So I’m slowly trying my hand at cinematography/camera operating. It’s interesting (and sometimes frustrating) going from shooting stills to video. The first hurdle I had to overcome was my desire to shoot vertically when I saw framing that was screaming to be shot in that manner (I will admit that my first iPhone videos were all shot vertically). Still photography for me is very intuitive – I didn’t study it in school and I still don’t know every technical term out there – but it’s OK since, for the most part, photography is a very solo thing (in that I’m the director of my models, I set my own lights, and sometimes the creative director of my own shoots as well). Working on video generally involves more people that you need to be able to communicate with – so not knowing the technical terms can be a problem. I can look at a scene and visualize how it should be lit but I need to translate my vision into words so that the gaffers can set everything up. It’s kind of like starting over in a way – which is freeing but a little terrifying at the same time.
Over the weekend I got to try my hand at both DP work and camera operating – on a music video shoot for the band Super Black Market. My man, Rich Ragsdale, was the director (and he also happens to be the driving force behind me making the transition to working with moving pictures). The first day we shot at an amazing location in the Angeles National Forest called Singing Springs (check out the photos below). It’s family-owned and the two couples that live there were amazing! (one of the women even became a featured extra). The second day we filmed in Venice at an old group of houses on the boardwalk (which was awesome for me since I live right down the street). I brought my camera as I had planned to take some production stills but I was just way too busy (between helping Rich with the blocking and lighting, camera operating, and putting my no-nonsense attitude to work to keep people on task) – so I had to make due with using my mobile phone to capture some behind-the-scenes photos.
Oh, and did I mention the video involved zombies? Check out some BTS shots and a small teaser video after the jump.
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