Freelance and Personal Projects:
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Playground Detroit - Holiday Recess 2015:
Director Videographer Editor Local arts organization Playground Detroit hosted this art gallery/live music event in December 2015 as a fundraiser for Detroit Public Schools arts teachers. The event also gave up-and-coming Detroit artists an opportunity to sell their work, and featured performances from four local bands and DJs. My goal was to capture all three aspects of the event: a music festival, a very cool and eclectic gallery show, and a fundraiser for a great cause. One of the bands from the show - Valley Hush - provided the video's musical backbone. |
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Crain's Detroit Business -
Accelerate Michigan 2015 Innovation Competition: Videographer Editor I shot and edited Crain's coverage of this culturally and financially important event, which allows Michigan entrepreneurs to pitch their business ideas to panels of experts and potential investors, with $1 million in prizes to be awarded to the winners. This event not only fosters creativity among budding small business owners and innovators, but also directly injects a substantial amount of capitol into the state's small-business economy. It also serves as a powerful networking opportunity for all the entrepreneurs involved, even the ones who do not make it to the finals. These are the stories I wanted to tell in the form of two three-to-five-minute short-subject documentaries: one focusing on the 2015 competition winners, and the other highlighting the larger context of the event, and its significance to the state's economy. |
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Cinecyde - Hide:
Director Videographer Lighting Designer Editor Cinecyde was one of the original bands that founded Detroit's punk scene in the late-1970s, and they remain staples of the scene today. When I worked with the band to make the music video for their new single, I wanted to capture the raw, intense energy of their classic punk roots, as well as the DIY ethos that has defined their artistic process. To do this, I shot the video in their practice space - appropriately, a garage - and used harsh, high-contrast lighting to create a look that was both stylized and stripped-down. |
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Meadows & Co. Landscape Photography:
Editor I edited this video for Meadows & Co. Landscape Photography, to promote the landscape architecture of Michael J. Dul and Associates. The video was designed to simulate a contemplative journey through one of the landscape architect's properties, and showcase it as an art piece. Beginning with a small detail and gradually revealing the full scope of the property, I used a series of long, unbroken shots to draw attention to the design. |
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Bootsey X and the Lovemasters - Genius from the Waist Down:
Editor Videographer Lighting In November of 2013, Detroit punk icon Bootsey X (aka Bob Mulrooney) passed away after a long battle with cancer. As a tribute to the late singer and his long and impressive career in the city's indie music scene, I worked with one of his fellow band members to make this music video for one of his signature songs. The video features performances of the song across thirty years of concert footage, going as far back as the early-80s, which I curated from VHS and betamax tapes in the band's archives. The footage progresses forward in time as the song goes on, showing the band's chronological growth and decades of influence. It then culminates with footage from the band's memorial show for Bootsey in January of 2014, which I shot with a three-camera crew under my direction. I cut 1987 footage of a younger Bootsey's vocals into the present-day video from the memorial concert, to show how very present he still was. The video ends with a short clip from an interview I shot with Bootsey shortly before he passed away. |
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Projects for Detroit Public Television and PBS:
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MiWeek:
Lighting Director Camera Operator Jib Operator Editor MiWeek is Detroit Public TV's Michigan news and public affairs show, hosted by Christy McDonald in a debate/round-table format featuring Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Stephen Henderson of the Detroit Free Press and Nolan Finley of the Detroit News. When MiWeek moved to a new set in 2014, I designed its lighting. The look of the show was meant to combine news and conversational atmospheres, with set lighting that reflected both the urban and rural sides of Michigan. I am also one of the camera operators who frequently works on the show, including operating the jib camera, and one of the two editors of the show. |
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American Black Journal:
Lighting Director Camera Operator Jib Operator Editor American Black Journal is a truly historical show: it has been a staple of Detroit Public Television since its revolutionary creation in 1968. In its current incarnation it is hosted by Pulitzer Prize-winner Stephen Henderson. When the show moved to a new set in 2014, its lighting posed an interesting challenge: it shares some set-pieces with MiWeek, but the show's very different style and personality - not to mention its rich cultural heritage - require quite a different environment. I used lighting to turn the shows' shared walls into an altogether new space for American Black Journal, and give it a more intimate and academic atmosphere. I am also one of the show's frequent camera operators, including operating the jib camera, and one of the two editors of the show. |
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A Cranbrook Conversation: Eero Saarinen and the Cradle of American Modernism:
Editor Camera Operator As a local Detroit tie-in to the premiere of the American Masters documentary Eero Saarinen: The Architect Who Saw The Future, the Detroit Public Television documentary team produced a roundtable discussion with several professors at the Cranbrook Academy of Art, where Saarinen had gotten his start designing many of the school's architectural features. I edited the four one-to-two-minute pieces which were curated from the roundtable and aired on Detroit Public TV in the weeks leading up to the documentary's debut. I was also one of the three camera operators on the shoot. |
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Detroit Institute of Arts: Dance!
Co-Director of Lighting: Video Component Dance! American Art 1830-1960 was a special exhibit at the DIA in the spring of 2016 which juxtaposed paintings, sculptures, and other works of art based around the theme of dance with life-sized videos of professional dancers. The dancers, from different styles and mediums, would perform dances similar to those featured in the art, and would talk about the importance of dance, in relation both to the art and to culture and the human condition at large. The videos produced for the exhibit were shot in the studios of Detroit Public Television, where I was the co-director of lighting for the shoot. The performers were filmed in controlled pools of light in our darkened, empty studio space, so they could be projected onto the gallery walls and appear to be present in the room, life-sized. |
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Due Process:
Co-Director of Lighting Hosted by Attorney Henry Baskin, Esq, Due Process has been on the air in Detroit for nearly thirty years. For its 2013 season, I and my co-director of lighting redesigned its lighting scheme. Using tightly-focused accent lights, we aimed to create the look of an elegantly-lit loft overlooking the Detroit skyline at night, in a way that was more cinematic than traditional talk-show television. |
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The Pain Antidote with Dr. Mel Pohl
Audio Editor/Mixer: Companion CD Camera Operator The Pain Antidote is one of two medical help shows that Detroit Public Television produced for national PBS over the course of just one month in the spring of 2016. I edited and mixed the guided meditation CD which was available with the DVD of The Pain Antidote (or individually) as a pledge gift for PBS nationally. I was also one of the main camera operators on both shows, working both to give voice to the important medical content, and to represent DPTV's standard of production quality on the national stage. |
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Daniel O'Donnell Music and Memories:
Co-Director of Lighting Detroit Public Television produced this 2015 national PBS series, featuring Irish singer Daniel O'Donnell as he hosts best-of compilations of live music performances from across his long career. I and my co-director of lighting designed the lighting for O'Donnell's host segment sets, of which there were three: one designed to look like a recording studio, one designed to look like a band practice space, and a central performance stage. Using carefully-sculpted accent lights and dramatic use of color, we created a different mood for each of the three sets, which echoed back to the looks of some of his past live shows, while also bringing a new look to this series. Our host-segment sets can be found at 0:04, 0:52, and 2:50 in this trailer. |
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Detroit Performs presents Sphinx Stars Detroit:
Co-Director of Lighting Camera Operator A collaboration between the Sphinx Organization and Detroit Public Television's Detroit Performs series, Sphinx Stars was a 2014 miniseries in which young Michigan musicians competed for a prize, while receiving advice and feedback from music industry professionals. I and the rest of the show's lighting design team sought to create the ambiance of an American Idol or Voice-style setting for the kids to perform in, although with a more friendly and less cutthroat spin fitting to the PBS setting. I was also one of the camera operators on the entire miniseries. |
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Tavis Smiley - Detroit Series:
Lighting and Staging Team Tavis Smiley brought his national PBS series to Detroit from March 23rd-30th 2015, to shoot six shows and one web special focusing on the city's financial, cultural, and racial issues, and much-discussed turnaround. During those shows, which were shot by Detroit Public Television's crew on the campus of Wayne State University, he interviewed key Detroit figures such as Mayor Mike Duggan, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Stephen Henderson, Detroit Bankruptcy judge Steven Rhodes, and iconic U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Damon Keith. I worked on the lighting and staging team for the production, creating a larger, theater-sized set inspired by the studio-based set for his regular show. I was the only member of the lighting team aside from lighting director Pauline Budgeon, and thus played a major role in the lighting of the set. |
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No Grain No Pain:
Camera Operator Lighting Team No Grain No Pain was the second of two medical help shows that Detroit Public TV produced for the national PBS market within just one month in the spring of 2016. I was the main camera operator on the production, as well as being one of the members of the show's lighting team. |
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Feel Grand with Jane Seymour:
Lighting and Staging Team Detroit Public Television produced this 2014 national PBS series hosted by Jane Seymour: a medical talk-show about the process and science of ageing. On the lighting and staging team lead by lighting director Harry Acres, I worked to create the show's elegant yet modern look, through lighting as well as the construction of the set, with its steel-trimmed windows and hardwood-facade stage. |
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Knit and Crochet Now:
Lighting and Staging Team Another national show produced by Detroit Public TV, Knit and Crochet Now is featured on American Public Television's Create channel. For the past several seasons, on the lighting and staging team led by lighting director Pauline Budgeon, I worked to create the immersive atmosphere of a two-story house illuminated by sunshine through windows and skylights, as well as working on the construction of the elaborate house set itself. |
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Mackinac Policy Conference:
Field Lighting Camera Operator Every year, Detroit Public Television live-streams the entire Mackinac Policy Conference from our HD production truck. For the past three years I lit the interview set in the lobby of Mackinac Island's Grand Hotel, and was one of the camera operators filming the talks with Michigan and neighboring states' political figures. |
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Detroit Performs Live:
Staging Team Camera Operator This annual two-hour live event at downtown Detroit's Fillmore Theater serves three functions: as a fundraising gala for Detroit Public Television, as a locally-promoted concert film aired on our broadcast station, and as a web stream used to promote Detroit's art scene nationally and internationally. I worked with set designer Pauline Budgeon to create the 2015 debut show's aesthetic: a mix of modern and classical elements intended to be flexible to the show's - and the city's - eclectic mix of musical styles. I returned for the 2016 production as a behind-the-scenes camera operator, shooting promotional material surrounding the event. |
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MiVote:
Studio and Field Lighting Studio and Field Camera Operator Editor The MiVote initiative takes several forms at Detroit Public TV, and I have done lighting and camera work on all of them - including in-studio forums and debates like this one among Michigan Supreme Court candidates, and pre-election "roadshow" videos, in which I travelled around the state doing field interviews with over a hundred Michigan State Representative candidates. In the case of the MiVote Roadshow field interviews, I acted as a "one-man band" crew, lighting and shooting the interviews, and then editing the footage in Adobe Premiere and uploading them to the MiVote web site. |
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