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Photoshoot BTS- Un-Graded, Un-CC’ed.
Feb 1, 2012

Is cinematography dead now that film is going?

Photoplus Experience
Oct 28, 2011

Photoplus Expo at the Jacob Javits Center and meeting Shane Hurlbut, ASC

Oct 20, 2011
New York Comicon (how I miss thee…)

I’m madly missing Comicon now. It’s been over a decade since I’ve attended a comic expo and from what I remember, it wasn’t nearly this huge. It’s a long way from the smaller Big Apple Comic Cons that I was used to.

It’s a good thing I brought my gear with me to also turn this fun experience into a shoot. I wanted people to really feel and understand what the Geek culture really means. No longer is it a bad word, or a derogatory name for fellow enthusiasts. Instead now, it’s a word that holds power and great pride.

Filmed in the same manner as the MTA Going Your Way commercial, I stuck with shooting exclusively in LogC. I think the results were awesome and I’m very proud of this ad spot.

The way this was colored is in the standard RGB curves manner. Once in awhile I may use Color Finesse to add more vibrancy to the image. But, for the most part, I stick with simple tools- Luma Curve and RGB Curves.

Hope you guys like it and do leave feedback too.

Oct 11, 2011
Pro Wrestling and Metro North

A good friend of mine, Oleg Savitsky called me up recently to head over to his gym for a shoot. While I’ve visited several times before, this experience was different. An old friend of his, Vladimir Kozlov was heading over for training in grappling and some padwork drills. If any of you guys are familiar with him, Vladimir is of WWE fame, but he’s also been a Sambo champion for awhile now. So this realm isn’t foreign to him one bit.

I shot a short bit on him, making friends with his manager and making Oleg a happy camper all in the process. From the looks of it, more may come of this in the future, so after my eventual calling him tonight, I’d definitely like to work with Vlad again.

Like the MTA spec, I shot this entirely in LOG-C (Cinestyle) and the color grading results came out gorgeous. Probably some of the best I’ve done. I’ll say it again, there really isn’t a reason to shoot in any other manner for me right now. Regardless of the camera, I will forever need the LOG profile for the sensor.

You can check out the completed MTA spec commercial in the PRODUCTIONS section now.
Hope you guys enjoy it and leave feedback when you can. I’m open to all queries.

Oct 1, 2011  

MTA and My Experience With Log-C

I’m never shooting outside of logarithmic setup again. Never. Okay, maybe not never- there may be clients who need footage as-is and not meant for post work to the fullest extent. So I was wrong with a previous argument I had with someone last week. More on that later. As per the advice of several ASC and Local 600 members, I’ve started working on several spec commercials. One in production, and 2 in the pre-planning phases. I want to begin flexing my muscle as an artist in a more dynamic sense that goes beyond what I’ve been working on up until this point. And since many cinematographers regularly work on commercials and music videos before (or during) features, I’m getting started.

Cinestyle Log-C raw image

...and graded. Even w/ the Canon h.264 limits, it's incredibly flexible to work with.

Coney Island is planned for tomorrow morning’s shoot, so I’m crossing my fingers that I don’t get yet ANOTHER overcast weather situation. This whole week has been hit or miss with the rain and there’s only so much I can change in post. But, so far so good.

Sept 18, 2011

So I finally have some time to sit down, rest and work on other things besides film. Okay, well other than being on the run shooting, that is. Things have changed for the better with much of my work. Everyday seems to be a bit of film school and I’m now in the “painting with light” phase. It’s come to the point where I can’t even watch a film and think, “okay, that’s a key there, did they use a Fresnel for that hard light and a Kino for the soft on the face”? For instance, I watched “Bridesmaids” with my girlfriend and had 2 things running through my head the whole way through. Enjoying the movie to begin with (it’s funny as hell) and examining the lighting schemes and how I can improve on my own front. The last weeks have been slow, so I’ve been able to clean up drives a lot and jump back on unfinished work. But, one of the main areas I’m looking to join up in are in music videos. It’s a bit difficult though- I don’t want to just work on generic rap or rock videos, but with artists who genuinely have something to say. Or have real talent behind them, y’know. Of course, that means no autotune. The next few days should be fun though. With the upcoming NAB affiliate event in the city, then Fight Summit in December, I’ll be running around like a chicken with its head cut off once again. Might be a good idea to bring the laptop with me from now on though. -KahL PRODUCTION NOTES- WORLD GRAND PRIX 1^ST ROUND DAY 1 This project was big for me. It started off with the Coalition to Legalize MMA, which I’m a part of. I began filming Episode 3 of NY MMA and met quite a few people there. Including Paula “The Original Queen of MMA” Romero, Stephen Koepfer and a host of others. We held a rally down by City Hall and answered a lot of questions from passersby in the street. With all of that happening, the entire ordeal was capped off with Frank Shamrock coming to speak, along with Tara LaRosa and a surprise ending—the Strikeforce, DREAM and K-1 Grand Prix HW Champion, Alistair Overeem *phew*. He came on down to visit, say hi and support the rally before running off. Where to? Toward the Strikeforce Fan Experience that was hosted at the Roseland Ballroom in Midtown. After getting a chance to finally hook up connects with Frank Shamrock, we headed on down there to begin filming this event as well. It was completely bananas. My buddy, Oleg Savitsky was doing some media training with his students, Frank was doing a promotional shoot (which by the way, ALL of Showtime’s production staff were shooting with Canon DSLRs, equipped with L glass) and I began setting up shot to begin filming myself. My go to lens for the event was the OM Zuiko 28mm 2.8, which captures everything as sharply as my L glass and great for low light and wide shots. Needless to say, the air was electric and difficult to contain my excitement with so much happening at the same time. This promotional expo was to introduce the 8 fighters to the fans in person and as soon as they began pouring in, it became even crazier. Then they headed up on stage for interviews and I had to switch lenses. My girlfriend was already using the L 24-105mm, so I connected the Tokina 28-70mm f/4 for close ups from stage side. It worked out really well and this lens is just as sharp as the OMs and my L. Oleg once again helped me head into the back to speak with the fighters in person, including my favorites, Josh Barnett and Valentijn Overeem. I was able to conduct interviews with these two, using the OM Zuiko 50mm 1.8 and audio capture thanks to my lovely assistant using the Zoom H4N. My main combination. 12-28-10 FracturedMinds Model Photo Shoot

So while filming our new short film project for an upcoming DSLR Film Fesitval (Cinema out of your backpack), I was

model: destiney davila | makeup: risa robins-moloney | photography: robert billings

able to get a quick project completed at the same time. That’s the only detail I’m giving on it right now until submission on January 1, 2011.

For awhile now I’ve seen quite a few fashion model shoots being filmed on the web. Some by big name design companies and others by photographers themselves. I thought they were pretty in many cases, but didn’t tell a story of any sort. They were probably just as random as the still shots were from the shoot they were filming.

Partnering alongside Robert Billings (of Fractured Minds fame) once again for his own photoshoot, I’m putting together a quickie film short on that development. This means catching bits of dialogue from several artists on the location, the shoot itself and most of all, the mood involved during the entire process.

It should be up soon after the photo editing is completed from the project. But, the whole situation was just fun as all hell.

____________________________________________________________________________________________ Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Safe to say that this week has been a friggin’ whirlwind.

With running around bat-shit crazy to film various gigs, finishing up my NYC silent film and talking with M-1 Global on stronger features for the promotion, I’m having a crazy time right now.

For the record, I couldn’t have done ANY of this without Jeannie. She’s been my rock through this whole ordeal and has brought more to the table than any female I’ve ever dealt with. Truly my partner in crime through n’ through, no question about it.

Two more parts to the M-1 weekend are on the way. Next up will be the actual M-1 Selection Semifinals that were held after the press conference. Then finalizing the package with Fedor’s seminar, which I learned a lot in a short span of time.

Hopefully the ride won’t end.

____________________________________________________________________________________________ Monday, July 19, 2010

I’ve finally purchased my camera, a Canon HDSLR. I’ve been waiting quite awhile for this and the pursuit of filmmaking is finally underway.

About 4 projects are lined up for September. Friday Night Fights this week, Kevin Garvey’s Kickboxing event in LI on Sunday, M-1 in August. Needless to say, this thing’s gonna get some work put into it.

After doing some heavy shooting over the weekend and today, I’m finding where a few weaknesses. For one thing, I’ll need to pick up a viewfinder adapter soon. The default viewfinder monitor on the camera is really difficult to see in bright lights, so I’m going to have to pony up some cash for it real soon. The other thing is that I’ll eventually need a shoulder mount for a lot of my work. Especially for movement around areas where simply holding the cam in hand won’t suffice.

I’m madly in love with this thing. I’ll be putting up a test shoot montage of NYC most likely by the end of the week or so.

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