Nobody Sees a Flower - I love love love this project! Form the creative mind of @moriah.sawtelle comes this fun little passion project. Moriah’s work always blows me away and I absolute love working with her because of her attention to detail and distinctive visual style. Moriah pulled together an extremely talented bunch of folks for this project and no creative decision was left to chance.
I shot this project on my ARRI Amira with a mixed of Standard Speeds and B-speeds (with a 1/8 BPM). The lighting approach was extremely simple and I used 2 lights at most.
The project was beautifully finished by @robsbessette @color_refinery. Huge shout out to @arianenorbel who was absolutely wonderful to work with and had such a positive and chill
Director - @moriah.sawtelle
DP: @andrewdavidwatson
Stylist: @heathernewberger
Florals: @tferrodesign
HMU: @ericvosburg
Talent: @arianenorbel @wilhelminamodels
Color facility - @color_refinery
Colorist - @robsbessette
Lessons I learned from Directing.... that make me a better DP.
Working as DP and Director / DP has been an interesting world to navigate. There are some directors I work with who I think really appreciate my directorial experience (especially when it comes to doc projects), but I also think working as both a Director and Director/DP has raised eyebrows with others…..
I once talked to a rep about signing as a DP and was directly told the Director/DP side of my work was a conflict and a non-starter. BUT I wholeheartedly feel working as a Director/DP has greatly, greatly benefited my role as a DP. I have learned a lot of lessons over the years, but here are a few of the ones that stand out:
It can take a lot of time and work to win jobs -- By the time the DP is brought onto the project, the Director most likely has put in enormous amounts of time to win the job. As a DP you should really read the treatment. Every word. Then read it again 10 times. Try to get inside the director’s head and really understand what has been pitched… chances are the Director has spent hours and hours working on the treatment. What may be a simple 1 day shoot for the DP could easily have been months of work for the creatives (including everyone on the agency side). It’s important to realize this, give the job the attention it deserves, and understand why there may be strong opinions coming from video village.
Scheduling / Holding crew -- As a DP I would sometimes get annoyed when I was put on hold only to find out that the production was holding other DPs or the job wasn’t even awarded yet. From bidding I have learned that some jobs are pitched on such short timeframes you have to start putting crew on hold before an award. I have also learned that some agencies will be particular about key crew members (hence multiple DPs on hold). I have also learned how “locked dates” aren’t actually locked and the whole production schedule can shift. These are all reasons why production may put multiple DPs on hold.
I always ask these four questions when I get put on hold for a job: Is the job awarded? What is the budgeted rate? Are the dates locked? Are you holding other DPs? I find most producers, PMs, etc are very honest and straightforward when asked directly… and in fact if I get weird vibes from any of these questions it usually throws up a red flag.
Additional Work Examples -- As a young DP I would get annoyed when the agency would request more specific work (the joke goes you can’t shoot a commercial for a red toothbrush if you have only shot a commercial for a blue toothbrush). I have learned this often doesn’t reflect the DP skill level but the agencies desire to nail the production (which is their job after all). As noted in #1; months of pitching and prep work can lead up to even a simple 1 day shoot. A lot of times the agency creatives have a lot riding on the shoot. They just want to nail it. In fact, as a director I find myself doing the same thing when hiring art directors or editors…. of course I want to see similar work in portfolios and sometimes ask for additional work samples.
Now a seasoned DP may read this and think… yea of course, I get all of these and I never directed. And I think this is true. However, working as a Director has given me first hand experience of working directly with an agency and I think I learned these lessons much quicker / sooner then I would have otherwise. .
Ultimately I think the most important lesson I have learned from working as Director that I can translate to DP jobs is a holistic understanding to bidding and production process, how everything doesn’t revolve around the camera department and how to help elevate the project and nail the project in the way the agency and director spent countless time on.
Here are a few random BTS photos… just to add some eye candy.
One year in....
Wow, what a year it has been! I’m posting this almost a year to the day NYC locked down and the world as we know it changed. 2020 was hard. I could sit here, show off all the work I (eventually) shot in 2020 and pretend it was easy, but I won’t, 2020 was hard!
From the very start of Covid & quarantine I took things extremely serious. At the start of quarantine my daughter was 5 months old and our neighborhood of Jackson Heights, Queens was quickly becoming the epicenter of the US epicenter, which as a new parent made things extremely scary.
With the option to leave the city for our somewhat unfinished rustic upstate cabin, (which we bought in 2018-- thank god, and have been slowing re-modeling) we did. I spent the first 6 months of quarantine splitting my days between being a stay at home dad and a home renovator. The combo did wonders for my metal health. If there was one time in my life for my professional work to take a back seat, it was now. I was able to spend so much time with my daughter. I was home for her first steps and her first words. Those precious moments will always be the silver lining of Quarantine, the ability to spend almost every moment of every day of the first year of my daughter’s life at home with her.
I barely worked between March and September. The few shoots that kept me busy during this period were pickups for EU production that couldn’t shoot in the US. The two notable shoots were contributing to an Alan Walker x Hans Zimmer music video and a few steadicam / lifestyle shots for an EU Porsche Spot. I made monthly trips back to NYC for shoots or to check in on our apartment in Queens. Each trip felt like a time-lapse, seeing how the city had changed and adapted to Covid.
Through Summer of 2020 I had a lot of false starts to work, bids and holds that geared up fast but then disappeared as quickly. However by September of 2020 things really started to gear up. I Directed/DP’ed an awesome project for Rolling Stone right in Woodstock, NY (only 30 minutes from our Cabin). Then as I continued to get busier and my wife’s work also picked up we decided to pack our bags and go to Los Angeles, to my in-laws, for a few months. With the ability to hustle, (Thank you grandparents!) I was able to work a bunch. I shot a series of broadcast spots for Proactiv and also shot a chef series featuring Tim Hollingsworth, Suzanne Goin and Mei Lin.
Fast forward a few months and it’s now 2021, one year to the day the world locked down. After returning to NY from CA we spent the winter upstate. Luckily, I had the opportunity to shoot an awesome 100% remote job for Intuit and then Directed/DP’ed a weeklong commercial food studio project. As much as we love being in the Hudson Valley, my wife and I decided to return to NYC. We are now back in our apartment in Queens. The neighborhood of Jackson Heights is as lively and populated as ever. A few stores have closed, but in general the neighborhood has retained the bustling hustle of every-day NYC. We have a lovely nanny-share with our neighbors and both my wife and I are finding the balance of life and work. We will still be upstate as much as possible, but the time felt right to readjust our lives back to the city.
One last work note. In the last year I really feel I have done every form of Covid era production. I have instructed 100% drop-kit shoots, I have worked with remote agencies and production companies from around the world, I have worked on larger 50+ person sets, I have also shot solo when needed (at the beginning of Covid). I have flown to LA twice, I have been Covid tested so many times I’ve lost count. Every step of the way I have taken set safety and Covid compliance extremely seriously. As a department head I feel an extra sense of responsibility.
I think 2020 was a real humbling experience that taught me to not take any work for granted. As production ramps up in 2021 I’m super excited to see pre-covid levels of work returning and hope all corners (and crew) of our industry continue to get busier and busier.
From top to bottom:
Alan Walker x Hans Zimmer Music Video - NYC UNIT DP
Westholme Wagyu x Tim Hollingworths - (DP - LA)
Proactiv - :30 broadcast shoot - (DP - LA)
Westholme Wagyu x Suzanne Goin (DP - LA)
Westholme Wagyu x Mei Lin (DP - LA)
Porsche: What Drives US - EU Broadcast spot (NYC UNIT DP)
United Therapeutics - The Future - (DP)
And below are a handful of BTS photos.
ABOVE: As with a lot of DPs, I’ve been starting to use the Hudson Spiders a lot more. I love the ability to throw them on a boom arm and quickly adjust for subjects features. I haven’t owned a single piece of lighting gear, ever, but I’m seriously considering buying a Hudson Spider.
BELOW: For the Proactiv spots I paired the ARRI MiniLF with the new ARRI signature primes. We shoot open gate in order to deliver 16x9 and also various social aspect ratios.
YES! I shot my daughter’s first birthday on my ARRI.
Here is a good idea of why its important to NOT be a lens snob or get stuck on just one look. Each project has different needs. The Anamorphic 75 SF was for an ESPN documentary interviews. The show’s DP in LA set the look, I was simply matching it for the NYC portion. The Anamorphic give the interviews a very distinctive look, helping to set the series apart. The Canon 50-1000 couldn’t be more of a different lens, but atlas a different project where we needed the extreme reach.
Above: Gabriel Pimenta rocking the Steaidcam for an EU Porsche spot.
ARRI Amira piared with vintage Zeiss B-Speeds
LENSES, LENSES, LENSES!
A selection of BTS photos.
PANAVISON LENSES
