I know I’m a bit late again with updates. It’s a good sign though! It means I’ve been busy with photography and short films. More posts should be coming soon about those. In the meantime, here is a batch of set photography I took while on the set of a Home Creations commercial. I worked with Vahid (Freestyle Productions) before, and he asked me to be a part of the crew.

   I’ll keep this short. Being on set for this commercial was one of the best set experiences I’ve ever had. Everyone was great to work with and knew exactly what to do. There are several reasons for this. The primary reason was that a week before the shoot, Vahid took the actors and did a rehearsal at the location. He filmed it with this T2i and thus created a “rough draft” of the commercial. This allowed him to plan out shots that didn’t work, further understand the lighting setup, and develop a better awareness of what to do when it was production day.

   Because of this main reason, everyone was akin to a well-oiled machine. Directors knew when to hurry the production, electric knew where to set up the lights for the next shot, and actors had a clearer picture of their character roles. This lowered stress levels on set and made everyone great to work with. Freestyle Productions comes highly regarded by me. If ever given a chance to work with them, do yourself a favor.

   Ok, I have been a little slow with the updates lately, but I’ve been busy! Here is a quick run down of all that has gone on in the past month. This will also serve as an overview for the next couple of posts. Well first off the Dodge Challenger calendar was finished, printed, and handed to me. I’ll post photos of it next time! After that, I received my new Nikon D7000… more on that later :) I visited New Orleans for a week. Again more on that later…. See the trend? :) I did game art for a friend on his thesis project. I then worked on the set for Home Creations and took set photography.

   I’ll condense my next post down into a more detailed update on some past projects I finished up. The Home Creations set photography will probably be it’s own post. I should have time this week to make the appropriate posts :) Again I apologize for being a bit late in my updates! More to come soon!

   So I’ve been slacking a bit with posts, but I have much to discuss for upcoming news. This post will be dedicated to my time spent on the set of the short film Monster directed by Ezra Gentle. To quote Ezra, “[the film] is a story told from the perspective of a 9 year old girl, Bethaven. As the story unfolds, she discovers that her perceptions of her parents relationships was not the reality and that the bond of family is strong enough to overcome adversity we experience”

   I was contacted a few days before production to take photos during filming. With such a short notice, I unfortunately could not make the first day of shooting, yet the second day was filled with talented people that made working on set pleasurable. It was an impressive feat to gather so many professionals together for a student project.

The set consisted of one location in Norman, OK. The film was shot with Vahid’s Red One, who is owner of the company Freestyle Productions in Oklahoma City, OK. Overall, everyone was very professional. The talent was spread from the actors, to the audio guy, to camera crew, and even interns. I should also mention that it all came together with Ezra directing his vision. The bitching was kept to a minimum, and people made sure that tasks were finished. It was a great set to be on and gain experience from.

   Shooting photos was actually easy since most of the action took place in one room. Also my injured knee was very grateful to not have to run around set and dodge people/equipment. So far people have been impressed with my photos taken while on film sets. I’m gaining confidence in my photography and will soon be charging a reasonable fee for my services… especially after I upgrade my camera gear early next year. I’m hoping to gain enough money doing set photos to buy things like new lenses, sound blimps, filters, etc. that will give me more of an edge in this profession. I’m hoping to have my set photography pay for itself. Also by gaining experience and building up a nice portfolio, I’ll begin applying to larger productions that are filming in Oklahoma. If anyone has any thoughts about my photos or set photography, feel free to comment below!

As a sneak peak, future posts will be about a calendar project that I’m taking photos for and a music video that I shot on a Canon T2i. More coming later in the week or early next week!

During the first week of August, I spent a week down in the lovely city of Pauls Valley, OK. It’s about 30 min. south of Norman. The reason for me being down there was that I was asked to be set photographer for the short film Noodling. This has only been my third time as a set photographer for a film, but it was a fantastic learning experience.

The main difference between this film and other films that I have worked on is that half of the crew was from L.A. Rebecca Eskreis, the director, became fascinated in the sport of noodling and decided to create a fictional short film around that subject. While I hesitate to call most L.A. of the crew professionals (since most were still in grad school), they were more familiar with the industry than the crew from Oklahoma. The days were long and hot, and the set was a little disorganized at times, but I was able to gain a further understanding as to how others create films.

Probably the most impressive part of the shoot was the G&E crew (Grip and Electric). They were in charge of C-stands, lights, diffusers, generators, and general gear that can be found on a film set. They were extremely organized and were on top of their game. If a diffuser needed to be removed from a window, David (our talented DP) would tell Justin, who would radio to metal Jeff, who would direct the crew outside. They were quick, efficient, and reliable.

Ok, so now my job was to take the most wonderful photos that I could. I wish I had better gear, but I think most of my photos turned out great. At least they better! I took around 3,700 photos. My philosophy, at least on set, is that if people are going to be in the photo, chances are that they are going to mess it up somehow. So I tend to take 3-5 shots of the same angle to cover my bases. I never know when someone is going to blink, or make a weird face, or turn away quickly. I have a general rule that if one person messes up a shot, I will not use that photo. I am picky and try to learn from my mistakes. I’m happy with the photos that turned out well. In the end, about 300 were chosen to share with cast and crew.

After looking back at how production went, I realize that some of the crew did not mesh well and not everyone was adequate at their positions, but I consider the shoot a success. The footage that I did glimpse through the monitor was great. I’m happy with volunteering to help out with the film. Even if people have ill feelings about how things went, I hope in the end they can be proud that they were able to help create a piece of art for all to enjoy. I’m crossing my fingers that I get another chance to help out with any films that are going to be shooting in Oklahoma. By then, I should be the proud owner of a new DSLR (I’m leaning toward the Nikon D7000, but that’s for another post!). I want to get better and cannot wait to be back on another set! If anyone reads this and is interested in a set photographer, feel free to leave a comment or email me!