(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)

A few weeks ago, on probably the snowiest day in Toronto this year so far (and hopefully that’ll remain), I shot a commercial for Basch by Brandon a new fashion collection by designer Brandon Dwyer.

We shot in the historic Distellery District in Toronto with model Andi Muise on my 7D package. Mainly shot with the Canon Zooms (16-35mm, 24-70mm and 70-200mm) with some of our interiors on the 85mm 1.2 and 24mm 1.4. Schneider Low Con filters played in front of the lens the whole day. The 30 sec spot will be featured this spring, at Fashion Week in Toronto, as well as other forms of media.

Despite the extremely streamlined crew size, and adverse weather, I think we got some really great looking footage. Thanks to director/producer Sebastian Lyman for bringing me onboard and to my tech team.

Here are some behind the scenes videos I shot with my iphone. My intention is always to shoot lots of BTS stuff, or at least the interesting parts, but it never works out and gets progressively worse as the day goes on…oh well! To make up for it, some of my favorite screen shots! (captured from the h264 rushes and futzed with a little in photoshop)

Lighting, grip and 7D package by barrycheong.com. Additionals by Mike Armstrong. Filters from Image Gear and additional lenses from Headshots.

The actual shot from the mirror/bathroom setup seen in the clip above. It ended up being a 650 flown in to key instead of a Kino. I find I’m always putting up Kino’s only to swap them out for tungsten heads and some diff. on the doors instead. There’s still a Long 4 raking the back wall and highlighting her a little when she moves.

The master shot from the dolly setup outdoors.

Part of a 60fps pass of Andi walking. One of my favorite shots of the day. This was pulled from Final Cut with a quick 3-way color correct. I like the deeper, more red tone of the brick in the master above. Will have to try to match in the final grade.