Student Academy Awards

Good news! Two films I've worked on just won Student Academy Awards! The films "A Day's Work" directed by Rajeev Dassani and shot by Nicola Marsh(both from USC) won along with a move called "Pitstop" directed by Melanie McGraw and also shot by Nicola Marsh(also both from USC)! I was best boy grip/electric for both of them but ended up stepping in as gaffer for most of the shoot anyway per request from Nicola. Very exciting!

Also, an SFSU student, Phoebe Tooke won a Student Academy Award for her alternative film "Circles of Confusion" ! Woo hoo! Go SFSU!!
Check them out here: http://www.oscars.org/saa/2008/winners.html


Me in the middle for the crew picture of A Day's Work at the house location in LA.

You can check out the film's website by clicking here.



Here is a picture of me on "Pitstop" out in Lancaster, CA with DP Nicola Marsh. We were right down the street from the church they filmed Kill Bill at!
You can see more pictures of the shoot on my Flickr page by clicking here.



I went to SFSU Animation Finals and Film Finals last night which further strengthened my belief that we make incredible films despite being away from LA and not having the Hollywood connections that schools like AFI, UCLA and USC have. It was great to see all my old professors and classmates, the films were great and the food was pretty good this year! but on a sadder note, it was announced last night(I guess I was the only one who didn't get the memo) that Ray Rea, SFSU's Production Coordinator, will be leaving for a post in the midwest. It's sad that he is moving on, but I am happy to have studied under him while I attended State and have been honored to know him while I have become a working professional. I know he'll be back eventually, it's hard to stay away from the Bay Area and SFSU.

PhillM tip-of-the-day:
I'll say it and keep saying it: try to shoot into the dark side of the subject. i always try and use at least a side light if not 3/4 back light as the key for the subject. this is known as a "back key" light. This way their lighting facing the camera is not flat, creating depth and shape to the subjects face.