If you've been following this blog, you'll remember a certain star-studded video I shot last year for Philip Dolin of Particle Productions and the American Jewish World Service ("And Many Happy Returns..."). In March, Philip and I headed down to Florida to shoot a follow-up piece on one of the founders of AJWS, Larry Phillips (of the Van Heusen apparel company). It's a simple interview-based piece, like the Ruth Messinger tribute, with a similar style to the previous video. Enjoy.
Produced, Directed & Edited by Philip Dolin & Molly Bernstein
Cameraman: Me
Sound recordist: Roy Chase
Production Company: Particle Productions
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
16 August, 2011
22 June, 2011
Recent stuff...
Been a busy few weeks:
-Shot an interview in NYC for an NHK Japan Special Documentary regarding the nuclear crisis over there. Had to light and shoot according to a formula they use - basically matching the look of their pieces. Also encountered one of the first really good reasons not to bring on a sound mixer. "Oh, it's going to be dubbed into Japanese, so it's really not worth it."
-Gaffed a video for Bayer (Aspirin co.) for DP, Roger Grange. Another situation where we had to match a look, except this was even more precise. The client (a great, top-tier marketing co.) had a swatch for the color of blue on the background that we had to replicate. The result was great, though, and it was a short, relatively easy short with some great people I like to work with.
-[Almost] shot a spectacular interview with former NHL star, Sheldon Kennedy for "Coached Into Silence." We arrived, loaded in, set up a wonderful shot and then found out that of the 12 different people the producer confirmed with at the location (to remain nameless), none of them really had any say in the matter. Kennedy and his friend/colleague Wayne McNeil gunned so hard for us at the location, but ultimately the location didn't budge and none of the aforementioned 12 answered their phones that day... Ultimately, the crew got to sit down with Sheldon and Wayne a bit to figure out what was next. The situation really seemed to set Kennedy and McNeil on fire and they offered to secure us location in Toronto that would be even better (and more relevant) than the pompous, elitist one that had ignored our efforts here in NY. Air Canada Centre, here we come!
-Shot a music video in Tribecca for local artist, Andrew Watt. Kinetic Fin got me involved with this one and though it was a lot of work, I think something cool will come of it. Also got to meet a couple of really great people in the process. AND on top of it all, 2 hours before wrapping on the last day (and leaving Tribecca for a very long spell - I don't make it down there much), I ran into a friend I haven't seen in 10 years. So random...
That's it so far. This Sunday, I'm headed off to Phoenix with Matt Johnston from Kinetic Fin for the PDMA Conference on Social Product Development & Co-Creation. Should be a good time.
More good stuff on the horizon... keep checking in...
-Shot an interview in NYC for an NHK Japan Special Documentary regarding the nuclear crisis over there. Had to light and shoot according to a formula they use - basically matching the look of their pieces. Also encountered one of the first really good reasons not to bring on a sound mixer. "Oh, it's going to be dubbed into Japanese, so it's really not worth it."
-Gaffed a video for Bayer (Aspirin co.) for DP, Roger Grange. Another situation where we had to match a look, except this was even more precise. The client (a great, top-tier marketing co.) had a swatch for the color of blue on the background that we had to replicate. The result was great, though, and it was a short, relatively easy short with some great people I like to work with.
-[Almost] shot a spectacular interview with former NHL star, Sheldon Kennedy for "Coached Into Silence." We arrived, loaded in, set up a wonderful shot and then found out that of the 12 different people the producer confirmed with at the location (to remain nameless), none of them really had any say in the matter. Kennedy and his friend/colleague Wayne McNeil gunned so hard for us at the location, but ultimately the location didn't budge and none of the aforementioned 12 answered their phones that day... Ultimately, the crew got to sit down with Sheldon and Wayne a bit to figure out what was next. The situation really seemed to set Kennedy and McNeil on fire and they offered to secure us location in Toronto that would be even better (and more relevant) than the pompous, elitist one that had ignored our efforts here in NY. Air Canada Centre, here we come!
-Shot a music video in Tribecca for local artist, Andrew Watt. Kinetic Fin got me involved with this one and though it was a lot of work, I think something cool will come of it. Also got to meet a couple of really great people in the process. AND on top of it all, 2 hours before wrapping on the last day (and leaving Tribecca for a very long spell - I don't make it down there much), I ran into a friend I haven't seen in 10 years. So random...
That's it so far. This Sunday, I'm headed off to Phoenix with Matt Johnston from Kinetic Fin for the PDMA Conference on Social Product Development & Co-Creation. Should be a good time.
More good stuff on the horizon... keep checking in...
10 June, 2011
26 April, 2011
Russian Invasion!
A few weeks ago I traveled to Nürburg, Germany with Kinetic Fin to shoot material for a documentary series on Jim Glickenhaus and his Ferrari P 4/5 Competizione, a remarkable one-off supercar. In June, the car will compete in the 24 Hours Nürburgring endurance race. Last week was qualifying and testing.
Going into this first trip (we'll be going again for the 24H, and possibly one more time before), very few details were known by the crew. Where were we to stage? Where could we shoot from? What exactly is the schedule for the race? We knew the car, we knew what it set out to do in Nürburg, but we were in the dark as far as logistics went. So we considered this trip somewhat of a scout and just went into it open-minded, ready to adapt.
I knew that even if there were prime press areas to shoot from, I'd need a lens on the long end to get great shots of the car and the action. I already had an 80-300mm zoom in my arsenal, but it's a long and thin beast and can get a bit wobbly on occasion. Ideally, I'd use that on rods with a lens support but with Kinetic Fin, we like to roll light and scaled back as much as possible. Also, I wanted closer than 300mm. Enter the Russian-made Zenit 3M-5CA 500mm f/8 lens...
This beast is a reflex lens, that is, it accomplishes its focal length with the use of mirrors in the lens, rather than the traditional design. This allows it to be lighter and -let's not dance around it- cheaper than comparable-length telephotos. The problems with reflex lenses are that you usually sacrifice some contrast and the bokeh is ellipsoidal. The bokeh thing was not a problem for me. I don't mind interesting stuff going on back there. The contrast issue, however, was a concern. So I researched and researched and stumbled upon the Zenit. A few videos later and I was sold. A quick search found me a mint one for a reasonable price and a week later, I had the lens in my hand...
As you can see from the video, it holds up nicely. Being on the longer end, there is considerable "jello" (DSLR sensor-related wobble) but while following fast cars or completely locked off, that is hardly an issue. The biggest problem I found was that the lens is a fixed-aperture lens. It's f/8 and f/8 only. Normally, I would've loved to stop down on a long lens like this and increase my DoF. But of course, compromises must be made if you want to save literally thousands of dollars on a telephoto lens like this. So I had to rack focus. Luckily there was time to practice - if I had to roll live, this would not have been the ideal lens, but shooting to edit leaves room to rehearse your shots and practice your racks... let me tell you, maintaining focus on cars going this fast towards and then past you is no easy task.
Going into this first trip (we'll be going again for the 24H, and possibly one more time before), very few details were known by the crew. Where were we to stage? Where could we shoot from? What exactly is the schedule for the race? We knew the car, we knew what it set out to do in Nürburg, but we were in the dark as far as logistics went. So we considered this trip somewhat of a scout and just went into it open-minded, ready to adapt.
I knew that even if there were prime press areas to shoot from, I'd need a lens on the long end to get great shots of the car and the action. I already had an 80-300mm zoom in my arsenal, but it's a long and thin beast and can get a bit wobbly on occasion. Ideally, I'd use that on rods with a lens support but with Kinetic Fin, we like to roll light and scaled back as much as possible. Also, I wanted closer than 300mm. Enter the Russian-made Zenit 3M-5CA 500mm f/8 lens...
This beast is a reflex lens, that is, it accomplishes its focal length with the use of mirrors in the lens, rather than the traditional design. This allows it to be lighter and -let's not dance around it- cheaper than comparable-length telephotos. The problems with reflex lenses are that you usually sacrifice some contrast and the bokeh is ellipsoidal. The bokeh thing was not a problem for me. I don't mind interesting stuff going on back there. The contrast issue, however, was a concern. So I researched and researched and stumbled upon the Zenit. A few videos later and I was sold. A quick search found me a mint one for a reasonable price and a week later, I had the lens in my hand...
As you can see from the video, it holds up nicely. Being on the longer end, there is considerable "jello" (DSLR sensor-related wobble) but while following fast cars or completely locked off, that is hardly an issue. The biggest problem I found was that the lens is a fixed-aperture lens. It's f/8 and f/8 only. Normally, I would've loved to stop down on a long lens like this and increase my DoF. But of course, compromises must be made if you want to save literally thousands of dollars on a telephoto lens like this. So I had to rack focus. Luckily there was time to practice - if I had to roll live, this would not have been the ideal lens, but shooting to edit leaves room to rehearse your shots and practice your racks... let me tell you, maintaining focus on cars going this fast towards and then past you is no easy task.
Anyway, I managed and got what I needed for the job. I'm definitely looking forward to shooting with this bad boy again in June. Here are some selects using this lens (there's a lot more good stuff on this lens but until the film comes out, I'm limited to what I can show).
02 March, 2010
Karma?
So in my last post I mentioned something on the horizon that would be very exciting. That something was a trip to Sweden for the Gevalia work. Well, unfortunately, that trip fell through about a month ago. It's still happening but for a variety of reasons, the director has to now do it on his own. So I was a little bummed for a bit. Then, less than a month after Sweden went away, I got an opportunity to go to Budapest, Hungary for a shoot with a different client. I was reminded of the "even steven" episode of Seinfeld - it all tends to work itself out.
So Budapest was last week and it was cool. It was a very brief stay, arriving Wednesday afternoon and leaving for home very early Saturday morning. Thursday and Friday were shoot days and we did a lot of shooting. It was an industrial for an ad agency, Wunderman, involving one of their big clients, Nokia. Same sort of idea as my Texas trip last November. Anyway, all in all, it went well but it was definitely an eye opener. Early Thursday, about 40 minutes before we were due to roll, some of the producer's gear began acting up - a wireless mic that was do be on a key player in this shoot. Needless to say, this was a serious problem. Luckily, we had a great P.A. on board (a local) and within minutes, she was on the phone to a rental house arranging to rent a replacement wireless system. By the end of her conversation, we figured out the problem with the producer's gear and the P.A. arranged to have a replacement part also sent over. Within 20 minutes, the gear was there and we were rolling. The next day, we were presented with another issue - as it turned out, there would be two key players in that day's shoot (which was not the original plan). Luckily our system was working again and we had the rental on hand so yet again, things worked themselves out. Had we not had the unexpected and somewhat stressful mic failure occurred the day before, we wouldn't have had the second wireless system.
All in all, it was nice. With the work schedule, I didn't get to do much touristy stuff but I had some fantastic local food every day, saw a great gypsy band and stayed in a very nice, historic hotel (the Hotel Gellart).
Anyway, the weekend before Budapest, shooting commenced on a feature film I'm working on, "Director's Cut." It's a low-budget film with a rather small crew and the weekend was a great icebreaker. My frequent cohort, Bret Scheinfeld, is aboard as sound mixer and I've got a pretty nice support crew. Marcus, my gaffer, is cool, and I've got a couple of G&E-dedicated P.A.s that are really into it and very quick learners. I think the Spring shoot will go pretty smoothly.
So the most important rule we've got to follow for this shoot is the K.I.S.S. principal ("keep it simple, stupid"). There's just so much to get done on such a short schedule, so the setups need to be versatile and quick to change. So we're lighting things in broader strokes and keeping things relatively high key. It's a comedy, anyway, and the director definitely wants a brighter feeling for most of the film. Below is a still from one of our scenes.
A 4bank fluorescent for the key and a large diffused window for fill and ambiance. Behind the actor, a small HMI for edge.
We're shooting on the director's camera, a Panasonic HMC150. It's a prosumer model that shoots 1080/24p video to SDHC cards. If time and money allowed, I'd shoot 35mm for this - or at the very least Super16 or RED. But the budget is what it is and the schedule is tight so the best format available to us is what we've got so that's that. Besides, I'm a pretty format-agnostic cameraman. I really believe that with the right lighting, composition and settings (including digital tweaks and optical filtration), you can make great images no matter the format.
Coming up later this week is another shoot for Gevalia with director, Bradley Farrell (again with Bret on board for sound). It's a tasting party for a new blend and apparently there will be some "celebrities" there. 3 camera shoot at Gevalia's corporate kitchen with a Canon 5D and two HVX200. With the amount of coverage and the fact that at any one time a camera could be shooting in any direction, the lighting approach has to be pretty simple (and of course, good). The available light is pretty nice there - high ceilings with warm fluorescents for an overall base level. Accent lights under the cabinets and these small frosted pendant lights positioned over the granite islands. I'm thinking I'm going to fly a couple of 250w fresnels (flooded) crossing as back/edge lights (they'll be attached to the drop ceiling). I'm hoping that'll be enough but I'm prepared to bounce something into the ceiling from the front of the space if necessary.
So that's all for now. Pictures from Gevalia to come.
Bye!
So Budapest was last week and it was cool. It was a very brief stay, arriving Wednesday afternoon and leaving for home very early Saturday morning. Thursday and Friday were shoot days and we did a lot of shooting. It was an industrial for an ad agency, Wunderman, involving one of their big clients, Nokia. Same sort of idea as my Texas trip last November. Anyway, all in all, it went well but it was definitely an eye opener. Early Thursday, about 40 minutes before we were due to roll, some of the producer's gear began acting up - a wireless mic that was do be on a key player in this shoot. Needless to say, this was a serious problem. Luckily, we had a great P.A. on board (a local) and within minutes, she was on the phone to a rental house arranging to rent a replacement wireless system. By the end of her conversation, we figured out the problem with the producer's gear and the P.A. arranged to have a replacement part also sent over. Within 20 minutes, the gear was there and we were rolling. The next day, we were presented with another issue - as it turned out, there would be two key players in that day's shoot (which was not the original plan). Luckily our system was working again and we had the rental on hand so yet again, things worked themselves out. Had we not had the unexpected and somewhat stressful mic failure occurred the day before, we wouldn't have had the second wireless system.
All in all, it was nice. With the work schedule, I didn't get to do much touristy stuff but I had some fantastic local food every day, saw a great gypsy band and stayed in a very nice, historic hotel (the Hotel Gellart).
Anyway, the weekend before Budapest, shooting commenced on a feature film I'm working on, "Director's Cut." It's a low-budget film with a rather small crew and the weekend was a great icebreaker. My frequent cohort, Bret Scheinfeld, is aboard as sound mixer and I've got a pretty nice support crew. Marcus, my gaffer, is cool, and I've got a couple of G&E-dedicated P.A.s that are really into it and very quick learners. I think the Spring shoot will go pretty smoothly.
So the most important rule we've got to follow for this shoot is the K.I.S.S. principal ("keep it simple, stupid"). There's just so much to get done on such a short schedule, so the setups need to be versatile and quick to change. So we're lighting things in broader strokes and keeping things relatively high key. It's a comedy, anyway, and the director definitely wants a brighter feeling for most of the film. Below is a still from one of our scenes.
A 4bank fluorescent for the key and a large diffused window for fill and ambiance. Behind the actor, a small HMI for edge.
We're shooting on the director's camera, a Panasonic HMC150. It's a prosumer model that shoots 1080/24p video to SDHC cards. If time and money allowed, I'd shoot 35mm for this - or at the very least Super16 or RED. But the budget is what it is and the schedule is tight so the best format available to us is what we've got so that's that. Besides, I'm a pretty format-agnostic cameraman. I really believe that with the right lighting, composition and settings (including digital tweaks and optical filtration), you can make great images no matter the format.
Coming up later this week is another shoot for Gevalia with director, Bradley Farrell (again with Bret on board for sound). It's a tasting party for a new blend and apparently there will be some "celebrities" there. 3 camera shoot at Gevalia's corporate kitchen with a Canon 5D and two HVX200. With the amount of coverage and the fact that at any one time a camera could be shooting in any direction, the lighting approach has to be pretty simple (and of course, good). The available light is pretty nice there - high ceilings with warm fluorescents for an overall base level. Accent lights under the cabinets and these small frosted pendant lights positioned over the granite islands. I'm thinking I'm going to fly a couple of 250w fresnels (flooded) crossing as back/edge lights (they'll be attached to the drop ceiling). I'm hoping that'll be enough but I'm prepared to bounce something into the ceiling from the front of the space if necessary.
So that's all for now. Pictures from Gevalia to come.
Bye!
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