Author: ajmcine

01 Dec

Posted at 13:59h in Film by
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This holiday season, catch the Lifetime movie, A Show-Stopping Christmas! It was a lot of fun creating this Christmas movie. Serving as the film’s director of photography was a whirlwind. The script gave us so much to work with, and the entire cast and crew brought director John Stimpson’s vision to life. To get you up to speed, here is a quick synopsis: A passionate theater director has to keep her beloved theater from being sold by making this year’s rendition of “A Christmas Carol” into the biggest success ever. With the help of a Hollywood actor, it may not be impossible after all.

Creating a Look with the Camera

The goal was to create images that appear rich, deep, and saturated, and at the same time, warm and festive to bring the holiday mood to each scene. We chose the Arri Alexa Mini paired with the Cooke S4 lenses to capture this film. The superior color sampling of the Alexa, plus the sharpness, contrast, and depth provided by the Cookes, helped create the look. Camera operator Scott Lebeda framed up these beautiful shots while 1st AC Felix Giuffrida kept each frame in focus. I relied mainly on the Tiffen Satin filters for filtration, which have become a favorite for beauty work. 2nd AC Richelle Topping managed the filters, lenses, and all of our camera accessories, in addition to keeping track of reports and slating.

Approach to Lighting

The overall approach to lighting was high key to match the stage light provided by the theater. We used the existing stage lights and augmented them with our film lights and diffusion for the scenes in the theater. The Arri SkyPanel S-120 was the perfect tool for lighting the large seating area.

In the frame above, the main character Riley listens as Sam auditions for the role of Bob Cratchit in “A Christmas Carol.” Gaffer Dave Hallas rigged par cans from the balcony to backlight the actors and create gentle lens flares. Pools of light hit the seats, and we have a layer of garland peppered with Christmas lights along the back of the theater. Our actors are lit by the LED stage lights controlled by the house lighting board operated by G&E’s Henry Thompkins.

Learn More

Each scene of this film has a unique behind the scenes story. If you would like to learn more please comment. You can also follow me on Instagram to see more behind the scenes content.

03 Nov

Posted at 10:30h in Uncategorized by
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cinematography
Ungraded frame from Tallywacker

cinematography
Our incredible cast and crew!

Let’s take a quick peek at the cinematography of the movie Tallywacker. According to director Brendan Boogie, “Tallywacker is a buddy comedy about 2 bandmates whose relationship gets tested when one of them gets a gig touring with a major rock star. Our film has a lead character with a disability that doesn’t define him. There’s no pity, false heroism or “othering”. This story is real, human, and it’s funny!”

Shooting in Black and White

Director Brendan Boogie came up with the idea of shooting in black and white after we filmed the short proof of concept. After some thought, I got on board with the idea. Previously I had only shot b&w on film, never digital. I did some research and created a LUT in DaVinci Resolve. I quickly loaded it into the Canon C300mk3 and turned on the LUT output to the viewfinder and SDI. We viewed the LUT on all of our monitors throughout the shoot. At first, it was a bit odd, but my eye quickly adapted. I started thinking more about contrast and texture and completely ignored color. It was a fun experiment and took me back to film school. I recalled the Zone System and Ansel Adams. My goal for each frame was to capture a range of tones from pure black to pure white.

Camera Build

Brendan and I wanted the camera work to have a natural style with movement motivated by the actors. We opted for my Canon C300mk3 kitted with a Smallrig Shoulder Mount, Canon PL mount, vintage TLS Cooke Speed Panchro Lenses, RT Motion Focus System, Teradek, Indie 7 onboard monitor., and Wooden Camera battery plate. 1st AC Sam Gove perfected the build – it was compact and perfectly balanced. The entire rig was versatile and allowed me to adapt quickly to any shooting situation. Although the film is almost entirely handheld, sometimes I shot from the hip using a Hipshot. I also employed a butt dolly from time to time in order to move quickly and stay low.

Lighting

Gaffer Rowan Lupton created lighting setups that embraced the available light in each location and added LED fixtures to create separation between the characters and the backgrounds. We added atmosphere to many scenes, especially the music venues, where we used directional light motivated by the stage lighting.

cinematography
Canon C300mk3

08 Feb

Posted at 11:44h in Uncategorized by
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“CHOP” is a song about empowerment and removing negative energy from your life. This song is a collaboration with Boston Music Awards Winner, Dutch ReBelle, who also has been featured on Forbes, MTV, Grammys, HipHopDX, The Source+ and more. As more eyes fall on New England Hip Hop, team Shellz aims to boost the awareness of young women of color in charge. Shellz chooses one of the area’s most sought-after filmmakers and producers, Magenta Haze to direct a breathtaking music video for “CHOP”. Magenta Haze has been able to organize an all woman latina-based organization called GBAC, also known as Greater Boston Artist Collective. GBAC is a group of filmmakers looking to uplift the community through the power of film.