Scouting w/ the Panascout app. Cool little app from Panavision which plots the location you shot the pics, aspect ratio configurations, etc… and they kinda make for cool stills.. it has this Polaroid kitsch to it

Caledon Badlands… Music video this weekend.. Stay tuned.

Shot a dance demo with Director Rome for choreographer Romeo Casellas. The video featured 10 dancers highlighting Romeo’s choreography.

We shot at Embassy Nightclub in Toronto on my 7D. Despite the camera’s many shortcomings I’ve really been digging the images coming from it with the last few jobs I’ve done with it.

Below, some of the rushes with a preliminary color grade and some production stills by Jeremy Bernatchez.

Lighting, grip and 7D package by barrycheong.com

Lining up a shot with my 7D. I like how modular the camera can be and how simple you can break it down. In this case, a camera on a tripod…no bells and whistles when you don’t need it.

Everyone gathering around Rome and I checking themselves out after a take. Everyone looks better at 60fps!

(photo by Nicole Abram)

Just completed shooting a music video for my dear friend, and arguably the most talented girl I know, Stacey Kaniuk for her track Yellow Broken Lines. It was a one day shoot at Wallace Studios (a rarity for me - I’m always on location!) directed by my equally dear friend Darrell Faria.

The concept, quite simple, Stace being Stace on a white background conducting her infamous sketches on plexiglass which later pays off as a full composite of her work by the end of the video.

We shot RED using the 2x Red Zooms, the 18-50mm and 50-150mm both T3’s. Never used the 50-150 before - nice range, a little slow, but I love the lens data read out! That’s a first for me - nice to know exactly where you’re at on the T-stop. I also can’t wait for the new Scarlet/Epic cameras and their module design, and what I’m hoping is a camera that’s a lot more compact and lighter, RED-one is not fun handheld! Parts of the day I wish we were shooting 7D!

Our lighting package was quite stark and a was a bit of a struggle to get enough stop on the white cyc and keep it even- not ideally how you would do it, but the budget was super low and I was happy to make it work. Producer Mike MacMillan (aka Uncle Mike) came in HUGE by securing some more gear and gak. We had 3x 2K blondes as our biggest lamps. The flexibility with the Raw files will help a lot.

Thanks to my tech team - usual suspect Cliff Ramnauth gaffing, new faces Tony Smith and Jackson Yeung and 1st AC James Hellyer. As well as line producer Kristina Small, Production Designer Marty Kyncl, Hair/MU team and of course Uncle Mike for pulling the extra gear and studio space together.

My photographer sister, Lauren and her friend Nicole Abram (nicoleabramphoto.blogspot.com) stopped by to shoot some pictures. Also a little BTS action from my iphone, rigged to our RED camera. Of course I only have a few clips and I forgot to actually get anything while Stace was doing her thing… I swear one day I’ll get it right!

Our jungle of lights…(photo by Nicole Abram)

Darrell and I lining up a shot. (photo by Lauren Cheong)

My friends at Exploding Motor Car have just put together a 2 part behind the scenes video of the making of the music video “New Years” that I shot for them last year.

Check out some of the hard work put in and fun we had making it:

The “You Don’t Exist…” music video by Reverie that I finished shooting a few weeks ago is done and online. Check it out.

Just finished shooting a music video for director Darrell Faria and producer Mike MacMillan of Lithium Studios. A few months back, Darrell and I, on a whim and a free evening with a camera package from another job, decided to shoot a little video in my garage. The on-the-spot concept that Darell came up featured a character named “Dr. Science” (played by Dare) explaining, visually, scientific things that slowly become less scientific. The setup was very typically hip hop with a grey backdrop with a token hotspot. Cut to a few months later and Darrell got some hip hop artists to cut a track themed with Dr. Science’s explanations and us shooting (or reshooting depending on how you see it) the video with the artists and this new track.

This time around we shot at Studio 101 in Toronto owned by photographer and friend Maciek Drozdzik (www.maciekdrozdzik.com). A similar setup was used with a grey backdrop. Actor Troy Matthew Martin replaced Dare as Dr. Science and we got some great performance stuff out of Tim and Jo Run with some of their buddies and Playboy model Anissa Holmes making an appearance also.

I shot using my new 7D with the 24-70 f/2.8 lens. It turned out quite well. We used a standard photo backdrop which is about 9ft wide which is a little limiting with this kind of setup but it worked out ok. A traditional studio cyc would be better for this kind of application, easier to deal with shadows, etc but our budget was extremely limiting. The 7D worked out really well though I definitely have to figure out something for a double monitor setup…

Here are some screen caps (uncorrected @ 50%) and set photos courtesy of Maciek Drozdzik.

Dr. Science explains… computers.

Jo Run and Timbuktu doing their thing.

Dr. Science has a little crush…

Shooting on the 7D.

Finished shooting a music video for Director Jesse Ewles and collaborators Winston Hacking and Brett Long from Exploding Motor Car who art directed the project.

The video is entirely narrative, no performance coverage, about a messy and unorganized seamstress who is having a hard time finding any kind of inspiration in her work. The video is set in her messy apartment and as she continues through a string of denial about her mess, an armoire begins to suck the clutter into its cavity eventually resulting in the formation of a garbage monster with an appetite for more.

I shot with my new 7D package - my first project with it. Overall really happy with my first experience. The shoot was very run and gun because we had so much coverage to get through, no additional tech help and the space we were working in was a huge gong show in terms of maneuverability so it wasn’t the best conditions to test and fine tune exposure - but as such was a good real world test. I mainly set the camera to 400 ISO and occasionally bumped it to 500 or 640 when I had to buy 1/3 to 2/3 stops really quickly. I carried a Canon EF 16-35mm and EF 24-70 lenses which are both T/2.8. I typically shot wide open.

A couple of things I can report on:

- Battery life is quite good. Seems better than the 5D from what I can remember. As long as you can power a charger you shouldn’t need to alternate between more than 2 batteries all day. I have 4 batteries + 2 chargers with my package so I should be good for almost all scenarios.

- I found the 24-70 is still too short to carry as your longer lens even with the 1.6x crop factor on the 7D. I found I used the 16-35 quite a bit. At 24mm it wasn’t wide enough for me to frame what I had to. From here on out I will probably carry the 16-35, 24-70 and 70-200 T/2.8. A few higher speed primes across the board is probably a good idea also. I think I’m eying an 85mm prime as my next purchase lens.

- Handheld is still a little bit of an issue. I have Zacuto gak with my package which definitely improves things but I’m still finding a strange vibration that happens which becomes more apparent the longer you are on the lens. Both the 16-35 and 24-70 are non IS (image stabilizing) lenses. I’ve shot with Canon IS lenses with the 5D which might help the problem for shots where you’re trying to keep still but I’ve also found the IS introduces other issues when you’re telegraphing more of a move - you get this weird jump/jerk as it tries to compensate. Increasing the weight on the package might help also though part of me thinks there’s something going on with the electronic shutter.

- Definitely need to get some kind of on-board monitor. The lack of an articulating screen is a huge deal for operating.

A few screen caps. Taken from the native H264 file. No Color Corrrection. Resized 50%.

Lighting, grip (and camera!) by barrycheong.com.

In between shooting the Stilwell project I took a day to shoot a music video for Armenian artist Khoren with director Jennifer Kassabian.

We shot at a gorgeous house in Kitchener on an HVX200 and Redrock M2 Encore setup with Nikon glass. The majority of the video is shot on an 85mm - a first for me! Beyonce’s Halo video was a strong visual reference.

Thanks to my tech crew - Gaffer Misha Petrenko and Key Grip Cliff Ramnauth. Also to cinematographer Kevin Rasmussen for letting me borrow his 400 Joker which came in real handy!

Lighting and Grip by barrycheong.com

Shooting a performance sequence on the lensbaby draped under a blanket. My white shirt was causing a bit too much fill! (Oops)

Ohbijou’s music video for their track “New Years” that I shot for Exploding Motor Car has been released.

Check it out here:

Just finished another music video for Umar Syed and artist Laddi A with the track Punjabi Number One. We shot at this amazing location in Oakville - a warehouse in behind GTA Exotics, who rent out high end sports cars, which also made it into the video.

Shot with the Brevis35 adapter, HVX200 and some Nikon glass. Lots of small tungsten lamps everywhere! Thanks to my crew - Gaffer Misha Petrenko, Key Grip Kiran Singh and AC Isaac.

Lighting and grip by barrycheong.com. Additional lighting by Mike Armstrong @ spark It rentals.

One of our performance setups for the above screen shot. Long 4 above keying talent. 6×6 Silk lighting the Red Viper to the right of the frame.

Lining up the shot. Key Grip Kiran Singh pushing me on our skateboard dolly.