Broadcast spot for the city of Bridgeport, CT, part of the "Better Every Day" campaign being produced by ProjectsbyCD2. It was a fun shoot all over Bridgeport with a trusty guide from the Mayor's office giving us access to places we couldn't get to otherwise.
Credit: Second Camera
Produced by: ProjectsbyCD2
This was another Maine State Senator campaign ad I DP'd this Fall for Projects by CD2, this time for Jim Boyle. 3 interviews with supporters and some supporting b-roll, all outdoors which made for simpler setups on a beautiful fall day.
DP: Theron Powell
Produced and Edited: projectsbycd2.com
This was a really fun spot to DP, way up in Allagash, Maine (as far north as you can go, ~5 hours driving north of Portland). Louis is the main character in the spot, whom we spent the day with watching him at work cutting wood. He's been a lumberjack for over 60 years. I feel like he should be in every LL Bean ad. I got to put my Red Epic's slo-mo to good use on this shoot and I'm glad everything turned out as nice as it looked in camera.
DP: Theron Powell
Produced and Edited by: projectsbycd2.com
Interview setup inside Louis' work shop.
One of the highlights of my summer work-wise was getting to film for the "Ready For Hillary" PAC in Iowa a few weeks ago for the guys at Chi/Donahoe + Cole/Duffey.
The shoot was a whirlwind, coming on the heels of being on a different shoot in NYC the full week previous, I wrapped that shoot at 2pm Friday, taxied to LaGuardia and hopped on a 4pm flight to Des Moines, cutting it pretty close. Didn't get to the hotel till after midnight, then out the door Saturday morning for a full day of shooting/prep for the main event on Sunday.
The reason for all the hubbub. Hillary speaking at the (last) annual Harkin Steak Fry outside Des Moines, Iowa.
The video was for Ready For Hillary, a PAC that has been traveling around the country in conjunction with Hillary's recent book tour, drumming up support for a "possible" run in 2016. We followed the bus around Des Moines for a bit Saturday, getting some beauty shots of the tour in motion.
Jim and I framing our shot of the tour bus driving near the capital building in Des Moines.
The main event was Senator Harkin's annual Steak Fry, which he's been doing for the last 30+ years. This was the last as he is stepping down. There was a crowd of over 10,000 people that showed up Sunday in a farm field, a lot of them there to see Hillary and Bill speak (and many hoping, in vain, for a special announcement from Hillary). Over 300 press were also there (CNN, C-SPAN, MSNBC, etc). It was quite a zoo.
Later on at the Steak Fry, on top of the bus getting a few crowd shots. I was happy to see they made it into the final cut.
Getting ready for one of many quick interviews for the video with some of the people attending.
From the staff photographer (and also Producer-extraordinaire), Aaron. Lots of Hillary fans lining up to get in.
The whole "Steak Fry" thing was a little confusing- no steaks were fried. I guess that's just how Iowans say "cookout." The real media-frenzy moment came when Hillary and Bill arrived and went to the main grill to "fry" some steaks. It was quite a spectacle. 300+ media people cramming around an L-shaped fence, all jockeying for a shot of the Clintons at the grill. Once there, they just poked at the meat for 10 seconds and then held it up on two spatulas for the media to get their shots, then walked off to the stage. Such a coordinated, complicit publicity stunt, which is par for the course, I'm sure, but seemed pretty silly at the time.
Jim getting his shot. The camera man to his right fell off his stool just after this was taken, to which none of the other media offered to help. Bunch of cut-throats.
I'm somewhere in there, all the way around to the left corner, one row back. Managed to squeeze in and get a few decent shots of the steak frying which also made it into the final cut.
The main event, Hillary, Senator Harkin, Bill, and Mrs. Harkin. Everyone wanted Hillary to announce, but she didn't. In fact, her speech really didn't say anything. Bill was as funny and charming as ever. The man's got people skills.
I will post the video once it's live, but saw the final cut and it looks great! These guys do awesome work.
Two weeks ago I had the pleasure of producing a great piece on Blackstone and its Veterans Initiative- a commitment to hire 50,000 veterans within its portfolio of companies in the next 5 years. They are 15 months in at this point and have already hired over 15,000.
This video focused on the veterans and their stories, to give a personal face to the numbers. This was a p3 production with Morgan Myer directing and shooting, me producing, and Justin Lacroix doing sound- a small 3 man crew. We spent the week in NYC speaking with veterans at their places of employment - a Michaels store, the Hilton Central Park, a La Quinta Inn & Suites in Long Island, AlliedBarton and Blackstone headquarters.
Some of the highlights...
Artichoke Pizza. Morgan doubted me. Then ate our whole pie. One of my must haves in NYC.
Interview setup in the Hilton Central Park, one of the oldest hotels in NYC.
Damage from getting rear-ended while stopped 6 cars in from a light. Took 2.5 hours for cops to show up, whom never did, but finally the third passing cop we flagged down actually stopped to write the report. Thankfully no one was harmed in the making of this photo.
Anything to get the shot. Thankfully (again) this happened after our accident, not during. Candidate for shittyrigs.com.
A discounted stay at the Waldorf Astoria. Here are doors to one set of elevators.
Waldorf lobby. Different world. Drinks here start at $18/per. Yay, Priceline!
September 11th, filming on the Brooklyn Bridge for a few shots.
Morgan did an incredible job putting this together and took the best moments from our interviews and footage to tell a strong story about why these men and women deserve consideration for employment for a wide range of jobs. One of the struggles veterans face in returning to the civilian workforce is explaining how the skills learned in active duty carry over to civilian jobs on a one-sheet resume. The least we can do is give them the opportunity to do so.
Another shoot with the talented gents at p3, this time teamed up with the also very talented Black Math guys. The video was for JoinMe, an online video calling/collaboration service. Morgan Myer was the DP for the spot directed by Jeremy Sahlman, and they rented my Red Epic which I operated.
Morgan really stepped up his game on this one, with a perfectly even-lit cyc wall and great talent lighting to boot.
Now that's how you light a cyc.
Notice on the bottom left of the monitor the waveform with the solid green line going straight across from left to right. This waveform monitor interprets the amount of light in the image from 0 (meaning total black) to 100 (meaning pure white). Black Math wanted a clean white to be able key out if needed for the animation they were going to create over the video. Having an evenly lit background is essential for this, and the waveform monitor notes how there is no variance in the lighting of the white background, which is not an easy thing to achieve on a 30'x40' wall.
Got to use some sweet cinema primes.
Nothing says Italy like a Vespa (apparently).
Our setup for the "French Cafe" scene.
A fun shoot with some really talented people.
Earlier this week I had the pleasure of working with the wonderful women at a Reverie Gallery- Erica Powell (my sister-in-law) and Caitlin Diggles (my beautiful wife)- on their photo shoot with Bliss Celebrations magazine. Reverie Gallery is a wedding vendor/inspiration guide, launching in September.
Sarah and Amy from Bliss Celebrations, along with Caitlin and Erica from Reverie Gallery getting ready for the shoot.
The shoot was at the University Club in Providence, R.I., our old stomping round once upon a time. The shoot was gorgeous and all the work that Reverie Gallery and Bliss put into organizing and planning it made my job easy. From the talented models to the amazing floral designs and decoration, all the sets looked fantastic.
It was also a pleasure to meet and work with the incredible photographer, Ben Verley, who happened to be another Syracuse native! I learned a lot just from watching her work with the models and seeing how she took the beautiful settings to another level through her direction of the models.
I will be posting some screenshots and a few videos from the shoot after the magazine publish date in February.