Film Work: 

A Sniper’s Tale (2013) – Short Film

Genre: Military Drama

Runtime: 12 min.

Description:  “Life is about choices. In spec ops, it’s choices that define you.”

This is a narrative about an elite sniper who is in a compromised position and must choose between two hard choices, stay and provide overwatch for his unit or bug out and save himself. In these final moments he sees only one memory, the mission that got him into this elite unit.

The majority of this film was shot on the Sony FS100 in FX 1080/24p mode. Some shots were filmed on a Canon T2i with 50mm lens in the same format. Sony, Nikon and Sigma lenses were used in the making of this film. It was edited in Final Cut Pro 7. Visual FX were edited in After Effect CS6 and artwork was created in Adobe Illustrator CS6. The audio, soundtrack and sound FX were edited in Final Cut Pro and Soundtrack Pro.

Gunfight Showdown (2013) – Short Film

Genre: Military Action/Comedy

Runtime: 1 min.

Description:  This is a short film is called, “Gunfight Challenge,” and is about two men in gunfight, but all is not as it seems. This was a test in telling an action-based story in one-minute or less. This was a six-day endeavor from writing to post production. Writing and pre-production took three days. It was lit and shot on the Sony FS100 in one day. The lighting was setup by me, using two Lowell 650W Omni’s, a 4×6 LED light, one 100W light and one reflector. The editing took two days, one day to cut and one day to add FX, Foley and SFX. This project was edited in Premiere Pro and the FX was edited in After Effects.

The Willing (2009) – Feature Film Trailer

Awarded with the 2009 “CINE Golden Eagle Award,”  a 2009 “Accolade Award of Merit” and won “Best Feature Film” at the 2013 “Honolulu Film Awards.”

Genre: Suspense/Drama

Runtime: 1:47 min.

Description: “The Willing” is an independent film that was inspired by the actors portrayed, who are all from the same school of acting and wanted to work on something that could test and highlight their skills as actors. Written and directed by Tom Schneider, these actors were contacted individually and each given specific details about their character with which they were expected to play in improvisation. On set, they knew very little about each other’s characters and each scene was given to them on the day of the shoot. Though the script had a definite plot and storyline from beginning to end, Tom wanted the actors to discover each other as if they were the characters themselves. This created an air of mystery for the actors and allowed them to simply react to each other’s parts without preconception. This led to some interesting performances as well as some interesting interactions within the production. Some of the actors began having transference issues that stemmed from their character’s interactions within each scene, which led to it affecting their off-screen interactions with each other. It was definitely an interesting experience witnessing everything unfold, as I was privy to the overall storyline. In every aspect of this film, each of the actors had become part of the writing process for their character as well as pushing the story forward. I even got the chance to help the director come up with solutions to certain issues including the end, though I refused a writing credit for it. Why? Well, first, I hadn’t actually penned anything on paper and I had a big enough part as the cinematographer, and I didn’t want to take away from the whole process that each actor had put into it, as well as what the director had to endure over those six weeks. This was one of those once in a lifetime experiences that I cherish, because it not only helped me grow as cinematographer, but as filmmaker in general.

The Mark (2007) – Short Film

Genre: Suspense/Drama/Tragedy

Runtime: 8:40 min.

Description: “On an unusually quiet night, the owner of a small frozen yogurt shop is intrigued by his only customer, an eerily silent young woman. As he learns more about his mysterious patron and her story, the shopkeeper is forced to accept a horrifying tragedy that has struck his and her life.” (Retrieved from MindShift Films YouTube page at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhWVEBbCMTE)

This indie/”no-budget” film (it had a tiny budget, hence the quotes, but technically wouldn’t qualify as low-budget by most standards) was shot on location at FroYo in Honolulu, Hawaii. I was living on Maui at the time when I got the call to work on this production and I had to fly myself out to Oahu and find my own accommodations to participate on this film, but it was worth every penny.

To date, this was probably one of my most favorite film sets to work on. This was shot over a consecutive three day period, of which, I calculated that I worked about 18-hours per day. Yes, those were some long days, but I loved every minute of it. To be honest, I didn’t even notice how long the shoots were, because that’s how much fun I had on this production. I worked so hard and without complaint that the director/producer gave me an assistant DP (Director of Photography) credit. Do those even exist? I also pulled focus and held boom on this when we weren’t doing a two camera setup. My actual credits should have been 2nd camera and 1st AC, but I was lucky enough to get most of my shots in the final edit, which is one of the reasons I got the upgrade in accreditation.  The other reason was that I did whatever the director asked of me. If he needed specific coverage that the DP wasn’t available to get, I was there saying, “tell me what you want and I’ll shoot it.” And when I wasn’t operating a camera or pulling focus, I was busy moving and setting up lights or holding the occasional boom mic. Another huge reason that this film holds such a special place in my heart is the fact that I learned so much about filmmaking in such a short period of time. I will always be grateful to Tom Schneider for inviting me to work on this production when he didn’t have to. By the way, it is because of how I performed on this film that got me the job on “The Willing.”