Summary
Throughout our production phase, I had a large role in the design and fulfillment of the project we had at hand. My job as a cinematographer was to plan and design shots, as well as create them out in the field. I also had to think creatively and be able to adjust and redesign on the fly.
Camera Evidence
We ended up deciding on using a Canon 70D and a DJI Osmo for our production. We knew we wanted to do a one shot for our intro scene, so we spent some time choreographing and planning to ensure we could get that done in an efficient amount of time. We used the Osmo to incorporate smooth movement into the film and made sure to keep the production value high when using the DSLR with a variety of angles and shot types.

Shot Choice Justification
There was a lot of discussion and debate with my director regarding what shots would work best for what we had in mind for this film. We agreed that in the end, the best way to make this film work was shoot in a way that really sold the comedy. We tried to create high production value moving cinematic shots that contrasted with static comedic shots within the film. We wanted to make sure however that we never had a shot that was there just to “be there”.
Lighting Design
We used a blue LED through a sunroof of our car for the shot in the scene below. This was to create cooler tones that contrasting with the naturally warm skin tones of our actors. This created a cold steel, intense effect. In other scenes we used a bounce to get some more warmth on our actors and to separate them from the backgrounds.

Consultation With Editor
Early on we made a decision to shoot our actors angles one at a time, doing each actors dialogue all in one run. This allowed our editor to make personal choices about comedic timing and breaks. Otherwise if we had both actors act out the scene in real time with a two camera setup, our editor would have a lot less control, especially in mixing dialogue.
Alternative Shots
Some of the alternative shots we did included extra slider shots of the car, fake crane shots and cut ins. This allowed our editor to be able to hide harsh cuts to fix timing to help sell our final product.

Camera Work and Lighting Evaluation
I think throughout the film we demonstrated a good amount of technical skill in slider, moving and static shot variation. From an artistic standpoint, we took a lot more time to focus on why we lit some scenes the way we did. We wanted the coffee shop to feel warmer, so we used gold reflectors. We wanted the car scene to feel like a spy flick, so we used blue gels on LED’s. These techniques added to the artistic value of our film.
Influences from Films
Some of my influences I drew from included Emmanuel Lubezki (The Revanant) and Andrzej Sekuła (Pulp Fiction). Emmanuel’s long glidecam style one shots gave us the idea to do our intro scene as a long one shot. With the gimbal on the Osmo we were able to achieve glidecam like stability. Andrzej knew how to shoot something gritty but still sell comedy. The accidental shooting scene in Pulp Fiction was one of the big influences for the last scene in our film.
What I Learned and Problems I Solved
This project has taught me a lot about working in a team. A lot of the other projects I’ve worked on I usually do independently so there was a bit of a learning curve for the collaborative environment. I found that two heads really are better than one and four is even better. We faced some problems with the weather we had not planned for, but in the end we were able to find simple work arounds like shooting under umbrellas and chasing the sun between shots. In the end, production went smoothly and I’m excited to see this project after post.