What an incredibly faithful man of God who had a massive impact on the world. What an incredible honor to be asked to shoot a film to commemorate his retirement.
Dr. David Noebel. Or as we affectionately call him - Doc.
In the last few days, I had to turn down three video projects for friends. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to do them - I would have welcomed the opportunity to shoot something different than my usual style of work, to push some boundaries and try new things.
Time is limited, though. And as hard as it was to say ‘no,’ my first priority is to completing the film I’m currently working on. You can call me a sequential person (and you’d be right), but I choose not to take on another project until I’m finished with the current one.
UPDATE: Read across this article today on the same topic. Give it a read.
Devastated.
On a Wednesday evening in April, the community of Pleasant Grove, Alabama, took cover as a tornado approached from the west. When they emerged from their homes a short time later, the devastation was simply unfathomable. The April 27th tornado was a massive F-5 - the second most deadly tornado in history - and demolished whole neighborhoods and communities with its mile-wide destructive path that went on for 200 miles across Alabama. By the time all the homes were searched, the death toll had risen above 350 people.
I shot this film two weeks after the tornado occurred. The people of Pleasant Grove, as well the other cities affected, will be picking up the pieces for months to come.
I’m a shooter. And an editor. Those two things are my passion, because they work together beautifully to create films.
Those two activities cover the “production” and “post-production” processes. I’ve been finding out that I often forget about the other vitally important step in the process: “Pre.”
Pre-production is “the process of preparing all the elements involved in a film, play, or other performance.” (thanks Wikipedia) For me, pre involves being in front of a laptop screen staring at blank document and a blinking cursor. It means sitting down and interviewing folks, having key questions to draw out essential info, figuring out what that essential info really is.
It all comes down to the story.
I’m shooting a promotional film for a non-profit organization. It’s my job to tell their story to the best of my ability. And come to find out, there is a lot more to that then finding creative camera angles.
Harsh shooting conditions this morning as a blizzard dumps ice and snow across the Midwest. I went out to capture some cold weather footage for the Philip Bloom Challenge #3. I’m not positive it’s exactly what Philip was looking for, but we’ll see!
The master DP Philip Bloom has challenged us all to yet another weekend challenge. This one is to “epitomize where you live or capture the flavour of it.” A relatively simple assignment.
I’m going to give it a try!
This was a fun piece to make. To compliment a photo slideshow, I decided to shoot some live action. The combination of sprinting full tilt through the fire station with the Canon 5DmkII, fast-paced editing, and energetic music make this video quite a adrenaline-kicker.
