Ssang Yong 'Rexton'

Leigh Hart from Moon TV asked me to be the DP on this car commercial for the new Rexton.



We only had one day to shoot the job, and there was a lot to get through. Stunts, pyrotechnics, bonnet rig, side rig, dialog, tracking vehicle and aerials. The only way to achieve all of this in one day was to shoot without road closures. Moon TV found a great private track at Boomrock, just outside Wellington.



I flew up from Queenstown with my Grip, Josh Dunn. All of my equipment is packaged for travel. I bought up a Red Epic, Red Scarlet, Leica Primes, Canon Zooms, Monitors, Mattebox, Filters etc. Everything we needed for a two camera shoot. Josh travelled with his full rigging kit and even a 3' slider. With my Air New Zealand status we flew with all of this gear for only $60 excess luggage costs!



We picked up the rest of the crew locally, with Roger Fenstra on focus, and Kim Thomas assisting.



Because we had a very small crew we were able to move quickly and efficiently. Leigh was Directing as well as staring in the commercial. Once I was happy with a take, we would review playback directly from the Red camera and move on.



Having both the Red Epic and the Red Scarlet on set was a huge time saver. I was able to shoot one of the cameras while the second one was being pre-rigged for the next set up. This allowed us to move very quickly. Also, because of their small size I was able to rig both cameras on the bonnet at the same time, so we could shoot a two shot and a close up simultaneously.



A few of the behind the scenes pictures of the 'camera crew' being taken out by the water were 'leaked' on Facebook before the commercial was released. This caused a huge amount of feedback, and the viral campaign was a great success.



Here is the infamous 'Camera' that was taken out during the filming of the commercial… (rest assured, everything went as planned).

I really enjoyed shooting this commercial. Everyone involved was fun to work with. The script was refreshing, and I am very happy with the result.

Thanks to Brady Dyer for the photos.

Sarah Alainn 'Breathe in Me'

Universal Music Japan asked me to be the Cinematographer and Director for this music video for Sarah Alainn, for her debut album 'Celeste'.

(This online copy is a very low quality short version. There is a HD Blu-ray disc included with each CD).
The Album has just been released in Japan, and is currently ranked at number 5 in the iTunes charts.



We filmed around Queenstown for two shoot days, taking advantage of some of the beautiful locations. Miz Watanabe was the NZ Line Producer. The Japanese Production company was Cinq. I had worked for them previously, almost 10 years ago, and it was good to strengthen the relationship.



I chose to shoot at several spots around the region where I have not filmed at previously. Taking advantage of the sun at each location.



I shot on my Red Scarlet camera, and used my vintage lenses. I decided to use a lot of lens flares and optical effects to make Sarah look ethereal.



Sam Strain was my grip and we used a Panther Mini Jib extensively, along with some tracking shots in the forest.



Stu Gotting was my DIT and we delivered Colour Corrected ProRes 422 movie files at the end of the shoot.

It was a great shoot with a high quality result achieved by a small team. Sarah is hugely talented and I really enjoyed working with her. I am confident that her album will be a success.

Nurofen 'Be Sure'

Sam Scott asked me to shoot this commercial in Auckland.



Because we had a lot of visual effects involved, along with a dolly track and focus pull I decided to shoot on my Red Scarlet camera. The camera gave us 4K resolution which really helped the compositing. It also gave us a Raw image to grade from. Andy at Metro Film rented me a set of Zeiss Ultra Primes. Bryce Swainson was my focus puller.



Sam Scott was also responsible for the 3D set. (The only physical set in the bathroom is the mirror, cupboard and the green set flat that it's attached to. Everything else is generated).
I had the light boxes built into the set, and we lit the first scene to be quite harsh and abrasive. With the flickering lights really adding to the sense of discomfort.



Then, in the pharmacy I went with a classic soft beauty light on the talent.



Miquel Ubeda was the 2D Compositor and the Colorist. Spencer Locke-Bonney was the Gaffer. It was another successful shoot with a small crew, and the client is very happy.