I had the pleasure of working on this shoot with Director Timothy Deal at Archery Tag.  I guess technically I was DP and unfortunately our original location bombed out due to weather, so we ended up in a very long basement under the former store of a friend of the director.  One of the problems with the back up location is that the whole center section is filled with all the normal stuff that basements seem to collect over the years.  So when the camera is facing towards the stairs, we are in one location, when the camera is facing towards the back of the room, it is another location.  Tim did a great job working around the limitations of the location, and I think he made a pretty workable edit out of what we had.  It’s a little silly, but it is a pretty lighthearted piece touching on topics such as the costs of technology and being a little bit more physically active.  It is also an ad for Archery Tag, so on those levels it works.

I’ll be honest.  I didn’t exactly wake up on the right side of the bed this particular morning.  I wrote this and forwarded it to our creative arts pastor thinking he would file it away somewhere and it would be forgotten.  Turns out that isn’t exactly what happened.

I made a big mistake by relying on “auto” exposure mode to simplify set up for the various shots.  It isn’t awful, but it also isn’t great.  I learned that I really need to get in the game, even if I’m not feeling it during a particular shoot.

It’s a fun idea, that didn’t quite get to where I thought it would, but it was effective for the church.  A huge thanks to the talent for working with me!

I’m pretty happy with this one.  Particularly the flight shots at the end.  Want to know how I got them?  You’ll have to read the rest of the post!  Continue reading →