Shot in HD on Panasonic HVX200's, with Letus 35mm lens adaptor for beautiful depth of field. The lighting environment in the comedy club was especially challenging: with twelve improvisational pages to shoot in one day --while catching live audience reactions-- we needed a lighting solution that would allow me to be nimble with the handheld work, and also allow for soaring crane shots without worrying about catching lights in the shot. I worked with Garrett LeFrance of High Output Providence to bring in stage lighting, which let us do both a crisp spot and wash from a lighting tree, and perched fresnels up high to give frontal and hair lighting to the audience. When caught in shots...they just added to the ambience. Wired lamps on tabletops were nice practicals and helped light our featured background talent (great idea from Chris Simmons, our Jimmy Jib owner/operator and a talented DP in his own right). My Lowell kit, as always, came in very handy to light our principals at the bar (love that softbox), throw light out of doorways etc.

Working with a 35mm adaptor yields beautiful depth of field, but it is tough on light-- along with the lenses, we're talking 3 or 4 stops of light loss. This is surmountable in the bright outdoors (see the Keeper, lower on this page), but here, even with all of our stage lighting and a fairly bright room to the eye, I had to really work to give us enough light for a clean image. But take a look-- the end result is where we wanted it-- a crisp image, and the appearance of a dark club on a very bad evening for one particular comic-- and her audience.

Several shorter versions were also created for their website and marketing DVDs, but this is the Director's Cut.

This short was produced as part of the National Film Challenge of 2008, in which filmmakers produce a piece from concept to completion in 72 short hours. These sorts of projects are always good learning experiences, and a great way to push oneself in the personal development of skills, leadership and time management; in this way, the dropped responsibilites of others under pressure can be seen as a great opportunity to learn and grow. It sure separates the wheat from the chaff, and I came away with some new friends and future collaborators whom I know I can trust to keep a good attitude, use their talents, and get the job done.

A funny story from this production came as I was chasing the main character, running full tilt with my camera through a warehouse...A rickety piece of wall actually came crashing down on me as we hit our final mark. All I had to say was-- 'Dammit! That was gonna be a great shot, too!'

I always enjoy handheld work, and I got to do a fair bit here. I particularly like the reactive dance I did with the main character during and after his phone call, and the responsive work during the most emotional and intense scenes.

I worked as DP/Camera Op on half of this shoot, capturing the action at the office building location (interior and exterior).

This was a typical, very low-budge indie shoot. Favorite memories: zooming backwards down a hallway in a wheelchair, to shoot our Security Guard striding along under the fluorescent lights. Mike DeMello, who played the guard, is a great guy with a great look, and I loved capturing his imposing menace from a low angle. I was psyched to see Mike show up recently in Surrogates with Bruce Willis...he's looking menacing again, as the gritty Gate Guard. Go Mike!

I also enjoyed faking Sharon hanging from the ceiling by a rope-- there was much discussion of the weight-bearing capacity of the drop ceiling, until I finally got the men to pipe down and listen-- I stuck the end of the rope under a ceiling panel, had Sharon stand there 'clinging' to the taught rope, I lay on the floor to get a shot up at her from an extreme low angle, and had her sway back and forth. Et voila! A woman hanging by a rope from the ceiling, in two minutes or less, and no property or bodily damage done.

That's one of my favorite things about filmmaking-- there's never enough money or time, so it's always a great opportunity to get my MacGuyver on!