Collaboration In the first half of 2023
The first half of 2023 has been a wonderful period of collaboration. I have been meeting and getting to know a few other local film makers that have invited me on to their sets. This has allowed me to focus my efforts into more specialized parts of film making like gaff, DP and Cameraman. I love directing but being able to step back and put all of my energy into a single aspect of filmmaking is extremely fun and rewarding.
Early this year I was given the opportunity to be the Director of Photography on a short film directed by Jaime Lastimosa titled “A Sweet Curse”. The film used candle light as the main motivation for the scenes which was a new puzzle for me. Every camera position created a fresh challenge of how to appropriately and creatively light the actors, without capturing the many lights and diffusers hidden mere inches out of frame. Lighting the scene well enough to avoid excessive noise and controlling the spill was something that was difficult to balance but the end result looks wonderful. Jaime really wanted and planned for a lot of steady motion with the camera so nearly every scene uses Jib arms or rails. Moving the camera from Jib to Rail to Tripod to Rail while also hiding all of the “candle light enhancers” was very slow but once again the end result made it all completely worth it. I recently got to see the film nearly complete and I’m incredibly proud of how it looks.
About a month after working on a sweet curse, Mike ghoul approached me to gaff on his Noir short film “Out on Death”. I love noir style film and especially love the lighting techniques used on them. Noir to me is full freedom in to use lighting in story telling to its fullest potential. Villains get harsh shadows, the femme-fatale gets a soft glow, shadows paint the wall and spotlights can be motivated or not. Anything goes! We used light and shadow carefully painted into every single scene and I’m shocked at how good and true to the genre it looks. Keep an eye out for this release, it’s an entertaining film that Mike really put his whole heart and soul into.
Fortunately I love working with Mike, Jaime and the rest of the holy shoot crew because soon after “Out on Death” we were back at it with Movie Madness’s first ever 48 hour film festival. This 48 hour festival went wonderfully. Mike wrote a funny, sad and sweet script that won best story and even though we only had 48 hours the stress stayed light thanks to a killer team with good vibes. “Live wire” was very well received by the audience and I’m glad got to see it premier in Movie Madness’s badass “Mini Plex”. This was Mike’s last film before moving back down to LA and I think it’s one of his best.
Otherwise this year I also have wrapped on a new music video for Marble that I’m incredibly proud of and excited to share more about, keep an eye on my blog and instagram to see exactly when it drops.
