Mystic Cosmic Patrol - Time Crisis

Okay, the next episode (again, in two parts) has arrived! Check them out below.

October update

This past month has been yet another super busy one filled with work; a few shoots and lots of pre-production on some upcoming projects.

While it hasn't been released yet, I was very happy with the music video I shot for Karmin, Love Is Louder. I always jump at the chance to shoot in black and white, so was excited when the director and I agreed to go monochromatic. I was also encouraged to frame the performance bits in a "Mr. Robot" style. Hopefully this track will get its video release soon, but for now I'll just leave a few screengrabs.

Another fun project this month was shooting a lifetyle spot for Four Seasons. I utilized an Alexa Mini with my Sony CineAlta PL primes, with the camera jumping between a DJI Ronin, tripod, Dana Dolly, and handheld. We only had access to the hotel for a single day, so we kept the shot list simple and I had a team prelighting the subsequent scene while I was shooting. That allowed us to knock out a ton of locations within the hotel, before going to a second location to grab a couple last shots. I don't yet have any of the footage from that shoot, but will get some images posted up once I get my hands on it.

Most of the rest of my shooting month consisted of corporate interviews and a couple live performances (one dance event, one concert event). Since those were pre-lit venues, I didn't bother grabbing footage since I was more of a camera operator lead, as there was no lighting input from myself.

Besides the days shooting, I had some productive meetings for a couple projects, including a feature length documentary that we'll hopefully start shooting in December. I also attended Stan Lee's Comic Con (formerly known as Comikaze) where Nobility had a panel and I sat in as a panel member on a Low-Budget Filmmaking & Building a Team presentation. Usually I prefer to be behind the scenes making things happen, rather than in front of a crowd, but it wasn't too bad. The panel was centered around the award winning DC fan film, Fair Fight, that I co-DP'd a couple months back. I did manage to get a couple pictures from that, at least.

Last bit of news is that I decided to jump back into the camera market, as I miss having something where I can just go out and shoot whatever I want to, so now my business partners and I have a new RED Epic-W on its way. I'm excited to put the new Helium sensor through some tests to see what it can do. It should offer a lot of flexibility, giving us the ability to record everything from 2K ProRes up to 8K RAW (and all sorts of options in between). The payments have been made and things are shipping, so the kit should all arrive soon.

Rogue Warrior premiere, some music videos, and more!

A lot's happened since my last update, as I've been busy with numerous projects. First off, I shot a music video for Karmin for her track Love Is Louder off of her upcoming album. We shot that at the YouTube Spaces on a RED Epic Dragon with Canon CN-E prime lenses. The camera lived on a Steadicam for the shoot. The final edit just got locked and I'm quite pleased with how this turned out. I'll share the video once it comes out.

Next up was a lyric video for Emii's track Wait. It was kind of a rush job, as they decided late into the schedule to change from a standard lyric video into a lyric/music video hybrid. Since the song had a hard release date, we rushed in to get this shot and it was an ambitious concept with lots of set changes and wardrobe/makeup changes. We shot RED Epic MX with Sony CineAlta lenses. The camera spent a good chunk of time on a Ronin. I'm not totally thrilled with the color grade, as the turnaround was so fast that I was unable to sit in on any of it.

Moving on, the science fiction feature film Rogue Warrior: Robot Fighter had its premier this last weekend at the Action on Film Festival. It was pretty well attended and I enjoyed seeing some of the cast and crew for the first time in almost a year and a half. The movie went through some extensive rewrites and subsequent reshoots in the time since we wrapped principal photography, so it was interesting and surprising to see the final product, as I was not involved in the shooting of those additional scenes. Here are a couple pictures from the night.

Rogue Warrior premiered on the opening night of the Action on Film Festival.

A big chunk of the cast, and then me on the left repping the crew.

Screen 12. Same screen where the festival debuted the last two features I shot for Neil Johnson.

Lastly, Action on Film also screened the DC Comics fan film, Fair Fight, which I shot 2nd Unit DP. Due to other obligations, I was unable to attend that screening. Fair Fight has also been invited to screen at another film festival, so it sounds like it's being well received.

The Man From Death

Here's a strange little shoot that I worked on quite a while ago, as it had a long post-production process. I started out as a camera assistant on the shoot, but much later, well after principal photography had wrapped, I came back to DP the FX unit (my credit is 3rd Unit DP). I handled the ECU exploding eyeballs, slow-motion bullet coming out of the barrel of a gun, and the bullet hitting the match. As with the main shoot, which utilized the RED Epic Dragon, I also shot the FX sequence on that camera as well.

When we shot this, I had no idea just how weird the final product would be. It's interesting to see how it came together in the edit. We may have sweated it out in the hot sun to get it made, but we had fun doing it.

The Man From Death from Stream Team on Vimeo.

Nike Run Club spot

Working with director of photography Chris Saul, I b-camera operated and second unit DP'd this spot for Nike. It's the one that's playing in Nike stores and was shot in the "sideways" 9x16 aspect ratio for use on the store displays, which utilize screens with this same orientation. We had a lot of fun and I'm happy to be able to now share the finished video.


NIKE from Chris Saul on Vimeo.

Mercy Street opening credit sequence

Now that the new PBS show Mercy Street has aired, I can finally share that I had a hand in creating the opening title sequence (see my blog post from last year). While the show provided the character and location video used in the titles, all the other overlay elements had to be generated, which is where I came in.

Rather than create everything in the computer, we instead shot as much as we could practically. That is one of the calling cards of production company Elastic, who has also provided opening credits for other shows such as Game of Thrones, True Detective (winning the 2014 Emmy for Outstanding Main Title Design), and Marvel's Daredevil.

Bottle elements shot by me.

Shot practically, printed out on back lit paper. We did a practical slice in the paper as well, but I'm not sure if they used our practical take or added the cut in post.

Why yes, I did shoot the saw blade and the surgical instruments.

Another back lit paper shot (see my blog post). Again, I'm not certain if they used the take where we actually sliced the paper or if it's a post effect.

The least impressive of my contributions. I shot the glass texture that overlays the image.

Sorry about the terrible quality of this picture. I had to photograph the screen of my TV with my phone, as this frame wasn't included in the video I pulled screengrabs from for the other pictures. I shot the medical instruments.

One more terrible phone photo, so please excuse the poor color balance, etc. This image runs at the top and end of the show with the sponsors overlayed, but I shot the background lace curtain element.

Gods & Secrets

This past week I was shooting the miniatures and titles unit for Gods & Secrets down at the YouTube Space LA. I've shot some miniatures before for a variety of projects, but these were the largest miniature sets that I've worked with so far. We used Cine Magic International's Revolution snorkel lens system, provided by Clairmont Camera. YouTube provided a RED Epic Dragon and our dolly was from Chapman.

Gods & Secrets is a dark superhero series directed by Adi Shankar and Stewart Yost, though the miniatures and titles were directed primarily by Yost. It's set to be released later this year.

Day 1.

Haze and lights.

Sorry there aren't any good shots of the miniature sets. I can only currently share pics where they aren't clearly shown.

The Revolution snorkel with mini-primes. We mostly lived on the 16mm and usually had a Black Pro Mist 1 on the front.

Nike store - The Grove Mall, Los Angeles

Last August I posted about a Nike shoot I worked on. I had heard that it was playing in stores a couple months back and finally had some time to make it down to the local Nike store to check it out. Oddly enough, I couldn't find it playing on any of their tall aspect ratio store screens (which all seemed to be displaying shopping portals, not video), but a cropped version was playing on the giant wall of screens right behind the checkout.

It was pretty cool to see some of the stuff I shot on that big of a screen. I just wish I could have seen it the way it was originally intended to be displayed. I know it was shown in the full tall aspect ratio at another store, as the main unit DP showed me a picture, so perhaps I need to drop by a different location. Either way, it's still cool to see my work playing at Nike.

Nike Store at The Grove.

Sorry for the terrible color balance. I took this with my phone.

A few more Titan shots

Here are a few more shots from the Titan teaser trailer. I have a rough cut assembled, but still have a few locations shots to grab. I'll be re-grading everything, as I just built an initial quick look to get a feel for it.

Titan teaser trailer

Yesterday, I had a change of pace and directed a teaser trailer as a proof of concept for a short film (though I have additional story elements already in place so I could easily turn it into a feature). My friend had built a set for another movie that I was set to shoot when the production suddenly shut down and the movie was canceled. Since the set was due to be dismantled at the end of this month, we thought it a shame it hadn't been used and decided to shoot a small project on it.

With little warning that we had access to the set before being taken down, this shoot was kind of a last minute thing, so rather than having auditions for casting, I went with some actor friends of mine that I knew would be great. I wrote a short trailer script based on an idea I've been tossing around for a while, and got my actors all on board. Then I spent this past week tracking down wardrobe, generating character breakdowns for the actors, and drawing up storyboards. Nick Forte, my usual 1st AC (and sometimes camera operator), does DP work as well and we get along great, so I brought him on to shoot this for me.

We had a good time, got some great footage, and even finished out the day early (just barely). I had sent Nick some reference screengrabs from Aliens and Prometheus as the look I was going for, kind of an old, run down look with pools of light, and he did a great job giving me the dark, oppressive lighting I wanted and he got it done with a two man crew and minimal G&E kit. When I wasn't busy working with the actors, I also pitched in a hand with lighting.

Shot on RED Dragon, 5.5K WS @ 6:1 compression. A set of T2 Sony CineAlta PL lenses let us make the most of the limited lighting available. Screenshots have a quick grade on them, but may not be the final look.

September update

It's been a busy past couple weeks. The past weekend was Long Beach Comic Con, where an upcoming sci-fi feature Triborn had a panel. While they are still early on in pre production, I've been penciled in to shoot the movie. We still have a ways to go (Kickstarter campaign, raising additional private funding, etc), but already there is a pretty solid cast in place and a couple of possible additions that would be fantastic. The panel went well and I met a producer afterward that is interested in working with me.

The past couple weeks I've also been prepping to shoot my own little project, a teaser trailer for a film that I'm working on writing and planning on directing. I won't be DPing this, as I don't want to wear too many hats, but am leaving that job in the very capable hands of a friend of mine. Everything is coming together and I have a great cast. We'll be shooting that this coming Monday.

Lastly, I shot some plate elements today for a Sony PSA today. We used the RED Epic Dragon, which I work with all the time, but I also had the pleasant opportunity to shoot with a Canon CN-E cine prime set, the first time I've used these lenses. I had read an interview with Homeland DP David Klein, ASC about his choice to shoot with them on that show and have wanted to try them out since. I have to say, I was impressed. The lenses are nice and sharp, but not harshly so. The build quality is nice, with good mechanics and feel to the iris and focus rings. All of the shoot was on greenscreen today, so I didn't get to test them out under too many lighting scenarios, but I was happy with their performance. Hopefully I'll get more chances to see what these lenses are really capable of.

I can't show you what I was shooting, but I can show you what was in another direction of the stage. ;)

August catch up!

I've been busy the past few weeks and just wanted to get a little update in. My own project was coming along nicely, but hit a snag. My location may have suddenly become unavailable. Unfortunately, the whole script was based on this location (in fact, I wrote the script only because this set was sitting around unused and I hated to see it go to waste), so I may have to scrap the script and work on something else instead. Oh well, that's how it goes some times.

This past week I DP'd a PSA shoot for a big client. I wasn't allowed to get any screenshots and I can't say much about it until it airs, but I can say this, it features one of my favorite subjects: books! We shot on my RED Dragon with Sony CineAlta lenses, using mostly bounced natural light and some Kino for fill. The clients were extremely happy with what we got.

Finally, today Blackmagic Design had a conference that I attended that discussed their workflow, from acquisition (using Blackmagic's own cameras) and FX (Fusion), to the new, all-encompassing workflow with DaVinci Resolve 12 (ingestion, editing, coloring, and final print). I was hoping we'd get a peek at footage from their new 4.6K sensor, but they didn't have anything to show us. I'm interested in perhaps acquiring one of the new URSA Mini's, but it looks like I'll have to keep waiting to see if the new sensor is all it's cracked up to be.

Some nice brochures. Also available (but not pictured here), complimentary food and beverages!

This was the Blackmagic conference room when I walked in. Twenty minutes later it was full and people were standing in the back.

More Nike BTS

Our key grip Gino Nix sent me a few behind the scenes pictures he took of me at work on the Nike shoot, so I thought I'd share. A-Cam Op/DP was Chris Saul. B-Cam Op/2nd Unit DP was me.

Me (left) and Chris Saul (right) on the gator about to chase some the runners.

Me (left), director Martin Desmond Roe (center), and Chris Saul (right) talking through our next shot.

About to shoot off of the gator while standing.

Shooting with the Ronin in the rain, I decided to be my own umbrella operator.

About to pursue some runners through the street after a wetdown.

Nike shoot

This past week I operated the B-Cam/2nd unit DP'd a Nike spot produced by Dirty Robber. Since we were shooting for Nike's displays, which are widescreen televisions rotated 90°, we also turned our cameras on the side, resulting in a 9x16 aspect ratio. That was a fun aspect ratio to shoot in, as it's not something I normally get to do.

While the A-Cam was handheld and operated by Director of Photography Chris Saul, my B-Cam was mounted on a DJI Ronin the entire time. It was quite the workout with the additional weight of the gimbal and I did a lot of running (forwards and backwards) with the unit. At times I'd use an Easyrig, but since it can add a lot of bounce, I just used my arms when running.

The spot was shot on RED Dragons with Zeiss Super Speed lenses in 6K HD.

In the rain. Photo by @emmahollyjones

Director Nick Frew looks over my shoulder as I get a sweet sunset shot.

Director of Photography/A-Cam Operator Chris Saul gives me a break from operating the Ronin rig.

Joseph's Toiletries commercial released

The commercial I shot for Joseph's Toiletries last year has finally been released, so now I can share the final video with you. I love shooting in black and white, so this was a lot of fun for me. We shot on RED Epic Dragon and Canon C300 with Canon EF lenses.

The video can also be seen from their website splash page: https://www.josephs-toiletries.com/ edit: The video has played through its lifespan, so isn't on the splash page anymore.

More opening credit sequences

Last week I shot more elements for the opening title sequences of another show. Once again, I can't name the show, but it's a big one. It's not due to air until 2016 according to my internet searches, so it'll be a little while before I can say which one it is.

This time there was a lot of macro work with the camera on a Dana Dolly which was tough to do, as the macro nature amplifies any bumps. At one point, the director said out loud (more to himself than anyone else) that he wished we had a crane so we could jib up and down instead of being limited to only side to side. So we rigged up a solution where I mounted the tripod plate to the side cheeseplate of my camera (rotating it sideways) and then turned our object sideways as well. This way, instead of dollying side to side on the piece, it turned into a dolly from top to bottom, effectively giving us a jib movement relative to the frame. My setup is pictured below.

It was a long day of work, but we managed to get everything shot. Part of the fun was figuring out how to shoot FX sequences practically instead of relying on compositing later. I think we came up with some very interesting solutions (including rear projection, glass, and printing graphics on paper). I'm curious to see how it all comes together.

Sideways camera on the Dana Dolly.

Quick update

I haven't been too good about updating lately, so thought I do a quick one.

My feature for late May-mid June shut down unexpectedly during pre-production, so I've been doing the odd job here and there. One of them was shooting some title sequence elements for an upcoming television series. It was pretty secretive and the first time I've had to sign a $1 million non-disclosure agreement. Needless to say, I can't really say much about it right now. When the show comes out, I'll grab a couple screencaps to share the parts I shot.

Another thing I did in May was shoot some miniatures for Mystic Cosmic Patrol. While at the location, I also got to see a rough cut of one of the episodes. I have to say, even in the rough stage I was quite pleased. It came together nicely and is pretty funny. I'm looking forward to seeing the final cuts of all 3 episodes and hopefully it'll get picked up so that we can continue the show, because it was a lot of fun.

One of the benefits of the extra downtime I've had is that it's given me a chance to work on a couple of my own ideas I've been kicking around for a while. I'm not the most naturally gifted writer, so it's been some hard work as I develop the stories and characters for a couple projects I'd like to shoot. Progress is moving forward and I'm making some headway.

Coming up, I'm also in the early pre-production stages of a short film, a very cinematic Kickstarter campaign video, and I also have two panels to attend at San Diego Comic Con for projects I shot, Space Command and Nobility. Besides these DP jobs, I'm excited to do a little directing with one of my own projects. June and July look like they'll be keeping me quite busy!

Sony CineAlta T2 six-lens set

Earlier this month I received my first set of PL mount lenses, the Sony CineAlta T2 set.  Now, they aren't super common and my set is the first I've actually seen in person.  They have a nice clean, modern look and are pleasantly sharp.  Many people have compared them to the RED Pro Prime lenses, but I feel like these are slightly less sharp in a good way, helping to soften up the digital look that can become apparent with the RPPs.  Build quality is top notch, with smooth, even dampening on the focus and iris, and a full metal cine housing with proper cinema focus rotation (which should make my AC happy after all the Canon lenses he's suffered through).  All the ring spacing is the same, so follow focus gears/motors don't need re-positioning when switching lenses.  All lenses except the 135mm are the same length, so the matte box doesn't need to be adjusted either.

Immediately after receiving them, I took them over to an acquaintance's place and we put them up on one Epic Dragon, with a Fujinon Cabrio 19-90mm zoom on the other.  Side by side, they were fairly similar, with just a slightest of color shift between the two.  Optically, the Sony set seemed to pull just a bit ahead on some focal lengths while drawing neck and neck on others.  The Sony's even seem pretty sharp wide open.  They do tend to exhibit some CA on super high contrast scenes, but I was pushing them to their limits by shooting with a contrast ratio that I certainly would almost never shoot in a real life situation.  Today I put them on a Sony F55 to conduct further testing and liked what I was seeing.  While these are obviously no Master Primes, I'm very pleased with how nice they look, performing better than I would have expected at this price point.

I'm a bit surprised that I've never seen these lenses around before.  Perhaps people are put off by their size and weight (they are a bit large and heavy).  Or maybe because Sony isn't a well known lens name (it's speculated that Minolta -who has a long history of making lenses- supplies the glass, seeing as how their camera and lens business in now owned by Sony).  Whatever the reason, I'm happy to have this new set of lenses and am eager to put them to work.

CareerBuilder.com commercial

I had one day off from the feature I'm shooting, so what better thing to do than camera operate on that day?  It was a pretty easy shoot and we had 4 cameras: 2 RED Epic Dragons, a RED Epic MX, and a RED Scarlet MX.  Shot on Arri Master Primes, a Canon Cine zoom, and an Angenieux zoom, all in a candy store.

Built up my RED Dragon with an Arri Master Prime.  I think I need a set of these.

Mystic Cosmic Patrol principle photography wrap

Well, we wrapped on the first 3 episodes of Mystic Cosmic Patrol.  It was a lot of fun seeing the hilarious script brought to life by the actors.  On our final day, it was threatening to rain and we had some outdoor scenes to shoot, but the weather ended up working out and we got everything done.  There are still some miniatures to be shot, but principle photography is done and the footage is off to the editor.

Unfortunately, the last two Nobility pickup days overlapped with this project, so I missed out on that, but it sounds like they managed to get it handled fine.  Now I've got a little down time before my next feature begins towards the end of the month if all goes to plan.  So I'll leave you with another picture that doesn't really give anything away.