The F Stop

St. Jude / SPX Racing Car Commercial

2010-02-11T07:40:00.004-05:00

Here's a great example of how a quick-thinking creative director can turn a rather blase idea into something fun to watch. The SPX Corporation was auctioning off a Ford Mustang FR500S with proceeds going to the St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital. Originally, I was to fly to one of the locations that was displaying the car to shoot whatever footage I could get. When timing logistics spoiled that opportunity, Creative Director Jamie Ambler master-minded the concept of having several kids face the camera and growl out their sound effects of a racing car.

We shot on the Sony EX3. (As a side note, we were going to shoot with my Panasonic HDX900, recording to a Firestore Drive; but at one point, I inadvertently plugged the firewire cable in upside-down into the camera and fried the port's fuse. Ouch. $150 lesson learned).

Lighting was pretty straightforward. Two 2k Zip lights (A) flanked the talent, one at full intensity, the other at half. A spotted Baby 1k fresnel for a back light. And the occasional light flashes across the talent's faces was achieved by spinning a 2k Junior (B) so that it first kicked the talent's face, then reflected off the front shiny board for a quick Fill flash, and then hit the 2nd shiny board for another kick on the face.

To further add to the sense of speed, a fan blew at the kids from below camera-right, while I also shook the camera and tripod during most of the takes. Last thing that helped a little was to shoot at shutter speed of 1/500.

All in all, I think it turned out great, particularly for being so low budget. If I could do anything differently, I think shooting with a 1/1000 shutter speed would have worked even better, and a different method of shaking the camera to create even more "road-shake" also would have added to the sense of speed.

Here's the finished clip:

View on ExposureRoom

Sonya

2009-11-29T19:28:00.029-05:00

In my line of work, I occasionally get the opportunity to witness some rather remarkable things, and sometimes to travel to amazing places. Every once in a while, I even have the fortune to meet some truly extraordinary people. I recently went to San Francisco to begin a documentary on the Pacific School of Massage & Healing Arts founder, Fred Mitouer, and while his work is groundbreaking and fascinating, it was one of his patients who has left an indelible mark on my heart.

Sonya was raised in an affluent San Diego family whose house was featured in two issues of Architectural Digest. Her mother wore designer clothes. Her father: the President of a Savings and Loan firm and a member of the Democratic Steering Committee. But beneath that veneer of normalcy, Sonya spent the first seventeen years of her life as the victim of her parent's ritual satanic cult.

Sonya's father began raping her as early as the age of three. Her mother would repeatedly strangle her to the brink of death in a backyard shed. Her older sister sodomized her with any number of miscellaneous objects. And the entire family would torture Sonya in their basement dungeon. The result is a woman with two coexisting personalities living in her mind: that of her 64 year old self, and that of Little Sonya, the three-year-old fragmentation of her abuse, and the bearer of the memories of her torture.

Big Sonya is a beautiful woman in all respects - warm, thoughtful, articulate, and courageous. She holds a Masters Degree in Psychology from Cal State Northridge. She managed an architectural design firm, was Director of Food Services at a senior health program, and her recipes have been published in Better Homes and Gardens, Good Housekeeping, and Bon Apetite. Speaking to Big Sonya is like speaking to any well-spoken, intelligent, and successful woman, with the added bonus of a splendidly goofy sense of humor.

Little Sonya is described as a three year old, but her demeanor, colloquialisms and vocabulary are a magical blend of ages that often feel adolescent. She is vivacious and adorably brazen, with the marvelous curiosity and keen sense of observation that one would expect of a young girl.

But unlike traditional multiple personalities in which each identity is compartmentalized, Big Sonya and Little Sonya are simultaneously present at all times. They share thoughts. They interrupt each other. They talk to each other within her mind, and sometimes one of them will speak for the other. And it all happens so seamlessly and naturally, that one's own demeanor when speaking to her changes on the fly to accommodate the age of whichever identity is present.

Yet while all of this fascinates, it is not what makes Sonya so special. It's her courage, energy, selflessness and compassion not only with everything that has happened, but despite what's about to happen as well. After decades of psychotherapy and the more recent and highly successful transformational work of Fred Mitouer, Sonya was finally able to exorcize the horrors of her youth. She was on the verge of moving elsewhere, starting afresh, and embracing the opportunities of a new Future. That is until August of 2009 when doctors diagnosed her with fourth stage ovarian cancer and informed her that she would soon die.

Sonya could curl up in a ball of angry, frustrated depression over the cruel irony that Life has slapped her with. Yet despite her recent, second dosage of chemotherapy, she managed to muscle through the rigors of our shoot with warmth and vivacity. Always positive. Ever thoughtful and compassionate. On the second day of our shoot, she presented to me a bagged lunch at six o'clock in the morning: a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a power bar, and a bottle of water. There are times in which I lack the motivation to mail an envelope, and there was Sonya, having made me a lunch before the sun had even risen.

I only first began corresponding with the Sonyas via email two weeks ago. I've only been in her presence for one and a half days. But her inspiration will live with me always, and I'll miss her dearly when she's gone. It is cruel and unfair that she could have endured so much, come so far, and to have achieved such a peace of mind that would have allowed her to start things over, only to be told that Death would soon rob her of that opportunity. Of course, maybe that's the bittersweet saving grace in the otherwise crappy timing, that at least she was able to exorcise the demons of her past and discover such an inner peace. And as Sonya puts it: that may be the best Fuck You to her family of tormentors.

Canon 5Dmk2 in The Library of Human Imagination

2009-11-15T19:27:00.010-05:00

What an amazing job this was. Executive Producer and Director David Hoffman approached me about lensing a video about the library of his friend, Jay Walker. As it happens, Walker is the billionaire whose think tank, Walker Digital, is responsible for creating Priceline.com, and his "library" is actually a stunning testament to the marvels of human imagination.

Attached to Walker's home, the MC Escher-inspired space feels more like a living museum than a library, treasuring such centuries-old marvels as a hand-written sketchbook of Leonardo da Vinci, one of the seventeen Soviet Sputnik satellites, a page from the original Gutenberg Bible, and even a chandelier from James Bond's "Die Another Day." The multi-tiered room that houses these gems is nearly as impressive to behold as its contents. I'd be spinning my wheels trying to continue with some prosaic description; you just have to see it to believe it, so I'll just get on to the nitty gritty and let these behind-the-scenes pictures do the rest.

Bottom line, we were tasked to develop a video teaser that explored, but didn't completely give away the wonder of his library. Technically speaking, this was no small feat. Very expensive items in this place, and Walker was understandably concerned about a giant crew coming in to shoot on the Red or bigger. That also meant that we were allowed only minimal lighting inside the library and had to rely on the library's (albeit impressive) internal lighting system for interior lighting (which my gaffer, Stephen Cannella, quickly got to work on, interpreting the lighting control panel, which for him was a cinch). So for size and lighting, the Canon 5D Mark II seemed a logical choice, minimizing some of our support gear, while giving us the light sensitivity to primarily shoot under available light.

One of my favorite shots is what I had envisioned as being one of the introductory shots for the video. For this, we took advantage of the beautifully crafted two-story windows, and pounded four 6K Par HMIs and an 18K fresnel through them from outside for a sunlit effect. (Can't have many lights IN the space, so lets slam a whole bunch of light in from OUTside the space!) We added a wee bit of atmospheric fog from Cannella's atomizer (although an early afternoon test with the level of smoke we had wanted, ended up setting off the fire alarm system in the library. Oops! No issues though). The shot features jib operator, Ian McGrew using the mk2 on a Varizoom 13' jib, dollying down the entry hallway (courtesy of Key Grip, Alexa Murdoch) across the glass walkway, and up and away into the library. (I was hoping to post the shot right here, but I think it's only on the editor's drive, not mine. Alas).

We also experimented with a 60 foot cable-cam shot, laterally traversing the entire library space using Cinevate's Pegasus Linear Tracking System with the modified cable cam wheels, but the system was just too premature in its development for it to give us a smooth shot. (Tried out the Pegasus Carbon as well, and soon Cinevate's "Heavy Lifter." Very curious to see how that performs, and will try to blog about both systems after a fair test).

So... Jib, Glide-cam, Dolly, and Cablecam. Ancient artifacts and an amazing space. Let's just say the shoot was loads of fun. I'll post the finished video when it's done.

Photos courtesy of David Hoffman.