Editing: Taj Mahal

This series of web performances and interview created by Cdnow to support the release of Taj Mahal’s Shouting in Key. These segments were produced by Lori Rasso and exhibited on Cdnow’s website.

Editing: Panic

Over one weekend, this minute long PSA was created. Shot on a Saturday with a Sony PD-150 and lit with KinoFlos for the office scene and a 2k tungsten with a large soft box for the stand-up. A Chapman Super PeeWeeIV was also used for about 80% of shooting. Editing occur that following Sunday and the PSA was cut on a Avid Media Composer and later effected (film effect) on the Avid DS. The spot was directed by Michele Loshiavo and starred Michele’s twin Jennifer. Good people, good crew, great experience.

Editing: Change Trailer

I met Producer/Director Michele Loschiavo through a friend during pre-production of change. After a short conversation she asked if I would be interested on editing the dramatic short. This movie was the beginning of a long collaboration and most importantly friendship.

Editing: Gunslinger

I shot this in Deadwood, SD on a day that started with short sleeves and ended in a blizzard. Edited on an Avid Media Composer this is a longtime favorite that showcases a beautiful interview with a good story.

Editing: Red Hot Chili Peppers

This along with the Taj Mahal segment were edited for CDNow and used for web content. The Red Hot Chili Pepper interview was produced by W.Scott Prestwood and became one of the showcase pieces for the CDNow Video Production Department.

Director Of Photography: Cure by the Shore Open

Scott and I had been on the road together for about a month of two when he pitched me the idea of the old projectionist for the open of “QVC/EFI’s Cure by the Shore” a charity program benefiting Women’s Breast and Ovarian Cancer. We basically had zero money for a budget but Scott said the magic words to me, “Let’s shoot it on film.” We both agreed and went to work. I secured film, processing and transfer of less than $500 and Scott secured a location, actors, and camera of roughly $1,200. Shot on Super 16mm on Scott’s Éclair NPR. This was one on the first film shoot for me and it was Scott’s faith and reassurance that gave me the confidence to do this. As a side note: About three months later we would begin filming his documentary, “The Final Touch” in Denver, CO an adventure that would last roughly two years.
Thanks, Cowboy.

Director Of Photography: Modellista Shoes

“Can you Chroma Key a ceiling and still show the bottom of a model’s shoe… literally showing head to toe?” This was how I started one Monday morning, coffee in hand, working off of four hours sleep because kids love to test the mental and physical strength of their loving parents.
Modellista was a tremendous technical challenge. Shooting up through _” plexiglass and stretching seamless green chroma key paper above was a huge set up for the first shot, then striking that and setting up a chroma key green seamless for the model to run on, sit and step on, after this we brought in a rotator for the shoes, skinned that with (you guessed it) green chroma key paper and matched that into the existing seamless green background. All shot within eight hours.

Director Of Photography: Tae Bo

This is one of my all time favorite shoots. Why? Here are a few reasons – 16mm film (Kodak 7277 320T/72fps/f1.8), Michele Loschiavo directs, Billy Blanks is a super nice guy who is very passionate about his work, single light source, hazer, shot in two hours on Super Bowl Sunday (2002), and final it looks just as I saw it in my head when I first pitched the idea to Tim Neely in QVC’s Smoking Area.

Director Of Photography: Silver Style

I shot all but one of the scenes for this jewelry commercial (the scene with the three women shopping was shot by DP Buck Nonnemaker – great guy and talented DP). Shot on 16mm film (Kodak 7277 320T w/ an 85 filter) I used mostly Desisti 575 HMI’s, 4’ 56K KinoFlo’s, and a Joker to light these scenes. I wanted to make everything look as natural as possible, not to over light anything… or force the visual. All scenes shot in one day on location.

Director Of Photography: Modern Soul

This commercial, along with Elegance of 18k Gold (listed above), I used little to no fill light allowing the backlight to do most of the sculpting of the model’s face and body, creating a dramatic image. Both were shot with digital betacam and filtered with a Tiffen Soft FX2. Unlike Elegance, Modern Soul used a _ Coral to add richness to the colors (ie. white model’s red hair, black model’s skin, and clothing).
Along with the lighting, I enjoyed the forced perspective created by camera placement and dolly movement.