while I will miss lots about the place: the people, shooting, editing; I am very excited to learn some new abilities and work in a fairly different environment. My new job is at CBS Television City where I am a post production assistant in the On-Air Promotions department. Basically every show that airs on CBS gets promos made in this department. My job is to help keep everybody on track as to what promos need to get shipped out that day. The real job, though, is the night shift. The day shift and night shift's work culminate in a satellite feed to New York of all the day's promos at 2am (LA time). All the people I've met so far have been uber-nice so...I think I'm going to like it here.

On days I do the night shift I do still plan on doing small freelance gigs during the day. So you can continue to look forward to my riveting blogs about such gigs.

Plenty more to come...

I'm sure all of my dedicated readers have noticed that I didn't post how the "Mr. Wrinkles" shoot went.
The shoot got pushed back to late May due to permit problems.*
*Note to anyone trying to shoot in a park: you can't get a permit for a weekend, only weekdays
So now we have even more time to prepare, although it does mean spending another day in the dog park to see if the sun behaves any differently.

My senior short (and the only one of my films to be in a festival) is going to be broadcast on St. Edward's University internet TV channel. I'll post up the link when it goes up. Oh, the name of the film is "Brownie's Story" and it's a mockumentary about the first teddy bear to attend college.

I've been asked to DP a project that will be directed by my friend Joe. The project is called Mr. Wrinkles and is a heartwarming short about two old men reminiscing about younger days. We'll be shooting in a dog park, which is something new for me. This'll be my first time shooting something narrative outside in broad daylight so I have lots of new obstacles to overcome. It should be a fun shoot. It will also be my first time working as a DP on a project with a producer, two cameras, SAG actors and a full (albeit skeleton) crew. We're shooting on April 13 and I'm very excited.

Sticky Floor is a short that was written by my boyfriend Kevin (who also directed and starred in the short). I shot and produced it. This film has had a long and arduous journey. We shot it while in the midst of moving apartments (something I will NEVER do again). So the film took about a week to shoot (shooting in the evenings after I got home from work).

I decided to edit the project at home rather than using Final Cut Pro at the production company I work for. Since I am a devoted PC person, I could not get FCP for my home computer. So I thought, hey, why not Avid? I had worked on it freshman year at UT Austin and didn't remember having too many problems with it. If only I knew what I was getting myself into. It's been awhile since freshman year, and I've only worked on FCP since then so my Avid skills are...rusty to say the least. It took me several months to edit the project (a Saturday here, an evening after work there) and I did it all on one 4x3 LCD screen.

So I get the thing picture locked (it's about 13 minutes long) and start the process of exporting it for the guy doing the music, a local musician friend of mine named Chance. And this is where the trouble starts. First off, I can't even get the thing to export properly. It spends forever exporting the thing but only plays back the audio. After much pulling of hair I find out you have to install a bunch of codecs for Avid (yep, I didn't read the instructions). So after getting that whole mess worked out, it's smooth sailing from here, right?

I finally get a usable full-size quicktime and I bring it into the production company I work at (Echo Entertainment) to show off the footage. I play it back on the nice big HD monitors and it looks TERRIBLE. There's this weird ghosting effect whenever the actor moves through the frame. There's also this strange white snow that's covering everything.

Meanwhile, my buddy Chance slaves away at an incredible score that totally brings the movie to a higher level. The end credits song alone just blows me away.

A colleague of mine, James, is kind enough to troubleshoot this export issue with me at home and while I do learn a great deal about formats and the like - there is a substantial bit of bad news. Basically, I imported the footage from tape at 24p but the camera I was using was the DVX-100B which doesn't shoot true 24p but shoots 29.97 with a 3:2 pulldown. So, now I have to re-import all the footage into Avid, re-create the edit from scratch (I can't use an EDL because it won't transfer from a 24p project to a 29.97 project), and I have to make the new edit match the old one exactly to fit Chance's fantastic score. Basically, I have a lot of work ahead of me. But the bright side is that the creative side of this project is pretty much done (the audio still needs to be mixed with some added sound effects) - all that's left to do is some tedious media managing and editing. Stay tuned for further updates...