Social 27

I've been editing the last week for a little company called Social 27.  My friend Alex (Bright White Lightning) Noelke works there, and hooked me up with the gig.  Sometimes we fly around and do shoots which is awesome, getting to travel for work is part of my dream job.  However the dream this week is in an office.

In Austin Texas performing one of my ghetto impromptu interview set ups, which I love doing.

The marketing of the Microsoft "Surface" Tablet begins here at S27 Studios.

smoking PSA

We did the sound on a stylophone.

S A T S O P_title sequence

Satsop Trailer from James Reeves on Vimeo.

Using Maya, AE, & PS I made this test title sequence for our SATSOP 5.1 project.  I generally prefer to be behind the camera, but here I really enjoyed geeking out on some 3d design.  I really wish I could create more title sequences...in fact during the time of me working on the one above, I took a saturday to make this one below for some friends who have a web series "We Kill Em'".



NOTE: I did not pick the font used, you and me both think it looks stupid.  It looks like a font used in 1977 for a movie about a single parent mother raising her boy, who is turning 16 getting his first car & crashing it into an ice cream truck, and then the ice cream man hooks up with his mom...the end...yea...I don't like the font.

pre S A M S A R A

Tonight I'll be joining friends at Seattle's Cinerama for one of the first viewings of "Samsara" in 4k DCP.  I have seen "Baraka" at this theater before from a 70mm print.  This will be a great experience in a technical observatory sense, but what I'm most looking forward to is just getting lost in the film, getting distracted with technical analysis really destroys the experience of what these films achieve.  I have no idea of where these guys took the camera.  For me personally "Baraka" has served as a strong piece of work for me to "reset" my vision too artistically.  I would go for weeks shooting random music videos, interviews, and other non-sense while at the same time watching movies & catching television at random.  I would use "Baraka" as a tool to find default again in my heart, soul, spirit, and the eye in my dreams.  After a couple weeks in this world as someone who is putting them self behind a camera and constantly being subjected to images, I feel that you have to have a system to reset, to be able to maintain a fresh perspective.  "Baraka" for me is that perfect piece of artwork, if your going to default to something, it might as well be in 70mm, plus it's natural lighting which helps me in my everyday walking around looking at stuff and thinking "hey, I really like the corner of that building", or "this would be really great at 5am". 



This routine of using "Baraka" as a visual tool and over all inspiration became highly important to me as my trip to Uganda with Mr. Fabrizio became a reality. 

R E V E A L from James Reeves on Vimeo.

Since that time, about a year ago, I've been saving up 35mm film stock to do a project inspired by Ron Fricke & Mark Magidson with my brother, Daniel Reeves.  I have about 6,000ft. of 35mm and just shot about 400ft. of it to do a test a couple of weeks ago.  So tonight, getting to experience Ron & Mark's new film while in this stage of our Pre-Production is just perfect timing.  Tonight is a Q & A with the filmmakers and I want to ask them too many questions, but I'll probably blurt out "Hey Ron!  Can the film makers of Seattle film you & Mark dancing in the jungle?".

SAMSARA Theatrical Trailer from Baraka & Samsara on Vimeo.

L O N D O N

My older G-Shock, how are you going to have a fun time if you don't have a fun watch???  It is nice to be somewhere new and traveling with someone who wants to get an early start.

Mr. Fabrizio has a Kickstarter for his script "A Distant Grief" here.  Check it out!

This guy is totally listening to "More Than This" by Roxy Music....so am I.

School boys and school girls...I wish I would have been a child in London.

Mr. Fabrizio shooting with the HVX200...I spent a lot of time with this man on this trip and even more time with that camera, check out some footage here.

Master Of Orion

Geoff Ramler & James Quinn are the writers of a web series titled "Master of Orion".

Last weekend I went to go shoot a behind the scenes for the first half of the recording session for Episode 3.  I also shot a behind the scenes for Episode 2 which can be seen here.

Shelia Lyon reading for President Diane Herra

Evan Hill working Director James Quinn during his recording for Lyle Henderson.

Loren Walton has a mean "roar".

The beautiful Kara O'Connor reads for the character Elowyn who is my blue goddess of the galaxy.This poor actress (Traci Biegenwald) had to read this super long math equation, she started crying when Mr. Quinn asked her to do another take.

Director James Quinn always keeps a very light, fun, and creatively welcoming atmosphere for his voice talent.

Jacob Slatten helped out as the sound engineer for the recording.  He sent me a link to his videography demo reel.

 Here is a link to the Master of Orion youtube channel.

Sparkman Cellars

Today was pretty rad working with Bret & Sam.  We went out to a winery to shoot the second half of a piece for the upcoming Taste Of Tulalip at Tulalip Resort Casino.  Sparkman Cellars has been selected as the #1 winery in the state of Washington this year.  Random fact, shot 4k 2:1.  For the first shoot Chris & Kelly gave me a bottle of their "Wilderness", I have to say I really enjoyed this wine on a level that I usually don't get slapped in the face with like this one.  Check it out for yourself here.  

Arri IIc 35mm

The Arri IIc is a 4-perf 35mm camera shooting in 1.66, my friend & great Director of Photography, Derick Avitt owns the classic Arriflex and was kind enough to bring it over to my apartment for me to play with and test some of my expired film stock.  Loading film brings me a lot of joy, if anyone can hook me up with a job in LA loading, please contact me!

I originally met Mr. Derick Avitt & Mr. David Miller thru Ken Rowe.  They hooked me up with my first Camera Assistant gig.  The production was "Love In The Year 2000".  This set is where I first really got a taste of working with an Indie film crew, working as the 2nd AC & Loader.  Got to meet some great film makers out of Seattle, such as Alan Certeza, Chris Duerkopp, Bryan Campbell, Shawn Anderson, Allison Eckert, Greta Wilson, & Michael Kleven.  They flew me down to Panavision LA to check out the G2 with Derick.  This experience of hanging out in the facility where they not only rent the gear but the engineers are also designing everything from the Panaglow to the Anamorphic lenses.

Shooting in an apartment is always a little cramped for space, adding to that the heat, and you tend to learn real quick about not wasting time with setting up a shot.  Here you can see we are on a Schneider 50mm T2.0 which has me fairly smashed on anything I wanted to look at in my apartment.

Even though this day was to mainly serve as a test for the film stock, I wanted to try and find a use for the shots.  My "go to" actor and actress is Jerry Nash & Sarah Milici.  

The stock we tested was 5293 200T & 5296 500T, these cans had seen better days, on of them had the date "3.16.91".  Altogether it was around 400ft of film equalling around 4.5 minutes at 24fps.  I wouldn't even have this stock if wasn't for Ryan Purcell. 

I think it's funny that since I haven't been in film school for a few months now I'm shooting a lot more and learning more by practical application, shooting a wide variety of subject matter, I suppose you could say I feel like I'm "cutting my teeth".    

"Film Student" screen shots

Our main character is a film student.  So he is in love with Alfred Hitchcock.

Every thing a film student needs; corn, green beans, 100D, 120mm, 16mm, 35mm, and more beans.

Our main character believes in the power of freezing time in a photographic sense, so he has labeled his  Canon A-1 with "time".

He believes in using technologically advanced ironing boards.

If you haven't done so yet, listen to Wavves' "green eyes".

The world has stabbed him, and he reflects on the world.

Mustache

Our main character is loading his 16mm K-3 for his "big student senior project".