National Grid - COVID-19 Videos

Over the past few months, I’ve had the pleasure of working with an agency on a series of videos for National Grid. I’ve created hundreds of videos, but never have I had such a unique request like this one. This whole project had to be created remotely over zoom. (With the exception of one shoot day in-person following social distancing best practices).

It was a really interesting project that got be back to the basics of filmmaking. Virtual video production is really not all that different than in-person video production. Finding the best light in a room, and instructing employees partners/husbands/wives/siblings on how to create the best composition has become all part of the job these days. It was interesting to undertake all the responsibilities of a normal film crew on my shoulders though. For one of the videos, we created storyboards which we gave to our “talent”. They were able to use the storyboards as a great reference for composition and framing.

Although these videos have a much less polished feel, I’ve really enjoyed this sort of “new” content creation. It’s authentic and real. Isn’t that what we are always after?

New Balance - LA

I had the opportunity to Direct this project for New Balance back in December. This was a pretty ambitious shoot with a really fun concept. We shot in the New Balance Factory in Lawerence Mass, Downtown LA, and outside of Joshua Tree National Park.

This was one of my bigger projects of 2019 and a lot of thought and effort was put into the pre production and production. The final product is still in post production, but I’m looking forward to releasing it soon.

Florida Georgia Line - The Independence Fund

Throughout 2019 I had the chance to travel around with the non-profit group, the Independence Fund and document a lot of their non profit efforts. The independence Fund is a non-profit that gives away all terrain wheel chairs to wounded US veterans, among other efforts and donations. This was a small, one man production but I found it refreshing to work in such a simplified raw documentary style.

The band Florida Georgia Line teamed up with the non profit to give away these wheelchairs to veterans along their tour. I had the chance to tag along during the tour and document a veteran receiving this track chair. I ended up filming 11 shows in 2019 in locations all over the US. Stops included, Boston, Philly, Charlotte, Tampa, West Palm Beach, Atlanta, San Diego, LA, and more. This was such a powerful project to be a part of and I loved being part of it.

Northeastern University - Anthem Spot

This was a short documentary piece that followed the life of a few students at Northeastern. Matt, a member of the military who was finishing his degree using Northeastern’s college of bachelors completion program, and Carla, a women who was getting her degree in IT in her late 50’s.

These were both very inspiring stories to tell, and I was proud to be a part of it. As usual, I had a great crew. Evan Borcier was my DP. He’s become a great collaborator and is a joy to work with. Check out his work here.

Thailand and Bali - Luxury Rehab Documentary

Shoot #4 for the Luxury Rehab documentary series I am working on with Rehab Path.

This was an incredible experience to get to travel to East Asia to shoot and direct this on-going documentary series with Rehab path. We spent 5 days shooting in Thailand and 5 days shooting in Bali. We visited several different rehab centers, all of which had a unique story to tell.

NYC DJ Rooftop Party: Loudspeakers - July 2017

Another short branded content piece shot on a beautiful rooftop on a nice summer evening in New York City. This was very similar to our last project for this client. Lot's of dancing, DJ's and music. I shot everything on an easy rig for mobility as the rooftop location was fairly small. Everyone signed releases so filming the whole event was a lot easier than our previous projects. 

Thanks to Aaron at CPT rentals for great weekend service and my fantastic AC, Oliver Gallini (@treeolives)

Shot on: Alexa Mini with Kowa Anamorphics and low Cons

Philly Pretzel Pitch Video: Tabletop Shoot - May 2017

This was a fantastic table top style shoot for a new business proposal. I shot most of the coverage handheld but dipped into some tripod work for a few shots. We filmed the whole pretzel making process from start to finish. 

Lighting for this shoot was minimal but the Quasar Science Flouro tubes worked perfectly. They provided a nice soft light that was quick and easily adjusted. We killed all the overheads for this shoot and just walked our Quasar tubes around as needed. For many shots we had them inches away from the pretzels being made. 

Shot on: Red Scarlet W with Leica R Cine Modified lenses

Las Vegas DJ Video: Loudspeakers - April 2017

This was a branded content piece filmed in Las Vegas. 12+ Hours of handheld Easyrig work will really do a number on your body! For this shoot, we covered the life of a traveling DJ. It was all shot documentary style and was a lot of fun to be behind the camera for.  

We shot it all anamorphic using Kowa anamorphic lenses. Anamorphic is a breeze on the Red with it's various de-squeeze options in camera. 

Shot on: Red Epic Weapon with Kowa Anamorphic Primes

Outer Banks of North Carolina: 360 Video - March 2017

The Outer Banks of North Carolina approached us looking for a fun way to show off their popular tourist destination. 360 video was a great way to tell this story. We mounted the camera on Jeeps, Horses, Food trays, and porches. This was a learning experience for me in that it was my first real 360 video project. 

Shot on: Gopro Omni

Norfolk State University Commerical: Pickup Shoot - February - 2017

This was a one day shoot for the University of Norfolk Virginia. We were shooting pickup shots for a commercial that had been shot the previous year. (There had been some line changes) It was an interesting challenge to attempt to recreate similar lighting, framing, and imaging to the previous spot. The spot mostly consisted of many center framed interview style shots. 

For the fist setup we bounced a 2 large HMI sources into an 8x ultra bounce. The second setup with the woman was a bit more complicated due to the tiny location in the record room. We used two 4x Kinos with 250 diffusion to make the room feel larger and create a nice soft Rembrandt style light for our female subject. We backlit with a small HMI fixture in a Pancake Chimera. 

Shot on: Sony FS7 2 with Cooke S4s

Vermont Lottery Winter TV Commercial - December 2016

This was a fun small commercial shoot for the Vermont Lottery. We had a series of paintings hand-painted that, when combined, told a nice story. 

We shot this on location in an old wood mill. The location had a great vibe and I used the natural light as motivation. We pushed an M18 through the window to keep our shadows consistent all day long. I than accented with a Dedo kit. Most of our shots were on a Porta jib as we moved between each photo. 

Shot on: Red Epic Weapon with Cooke S4's 

Switchfoot Band Video - November 2016

This was a documentary style shoot on location at the House of Blues in Boston, a popular music venue. We worked with the band Switchfoot and interviewed their front of house engineer, Ryan Nichols. 

I shot it all natural light and used an easy rig for easy hand held coverage. It was a long day of shooting but things went smoothly and the edit turned out well. 

Shot on: Canon C300MK2 and Canon L Glass

Maine Lottery Holiday TV Spot - November 2016

This was an exciting job for the Maine Lottery. We were approached with an extremely limited budget and timeline. The locations, actors, and props were all improvised last minute and made for a fun set. 

Overhead fluorescent lighting provided some challenges but we chose to work with them and balance our LiteMatte LED's to the 4300K range. The vibe we were after was similar to that of the show The Office. 

Shot on: Canon C300MK 2 with Zeiss Super Speeds MK3's

Commerical Spot in Bangor, Maine - October 2016

A fun shoot in Bangor Maine. Biggest challenge on this shoot was a lack of prep due to a very short time table. I flew in the day before the shoot and hit the ground running! 

Shot on: Canon C300MK2 - with Leica Summicron C's

Documentary Shoot in Denver, CO - October 2016

A quick documentary style shoot for a drug and alcohol rehab program. Fun little shoot with some fun people and beautiful views.  

Shot on: Canon C100 - with Canon L glass

Commercial Shoot in Madison, Wisconsin - August 2016

Just wrapped on the second spot in a campaign for this client. This was a one day commercial shoot filmed in downtown Madison. The location was tricky and needed a good amount of work to get to the light high key look the client was after. 

A huge shout out to Scott Kunkel for the BTS Stills instagram.com/_scotify

Shot on: Canon C300MK2 - Oddesey 7Q with Zeiss CP2's