BIG ROD Working On AnIndependent Film: SINGLE HILLSA Film Shoot at SUNY College at Old Westbury,Long Island (Monday, December 14th, 2009)

Monday, December 14th, 2009 was a really qool ass day!

Before I get to that and for contextual purposes, let me say that I have been working with Writer/Producer/Editor/Cinematographer/Director Joshua Bee Alafia for a little over a year now. We first met through a THPAC (Thelma Hill Performing Arts Center) dance performance in the summer of 2008. He was hired as a consulting videographer and I was shooting still photos as a photographer. We got introduced through my friend Alex Smith who is the Executive Chairman of THPAC. So, Josh (I call him "JB") and I traded business cards and not too long afterward I got a call from him about an independent film called Single Hills (written, produced and directed by Wilkie Cornelius, Jr.) that he was working on as the cinematographer (also called director of photography). He called because he wanted to know if I was available to work on the film as a sound technician/boom mic operator. Though my focus is more on cinematography (as a NYU film student) I thought this would be a great opportunity to learn another particular aspect of filmmaking. Too may times I have been to film festivals or seen some independent films where the sound suffers so much and is distracting from the narrative of the of film I'm watching. Sound sometimes suffer from resource and budgetary constraints, or it's simply overlooked in favor of pure visuals.

Shure M367 Six Channel Input Portable Microphone Mixer

So I went to JB's office suite in downtown Brooklyn and he gave me a crash course with the Seinhesser shotgun boom microphone (forgot the model number) he owns and a Shure M367 Six Channel Input Portable Microphone Mixer. It took about 15 minutes to pick up on the two pieces of equipment because I have a background in indoor broadcast studio work from my experience at BCAT (Brooklyn Cable Access Television) located in downtown Brooklyn, New York City. I served as technical director, robotics ("robo" or "robocop" we used to say for short) and camera-person on various shows (that I felt where progressive). So hooking up the mic to the mixer with the XLR cables was familiar to me.

So since the summer of 2008, JB has called me back time and again to work on Single Hills and his own independent film called Let's Stay Together which looks incredibly awesome with progressive dialog anf food for thought. I think folks will like this film when it's finished and released (probably sometime in 2010).

So, fast forward to this past Sunday where I was working with JB on his film Let's Stay Together in BedStuy, Brooklyn and Harlem, he asked me if I was available on Monday to work on SIngle Hills again (been 6 months to a year since I've worked on the film). I said "Yeah, sure". So the cast and crew (JB and I) drove in two vehicles to SUNY College at Old Westbury in Long Island to shoot some new scenes. The school, by the way, is the alma mater of writer/producer/director Wilkie Cornelius, Jr. so it was qool for him to return to his roots and do his film there.

Man! What an awesome day! First in reflection, it's great when you can work with a cast and crew where there's no attitudes or egos and everyone is putting their best effort forward for the film project. The staff/students at Old Westbury did everything to make us feel welcomed and helped us with everything that we needed.

Below are some pics that were taken by the the staff/students. I special shout out to my brutha Jeury Tavares who assisted us on the shoot and who I befriended. He was a real passionate workhorse and helped us in so many ways on the shoot and also forwarded the pictures to me which you can see below. I should be getting more pics from him soon and will update y'all as I get them...

ME (ROD) Sitting In For One of the Actors
As The Cinematographer and Director
Frame and Prepare A Scene
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This Was The Main and Biggest Studio Set That We Used
On Location At SUNY College at Old Westbury in Long Island

Pictured Left To Right:
Production Assistant Jerry Tavares,
Cinematographer Joshua Bee Alafia and
ME (BIG ROD) As The Sound Technician/Boom Mic Operator

Foreground (left to right):
ME (ROD) and Cinematographer Joshua Bee Alafia
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Background (left to right):
Writer/Producer/Director Wilkie Cornelius, Jr.
Working On A Scene With Actor Sisko

Holly, One Of Our Actors (Seated)
Is Preparing For an Info-commercial Scene
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ME (ROD) Pictured On The Far Right
Teaching Jeury To Use The Boom Mic

Jeury and Myself Looking On As We Prepare A Scene To Be Shot

Jeury And ME

Jeury And I Having A Light Laughing Moment
(We Had A Qool Connection)
As I Prepare and Calibrate The Mixer To The Proper Levels

Jeury and I Pose For a Pic.
Because The Lighting Grid Was Turned Down Low
On The Set It Was Rather Dark So Hence
The Camera's Slow Shutter (Blurry Pic). Oh well... LOL!

Yep!
That's Me Standing On The Chairs Just Outside The Main Studio.
I Was Miking A Scene For Two Other Actors
By The Studio's Control Console (To The Right, Not Pictured)

ME (BIG ROD) Posing For a Quick Shot
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I Actually Like This Pic As I'm Self-Conscious About
How I Photograph! I'm More Suited Behind The Camera!
LOL!

For the film buffs out there this production is shot in high definition video (HDV). Fot this day's shoot only we also shot in DVCAM format.

Hopefully more pics will follow and more sharing to come...