film Tag

01 Dec A Show-Stopping Christmas Premieres on Lifetime

Posted at 13:59h in Film by ajmcine

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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.

25 Nov Aequainimatas

Posted at 14:58h in Uncategorized by ajmcine

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Aequainimatas is a word of which I will eventually conquer the spelling (hopefully by the end of this blog post) and the title of the recent short film from Director Denis Kirkman-Moriarty. If that name sounds familiar it’s because Denis and I have worked together a lot in the past 2 years. He was 1st AC on The Gathering Storm, Chainsaw Maidens from Hell, and Most Likely. Denis was determined to shoot this film on 35mm film and I was more than happy to support that choice. He also envisioned the film mostly in black and white. We discussed various methods of achieving a b&w look. When we looked at various films that finished in b&w we both thought those shot on b&w film stock looked superior. Kodak had one 35mm b&w film stock available- 5222 Eastman Double-X Negative. I remembered shooting the 16mmm version (7222) in film school and that the stock needed a lot of light. Fortunately we were able to shoot the majority of the film on the soundstage at Emerson College and achieve the necessary exposure. For the scenes shot on location we decided on 5219 because those scenes will have a special color correction process that mixes color and desaturation. It was a pleasure to shoot on the Arri 535 provided by Rule Boston Camera. The film should be finished by December 2015.

Director Denis-Kirkman Moriarty discusses the scene with April (Maya Starr)

35mm Negative was developed, scanned at 2k resolution, and sent back for archival purposes.

A screen shot from the film “Aequainimatas” featuring John (William Galatis) and Randy (Noah Tully Sanderson).

Denis and I moments before shooting the film’s final shot- a one take jib move.

Gaffer Jack Garrett pauses for a photo op.

Key Grip Dean Covert explains the Fisher Jib to BBE Luca Vaccani and 1st AD Alex Monto.

17 Jun An Unlikely Experience

Posted at 10:00h in Uncategorized by ajmcine

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I’m finally getting around to writing about Most Likely. It was an incredible experience that I haven’t really been able to put into words, but here is an honest attempt. I’ll start with a quote. “It was the most fun shoot I’ve been on,” said Gaffer Jack Garrett. Living and shooting with the whole cast and crew under one roof was a risky move that somehow worked out.

For me it was a little stressful, but I’m glad that didn’t translate over to the crew. Shooting a 120 page script in 6 shooting days was the biggest challenge of my career and not something I would recommend to any sane person. Despite the obvious challenges, I was blessed to work with an amazing director, Andrew Bemis. He did an exceptional job with casting the most beautiful, fun, and charismatic ensemble you could imagine for this quirky out-of-the-box romantic comedy stoner flick. I was backed up by my tiny and tight-knit crew including aforementioned Gaffer Jack Garrett, 1st AC Denis Kirkman-Moriarty, DIT Rick Ernst, Sound Recordist Yahna Harris, Production Designer Hannah Rodgers, and 1st AD Robert Brookes.

Phil (Kevin Sandberg), Rain (Alisa Kowal), Lex (Jennifer Beaudoin), and Beth (Jess Conger) contemplate nature

As for shooting a micro budget feature I think we did a lot of things right – the right people, the right equipment, and the right location. I shot the film on my trusty 5DmIII and I don’t think we could have moved faster with any other camera. Denis pulled focus manually even for handheld shots. I have to give him extra props for jumping on last minute and taking a bus from South Station to North Conway. Jack prerigged lighting in the house- a vacation home in northern New Hampshire.

Screen grab of Kurt (Rory Acres), Chloe (Alex Fandel), Lex (Jennifer Beadoudoin) , Rain (Alisa Kowal) at the dinner table.

As per Andrew’s request almost all lighting was practical- chinaballs, desk lamps, work lights and bounce lit almost every scene. For the most part lights lived where they were rigged until we wrapped. We shot almost entirely in continuity. That was a first for me, but I think it benefited the cast and it hopefully kept continuity errors at bay. The practicals were on dimmers controlled by an app called ArtNET DMX. I could make subtle adjustments on the fly from my iphone. Being a total lighting snob, I’ll fully admit that I cringed when Andrew mentioned David O’Russell using a chinaball on a stick for scenes in American Hustle. In the house we didn’t need to do that, but for one scene outside we did resort to a chinaball on a literal stick. It has now been immortalized on shittyrigs. It was actually an ingenious rig that Jack created using a LiteRibbon.

Setting up for a magic hour shot

Screen grab of Mia (Destinie Ryan) and Joe (Andrew Bemis)

Rick helps Jack with our most complicated night exterior set up

Greg (Johnny Donaldson) has a freak out, Kurt (Rory Acres) tries to help

One of the biggest challenges shooting in Northern New Hampshire in April was the weather. Sun, rain, snow we had it all- in one day. For the most part we had natural diffusion provided by the clouds characteristic of that area. I really liked that the weather was kind of a character in itself. I embraced the natural moody look. It was kind of overcast and brisk but still breathtakingly beautiful. Exteriors were very bare bones. I used a few bounce cards as needed. I think the sun peeked out for one scene so we flew a silk once.

Basic day exterior set up

Kurt (Rory Acres), Justice of the Peace (Annabelle Kennedy), and Chloe (Alex Fandel) stay warm in cold conditions.

I relied heavily on the Visiontech picture profile from Visioncolor. I protected the highlights as much as possible and was really happy with the day exterior shots. Seeing the sky is very important to me. I was also really happy with the skin tones. I don’t think I’ve ever seen digital footage right out of a camera with such pleasing skin tones. Each night Rick queued up dailies and I took note of how the profile was holding up. Each night I was impressed. I tried a few quick grades and I slept a little better (minus the snoring of someone in the next room).

Screen grab Chris (Colin Allen) lights a lantern in a low light scene

Behind the scenes photos courtesy of Robert Brookes