Two Sentence Horror Stories Seasons 2 and 3
Two Sentence Horror Stories is an anthology horror show for CW/Netflix which pairs a real life horror with a horror genre metaphor.
Over two seasons we explored "different nighmares from the same mind", as show creator Vera Miao put it. I worked with alternating DP Guy Pooles to develop a look and feel which could wear the needs of each story's specific sub genre. For example, some episodes would be steeped in J Horror traditions while we tried to tell the story of a school shooting. Or how obsessions over previous generations makes zombies out of people and prevents them from moving forward in equinimity.
Each of theses subgenres has a very specific history, pantheon of influences and distinct visual language, and yet I was tasked with creating a look that could weave a coherent visual theme throughout all two seasons.
It was exceptionally engaging, challenging and rewarding to be invited to create these worlds to discuss such pressing issues such as racism and toxic masculinity.
Trailer
My work inspired the studio to put me forward for a "For your consideration campaign" for an Emmy. I was also nominated for a Best Cinematography award for my work on the Season 3 premiere episode "Crush".
Livici: A live, interactive cirus performance
I was approached by a local motion capture stage who I had worked with on a Niell Blomkamp Unity Engine project called Atom. They had a uniquely challenging show, and were looking for a DP who could help intigrate Unreal Engine and live action elements to create a circus show which would be viewed in four ways, all for a live audience.
1) The show was presented to a live studio audience with performers in front of a 40x60 LED wall. 2) The show was streamed live in traditional 2d, with me live switching between 5 live action cameras, and about 190 angles I had pre-set up in Unreal Engine. 3) Interactive 2d stream. This was a stream available to watch on phones or web browsers in which users could fly around and watch the show unfold from wherever they pleased. 4) Live in VR where audiences could fully experience the show from any perspective in live 3D.
Working with this incredible team of amazing artists and technicians was a truly remarkable experience. Working in Unreal Engine to place camera and design lighting was a revelation, and as a result I have become proficient in using the camera and lighting tools with in UE5. While Livici was just a prototype, it clearly shows what the future of live entertainment could be.
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Charlotte's Song
A young girl with a special gift struggles to overcome a mob boss’ influence over her family in this dark Dust Bowl fantasy, inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid.”
Winner of five 2016 Leo Awards including Best Cinematography.
Official Selection Vancouver International Film Festival 2015
One of the "Top 10 most visually appealing films of VIFF2015
"Boardwalk Empire meets Days of Heaven cinematography" - The Georgia Straight
Trailer
Charlotte’s Song premiered at VIFF 2015, and sold out all tickets on the first day. The festival subsequently added a third screening at their largest venue, the Vancouver Playhouse. We quickly sold out that screening as well.
Images from the film were used in many newspapers around town to promote the festival in general - not just in relation to our specific movie.
Production on Charlotte’s Song started on June 1 st, 2014. By the time we went to camera director Nick Humphries and myself had been able to plan out the look and feel to a very specific degree. Nick and I had known each other for a few years by that point, and we had worked on several short films together.
Our collaboration is very in depth, and by now very efficient. We have very similar tastes on what looks good, and it feels like we’ve been on the same page since day one. Many times after “cut” was called Nick would come out from behind the monitor, I would jump off the dolly and we would meet in the middle, each of us starting the say the same note to one another.
Director Nick Humphries and myself at the 2016 Leo Awards
In prep Nick and I focused on creating a cohesive "visual image system" for "Charlotte's Song."
We created a list of elements we felt would reflect the emotional subtext of the story visually, and would guide our visual desicions.
For example, we decided that we would represent the non human fantasy creatures with cooler colour tones, and the humans with warm tones.
You'll notice the paint on the wall in Charlotte's room is blue and the "Gertrude" sea creature fights under blue moonlight, whereas the human characters often wear warm accents, and are almost exclusivey in warm light.
Working with the other department heads to express our visual image system is one of the best parts of my job. Production Designer Victoria Pearson and I had made a short film in the past, and we enjoy a fantastic level of collaboration.
Our carefully managed colour palette can be visualized by this "movie barcode".
I extracted one frame every 48 frames, blurred them and shrank them to 3 pixels wide and then stacked them all up in a line.
In this way you can get a sense of the general tone and palette for the film.
I like to think about this 'zoomed out' view of the visuals to map out what I think might be an engaging journey for the audience, and what express the emotional context of our film visually.
Anxious Oswald Greene
"Anxious Oswald Greene" is a fantasy comedy about a man who goes to see a rhyming doctor to get his anxiety surgically removed.
It was my second collaboration with writer/director Marshall Axani.
The film earned 13 Leo Awards at the 2014 Leos, including Best Cinematography. It is the most awarded short film in the history of the Leos.
It went on to play in dozens of festivals. It was featured by Telefilm in several programs including "The Longest Day" winter solstice festival. It aired on "Air Canada".
Based on the strength of this short, writer/director Marshall Axani was able to secure funding from the Harold Greenberg Shorts to Features Foundation for us to make our third short film, "Mina.Minerva".
Marshall also won the Telefilm Microbudget grant in 2016 to produce his first feature, which I also shot with him.
Our relationship and level of collaboration has grown and matured enormously over the years.
I enjoy several long term professional relationships in the industry. I like being part of a team and sticking together over time as we all grow.
Our work gets better and better!
The Seahorse Trainer
"The Seahorse Trainer" is a surreal fantasy about a man who trains seahorses.
I was happy to collaborate with directors Babak Bina and Ricardo Bonisoli, and visual effects supervisor Rhys Claringbull who spend their days at Industrial Light and Magic making Star Wars.
The film was awarded the National Film Board Filmmaker's Assistants Fund.
I love encorporating visual effects into my work, and this film gave me an opportunity to collaborate closely on intigrating virtual elements into the live action cinematography. I have extensive experience shooting live action for visual effects, and I was pleased to be asked to work on a project that required such a unique look.
The Surprise
"The Surprise" is a branded content film by Wallop Films.
I was pleased to work on this project for the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego for Wallop.
The project focused on finding beautiful frames, and visual storytelling to tell a story with no dialogue.
I love travelling to a new place for work. It's inspiring to see the sun set over a different part of the world. I am so inspired by seeing things with the perspective of a visitor.
