Wednesday, December 10, 2008

I've got to go see a man about a mule.








     Thanks to the cooperation of Ruby the mule we shot new scenes for the Camelback Bridge film  we have been working on this year. Jan turned out to be quite the mule drive and got about 2 hours of practice in. Thanks for all the help from Ronald Hudson and End of the Road Mule Farm for providing our new friend Ruby, complete with a wagon and a coffin. Harvey Robinson and I split camera duties with Carolyn de Berry keeping the show on track as well as doing bang of job as the pregnant women in the wagon. You could feel her pain! The weather was perfect, a bit over cast, adding to the somber feel of this scene.  We shot this scene with the Letus 35 adaptor to give some very nice shallow depth of field looks.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

What's our Proximity?

    This week we shot on the roof of the only Platinum rated  LEEDS hotel in the United States, The Proximity Hotel in Greensboro. The fish eye lens comes in handy yet again. We shot an interview with Dale Freudenberger of FLS Energy in Black Mountain NC. FLS provided and designed the solar hot water system for the hotel. Dale explains the workings of the system and discusses the concepts of solar energy in a film I am producing on the Proximity. More updates coming as this project progresses.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Camelback Bridge










   







































On Friday Nov. 21 we shot the bulk of the photography for a new short film titled "Camelback". The film is being shot near Sanford NC at the Camelback Bridge.
It is a story of an older gentleman and the bridge which serves as the grounding place of his entire life. During the film we learn how the old man's life and the bridge are woven together. This is from a screen play that I wrote last winter as I was reflecting on the changes in my father's life, and how the community he grew up in was ever present in his life. While the story is not biographical of my father it does reflect some things I know about him. There are small bits of historical information included in the film.
   Playing the part of the "Old Man" is a young actor by the name of Jan Hensley. Helping with the shooting chores were Harvey Robinson who shot many of the shots, and Carolyn deBerry  who did all of the on set coordination and shot some awesome still pictures of the production.
   The day proved to be cold but not miserable. We did start the shoot with lunch in Siler City at Johnson's Burgers, home of the best cheeseburgers in North Carolina. One of the highlights of the day and most scary, OK and pretty much fun was throwing a Panasonic HVX200 off the side of the bridge and letting it have a controlled free fall for about 40 feet, this should prove to be a very cool shot.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Southern Culture


I am honored to have been asked to be a contributor to an amazing project being put together by The Center for the Study of Southern Culture at Ole Miss, and published by The University of North Carolina Press. The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture is a 24 volume set of books that will cover everything Southern. Some volumes are finished, some still in progress, we are providing images on powwows in the Southern United States.

Monday, November 17, 2008

Irata Music Video

On Saturday night I had the pleasure of working on a music video for Greensboro based band Irata. I was the director of photography and worked with Kevin Pojman and Grisson Davis who produced and directed the project. Working with me on the shoot team were Christian Parson and Harvey Robinson, both of whom shared camera and lighting duties, and Carolyn De Berry, who held the camera crew together. We had a great crew and some very cool sets, not to mention a very tolerant model who put up with some cold wind, pine trees, and driving a massive Cadillac with an 8 track tape player. We all had a lot of fun shooting for a great band.


Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Vote '08: Funny or Foul?



This all started as a test for a ring light and became the story of getting ready in the morning. (No, it's not autobiographical.) Many thanks to our friend Andy for his comic skills and being willing to do this stuff and push it to a higher (or lower?) level of humor.

Some people may think we went too far, so we decided to take a vote, being election season and all. Is it hilarious or horrifying? Did we go to far or not far enough? Let us know what you think, and we will enter you into a drawing! Please share your comments here, where everyone can share in the fun, but also send us an email to let us know how to reach you if you win.

The poll is open until the real election day - November 4!

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Current TV

Our film on Paperhand made it to number one on Current.TV, Both Coe and myself were really excited.

Also I went to see the Paperhand show tonight in Chapel Hill, it was a great experience, see these guys do their thing, Really inspiring for me!

Thursday, August 21, 2008

New Film-Paperhand Puppet Intervention



Today has been really exiting for the new film by myself and Coe Doulas. It was uploaded to current.tv yesturday and climbed to the #2 film in less than 24 hours. Coe and I have had a great time putting this short film "Paperhand Puppet Intervention, Activists in Their Community"together. We had  help from Christian Parsons and Carolyn de Berry in making the project happen. We first talked to Donovan at Paperhand in the winter, so it has taken almost 8 months to get this completed. Thanks to Jan Burger and Donovan Zimmerman at Paperhand  Puppet Intervention for having us in their studio and for talking about the experiences. They have a great show in progress now please support these guys. Also thank you to everyone who has voted our film up in the current.tv count.

Friday, July 4, 2008

48 hour Film Project Award for Our Film

Our Film "The Hourglass" won an award for best Art Direction. As I said before we had a great team and everyone worked really hard. The shoot day was long and very hot, then came the edit. We were ahead on our edit plan and went home to sleep. 

A great time was had by all. I do wish we had not been to busy to shoot production stills.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Wish You were Here Trailer

Video thumbnail. Click to play
This is the trailer for a new film in production from Mark Wagoner Productions and Monk Meat Media. the screenplay is by Coe Douglas and it is directed by Mark Wagoner. It is the story of ...well, wait and see!
Click To Play

This is a short piece I produced with pottery from my collection for Ben Owen. I am a big fan of his work and have pieces at home and at the studio to find out more about Ben go to his website.

Time-Lapse Greensboro

One afternoon in May  I stepped out of the studio and a heavy cloud cover start rolling in from the southeast. I knew then that the shoot for our movie "Camelback Bridge" had to be cancelled. Now with a free afternoon I thought I would go downtown and shoot a time-lapse of the clouds. This is the outcome.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

48 Hour Film Project , Greensboro


We just finished doing the 48 Hour Film Project.  It was 2 long days of writing, shooting and editing, we did a film titled " The Hourglass". We had a great crew and cast plus we got our film in on time. Our team is called General Pictures and this is the 5th year they have entered, my 3rd year serving as Director of Photography.  Check back to see the film after it plays in the festival on June 28th.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Paperhand Puppet Documentary in Production


































  










    We continued production today on a short documentary on Paperhand Puppet Intervention. Artists Donovan Zimmermen and Jan Burger create very cool and often very large puppets. For 10 years they have been using collected stuff and corn starch to build these constructions. They bring them to life by creating plays and art events based on environmental, social, and political themes. 
    Coe Douglas and I are co-producing a short film on Jan and Donovan and their work. Today we shot the main interview and B-roll footage with the help of  Christian Parsons, 2nd camera, and Carolyn Deberry, production manager. It was a very inspiring day in  in the heart of Saxapahaw.
   To find out more about Paperhand visit their website.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

New Project for Mohawk Flooring






   Last night (actually early this morning) we finished shooting a new commercial for Mohawk Flooring.  We had a great cast of 3, crew of 23, plus 5 dogs for a 9 hour shoot. We shot a large beautiful set with 2 rooms and then converted the set. The shoot was done with a Varicam on a Jimmy Jib built at 18 feet. The dogs added so much life and action to the look and feel and gave the actors great action to play off of, thanks to Bonnie and friends. Everyone worked really hard through the night to make this project look it's best. Here are a few excellent production shots by our trusty RCC intern Carolyn.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Horne Creek




















This is a nice place for a day visit and a chance to see a what an early 20-th century working farm was like.   I always like these photos from inside the house I am drawn to the simplicity of the setting. Visit there web site to learn more. The site is off of Highway 52 south of Mt. Airy NC.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

New work April 2008

We currently have a few projects going for currentTV.com , stories in production include a story on a group that uses puppets for community activism. I have also just finished shooting new still photos for the College Foundation of NC as well as UNCG. 

On the funny bone side of things were are in post production with a PSA on saving polar ice. This spot which was written by our studio features a guy in a penguin suit eating sushi and forgetting has lines (great job Harvey) also thanks to Gail for playing the stylist, well she is a stylist and she played one...

We are also starting to plan for the 48hour Film Project, always crazy fun and crazy tiring.