Demo Reel Rough Cut

Here is a rough cut of my new demo reel. Still waiting for more footage to come in. I think I should cut it shorter too, but this is where it stands now.

Short DSLR Docs

The last six months or so I've been noticing a huge number of short, DSLR shot, documentaries about both people who participate in and photograph extreme sports. How many more things that appeal to me can you wrap up in one package? How do I get to shoot with energy drink money & connections? Below are the two front runners at the moment.

DARK SIDE OF THE LENS from Astray Films on Vimeo.

Tasteful forced prospective.

I've never liked those cheesy forced prospective shots, but this caught my interest. Maybe there is a cool way to use this simple perspective trick in conjunction with motion in a stylish and interesting way.

Boring but still inspiring.

I don't completely love this and five minutes pretty long for a music video of this type. I do love some of the elements and would like to shoot something similar much shorter and more refined, like a commercial.

I appreciate this color palette and I like the idea of directing the viewer with a "double exposure" plus the use of glass reflection and photographed textures. I think we could do something very cool with more careful planing as to how and why to match up the images and if we captured higher quality base images.

In other glass reflection news, Remember the train scene in the opening few minutes of True Grit? That stuff was incredible, go Deakins! Have you ever done polarizer pulls during the shot before? Or, have you ever used this?

Caribou is one of my favorite Canadian groups right now. In case you're not already into them, a good gateway song is Melody Day.

CARIBOU - Odessa from Caribou on Vimeo.

Black and Yellow Black and Yellow Black and Yellow

I'm going though a rap phase which is lasting much longer than I expected it to. One video I've come across is Wiz Khalifa - Black and Yellow. In addition to the song being very catchy, I'm really into shooting that late afternoon warm summer look. Warm hard light, low sun lens flares and extremely low contrast. It seems for the last few years everybody just wants to crush the blacks. From a production standpoint this look makes sense because we don't have to bring the level on the subject up enough to save the sky. Just chose the right location and time of day, put the sun behind them bounce in soft fill and open the aperture. I don't generally like blown out skies but matched with a look like this they really work.

Also, I've now done a lot of hood mount shooting with various rigs, but it's all been very safe and tame driving, check out the shots at 1:17 & 1:24. I'd love the chance to do some higher speed more extreme hood mount stuff.

Wiz Khalifa - Black and Yellow from Bill Paladino on Vimeo.

Eyes Wide Open

What gets me excited about this video is the thought of being able to shoot in such high-end locations and have an editing style that allows shots stay on the screen long enough to really take them in. I love the use of both infinite and shallow DOF depending on the shot. I also thought the text and sound design made the piece pretty classy. This was made in Steroscopic 3D with two 5D's. Experimenting in 3D is something I'm interested in but it would need to suit the project and have some time for testing. You can check out more of this directors work here.

Eyes Wide Open / 3D Stereoscopic / 2x Canon 5D MkII from Damien STECK on Vimeo.