Yukon Kornelius – Vail 2009

Here is fun promo video I put together 3 years ago in Vail Colorado along with the help of Sachele Burns and some local guys out there. Boy was this a fun trip and shoot. Yukon Kornelius is a rock music supergroup. It consists of bassist Stefan Lessard from the Dave Matthews Band (the anchor member), singer/guitarist Ed Robertson of Barenaked Ladies, singer/guitarist Adam Gardner from Guster, and drummer Eric Fawcett from Spymob. The band’s name comes from Yukon Cornelius, a character in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (TV special). The band’s shows have so far been known for including special guests like Jason Biggs from American Pie, and Dee Snider from Twister Sister. The band was originally put together for charitable purposes when the members were together for a planned ski/snowboard trip while filming “Children of Winter”, a snow sports film.

All proceeds from the Yukon Kornelius concert went to Reverb.org.

Zac Brown Band – Music Video

I recently had the pleasure of working with Filament Productions to help shoot and edit the lastest music video for the Zac Brown Band, “Keep Me In Mind”. I was flown out to Red Rocks in Denver Colorodo to shoot the live concert on Labor Day weekend. Red Rocks, set the stage for a beautiful outdoor amphitheater, where the Zac Brown Band preformed two nights to a sold out crowd. The video was directed, produced, and edited all in-house with the team at Filament Productions. It was great working with those guys and being a part of such a special project. Zac Brown was quoted in on one of the top country blogs, TheBoot.com, saying “It’s my favorite video we have done so far!”. Shout out to all the Zac Brown Band team/crew who are really good down-to-earth people to work with!

DMB – Footage from the Road

Check out this footage that I helped shoot while I was on the road with the Dave Matthews Band last summer in Washigton State, at The Gorge. This video was straight from the live line-cut from long-time Dave Matthews Band video director Mike Lane. Filament Productions provides all the video equipment and touring video personnel for the Dave Matthews Band . It was a pleasure working with Mike Lane, and the other DMB crew. Including Filament’s own – Jeff Crane, long-time DMB video engineer, Mo Diensmore and Bob Chaise. Good times!

Tim McGraw – 2010 Tour Opening Video

Tim McGraw’s Southern Voice Tour was one of the most successful of 2010. Here is the intro video to Tim McGraw’s tour that I helped produce, shoot, and edit with Filament Productions last year.  We hired director of photography Eric Hurt and were directed by Fenton Williams. Tim McGraw’s production design team of Bruce Rodgers and Fenton Williams developed the concept which presented a challenge because we had to work around Tim McGraw’s beard. He was growing a full beard out for the movie “Country Strong” that he was in the middle of shooting. Therefore, we shot the video in a creative way to hide his beard by using silhouettes and creative angles. In Nashville Tim McGraw joined me in the editing booth and was really involved with the timing of the video to have it build as much as possible before he came out on stage. It was a pleasure working with Tim and the entire crew of Tim McGraw’s 2010 Southern Voice Tour. What a great experience!

On The Road with Dave Matthews Band

Over the last month I have been on the road with Dave Matthews Band operating the dolly camera in the pit for their festivals in Atlantic City, NJ & Chicago, IL with Filament Productions. Towards the bottom left you can see me on the Dolly Platform raised 3′ from the ground on a 16′ Track. I have to say its not as easy as it looks trying to pull focus, zoom, and dolly at the same time without falling off the platform.

While in Chicago I had the opportunity to Direct the live video for other bands including; Ray Lamontagne, Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk, and Gomez. In both cities, I had the opportunity to shoot other bands as well as the Dave Matthews Band including: Sarah White & The Pearls, Ray Lamontagne, Punch Brothers, Damian Marley, Alberta Cross, David Gray, Gary Clark Jr., Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, Liz Phair, & Ben Folds.

It was great working with long-time Dave Matthews Band video director Mike Lane & video engineer Jeff Crane along with the rest of the Dave Matthews Band crew. In chicago I got a chance to meet and work with Danny O’ Bryen, as he stepped in for one of the bands as a guest director. And Taylor Crothers who was out and about shooting some promotional pieces for the festival. Once again, I have to thank Filament Productions for this all around great opportunity!

Zac Brown Band – Production Design

Over the past couple months with Filament Productions I have had the pleasure of assisting in the Production Design for the two time grammy award winning Zac Brown Band’s 2011 Tour. Including artistic renderings of their stage design, shooting and editing Custom Film & Video Content, and managing their media content.

This is part of the Filament Productions team (from left to right) Stephen Thomas, Ryan Gall, Fenton Williams, myself, and David Ariew. I also had the chance to travel to the Zac Brown Band’s two sold-out hometown shows in Atlanta, Georgia. In Atlanta, I worked on updating and managing their media content. It has been an amazing experience working with Filament Productions, the Zac Brown Band and their loyal crew.

Bruce Rodgers – Tribe Design, Inc

Last Month with Filament Productions I was at rehearsals for Tim McGraw’s 2011 Emotional Traffic tour in Nashville, TN and Corpus Christi, TX. I got some great hands on experience working along-side Bruce Rodgers (left) of Tribe, Inc, Fenton William’s partner for the Production Design of Tim McGraw’s 2011 Emotional Traffic Tour. This is the second year that Filament Productions has teamed up with Tribe Design, Inc for the Production Design element.

I learned a lot working with Bruce Rodgers (left) and his is quite experienced as he is the Production Designer for the Super Bowl year after year, Black Eye Peas, Madonna, Jay-Z, Eminem, President Obama, and he also designed the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. It was a great opportunity working with Bruce Rodgers on Tim McGraw’s 2011 Emotional Traffic Tour. This was the third time that I have got to work with Bruce Rodgers and after the second show in Austin TX, I got a chance to hang out with him. Bruce is truly a great guy and I consider him a good friend. I want to thank Filament Productions for the opportunity and I look forward to working with Bruce Rodgers again in the future.

Filament Productions – New Reel

I recenlty just finished editing a new reel for Filament Productions. This is the company that I have been working with for the last 2 years and has been taking care of me. It was founded in 2005 by long-time Dave Matthews Band Production Designer and Video Director, Fenton Williams. Fenton Williams currently designs tours for for Tim McGraw, Dave Matthews Band, and Zac Brown Band. It is great working with Fenton Williams, Ryan Gall, and the rest of the Filament Productions team!

The Parking Lot Movie – PBS

Here is the music video i shot on the RED for Meghan Eckman’s, “The Parking Lot Movie”. This was the feel good ending for the film which premiered at the SXSW film festival in Austin TX. The film was then bought for distribution by PBS – Independent Lens and will be airing in over 50 million homes worldwide in the next 2 years. Just to note I was not the Director of Photography on this – that was Eric Hurt, Eric was also responsible for the StediCam Shots as well. Congratulations to Meghan Eckman for the huge success of the Parking Lot Movie and it was a great experience working on that film with Meghan and Eric.

Rita McClenny – Virginia Film Office

Last month with with the Virginia Production Alliance, Rita McClenny (left), the director of the Virginia Film Office, came to speak about Film Incentives and Grants for Virginia Filmmakers. Rita McClenny is the has been with the Virginia Film Office for a years now and she is the one who make the tough decisions on who gets grants and tax credits in the state of Virginia. All in all, it was interesting to learn that most films that applied for Virginia’s Grant program (has to be less than $250k and full feature narrative or doc) were approved and given a significant tax credit. All other films, the bigger budget ones seem to have also received significant credits.

Movie Maker Magazine has just listed Richmond, Virginia (where va film office is headquartered) as 10th best city in the United States to make movies. Citing its diverse topography (ranging from historic, rural setting to a bustling metropolis) and decent tax incentives. Hats off to Rita McClenny and everybody at the Virginia Film Office for making the state of Virginia one of the top destinations to make movies, btw Richmond is listed one city behind Los Angeles, CA.

Dave Matthews Band – 2010 Fall Tour timelapse

Check out this cool time-lapse I shot for Filament Productions of the Dave Matthews Band load-in and concert. This video is currently featured on Dave Matthews Band’s official Facebook page. If you look closely you can see me working with the video crew building the LED video walls. Filament Productions provides Set Design, Lighting Direction, Light Design, Video Direction, Video Production and Custom Film & Content for the Dave Matthews Band – the number one touring act in the past decade in North America according to Billboard.

Hands on with Dave Matthews Band

A couple weeks ago I had the pleasure of working with the Dave Matthews Band production team during their last two shows of their 2010 Fall Tour. From running cables and pushing crates to building high-res LED Video Walls. I also had an opportunity to work directly with some of my colleagues at Filament Productions, Mike Lane (left) & Jeff Crane (right), arguable one of the best, if not best video director & video engineer in the world.

Mike Lane has been DMBs touring video director for ten years and Jeff Crane has also been with DMB for ten years. Dave Matthews Band is the number one attended and highest grossing act in North America in the past decade, according to Billboard.  It was a pleasure working with such an experienced, dedicated, and talented crew. Filament Productions, who I work with full-time provides Production Design and Touring Video for DMB, along with Tim McGraw and other artists.

Jeff Wadlow – Never Back Down

The 2010 Virginia Film Festival has wrapped and once again it was an amazing experience. I meet a lot of new great people this year and had a good chance to see people that I meet last year including Jeff Wadlow (right).

Jeff Wadlow directed the 2005 film Cry Wolf with the money he won in the 2002 Chrysler Million Dollar Film Competition for his short film, Living the Lie. Jeff Wadlow’s most recent movie, Never Back Down, stars Djimon Hounsou and Sean Faris. Never Back Down grossed over $41 Million and was produced for a little over $20 Million according to BoxOfficeMojo.com. Jeff Wadlow is also the nephew of CBS Evening News Anchor Katie Couric – fellow UVA alumn.

2010 Virginia Film Festival Trailer

This is the trailer that I cut for the 2010 Virginia Film Festival that will screen before every film this year. All clips included are ones that have been selected into the 2010 Virginia Film Festival this year. Hope you enjoy! Produced by Filament Productions.

2010 Virginia Film Festival Commercial

A couple weeks ago I had the pleasure to Direct and Produce the official commercial for the 2010 Virginia Film Festival. The film festival is a non-profit and there was no budget for this so I appreciate everybody who helped out. Credits include; director of photography – Gabe Deloach, location sound – Stephen Thomas, 3D animation – Matt Wallin, sound effects – Abel Okugawa, production assistant – John Michael Triana. Cast included; Emma Lyle, Lee Washington, Meghan Eckman, Din Allen, Erica Arvold, Whitney Ross, and Jon Cobb.

El Dia De Mi Suerte – Short Film (2010)

This is a short film that I shot in Medellin, Columbia for the Feria de las Flores (Festival of the Flower). It was great to experience the columbian culture and views of life. The festival of the flower represents the end of slavery when instead of flowers slaves carried men and women on their backs up steep hills. The festival initially took place during the month of May but was changed to August in 1958 to celebrate the Independence of Antioquia.

Filament Productions – New Website

I recently had the pleasure of designing the new website for Filament Productions, a Production Design and Touring Video company based in Charlottesville, Va.

Founded in 1991 by Fenton Williams of the Dave Matthews Band, Filament Productions has grown with DMB over the years as DMB has taken the crown of the highest grossing and attended band in North America in the past decade and the 3rd highest grossing band in the world.

Filament has recently finished work on Tim McGraw’s Southern Voice 2010 Tour, for which Filament provided Production Design and Touring Video, including custom Film & Video content.

I am very thankful for the opportunities that Filament Productions has provided. It’s truly a great company with great people and top of the line equipment.

Rob Darcy – Video Director – Nashville Rising

Last Tuesday, on June 22nd with Filament Productions I had the pleasure of working as the assistant director for Rob Darcy during Nashville Rising - a benefit concert headed by Tim McGraw and Faith Hill in Nashville, TN.

Rob Darcy is also the video director for Tim McGraw’s Southern Voice 2010 Tour in which Filament Productions handles the set design, video production, and lighting direction. Nashville Rising included superstar powerhouse performances from Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, Carrie Underwood, and over 15 more country and rock mega stars! Rob Darcy has a ton of experience and last year was the video director for Miley Cyrus’s 2009 Wonder World Tour.

Tim McGraw – “Still” – Music Video

A couple videos that I shot were used in Tim McGraw’s new music video “Still”. It only was a couple shots but I think that its “Still” kinda cool! Just another reason why I enjoy working with Filament Productions.

EVE6 – “Inside Out” Promo

This is a little promotional piece I shot and put together of EVE6 performing one of my favorite songs, “Inside Out” in Vail Colorado during Snow Daze 2009. It was less than 10 degrees that night and I was outside filming for over 2 hours. My fingers were literally numb after this concert. Luckily some EVE6 fan gave me some hand warmers and my fingers didn’t fall off.

The Carnival (2010) – Short Film

A short film I shot and directed for fun which is a very intimate look at Whitney & Molly having some fun at the Carnival. Shot on a Canon5D Mark ii with a Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L.