work in progress

Thu, 10 Mar 2011 23:46:56 +0100

Been so busy shooting and editing that I barely had time to update my site and blog.

Lots of stuff in the works : a long documentary about singer Trixie Whitley’s first album, a couple of wedding videos, possibly some work for MTV, probably some work for UEFA, a few short clips for local artist Tiger Lili, ...

Right now I’m finishing the making of for Hasta La Vista, a feature film by Geoffrey Enthoven. I expect it to be ready by mid April. The movie will be sent in for the Cannes Film Festival, so the making of might get an update in the coming months.

I’ll post clips in the next few weeks, since a lot of stuff will be ready by then.

new service : cinematic wedding videos

Tue, 17 Aug 2010 14:15:43 +0200

After making my first wedding video last July and having fun shooting and editing it, I decided to take it a little more serious and turn it into a business.

A few US cinematographers (Kevin Shahinian from Pacific Pictures is just one, check his work here) have inspired me to translate my way of shooting and editing to wedding videos. Wedding videos over here (Belgium) are still mostly the standard definition shoulder cam affair, without using DSLR’s, Steadicams or colour correction. Add the cliché fog filters and white vignettes and it’s late 80‘s all over ... Actually pretty unbelievable. A few companies with younger staff and people who do regular TV and commercial work are slowly moving towards a more cinematic look, but I think there’s some room left for me ;-) Anyway, time to find out.

So I registered a domain name and set up a portal site (Dutch spoken for the moment, since Belgium and The Netherlands are my initial target markets) : www.huwelijksvideos.be.

Currently working on expanding the portfolio and trying to find collabo’s with wedding planners and such.

my first wedding video

Tue, 3 Aug 2010 16:25:24 +0200

One of the things on my to-do list for 2010 was a wedding video. Just to find out if it’s something I like doing and to see how hard it actually is.

My nephew and his fiancée agreed to be my victims and got themselves a wedding video in return.

I started shooting a little after 8am and stopped filming a little before 11pm. Long working days, that’s for sure.
The shoot involved 4 different locations, so my Suzuki Burgman scooter came in very handy to leave one location as the last person and get to the next spot before everyone else. Without any speeding or parking tickets ;-)

For this shoot, I used my brand new Canon T2i/550D with a variety of vintage lenses and occasionally a low-budget Sigma 55-200mm. Didn’t use any artificial lighting (which explains the grain in the dance footage at the end).

Enjoy !

New gear // new plans

Tue, 18 May 2010 22:23:50 +0200

Got myself a Canon 550D/T2i, the little brother to the 5D and 7D DSLR cameras ! Slowly but surely adding lenses to my setup, to cover most grounds. Started using a lens I inherited from my grandfather’s analog photo days ... great that these digital cameras allow us to use old analog lenses and combine the best of both worlds ... In many ways this is the same route a lot of us in the music biz follow ... record digitally but use analog equipment to record and/or mix.
Still need to invest in a decent separate sound recorder as the built-in audio in these kind of cameras isn’t really workable, but that’s a small price to pay considering the image you get out of these cameras.

Jobwise I’m looking at plenty of work this year, which is great considering that this whole thing started as a hobby and a passion less than a year ago. Been taking small steps, been getting good feedback and my expectations for this year are already surpassed !

On the schedule for 2010 :
- a wedding video this summer,
- the making-of (and possibly also set photography) for a feature film in October,
- a surf short,
- at least 2 more music videos
- and possibly a long-term documentary project I’ve been working on for a couple of months (still waiting for the OK of a few key people involved).

Trixie Whitley // On The Road

Tue, 18 May 2010 22:05:29 +0200

I followed Trixie Whitley during her recent European tour in January. The result is a 10 minute short with footage from soundchecks, setting up, backstage, travelling & performing live (see below).

Trixie is currently recording & touring with Daniel Lanois’ Black Dub. Her solo album is in the works. Make sure you visit www.trixiewhitley.com for more info and to support her.

Thanks again to Trixie, band, crew & family for the good times and having me on the road with them.