Moments

Sunday, June 12, 2016

Never Hike Alone | Location Scout | Unit Stills

I love Horror movies. LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE them. My appreciation for the genre grew in college when I moved into a house full of theater majors and we began (starting the first night we moved in) to make a steady stream of films. Nights were spent filming and days spent editing, using two VCR’s and other equipment hodgepodged together in our living room. We used slushies from 7-11 for visual effects and everyone got bumps and bruises from our terrible attempts at stunt work. There is a reason there are PROFESSIONALS in every field in this biz. But we were energetic college kids who easily bounced back from whatever we threw ourselves down, stairs in my case.

Every since I started working as a Unit Stills Photographer, I have longed for the chance to create images for a Horror film. Patience and persistence pays off as the first Horror movie that I will be creating images for is an homage to Friday the 13th! The cool factor is bumped because the original was one of the first horror films I ever saw, I must have been around 8 years old and I definitely wasn’t allowed to watch those type of movies. My mom still can’t get through anything scarier than Criminal Minds. It was at my parent’s friends house during a party. The parents left a few of us kids together under the watchful eye of their older son while they socialized. The watchful eye decided to scare the ever living shit out of the younger kids with a viewing of his video tape of the first Friday the 13th. It was awesome and terrifying. See, I grew up in the middle of the woods on a lake. Oh yeah!! I don’t know how long it took for my mom to stop me from trying to sneak into their bed at night. ha!

So I was very excited when the awesome guys that make up Womp Stomp Films took me along to location scout for Never Hike Alone honoring the Friday the 13th films. Vincente DiSanti drove us deep in the woody mountains somewhere east of LA to a long abandoned camp at the end of a twisting and turning ‘road’ with a steep drop to one side and boulders going up the other. It was a slow climb to the top with frequent stops to clear trees and larger rocks from the ‘road’ and boy oh boy was it worth it! YAHHHSSSSS!!! The abandoned camp is exactly where a 13th homage must happen. We were all looking over our shoulders the entire time and as I explored the cabins farther away from base camp by myself, I sort of expected to turn the corner and find sweet ole Jason taking a nap. I cannot wait till principle photography.

How perfect is this?

in case you have ever wondered what 30 year old soap looks like….

Vinny and Christopher James Thellas testing out the sony a7s ii low light capabilities

Costume + Location tests

and we were gifted a beautiful sunset on our ride back to civilization!

Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Half The Picture | Unit Stills

I’ve been creating images for a documentary called Half The Picture on female directors (and convos on women in the biz) and it got me thinking that my journey in the world of movie making has been a very different journey than what a lot of females experience. My first project was a wonderful pilot called “Wake Up America.” It had a female producing team, female director and two female leads! My 2nd project was written by a woman who also was the producer. And then my 3rd experience was staffed ENTIRELY by women! The production company 6 With Heels states in their mission statement that every project they work on will be filled by at least 50% women! They went 100% with their first project, Chickadee in which every position, like every single one, was manned by a female. From the director to the grips to the camera to the art to the sound, to the actors every single position was rocked by a lady. The only male on set was a neighbor who kept wandering into frame to watch every once in a while. Considering the usual ration of men to women on sets, this is RARE start to my Unit Stills photography career. Not saying that the fella’s don’t do a rocking job, they do and I love working with the fellas and there are a lot who are very supportive of females on set. BUT the amount of women usually filling roles on sets is very low. Especially when you look towards the directors chair, where around a whopping 9% find women sitting in that chair.

If only 9% of films that shape our culture are told by women that means 91% of what influences our society is told from a (mostly white) male point of view. This is problematic. We need stories championed by female voices (and more from minority voices too, while we are at it.) Movies shape the way people see the world and how they act towards each other. They direct our culture. All people’s voices should have a say in what is seen as normal or okay, the views that influence society. When everyone has a voice in telling their stories there will be a more even look at what is normal and thus a healthier point of view shaping the world. What is seen influences what is liked, so the more points of view that people are exposed to leads to a wider world experience.

“We are notes in this beautiful concert of existence.” – Mozart in the Jungle. I look forward to hearing more voices in the mix!

“Directing isn’t the only dark spot for women, either. The report shows that women represented just 11% of writers in 2015, 20% of executive producers, 26% of producers, 22% of editors, and 6% of cinematographers. Women fared slightly better across each category than they did in 2014 — which may be the source of an intra-industry butterfly effect. It turns out that when women are in key positions on film sets, the representation of women is better overall than if men are leading the show.” – Refinery 29 (check out the full article)

I heard about a documentary that was exploring these issues and the EEOC’s investigation into unfair hiring practices at the beginning of this year and I leapt at the chance to participate. Half the Picture is a documentary directed by Amy Adrion. Amy is diving deep into these issues and what it means to be a female director with her interviews of some of the top players in the industry including Mary Harron, Kimberly Peirce, Maria Burton. Karyn Kusama, Caroline Libresco, Daisy von Scherler Mayer, Tina Mabry, Emily Best, and Destri Martino (and lots more, they had already been filming for 3 months when I joined the team and many more interviews still to come!)

The conversations that I have gotten to be privy to at these interviews is simultaneously heartening and devastating, inspiring and terrifying and 100% empowering. The hurtles and uphill battles these women have had face to be able to create their award winning films is mind boggling. A woman can direct a film that wins the lead an oscar but then can’t get another project for a decade while their male counterpart puts out a flop and has a new film gift wrapped and handed to them. It just makes no sense. I’m looking forward to the EEOC’s findings and meanwhile I am having a great time with Amy and her crew; Yamit Shimonowitz, Ona Isart, David Harris, Delrissa Machain, Jenn Gittings, Karla Mendoza, Laura Peyer, Jeanne Tyson, Bella Sosis, Soraya Selene, Eve Cohen, and Evan Menak

Interviews are ongoing, we have our next one in a few weeks.

Cuddles with mom after another successful shoot.

How many male directors are asked how they balance their career with their families?
Every female director is………

Monday, November 2, 2015

Chickadee | Unit Still Photographer

I was so excited to be a part of the 100% cast & crew family as the Unit Still Photographer for the short film Chickadee!
#GirlPower

When I heard what producers Sarah Chaney and Heather Olt were putting together with Alissa Jessup, I knew this was an incredible opportunity. I’ve been working in the film world a long time as both a hand model and a photographer and the ratio of women to men on every set is very low. I have worked with three female director and one female DP in the 13 years I have been working on commercials! The articles going around about gender inequality in hollywood aren’t exaggerating. There are very few women found on the majority of sets. & the crazy thing is if you look at the history of cinema, you find that 1/2 of all writers, directors and production company owners before 1925 were women! So what happened between 1925-2015 to create such imbalance? and what can happen in 2015 to start a reversal?

One great thing to help start a new trend, is 6 With Heels. The production company founded by Sarah & Heather, they state very clearly in their mission statement that “women will make up at least half of the cast,crew and content of our multimedia productions. YES!

and then they tossed out ‘half’ for their first project and said ‘f.it, lets go all in’ and a cast and crew was formed entirely of ladies.

“I’d love to see four girls who actually get along in a movie that’s not about chasing some guy or marrying somebody. Like, where the f–k is our ’Pulp Fiction?’ Where is our ’Reservoir Dogs’? Where’s that cool s–t with the chicks kicking ass, having some fun?” – Michelle Rodriguez

Here ya go, Michelle Rodriguez, here ya go.

100% women cast and crew short film #girlpower

After being inspired by Michelle Rodriquez’s words, Allissa Jessup wrote, directed and starred in the hysterically real and funny comedy about a gal who throws a baby sister for her sister. A gal, who is the older sister, married, without children and very unfiltered. Things detour rather quickly from a simple afternoon party.

Images from the table read to the weekend shoot!

Talented women are available for every position in front of and behind the camera. Women are not a niche, we write, direct, light, prop, gaff, boom, photo, whatever is needed.
and if that isn’t enough,
a female crew will slash your crafty budget. (I heard after wrap, a lot of the unopened crafty was returned.}

though nothing remained of the pie! Thanks Piehole for the delicious prop!!!