Video: Telling ‘Sweet Home Shenyang’
SWEET HOME SHENYANG
Story by Bill Zarchy
at The Monkey House, Berkeley
Sometimes we struggle to go somewhere. And when we get there, we wish we were home.
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Video: Telling ‘Commitment’
COMMITMENT
Story by Bill Zarchy
at The Monkey House, Berkeley.
Involvement and commitment are not the same.
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Video: Telling ‘Dog Years’
DOG YEARS
Story by Bill Zarchy
at The Monkey House, Berkeley
Pop, Sophie, and The West Wing: A Time of Triumph and Loss
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Video: Telling ‘Living a Lie’
LIVING A LIE
Story by Bill Zarchy
at The Monkey House, Berkeley
Looking for Grandma’s House in New Zealand.
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Shooting Miracles: How to Deal with Medical Locations
It’s still dark out as we pull up to the hospital on a frosty Chicago morning at six. One of the nurses greets us quietly, and we roll our cameras, monitors, lighting, and audio equipment through the bowels of the hospital to the corridor with the operating rooms.
In two hours we’ll be filming heart surgery.
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Health: Our Most Important Product
Technology companies around the world spend millions of dollars on marketing media. Many of these projects rely on real people talking about their own experiences—that staple of corporate video, the talking head …
But I’ve come to realize that health is the most important product of technology, and that patient stories make the most interesting and compelling talking heads, not corporate executives, engineers, or software designers. Here are four memorable patients
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How to Succeed in the Film Business While Really, Really Trying
An old friend from the East Coast contacted me recently to see if I had any career advice for her friends’ son, a recent film school graduate who was trying make it as a filmmaker in New York City. I told my friend that, though my experience as a freelance crew person in the Bay
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Showcasing ‘Showdown at Shinagawa’ — The Video
Video of a presentation by Bill Zarchy at Northbrae Community Church, Berkeley, California on 2/3/16. The author reads excerpts from four of the stories in his book, Showdown at Shinagawa: Tales of Filming from Bombay to Brazil.” He also discusses the ins and outs of self-publishing, as well as his background as a globe-trotting cinematographer. The
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Bangkok, the Saudis, and the Jism Balls
“I’m hungry,”said Randy, as we set up a sunset shot from the overpass near the end of our first day on the ground. “We need something to eat.” “Okay,” Larry agreed. “I’ll get street food. There’s lots of it around.” “Is that safe?” “This is at least my fifth trip to Thailand. I’ve never gotten
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New Award & Reviews for SHOWDOWN at SHINAGAWA
My book SHOWDOWN at SHINAGAWA tells true stories from my long career as a director of photography, working on film and digital cinema shoots across the U.S. and all around the world: Japan, India, China, Uganda, the Philippines, New Zealand, France, Singapore, England, Taiwan, Mexico, and Brazil. The book has recently been honored as a Commended Winner in
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SHOWDOWN at SHINAGAWA Now Available in Paperback and Kindle e-Book
Bill Zarchy’s new book, SHOWDOWN at SHINAGAWA, is now on sale at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle e-book versions.
SHOWDOWN AT SHINAGAWA: Tales of Filming from Bombay to Brazil tells true stories from Zarchy’s long career as a director of photography, working on film and digital cinema shoots across the U.S. and all around the world — Japan, India, China, Uganda, the Philippines, New Zealand, France, Singapore, England, Taiwan, Mexico, and Brazil.
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Two Worthy Film Projects Need Your Donations
I have just pledged money to two worthy film projects by Eliciana Nascimento and Eli Adler, and I urge my readers to do the same.
Eliciana, an MFA student at San Francisco State, took (and aced!) my Advanced Cinematography class this spring. She and husband Ben Watkins plan to film her thesis project, The Summer of Gods, in her native Brazil, and are trying to raise $30,000 to shoot and complete the film this year. The Summer of Gods is a short film about a young girl named Lilli who visits her grandmother in rural Brazil. Near her village, she encounters Orishas (African gods) who challenge her with a mission.
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NAB Roundup 2013: LED Fresnels, Camera Accessories
I first wrote about the development of LED Fresnel lights two years ago, tracking earlier reactions by the industry to high energy consumption and high heat output: “Greening the Film Business: LED Fresnels.” This year I followed up with some of the same manufacturers.
Fresnel lenses, originally invented for lighthouses, have long been used on movie lights for careful light control and sharp shadows. Their typical concentric ring style enables them to have great diameter without clumsy thickness.
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NAB Roundup 2013: Cameras
Las Vegas is known for its buffets, and the NAB Show at the Vegas Convention Center is a grand smorgasbord of technology.
The floor exhibits fill over 800,000 square feet. 92,000 attendees crowd around 1500 exhibitors showing the latest products and services in TV and radio broadcasting, film and video production and postproduction, cloud computing, entertainment technology, file-based workflows, 3D visuals, and pro audio.
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Apple’s Knowledge Navigator (in 1987) Foreshadowed Our Current Tech Toys
The professor enters his wood-paneled office to the sound of a harpsichord concerto.
He walks to his desk and opens a strange-looking, hinged device, which bongs like a Macintosh. It’s about the size of a laptop, but it opens like a book, revealing two screens.
“You have three messages,” says a face on the device. “Your graduate team in Guatemala, a second-semester junior, and your mother reminding you about your father’s …”
“… Surprise birthday party tomorrow,” says the professor, cutting off his digital butler with the touch of a finger on the screen. Clearly he’s been reminded before.
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Writing Projects: Hurricane Sandy / Trip to Taipei
Wearing my writer’s hat, I’ve recently cranked out two articles for The Kenwood Group about some of their projects, published on their Varney’s Place blog.
Into the Storm: Producing a Movie Marathon in the Face of a Hurricane
Imagine planning a live event long in advance, only to have the storm of the century threaten to shut you down.
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Temple Beautiful — Part II of Chuck Prophet’s Musical Tour of San Francisco
San Francisco rock musician Chuck Prophet has released a new video: Part II of a musical tour of San Francisco, named for his newest album, “Temple Beautiful.”
After recording his last album in Mexico City, says Chuck, “I was looking to make a record closer to home.”
Part I of Chuck’s Temple Beautiful video tour was released in February. In Part II we visit Chuck’s home and studio and many of his old haunts in the Mission and North Beach.
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The Cloud: Thousands of Overheated, Polluting, Power-Hungry Data Centers
Go ahead, buy it.
Add to Cart. Proceed to Checkout. Enter Payment Info. Place Order.
A nice, clean transaction in cyberspace, right? No need to consume fossil fuels driving to an actual store, which in turn must be electrified, heated, and stocked with not-quite-right products and pesky salespeople trying to sell warranties. Besides the costs and byproducts of the delivery process, the online transaction seems pretty innocent, environmentally speaking. Right?
But the data from your purchase, the store’s inventory control, the product shipping, and each confirming email, are all stored somewhere in “the cloud.”
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Shooting Giants: Photographing Baseball from the Diamond’s Edge
I’ve got the best view in the house.
I’m poised on a folding chair in a photographers’ dugout just below ground level, at the edge of the diamond at AT&T Park in San Francisco. It’s the bottom of the ninth inning, and the Giants are losing to the San Diego Padres 6-3.
My camera is less than two feet above field level. As I look straight out through protective netting, I am focusing on Giants infielder Joaquin Arias at the plate, no more than 50 feet in front of me. A right-handed batter, Arias faces away from my vantage point on the third-base side of the field, but I can clearly see his body language throughout the at-bat and see his face during his follow-through.
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New Video from Rocker Chuck Prophet: ‘Temple Beautiful’ Tour of San Francisco
Rock musician Chuck Prophet has released a new video, Part I of his musical tour of San Francisco.
The video features scenes of Chuck playing cuts from his new Temple Beautiful album and chatting about songs inspired by various iconic settings in the City by the Bay.
“If ever Cain and Abel went into business together, it would probably be something like the O’Farrell Theater,” he says in front of the Mitchell Brothers’ porn paradise.
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Traffic Study: Timelapse with GoPro & 5D
The amazing little GoPro HDHero cameras can record full 1080p HD video, as well as timelapse and single shots. They’re tiny and easy to rig anywhere, as in the setup below where we used them on a corporate shoot, mounting six on laptops for a video chat, instead of the built-in iSight cameras.
But camera movement is where the GoPros shine. The HDHero comes with helmet mount, auto mount, body mount, or wrist mount, with both waterproof and non-waterproof housings. I recently bought the HDHero camera, helmet rigging, suction cup for autos, tiny clip-on LCD monitor, extra batteries and clip-on battery pack.
In Timelapse mode on the GoPros, you can only control the interval between shots (2, 5, 10, 30, or 60 seconds). Everything else is automatic—shutter, aperture, video gains, etc.
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Brazil: Smooth as Silk
Less than an hour after my last post (Brazil: Some Days the Bear Eats You), my friend The Dave Mitchell responded on my Facebook page: “Nice, Bill. Easy days are completely forgettable.” Isn’t that the truth?
“But,” added The Dave, a freelance gaffer/key grip, “I’m available if you’ve got any coming up.” If only!
After our tough time at the tower, the next couple of days shooting in Brazil were smooth as silk.
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Brazil: Visiting the Rental House
On my first day in Brazil, I visited the rental house with Mush and Heeka. I brought my Canon 5D, a slew of lenses and two GoPro cameras with me from the States, but we’ve arranged to rent a second 5D camera body, two tripods, a small monitor, a wide angle lens, and some accessories
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Back to Brazil
On my first trip to Brazil in 1993, I was shooting for a Japanese high-tech company. We arrived in Sao Paulo and went out to scout at our client’s manufacturing facility nearby. We met with the general manager of the company, a Brazilian who was impressed by this visit from corporate headquarters. “What can I
Handy-Looky: Shooting from the Hip … and the Shoulder
Shooting handheld for documentary, commercial, musical, and even dramatic films can challenge, vex, frustrate, exhaust, and exhilarate—often all at once. Handholding the camera lets you improvise angles quickly, stick the camera in places a tripod can’t reach, or float with innovative, flowing moves difficult to duplicate from a dolly. And if you’re tall like me, throwing the camera on your shoulder enables you to see over crowds at news events, rallies, shows, and parties.
The first movies were filmed from tripods and later from rolling dollies.
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