Motorcycles in Chennai!

March 25, 2016 in Uncategorized

I started 2016 off with an awesome week long shoot in Chennai, India for Royal Enfield & W+K! Working with the New Delhi office of W+K, I was tasked with Directing/DPing the "development" story of the New Royal Enfield Himalayan, a lightweight adventure bike. The final project incorporated footage from a previous motorcycle trip I took through Ladakh (the northern tip of India), archival testing footage from Royal Enfield, and new footage we shot on our week long trip. We spent a good chunk of the trip at the Royal Enfield Factories, which was a dream come true! It was amazing to see the legendary Royal Enfield factory (Which has been functional since the 1940s) and also the new Royal Enfield high tech factory south of Chennai. Even eating in the mess hall was awesome!

After we finished up with interviews and factory footage, we headed up to Andhra Pradesh, to film some riding footage with the new Himalayan. While the shoot was demanding, my awesome camera opt Andy Whitlatch managed to snap a few BTS photos.

One last note, the crews in Chennai are wonderful! The production, while challenging on many levels, went off super smooth thanks to amazing local support!

And here is one of the final edits:

CAMERAS! CAMERAS! CAMERAS!

January 19, 2015

Camera bodies are really the new film stock, so heres is a round up of a few camera rigs I have shoot with over the last few months (and a quick bit about why that package was chosen!).

Alexa, Zeiss Master Primes

Nothing really beats the Alexa and nothing beats Master Primes, so whenever I'm shooting a project with the budget, its a great option! This setup was used to shoot a broadcast PSA to raise awareness of speeding in work zones.

Because we were shooting near a highway, we had a lot of limitations on where we could place lights. It was also a super windy night, so flying a 20x was not an option. The result? The idea of bouncing a 4k into the grip truck and an 8x!

Wireless focus system = a must when shooting handheld with such a beefy rig.

A rare BTS shot of myself without a camera on my shoulder.

Alexa with the Canon 30-105

Same project as above, but different concept and spot. We interviewed real workers about the dangers of working on highways. We used a "bungee" rig to give the illusion of handheld. Why not just handheld? Because we were shooting 18 individuals over a 10 hour day, and constantly having the camera up and ready, kept the day moving fast, while also saving my back!!! The zoom was also picked to keep the day moving fast.

Red Dragon Epic, Black Magic Cinema Camera, EF Glass

For a new feature doc project, we utilized a Red Dragon as A-cam and a BMCC as B-cam. We shoot 6k with the Dragon (so we could cheat 2 fame sizes out of the master) and 4k in the BMCC. This way the edit could maintain 4k, but still have room to move around on A camera. While a 2nd Dragon would have been ideal for B-cam, we choose the BMCC as the best budget friendly 2nd camera.

Arri Amira, Fuji 19-90

I was hired to direct and DP a few short films for the New York City Ballet. The project incorporated a number of camera formats (some archival was shot on the c300 and EX1), but we choose to use the Amira and a Fujion 19-90 for all the interviews and additional B-roll. The wide end of the 19-90 was great for covering dance (alway want to get those extensions!) and the long end of the zoom was great for the interviews. The zoom also allowed us to move quickly, as we had to shoot around real rehearsals and busy schedules. The high frame rates on the Amira was a nice creative tool as well.

Sony F55, Canon EF glass

Damn, I wish I could say more about this project but they got me an NDA! Long story short, I got to go to Germany to film rally car racing! The F55 would already chosen before I was hired, but I will say the frame rate options and the global shutter proved to be fantastic for shooting fast action. The choice of Canon glass was somewhat budget, and somewhat logistical. Since we were shooting racing we couldn't also get close to the action. I knew we were going to have to move around a ton, and I decided a small zoom like the canon 70-200 would allow for so much more coverage (in terms of set up) over a cinema lens such as the Optimo 25-250.

Using Canon glass with the F55 is tricky. We had an iris controller (The box on the top right), but it was funky, bulky, and didn't always work. Knowing this possible problem in advance, I brought along my Tiffen variable ND, and kept it on the front no matter what lens I was shooting. This way I could just pick an F-stop I liked, and then use the internal NDs and variable ND to get the exact exposure I wanted. This may sound like a pain, but I found it just as fast as changing iris on a regular cinema lens.

MARFA TEXAS

July 29, 2014

As a kid I was obsessed with Texas. My grandfather was an East Coast cowboy and filled me with fantastic tales of the west. I even had my mom write to the Texas tourism board for booklets on the state. Years later when I made it to Austin, Dallas, Houston & San Antonio for shoots I felt like I had been lied to as a kid. Major cities, urban sprawl and no real cowboys. Well, I finally got to experience the Texas I always imagined as a kid, and that Texas is 9 hours west of the major cities in towns like Fort Davis and in the country side outside Marfa. Thanks to my radically awesome friend Bennet Barbakow I ended up in Marfa, Texas on a shoot last month. Marfa is a funky artsy town located in the middle of NOWHERE Texas. But thats the point. The isolation is part of what makes Marfa, Marfa. Since learning about Marfa a few years ago I have always wanted to go, but never had a good reason to make the trip (7 hours from San Antonio and 3 hours from El Paso… its tough to get too). We were only in Marfa for a few days but I made the most of it. I spent nights wondering around the town shooting some stills and the days gawking at the beautiful landscapes. The USA continues to amaze me with some of the most beautiful and diverse landscapes in the world.

PANAMA CANAL & HISTORY CHANNEL

July 29, 2014

I love the mix of projects I'm lucky enough to work on. From the studios in Manhattan to the salt flats of Bolivia to the Yukon river delta, I have really worked in a wild range of places and conditions... and I have a new one to add. Back in April I headed down to Panama for 2 weeks of production on a History Channel shoot with my friends at Radiant Features. We spent two weeks filming the new Panama Canal construction zone, which is the new set of locks being built to accommodate super freighters. The construction site is the size of THREE! Empire State building laid on its side. The best part was the fact we got to film in sections of the site, which once finished, will be under water for possibly the rest of human history. Pretty cool! The shoot was a blast, but also some of the toughest conditions I have worked in. We were essentially working in a cement plant the entire time (aka endless dust). We were also dealing with Central American sun and humidity, not to mention extremely dangerous situtations (ever been clipped in to scaffolding 14 stories up while guys are pouring cement next to you?). Hire me for a gig and I’ll tell you some more stories!