Lighting Test Shots

Lighting Test Shots

When I first started as a video producer at First Methodist, I was paired with a junior video producer named Keith. Keith was the first employee I ever had, and fortunately for me Keith was both very good at his job and very easy to manage. The best possible way to start figuring out how to be a manager, I think, is to be almost entirely extraneous to the whole process. I would recommend it to anyone.

One of the habits I got into that first year was doing lighting setups with Keith as my subject, snapping a test frame with the cameras, then talking the look over with Keith before the subject arrived. Just for fun, I started saving the frames in a collection on my computer with the idea of making an Instagram post at some point.

After about a year, I got promoted to creative director and had less time to spend directing videos, so I never finished the project. But today I stumbled across the folder I was saving all of the photos in and decided to post some of them here for posterity.

Let's Get Some Content Up Here

Let's Get Some Content Up Here

It has been half a decade since I last blogged - since anyone last blogged, probably - and it’s time for this space to pivot to something else.

I’ve been working on updating this site, and while there are lots of videos and photos I’m excited to highlight, there’s also a fair amount of stuff that needs to be culled. Some of those projects I still really love, though! So I’ll be posting some of those here so that they don’t go away forever.

So, if you’re reading through these posts from newest to oldest, a) I hope there were a number of posts you’ve read already and I’ve followed through on my promise to update this page, and b) you are about to make quite a jump when you read the next post.

Oscar Night Drinking Game!

Oscar Night Drinking Game!

Okay, even if the Oscars aren't interesting (and they won't be), there's still plenty of fun that can be had. A good Oscar drinking game obviously leads to plenty of drinking and light-hearted teasing, but a better one sends you down a dark voyage of self-discovery, where you come out the other side a changed person, with a scar you can't remember getting and a series of tattoos whose meaning are a mystery that will haunt you for the rest of your days. You will probably also have to do some community service.

This is the magic of the movies.

Breaking Down The Oscars, Part One: Almost Definitely Correct Predictions

Breaking Down The Oscars, Part One: Almost Definitely Correct Predictions

This started out as a drinking game post, but I realized I couldn't throw out a drinking game for the Oscars without first predicting what will happen. Therefore: a predictions post, guaranteed to be nigh-foolproof. Feel free to use it in any office pools you do. My vig is 10%.

Every Oscars broadcast has some sort of narrative to it – a neck-and-neck race for Best Actor, a possible surprise for Best Picture, a “will the Academy stay conservative or make the daring choice?”* conversation. So what’s the conversation this year?

*The answer to this is always – always - “go conservative.”

Last year, we assumed this year’s Oscars would be about reacting to the #oscarssowhite controversy. Every branch added new members, pushed out old ones, increased diversity, etc. That had to affect things, right? Maybe we’d get some unusual choices this year!

Nope! We got exactly what we expected (though the nominations are much more diverse this year than last, there just aren't any surprises). But all the diversity directives will affect what is certain to be the theme of this year’s broadcast: this year’s overarching story is going to be “how much will people talk about Trump?” That’s right, guys, this year’s broadcast is going to be about the speeches! What a lot of fun we’re all gonna have.

My Favorite Songs of 2016: Spotify Playlist

This doesn't give anything away in terms of my final rankings, which are still getting rolled out slowly. Instead, I put this list together mixtape-fashion, trying to make it something you can put on and play and get alternately hype and sad, which the sort of musical bipolarism I aspire to create.

I'm slipping it into your locker with a carefully hand-lettered song list and a kitschy title of some kind, probably pulled from one of the song's lyrics. It's recorded on a Maxell High-Bias XLII 110-minute cassette for maximum quality. You slip it quietly into your stereo as you drive home. It's already cued up to track one, ready to define the album's whole tone.

The song comes on, warm and fun, and you smile and roll down the windows.