I love snow days. They disrupt the expected and shake up creativity. On Feb 3, 2012, Denver and the surrounding areas was rocked by 12-18 inches of snow. Cabin fever rose everywhere… so did creativity. Like any artist, I had to release this inspiration, and it came in the form of a video. Having recently picked up a Sony FS100, I decided it was the perfect camera (due to the S35 sized sensor and 1080/60 frame rate) for the job.
Ergonomics on the FS100 are something to be simultaneously admired and hated. It doesn’t have the comfort of a prosumer camcorder or a DSLR… it’s somewhere in the middle. But, on a good note, the camera does strip down to a reasonably small size, allowing for some high tech weatherproofing
The ziplock bag worked a treat. Camera was absolutely dry despite the heavy snow. NICE.
The AVCHD codec held up surprisingly well in the conditions. Small snow particles moving quickly in front of a nest of twigs and dead branches might be disaster for some cameras, but the files look fine, even at 1080/60. Sadly, this online version doesn’t do the original files justice. Enjoy,
This is the first blog post in a series of x blog posts
Amongst the varied types of projects I work on, I have the pleasure of working with a diverse group of corporate clients on a regular basis. Each client has different takes on the type of content they prefer to use. Some relying heavily on photos and graphics, others are interested in shooting relevant b-roll, some want stock footage, some want staged material… the list goes on. But the cornerstone of most corporate videos is the interview. It is a simple, fast and (deceivingly) easy way to deliver information, add personality and emotion to a message, and engage an audience interested in your topic. The interview permeates many varieties of video, so it is absolutely critical for producers/videographers/filmmakers to master the it. I’ve spent the last 6 years shooting professional video content of all types, much of that interviews, and I’d like to spend the rest of this post sharing some of my best practices I’ve learned and discovered along the way.
There are a few necessary conditions for an interview to really take off.
1. They have to be comfortable
2. They have to be passionate
3. Sometimes surprise
4. They have to be honest
If these conditions are in place, we have the opportunity to capture some great stuff. So the interviewee is there in front of the lens… They’re now at the mercy of the questions. There are no hard and fast rules here. Sometimes the simplest yes or no question can lead to an intimate insight. Often, a well phrased and relevant question falls flat. If you have an infinite budget and time, it’s best to do a heck of a lot of research on your interviewee, the subject(s) they’re speaking to, the context they’re talking in, etc etc. It’s immensely helpful to meet beforehand. A phone conversation can do the trick, but I’ve learned that you can’t replace a casual face to face. My goals in these early meets tend to vary depending on how media-ready the interviewee is and the type of content we’re after. On a recent documentary project for a non-profit, much of the project centralized around the hardships that the interviewee had experienced. We spent 3 days getting to know each other before we shot the video. The emotion and vulnerability that was expressed in that interview is what really sells the story. Yet it wouldn’t have been emotionally possible without making the investment of time with the interviewee, building trust and ensuring that I was treating the hardships with the required attention.
In corporate videos, there often isn’t much time to establish a relationship with the interviewee. Instead of days or hours, some instances only allow for minutes before the camera begins to roll to develop a bit of repor. The attention has to shift to becoming acutely aware of who I’m speaking with and their role before stepping foot in the room. Seems like such an obvious point, but it’s surprising to see how many interviews I’m a part of (maybe just shooting, not organizing) that are missing this piece.
Occasionally, I’ve run into the situation where another interview needs to be taped (or captured…) last minute. No prep, no meets beforehand, just start rolling.
In the next blog post on this series, I will be discussing specific questions I try to ask for almost every interview.
Save Our Youth is a mentorship organization based out of Denver Colorado. They do amazing work.
This has been one of my favorite projects… EVER. Working with Jorge (the star) has been a real treat. He was brave and shared his story so that others may be interested in helping kids in similar situations.
From their website, saveouryouth.org
Save Our Youth transforms the lives of at-risk youth through mentor relationships providing the skills for success in educational, emotional, and spiritual development.
Short piece shot and edited for the good people at Suss Buick GMC The video will be showcased on their website (though I think they’re still working on the new updated version)
We shot the project over 2 days in a variety of locations around Denver.
Our original goal with this documentary was to give a voice to the Haitian mothers who don’t have a very loud political voice but have stories that need to be heard.
Watch a short portion of the upcoming documentary:
However, in light of the recent and tragic earthquake in Haiti, Nate and I have shifted our focus towards capturing the evolving developments.
Back in November, we spent 2 days at For His Glory Orphanage. For His Glory is called a kresh, meaning all of the children already have parents waiting for them in the US. The process to adopt these children takes a lengthy 2 or 3 years, so the children stay in Haiti until all of paperwork has been completed. Nate’s family is adopting two little Haitian girls from this orphanage, which we got to meet and hang out with back in November.
After the earthquake, the orphanage was stranded with no food and water for 5 days. The orphanage put a sign on their roof so the many helicopters flying overhead would notice. The sign said something along the lines of, “We are an orphanage and need help”. This led to news coverage from fox news.
During this time, Nate’s family has been constantly worried about the children because contact with the orphanage after the earthquake has been rare. So rare in fact, that they learned that they were evacuating the children from the orphanage from watching Fox News. After a string of developments, the children from the orphanage were granted humanitarian evacuations to come to the US to their expectant US families. This is great news for the adopting families!
The battle isn’t over yet. Adopting families now face their newest obstacle: paperwork. The children were supposed to be in the US Friday, which didn’t happen because of immigration problems. Haitian paperwork has always been notorious for having problems, and to compound the issue, much of that paperwork is now gone after the earthquake. So the children sat in the airport.
Hours later, the red tape was cleared and 32 children were on their way to the Orlando, FL on a donated United flight. Nate was able to find out that children would be landing in Denver near midnight on Saturday January 23. Both of us were ecstatic to have first hand news, so we called up our Haitian friend Neil, who speaks Creole, and made our way to DIA.
Upon arriving at DIA, we were informed that the flight had again been delayed and wasn’t expected to arrive until 4am. We waited around for a while, and by 12:30am, the flight hadn’t left Orlando. It was silently understood that the flight wasn’t coming for a while.
We went home discouraged, more for the kids than for our video coverage. Early the next morning, I received a phone call from Nate informing me that the children were landing at DIA around noon on the 24th.
A Haitian girl takes her first steps in cold Colorado Air.
Wrapped in a blanket, a young Haitian girl walks towards her adoptive US family in the nearby terminal
The three of us, Neil, Nate, and I, hustled over to DIA to find 4 news teams, the Denver post, and some other media affiliates. Things seemed to be going the right direction. After managing to convince the Denver Police Department that our lack of “news” credentials wasn’t a security issue, we were able to get onto the landing strip. Minutes later, the plane landed, and slowly but surely, Haitian children, some bundled in blankets, were taken off of the plane.
Five children were immediately rushed to the hospital, though we didn’t get any details on what their conditions were. Many of the other children came off of the plane smiling, some waving, walking towards their new life in America. Unfortunately for us, the media was restricted to the landing strip, so we didn’t get any footage of the kids reuniting with their US parents.
After more than a week of trauma, a young Haitian is carried towards her adopting US parents
Freedom at last! Almost… Nate just informed me that the adopting parents and children have yet again been detained at the airport for failing to fulfill some paperwork obligation.
As the story continues to develop, we will do our best to follow it and understand it.
Our original goal for the documentary has been pushed to the background with all of these new elements to our story. Because we were in Haiti in November, before the earthquake, we are in a unique position. We captured the difficult life of Haitians before the earthquake. The last few decades have been extremely hard on the Haitian people. Political instability and nonexistent infrastructure prevent the country from escaping the notorious cycle of poverty. Haiti will be in the media spotlight for a while, but as with all disasters, the aide eventually decreases and the world “forgets”.
Once the media spotlight moves on and the aide begins to decrease, our hope is to take the footage from before the earthquake and reveal to the world how bad things were. Our message is simple, we don’t want to rebuild Haiti to what it was. This terrible earthquake is the ultimate chance for partners to stand with Haiti and see lasting, necessary change.
I was privileged to be hired as the cinematographer for a beautiful love story which the director describes as the “Mexican Notebook”. The shoot days were almost always in locations limited by time and therefore fairly short, but with a savvy crew and a ton of preproduction we were able to come away with some pretty good looking stuff.
**Update: December 9th, I won the “Best Cinematography” award at the school for this project. Our school produces hundreds of films every semester, so it’s a high honor that I’m very grateful I received!
Best Cinematography, added to other awards I've received
I can’t post the film online, but here are a few (uncolorcorrected!) frame grabs from our set.
“Picture” was quite an endeavor. The moment after materializing the idea into a script over 1 year prior to production, I demanded only the best out of myself. That equated into heavy sacrifices. To help fund the film, I subscribed to the poor man’s diet of frozen burritos and pasta for 4 months. I managed to live on about $45 a month on food, an accomplishment in my eyes. I gave up on maintaining any consistent relationships, stopped sleeping more than a few hours at a time–all the things a normal film student does.
Left: Me, Right: Karen Ross (producer)
Apparently, people liked it. During the Spring 09 show, “Picture” won awards for “Best Producer”, “Best Production II”, and “Best Cinematography”. It was also nominated for “Best Art Direction”, “Best Director”, “Best Picture”, and “Best Sound”.
The crew that worked on the production was beyond fantastic. On the first day of shooting, the wind decided to blow at 50mph gusts, blasting all of the equipment, crew, and otherwise with sand. Yet during the whole shoot, I didn’t hear a complaint from anyone. Amazing! It paid off!
Camera: Sony EX1 with a Letus Adapter and Nikon primes
A short production shot in and around beautiful Colorado (though this piece doesn’t showcase the land much!). My buddy owns a nicely upgraded Subaru STI. We realized that it was the perfect subject for a little vignette, thus resulting in the piece below.
Biggest reminder from this piece… wash the car before you shoot! The reflections really made some of the shots pop. The deep black paint job on the car certainly helped as well.
Sure, I wish I had a camera car, a 50 foot jib, a helicopter, and even a magic arm to attach the camera to the car, but since I don’t have any of those great production tools without renting them (and why would I for such a simple shoot) I used what I had… tripod and a pocket dolly.
Some car specs (don’t mean anything to me)
-330 horsepower
-339 feet of torque
-FP Green Turbo
-Defi Amber Gauges
-APS DR 725 TMIC
-GR Spec Headers
-Invidia Downpipe
-Borla ZR-1 Exhaust
-Tuned to E85
Shot on lazy (freezing) afternoon in Colorado on a Canon 5D Mark ii
Ahhh, the fall. Always a time of somber emotions and cooling weather. This short piece closely examines autumn beauty often hidden in plain site… leaves. Dressed in fall colors for a only a slice of time, there is much to be observed and appreciated.
“No Country” is a recreation of the coin toss scene from “No Country for Old Men”. The characters are quite different, but the general idea is the same. I was DP on this shoot.
Shooting in this location needed some quick creative lighting choices due to the limited space in which the entire scene took place. The room was no more than 10 feet across and 12 feet long, guiding me to choose large soft lights to light it, while the Fresnel and PAR lights were setup at a distance for detail. A few screen-grabs from the set. (Click on pictures to see a bigger version)
The ziplock bag worked a treat. Camera was absolutely dry despite the heavy snow. NICE.
