iWraz Commercial

This is a commercial I worked on a while back as a 2nd AC. It was a two RED ONE shoot, one of which was provided by NYLAHD. The DP for this one was Zachary Spira-Bauer.

View iWrapz Commercial

New Cinematography Reel!

Finally! I've updated my Cinematography Showreel with work from late 2009 - present. I decided to keep this one short since my last one was way too long. I definitely feel solid about this one I've really progressed since 2009. Check it out!

Eric G. - "Riding With You" Official Music Video

I was the DP for this music video. I learned a lot from shooting this. Check it out.

Lee Charms "Heart Breaker" Music Video Stills

These are some stills taken on my camera phone of the shots I DP'd with Kentrell Stoakley for the "Heart Breaker" music video. Check it out.







I'm sorry for the poor quality. will update to a higher res.

Lee Charms "Heart Breaker" Music Video Shoot

Yesterday, I worked on the new music video for Lee Charms' track, "Heart Breaker". The video was shot in a studio in Brooklyn, the home base of NYC Jibs and directed by Lameika George. My good friend and partner, Kentrell Stoakley, filled the DP shoes on this one and did a great job with his choices of color and composition. I was an AC/Gaffer swing for most of the day but he allowed me to take over and Co-DP a few scenes (of course he was there so I matched his existing footage but with a little bit of my own style) which will be going in my new reel soon.

We shot on Lameika's Canon 7D with a rented lens package consisting of a 35mm EF, 50mm L, and 70-200mm L. NYC Jibs provided us with a large collection of toys. My favorite for the day was the "sub rental" HMI Joker package, which was our main work horse for the day.

The day wasn't perfect as our shot list for the day was a bit ambitious for our reserved time in the studio. I didn't count but the shot list spanned two pages of 12 font, single spaced haha. The day started of really slow for various reasons and four hours were chopped off our morning. We started shooting around noon. Although we started late and didn't get all the shots we wanted, What we did get was pretty amazing.

During a dance choreography scene, I ended up using a 2k tungsten with diffusion as a key and bouncing the 400w HMI's off of the white flooring as a low angle fill which, mainly cast highlights in the dancer's shiny clothing.

Lee Charms received a phone call on the shoot asking him to perform on the BET show, 106th & Park which is great news that people are watching him, especially for us up & coming filmmakers. Check out Lee Charms' music at this link.

Shout outs to Kim Brannon (AD) who I haven't seen in about two years, Chris Johnson who I also haven't seen in about two years (since the last Lee Charms video), and Jared Frost for kicking ass as an amazing grip. Also shout out to Michael Milia from NYC Jibs who provided us with great hospitality and made sure we had everything we needed.

"NO" to the NYC MOFTB $300 Film Permit Application Processing Fee

From www.petitiononline.com

The film industry in New York City is under siege. The state production tax credit extension is still held up in Albany without approval for another year, having run out in June 2009. Films and TV shows are going to Canada, Los Angeles and other areas with better production incentives. And now Mayor Bloomberg and the Mayor's Office of Film, Theater and Broadcasting (MOFTB) plan to assess a $300 fee for filming permit application processing.

In a quote from the Wall Street Journal in response to the question of whether this fee would deter new business, "Everybody I've talked to about this—and I've called a number of producers—they couldn't stop laughing because it's $300 one time," said Mr. Bloomberg. "They go anyplace else, they pay $1,000 every two weeks. And it's such a small percentage of their budget."

Are these producers independent producers on limited budgets? Are these producers of short films or internet content? Are these producers documentary filmmakers? Mr. Bloomberg and the MOFTB don't seem to understand that this sort of fee will most certainly have an effect on low budget films, short films, documentaries and independent TV pilots in the city. $300 is enough to pay a principal actor in an ultra-low budget SAG film for 3 days. $300 is equipment rental for a day (or an hour). A low-budget or short film with a budget of $20,000 has to count every penny. In a low-budget film, $300 can be the difference between filming in New York City or somewhere else.

We, the undersigned, hereby state that this $300 filming permit application processing fee is not acceptable to those of us who work in this already fragile industry, which brings in millions of dollars in revenue and employs thousands of New Yorkers. We believe this fee will inhibit, and possibly cripple, independent and low-budget filming in the city and we are dismayed by the proposal. It is estimated these fees will only bring in under a million dollars a year. Compared with the possible loss of both revenue for our city and jobs the film industry provides, this fee is not worth the damage it could potentially cause. Please do not allow this fee to further erode an already declining number of productions in New York City. In this struggling economy, now is not the time for a new fee. Whether a production is a major studio film or a short film by an independent director on a shoestring budget, New York should be the film capital of the world – for everyone.

Click here to sign the petition! Spread the word!

Eric G "Riding WIth You" Music Video Shoot

Three weeks ago, I was the DP for a christian R&B music video. The artist was singer, Eric G. The treatment was co-written/directed by Dan Norton and I and this project was intended for Dan's final project in his Production II and Editing classes in SVA.

We initially had two months to plan for this thing, but we both became massively busy and Dan had some important family matters to deal with, so we didn't really start getting cracking on the pre-production until a week or two before the shoot. We had about 3 or 4 meetings asside from our private brainstorm sessions.

Either way everything got changed on the night before the shoot due to many factors. We stayed up all night making sure everything was atleast 90-100% good before shooting. We shot for an entire weekend on barely any sleep.

We shot on the Panasonic HMC150, which I have to say is an awesome little camera. I loved using it with the SG Blade 35mm adapter and Nikon AI-S primes. We got some gorgeous footage.

We ended up running into a few problems during production. First, we were kicked out of almost every other location but luckily, Dan and I planned for this in advance and we were prepared to search for secondary locations. Also, we planned to shoot a concert scene where the main character goes to an Eric G concert. The problem was that SVA couldn't give us more than a three unit Arri package so we were hoping that our friend, Randy, who is the AV tech at crossbridge church would lend us some PAR cans to light the small venue. It turned out he was extrememly sick that weekend and not to mention he didnt have the lights in his posession. We ended up working with what we had and the footage didn't come out bad but, it would have been so much better if I had the gear I needed. My strategy at that point was to shoot as tight as possible using our 100mm lens. That gave us some room to move lights around for different shots. It was a pain in the butt but it worked out.

I think the best part of the shoot was getting to play with a Fuji Instax camera which prints little polaroids (which are now called instant film :P) Check it out:



A rough cut is finished and Dan is conducting minor tweeks to the edit so it should be posted online in about a week. Below are a few performance stills that a grabbed using my camera phone. Sorry that they're a bit low quality (LG Dare :(


(Don't worry, that's not interlacing!)




You can check out Eric G's music on his website at ericgsounds.com

Wale "Diary" Official Music Video

I recently worked on this music video as an AC under Clayton Combe. This was directed by Rik Cordero. It premiered on MTV2 just a few days ago! You can watch it at the MTV site here: http://www.mtv.com/videos/wale/511517/diary.jhtml#id=1568964

I learned a lot about the use of filters in different situations. Mainly the application of Pro-Mist, and Polarization filters. Thanks Clayton!

Jon Carlo "Te Necessito" Official Music Video

I worked on this as a grip. The director is Adonis Williams and the DP is Matt Workman.

Phar City feat. Range "Part Time Lover" Official Music Video

I worked on this as a grip/PA for the first day. There was a sudden 2nd day of shooting and the DP, Matt Workman ended up on another project by then so Cinematographer, Clayton Combe filled in as the 2nd Unit DP. I worked under him as a Gaffer/AC on that 2nd day because we barely had a crew. It was definitely a fun shoot!

J Martin feat. Magic Juan "Intentalo" Official Music Video

I worked on this music video as a grip/PA.

What I've Been Up To

Hey guys!

Most of you mentioned to me in person, "What's going on with your blog, you haven't posted in a while". The main reason why is because since the beginning of February I found myself in a whirlwind of projects. Work suddenly picked up and gradually increased since then. Everything has been Amazing.

I sort of fell into the world of music videos. For a while I was on these music videos as a grip or AC/PA but the past few one's I've been working directly under cinematographer, Clayton Combe, as an AC. I've also worked with cinematographers Matt Workman, Lindsay Mann, and Ryo Murakami.

Working with all these talented cinematographers has taught me an enormous amount and I had the opportunity to apply it all on a music video for the Christian/R&B singer, Eric G, who is becoming increasingly more popular on the radio.

Some directors I've worked with are Rik Cordero, James "Latin" Clark, Adonis Williams, and Berman Fenelus just to name a few.

I'm now dedicating to updating the blog at least once a week. But for now, I have ton's of new things I want to share with you so please stay tuned!

Crew Member Check List

I'm getting ready to Grip on a music video shoot tomorrow and I thought I would share my check list with you. This list is comprised of everything you should do the night before because everyone knows that so many things can be forgotten or go wrong the next day. Whatever you don't check or do the night before will surely become a problem the next day, big or small.

- Print the call sheet and keep a copy in your pack.

- Save all contact information from the call sheet in your cell phone if you don't already know them. (of course you mainly want to save people that you're more likely to interact with the next day. As a grip, I might not save the number of talent.) Who knows, you might get lost on the way to set and you might need to call someone to help you find you're way.

- Calculate the best travel route to the set. Be sure to check for weekend MTA delays. Print, write down, or save the directions in your phone.

- Make sure your cell phone is fully charged or on the charger before sleep.

- Set one or two wake-up alarms. I always forget this and you never want to be late to set. Such a bad look. I use my phone alarm as well as a regular alarm clock. If you feel like you won't wake up, request a wake up call from a friend, girlfriend/boyfriend, or someone on the shoot.

- Prepare weather gear for extreme conditions and have it ready and out the night before. (what if you wake up late and you're in a rush. It's best to have all layers of clothing ready.) For wet conditions, pack extra clothes in case you end up soaked. Nothing worse than being soaked for 12 hours.

- Prepare personal tools/pouch. All battery powered objects need to be tested for their battery.
Replace as needed. Bring extra batteries. (Remember that cold weather will sap most batteries very fast.) Only bring what tools you know you'll need. But of course whatever you don't bring you'll probably end up needing according to Murphy's Law.

- If you're in a position where you're using a piece of gear or tool that you've never used, Make sure you research, study, and ask other film buddies who might know about it. There's nothing worse than showing up to set like you know what you're doing and then you try to do it, and you do it wrong. So embarrassing! It's better to be honest and ask questions. It's ego/production insurance.

The reason I decided to post this is because I want to help others avoid the mistakes I made when preparing to shoot. You want to avoid any unnecessary issues that could prove costly to your future opportunities.

Happy Shooting!

"Anyone But Me" Season 2 Ep 1-3

The episodes that I worked on as a 2nd AC are now up on the "Anyone But Me" website. I even make a cameo in one of them! Please check it out.

http://anyonebutmeseries.com/

22 Letters of Virtue

22 Letters of Virtue from Dan Norton on Vimeo.

Stills from Dan Norton's short,"Proverbs 31"

So, the film negative came back from the lab and Dan put together the first pass of the rough cut. I have to admit, I was worried about a lot, considering it was officially my first time DPing a 16mm short. Not only that but it was sort of shot in a rush so we were worried how it would cut together.

Today I went to a screening for Dan's production class at SVA. I have to admit I'm very surprised and impressed with the way it came out. Check out these still frames from the rough cut. I should be posting the final cut with in a week or two, depending on Dan's busy schedule since he's the editor.

My first 16mm Shoot as DP

Over this past weekend, I shot an experimental, black and white 16mm film in Brooklyn with my close friend Dan Norton. Dan and I graduated from The Art Institute together and he's currently studying at the film at the School of Visual Arts. This project is for his final in production class and we shot it in his grandmother's basement. The concept was his idea, and we ended up co-writing/directing the piece. I was the DP for the film. We made up the entire crew so you can only imagine the challenges!

Dan came to me with references from the film Napoleon. I wasn't able to find clips of the film to post but I will see if Dan can provide me with some. I forgot when the film was made but it came out in the early 1900's and was one of the first films to try what is now wide screen. They positioned three cameras side by side and recorded footage simultaneously. The images from each camera were synced together and scaled down to fit all 3 into a projection without distorting the image or stretching it out. Sometimes the film would display three different shots on the screen at once.

We ended up checking out an Arriflex 16BL from SVA's production house. This camera is very old, made in West Germany in the 1960's, so it was quite an experience. Dan wanted to get an Arriflex SR but they were all reserved. The button to roll the camera was slightly broken so we had to hold it down in order to get a successful take all the way through, otherwise it would stop rolling at random times. I must admit, I was a bit paranoid about loading both the feed and take of the magazine in the tent but it was a lot easier than I thought. On the SR models, the feed and take are on two different sides of the magazine. The feed side must always be done in the tent but the take side can usually be done in the light if it has it's own side on the mag with it's own door.

Loading the mag in the changing tent

Threading the film to the registration pin and pull-down claw

Dan wanted to go for a similar editing style with this experimental film. The only difference is we didn't have three cameras. We had a black back drop to work with and a small Mole Richardson light kit which consisted of three 650W fresnels. Not much, but we figured out a system that would work (at least we hope).

Adjusting the mole light. Creating fill by bouncing from the white ceiling.

1) In the edit there will be three images on the screen.

2) The main character goes through the story in her own form of dance which will show mood and conflict.

3) She will always be traveling from screen right to screen left. This gives it a 2D feel.

4) She will pass through each image as if they were one entire image so when she leaves the frame of one image, she enters another.

5) Each image will be slightly different, either in the main props or the lighting.

Scene 1 in a forest of lights

It was a pretty short day although it was longer than we thought. We sort of thought up the concept on the fly. At the same time our actress became ill during the shoot which slowed things down dramatically but she was great and stuck it through like a champ!

My only concerns, considering that this is my first time working with 16mm film, is that it's all correctly exposed. I've been studying my ass off and reading all sorts of content on working with film. I hate to admit it but I'm a bit spoiled from working with digital since i could make a mistake and see it right away if I could correct the issue. I will know how the footage looks in 10 days once Dan picks up the film from the lab. The film should be complete before January and I will hopefully be able to post it ASAP.

"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/