Meet Mr. Booker - Independent Feature Film

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I am currently working on my first feature film as a DP! It is a LOT of work, but I am having a blast. This film is a family friendly comedy, and while that is not my usual niche, it has been a lot of fun leaning into the style. I'm also super excited about this because we are using all my equipment as well, so it is awesome seeing that something like this is actually possible. Finally, it has been super helpful learning the stamina it takes to not only work on a feature but to shoot one. I will post more footage once I get it! We're shooting on my Black Magic Cinema Camera 6k with a variety of lenses!

For a one day shoot, we got a lot done! I'm proud of this film purely because of our lack of time and resources. This film followed a struggling artist as he slowly descends into madness and ultimately takes his own life and turns it into art on a canvas.  We were in three different locations for this shoot! The first was a small sandwich shop, and we primarily let God do the work. All we did lighting wise was fill in a little bit with the 600d Pro with a light dome attachment. For the apartment location, we shot the 600d through the blinds and used the blinds to create some interesting textures. Additionally, we used an f22c as a far-side key to help wrap the window. Finally at the art gallery, we did our best to motivate from the windows during the day although we were running out of time. We backlit everything with the 600d stemmed up over the canvas wall. We kept this backlight even through the night scenes to add some cooler contrast. For closeups, we sent the 600d with the dome through a 6x6 half grid to double break it. And we used the 60x to edge. Looking back on it, I think we could have used more hard light in general for the gallery. Overall, I am happy with what we got! I shot on the BlackMagic Pocket 6K G2 with a set of Rokinon Primes.

This film was an absolute blast to shoot. We had a very small team with only a gaffer and a key grip, but we were able to do some incredible things! Our last day, our KG couldn't make it, so we were especially short staffed. The main goal for this film was to look realistic and gritty, and our plan was to light for the wide space and then let the light fall where it falls for coverage without making too many adjustments. This was difficult for me because I like feeling in control and trying to get "perfect" lighting, but that doesn't always fit the story. For the parking lot, we motivated from the green street light. We used an Aputure nova and a Skypanel S60 through 4x4 frames of 250 diff to far side cross key the subjects, and then we hit our 600d off of a framed 8x8 bleached muslin behind the car to help fill in and add an occasional edge. For the bathroom, we had to tent the window and then we put a gelled 600d to mimic a sodium vapor street light. For the primary key in the bathroom, we rigged up a 4ft 4 bank Kino and. a 2ft 4 bank Kino both wrapped in bleached muslin. In the stall, we would occasionally bring in an F22c overhead to help mimic some of the can lights in the bathroom which we replaced with b7c's. I shot this on the Alexa Mini with Atlas Anamorphic Primes.

After being put on house arrest for a series of petty crimes,  Jason is forced to stay a year with his estranged Grandfather, Griff.  

This was my second feature film as a gaffer, and I learned so much every day.  The film consisted of a large variety of locations and shooting times, so we had to make our limited gear package work for nearly every scenario.  Utilizing our Aputure 1200d and Nanlite 720b, we were able to make use of windows for daytime interiors often implementing a hard/soft technique. For eye lights, kicks, and specials, we would use either our Amaran F21C or F22C, our Amaran PT4C, and our Aputure 60x. For daytime exteriors, we tried to only shoot towards the sun and then use a 12x12 solid to block out any shadow side fill while using ultra-bounces to fill from the key side. For nighttime exteriors, we used our stronger and harder sources to backlight anything we could in the background and then created a soft high bounce for faces. In general, this film was an incredible learning experience, and I had the privilege of working with the nicest and most generous crew. We shot with the Blackmagic Pocket 6k Pro and Rokinon Cine Primes.

Comedian Sloan Ellis has no problem writing jokes about her train wreck of a life, but she loses her funny after falling in love.

This was the first major project I shot as a cinematographer, and I had so much fun. My team was amazing, and we had plenty of time for pre-production. The story required a lot of different looks, so we had a lot of unique set ups! Some scenes required a harder daylight source, so we used our HMI 1.2k through the windows and just controlled it. Other scenes required softer, warmer tones, so we bounced our SkyPanel S60 off of an 8x8 unbleached muslin. Some scenes were in very tight spaces so we relied on our Amaran F22C. I shot this on the Arri Alexa Mini with Zeiss Ultra Primes.