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 for 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 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.

Jonah Tobias – Super Size Me

Last week I had lunch with a good friend of mine Jonah Tobias (left). Over the years Jonah Tobias has made a successful career and in my opinion is one of the best motion graphics and visual effect artists on the east coast. Jonah Tobias did all the motion graphic and digital animations for the epic documentary “Super Size Me” which nearly put McDonald’s out of business and made over 20 Million Dollars in theaters worldwide.

Not only is Jonah Tobias a great guy to work with, he is very down to earth and easy going. Jonah Tobias and I worked together on videos for Tim McGraw’s 2010 Southern Voice Tour and currently Jonah Tobias is working with us here at Filament Productions on content for the Dave Matthews Band’s 2010 Summer Tour.

Tim McGraw – Daytona 500

Last month with Filament Productions I edited the video content, some of which I shot, for Tim McGraw’s Live Daytona 500 performance. Over 175,000 fans attended the Daytona 500 and over 15 million people watched from home according to Neilsen Media Research.

The video clips were from his 2010 Southern Voice Tour which I have been working on with Filament Productions for the last 4 months. Unfortunately, I was on a flight back from being on the road with Tim McGraw for the previous 10 days, editing content, fixing problems, shooting behind the scenes, still photography ect… and missed the performance. It has been an amazing experience working with Tim McGraw, Filament Productions, the Daytona 500 crew and thus far his Southern Voice Tour has had great reviews!

Dave & Tim Vegas – Best Buy

Last month with Filament Productions I worked on editing some promotional videos from the Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds concert in Las Vegas for Best Buy. There were a total of three 1 1/2 minute clips from different songs that will be used to promote the Live Concert CD. These clips will play for three weeks on every TV in Best Buy in every Best Buy in America. That amounts to over 50 million people who will see these clips after its all said and done.

I learned a lot regarding color correction and broadcast safe requirements. The crazy thing is the large amount different TVs that these clips are being displayed on. This makes it very difficult for the final product to have the exact same look on each TV.

It has been great working with the guys at Filament Productions and I look forward to other projects in store for this year!

Cheap Trick Cheap Trick

Last month with Filament Productions I helped produce and lead a 3 camera shoot for one of the most influential rock bands of all time, Cheap Trick. This footage will be on national TV as part of the PBS Soundstage Special. Cheap Trick was ranked #25 in VH1′s list of the 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock. There music is also featured on the popular video game, “Rock Band”. Patrick Cassidy and Zack Kiefer operated the other two Panasonic HVX200s.

These cameras are great to work with but are no Canon 5d or RED ONE. A couple disadvantages of working with the HVX200s are that it’s hard to focus because the monitor is not very clear/sharp and it uses a fixed lens. Therefore a couple “Tricks” are the EVF button on the back which makes hard edges to helps you find your marks and the focus assist button which magnifies your subject. Also, you can always measure the distance and use feet, unless you are constantly moving which makes it harder. Not to knock the HVX200, it has plenty of other advantages over the Canon 5D, for example, variable frame rate and an optical image stabilizer.

Yukon Kornelius – Rock Supergroup

Last month I was in Vail Colorado shooting a promotional piece for Yukon Kornelius the all-star cover band. It consists of bassist Stefan Lessard (right) from the Dave Matthews Band (the anchor member), lead singer Ed Robertson (left) of Barenaked Ladies, singer/guitarist Adam Gardner from Guster, and drummer Eric Fawcett from N.E.R.D., and a bunch of other special guests including Dee Snider from Twisted Sister and actor Jason Biggs (middle) from American Pie. As you can see from this picture Jason Biggs plays the cowbell.  This was only the third time that Yukon Kornelius has ever performed together and I have to say, they brought down the house.

I was shooting video with the Canon 5d with an ultra fisheye lens. Whats great about working with the Canon 5d is that its true 1920×1080 HD, it produces amazing results in ultra-low light, and because it looks like a still camera you can take it anywhere!

Meghan Eckman – Parking Lot Movie

Last weekend I had the pleasure of operating the RED ONE for the final scene of a documentary by Meghan Eckman entitled, “The Parking Lot Movie”. Meghan Eckman has been working on this documentary for almost 3 years now so it was great that Meghan Eckman had the trust in me to operate the RED ONE for director of photography Eric Hurt. This was only my second time operating the RED ONE and at around 30lbs I have to admit it gets a little heavy after holding it for long periods of time. The body itself weighs 10lbs so with glass and accessories it adds up. It’s just exciting working with the ultra high-definition RAW technology. This picture (left) was shot at a “dutch” angle through the booth. Photo taken by Alexa Miller.

The RED ONE shoots only in RAW and the benefits are amazing because you can manipulate the image in post-production with little to no degradation because all of the meta data is there. I can’t wait to see how the finished product comes out!

Temple Fennell – ATO Pictures

Last week I had the pleasure of speaking with Temple Fennell over the phone after meeting him at the Virginia Film Festival. Temple Fennell is a fellow UVA alumni wo co-founded ATO Pictures with producer Johnathan Dorfman and musician Dave Matthews. Some of the films that Temple Fennell produced are “Choke” which was written by the author of “Fight Club”, “Savage Grace” starring the lovely Julianne Moore, and the movie “Joshua”. “Choke” recently sold to Fox Searchlight for a multi-million dollar deal.

Most recently Temple Fennell has taken on the immense task of starting a small distribution company called “ATO Gotham” that has partnerships with major studios. He has the people and network in place reading scripts and scouting for films in festivals. I questioned Temple Fennell on the long time it must have took to develop the relationships with the major studios and he agreed by saying, “Yeah, it took a really long time”. It truly is the work of a lifetime, hats off to Temple Fennell, I hope to eventually work with him somehow in the future.

2009 Virginia Film Festival

The Virginia Film Festival wrapped a couple weeks ago and I finally had a good chance to follow up and sit down with Jody Kielbasa (left) the director of the Virginia Film Festival and David Hopper (right) the Operations Manager of the Virginia Film Festival.

Again, I had a great experience working with the new director Jody Kielbasa and David Hopper. I cut the official trailer for the Virginia Film Festival that played before all the films. Also, I helped set up the Digitial Filmmakers Lounge sponsored by Filament Productions and the Kickoff Party at Boylan Heights.

We are already talking about the Virginia Film Festival Trailer for next year, which hopefully I’ll have more time to do! Another great person I met at the Virginia Film Festival was fellow UVA alumni Mike Million who just directed a 6M dollar film, “Tenure” starring Luke Wilson. Mike Million is a great guy who has a long career ahead of him. “Tenure” was rock solid and very funny!

Money Ain’t A Thing (2008) – Short Film

Over the past couple days I have went back into a short film I wrote/directed/produced in 2008 and put some finishing touches on it, including color correction and a new intro. Hope you enjoy!

Meredith Cole “Road To A Greek Wedding”

I recently had the chance to sit down with director/writer Meredith Cole. The last film that she directed was “Road to A Greek Wedding” which was about a half million dollar romantic comedy shot on 35mm. It was very interesting to hear her perspective on independent feature film directing at that caliber and all the pressures and hurdles that you have to overcome. All in all I think it was a great opportunity for her and she learned a lot. The film was more successful overseas and she still gets royalty checks from DVD sales.

Meredith Cole has been working with the Food Network for over the last 10 years writing and producing shows. However, it seems to me that she is focusing more now on writing and her new book, “Dead In The Water” will be out in May 11, 2010. The book continues the adventures of Lydia McKenzie the main character from her first mystery book, “Posed for Murder”.
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2009 Virginia Film Festival Trailer

Last weekend was the 2009 Virginia Film Festival. I cut together the official Virginia Film Festival Trailer that screened before all the films.

This was my first year going to the Virginia Film Festival and getting involved, I always had the sense that most Film Festivals were very political and a lot of  bad independent films would get played because the filmmaker knew somebody. However, to the contrary the Virginia Film Festival was amazing, all the films that I saw were great. Also, it was a great networking opportunity and I met so many great people.

The new director, Jody Kielbasa really put an emphasis on local films which helps the legitimize the community, and the local films were spectacular. There are a lot of extremely talented people in this area.

I look forward to working with the great people again next year who are responsible for the Virginia Film Festival.

Lucas Krost – “The Irishman”

Last week I was in Richmond, VA with director - Lucas Krost (left) working on the set of Val Kilmer’s new movie, “The Irishman”. We were shooting VFX, blowing up miniature houses in front of a very large green screen.  Lucas Krost was Directing, Johnny St. Ours was the Director of Photography, and I was the First Assistant Camera.

Not only was “The Irishman” an amazing opportunity/project to work on but also it was a pleasure working with such talented people who are dedicated to their craft. I also got to meet/work with Chris Ervin a very well known Visual Effects Artist who is extremely talented and established.  Some of his work can be seen in “My Bloody Valentine 3D”, “Punisher – War Zone” and “Meet The Browns” just to name a few!

Sam Erickson – New York City

Last week I was in New York City with Sam Erickson (left) and Johnny St. Ours working on a TV Pilot for Broke-Ass Stuart that Sam Erickson is producing. Sam Erickson is very established, he has directed music videos for; Dave Matthews Band, John Mayer, Good Charlotte, Keith Urban, and Brooks & Dunn, just to name a few.

Sam Erickson’s company, 44 Pictures, specializes in music videos, concert DVDs, Electronic Press Kits (EPKs), and commercials. Some other artists that Sam Erickson has worked with include; Nelly, O.A.R., P. Diddy, and John Bon Jovi. Not only is Sam Erickson down to earth, but he is a pleasure to work with.

Broke-Ass Stuart is an up and coming writer/talent who has written two guide books on living cheaply in NYC and San Fransico. Johnny St. Ours was the Director of Photography (DP) and I was his AC, we shot everything with the RED ONE, run-and-gun style throught all the buroughs of NYC. This was my second work-related trip to NYC this year and it was a good one!

Analysis of the Independent Film Industry

Written by: Bryan Ross Bieber

A. What is Independent Film & How Does It Relate to the Motion Picture Industry?

While there is no true definition for an independent film, a true independent film is any film that is produced outside of a major Hollywood studio. A major Hollywood studio is defined as a motion picture and distribution company. “The US Motion picture industry generates close to $100 Billion in revenues, is one of the country’s largest exporters, and enormous cultural influences worldwide” (Young, “Making”). There are six major Hollywood studios currently in the United States that command approximately 90 percent of the U.S. and Canadian box office. These companies have many subsidiaries and include formerly independent companies that have been acquired. The major Hollywood studios that currently exist are Warner Bros. Pictures, Columbia Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Walt Disney, Universal Studios, and 20^th Century Fox.

The major studios today are primarily backers and distributors of films whose actual production is mostly handled by independent companies including their own. However, the specialty divisions often acquire distributions rights to pictures with which the studio has had no prior involvement. LionsGate and The Weinstein Company are the two largest independent producer/distributors.

B. Strengths: Distribution, Social Networks, Digital Cinema, & Growing Taste

The major strengths now in the independent film industry are new distribution channels via the Internet, and Video-On-Demand. This in turn allows the producers more control over their work. With the development of social networks, marketing a product through word-of-mouth (WOM) can have a significantly larger impact. Digital Cinema has also dramatically reduced the price of prints making it significantly less expensive to display a product in multiple venues, giving digital filmmakers the same opportunities as the majors. Also, the growing taste of the new baby boomers prefers deeper meaningful independent films. Read the rest of this entry »