New Music Video

I directed this bad boy :). Also shot it too. Special thanks to Neil Biagio

Shot on RED 4.5k

Arri Alexa

Was a second on a shoot with the Arri Alexa. An awesome camera with a lot of latitude. Super user friendly and easy to learn. You can't shoot arriraw yet but ProRes 4444 at Log-C is pretty amazing. And unlike waiting for days to transcode 4.5k Red, Alexa records right onto SxS cards that you pop right in and are ready to edit.

Really hope to shoot with this soon. The EI ranges from 200-1600 but the sweet spot is 800. At 800 you have 7 stops over and 7 under making it 14 stops :). May seem like a pain on a bright exterior but I'd rather use a ND 1.2 and have 7 stops for my highlights then lose the 2 stops to shoot at a 200. Also the noise is super low at 800.

So seems like grab the Alexa, some good glass, ND filters + T1 (to block out infared), and a decent lighting package (camera is great but its not magic you still want to get a healthy histogram/waveform and light the blacks if you want to see detail in them).

Pee Wee PIC In Times

Awhile back the NY TIMES put a article up about the Pee Wee broadway show. I guess they had photographers on the day when we shot the promo because I got my picture in the Times :) I have the physical article at home but found this on there website. Thats me in the back with the white shirt and the film tools ac pouch.

Coney Island Travels

I have lived in NYC for 5 years and have never been to Coney Island until last weekend. Shot a music video for this cool artist from Budapest named Modus. He makes instrumental beats, think El-P and DJ Shadow. Anyways our shoot started at Coney Island then to Bushwick followed by Dumbo and lastly Jersey City.

I directed and shot this. When I got the song it really signaled a visual video so I figured it would be right up my ally to direct. It was a great experience and I hope to do it more.

As far as shooting goes, we shot with the RED One and Zeiss ZF (18mm, 35mm, 50mm, and 85mm). I wound up using the 18mm quite a bit as we were shooting 4.5k and I really wanted some wide Sergio Leone type landscape shots. Coney Island was a blast to shoot so many cool/visual things over there I wish I had taken advantage of it sooner.

I really like the RED + ZEISS combo, it really makes a nice image and is so much better to work with than the 5 or 7D. I like the weight, super 35mm sensor and just that its made for capturing moving images. Not a still camera with the option to shoot movies.

Anyways I hope to get a film project soon! So if you have one contact me :)

AC Work

Had a busy week with some AC work. Did a day on a short film with DP Gordon Yu. Was first assistant with a 5D Zeizz ZF package. Fun shoot great crew. Only issues was the focus marking for the Redrock Follow Focus was broken so had to use some grease on the lens. Also 100mm with no focus ring and just pulling by the barrel at night wide open is a pain in the ass.

Finished up today on a spec commercial for NYU graduate student. I was the 2nd/Loader, was working with the Arricam ST and grands. NYU has a sweet deal they give there graduate students 2,000 feet of 35 to shoot a spec commercial with and rent out a whole ST package from CSC. They had a full set of MK II's, two Ultra Primes (180mm and 20mm) and a Cooke 25-250. Along with all the needed AKS.

Also learned that NYU owns a complete 435 package which can only go out to graduate students. I wish SVA did some cool things like that to get students excited about emulsion.

Late October early November

Had a busy month. Finsihed up a 4 day music video shoot in BK towards the end of October. It was great to have 4 days for a music video, got to take our time and get everything the director wanted. Song was pretty cool and Moeibus (director) came up with a great little narrative story to go with the video. Shot with the RED One and Zeiss ZF primes. Now I have shot with S4's, Superspeeds, and ZF's on that camera. Of course the s4's are the nicest. I will say the ZF SLR lens is a real nice piece of glass and def. a bit sharper than the Super Speeds, though Super Speeds are older lens and ZF's are realtively recent glass. Regardless I was extremely impressed with the quality I got.

It was a great shoot, thanks to Dave my first, Tom for keeping us on time, Pinky for crazy awesome production design and Moeibus and Piper for making a great song and video.

Shot a industrial for Sloan Kettering Memorial Cancer Center. This was my first industrial and it was a great experience. Mr. Vince Cross did a great job directing the project and keeping it simple. It was fun to light for this, nice soft portrait style compared to a lot of the contrasty/dark stuff I have been doing.

October

Had a real busy last few days. First had a crazy shoot following around Pee Wee Herman in NYC for his new show on Broadway. I was the second camera operator and my job was to get establishing shots and crowd reactions. It was a crazy day and at times a pain. We shot with

2 5D's, both with canon L series zoom. I was going to be with the 70-300 but with the speed we were moving at at the coverage we needed after the first location I switched back to the 24-110. Also some of the stuff was right in high noon sunlight which created a impossible contrast ratio that film would have a tough time with let alone the 5D sensor. We were not given any external lcd or sun shade so it was tough to nail exposure at times with the sun glaring into your face. Though it was a great shoot and really fun to be part of. People still love Pee Wee I was amazed at the response he got. Times Square + Pee Wee in a bike cab = crazy.

From there I was the second ac on this really cool doc about the Amazing Bongo Band. They created the song apache which is the main bboy song and one the songs that started hip hop. Great crew and very visual doc. The production was shooting on the RED MX and most of the

time the DP used his Cooke 18-100 though at times we did use some super speeds. The last day the MX was on a jimmy jib capturing a bunch of breakdancers dancing around. It looked incredible. Shooting days had some interesting interviews with QuestLove of the Roots, Melle Mel and Grand Master Kaz of the Furious Five, and the awesome Grand Wizard Theodor who invented the DJ scratch.

Lastly Cole Complex got into the Williamsburg International Film Festival :). Really happy about that. We just wanted to get into one festival. Just to say the film had a life after the dustys. Never thought we would be accepted into 3. Another film I had shot "The Slipping Stone" directed by Amira Moodie came out with a poster. Its pretty sick.