"No Pay?"

I absolutely love the art of cinematography and film making in general. I'm sure about 80% of everyone who graduated from film school feels the same way. But how in the world are we supposed to make a living off of this if no one is paying? All of us poor film school grads spend thousands of dollars to earn a degree in what seems to be an impossible industry at the moment. I feel as though the only ways to survive are:

-Having you're own gear that you bought yourself.

-Knowing someone else who owns gear and will be willing to negotiate a split in profits.

-Graduating 5-10 years before when things were better.

I'm just frustrated with how this seems to be going for me and most of my fellow grads. I hope things get better soon.

Film Camera Tutorials

I found these amazing film camera tutorials on Vimeo. I found them to be extremely helpful. Check them out.

Bolex Reflex 16mm Motion Picture Camera from Adam Olson on Vimeo.

"Anyone But Me" Webisode Series

This posting may be slightly late but last week I worked as a 2nd AC on a webisode series called "Anyone But Me". Here's a brief summary of the film that I found on the webisode's main site.

"When 16 year old Vivian McMillan has to move from New York City to the suburbs, her relationships, past and present, are tested. And her identity goes through seismic changes. The daughter of a NYC firefighter, Vivian has no choice but to leave the city with her dad after health problems he suffered trying to save people on September 11th force him to retire. This moving, funny, and relevant new drama speaks to all ages and hearts as it follows the journey of six teenagers and the adults who try to understand them."

We shot on the HVX200 with a Brevis 35mm adapter and nikon primes. I had the privilege to work under cinematographer, Ava Berkofsky. She was very fun to work with and gave me a pointer or two on 2nd ACing. She actually ended up having me swinging between 2nd AC and Grip since the crew was somewhat skeleton. It was cool of her to trust me on both departments although I was still learning a little bit. Of course my main duty was a 2nd AC but I was in charge of dumping the footage from the P2 cards, something I'm very familiar with. Luckily nothing went wrong during the transfers and that made the director, Tina Cesa Ward, very happy. We had some great locations, one being an apartment on Central Park West with awesome views of the city. The other locations was a house located in Westchester, and Brooklyn School of the Arts which was amazing to shoot in considering all of the wonderfall artwork all over the building. We shot in one of their art studios, their auditorium, as well as the girls bathroom. This shoot set the record for my longest time in a girls bathroom haha. It was pretty tight in there considering there was a 2k mole and 2 4-bank kinos and a chinaball set up. It was surpisingly cool and breezy in the bathroom despite all the lights and people that were crammed into the space.

Shout outs to the amazing crew but especially Omar for picking me up in the mornings from my house and giving me a ride to the sets. I don't think any one's ever given me that favor before haha. Everyone who is reading this should check out the "Anyone But Me" website and watch season 1 before season 2 is edited and posted online. I definitely enjoyed watching it as much as filming it and I'm looking forward to the next season. You can find out more about the series at its home site which is http://anyonebutmeseries.com/.

Also check out cinematographer, Ava Berkofsky's work at http://www.avaberkofsky.com/