The sizzle reel for “Broken”.

Last year, I was brought in by a producer to shoot a sizzle reel for a director based on a few pages from her feature script. The feature was written and she was looking for financing to produce her directorial debut. We had two days to shoot about 10 pages. It was a very guerrilla production, running and gunning. Shot on the Canon 7D, it was actually my first use of the Cinestyle format. I used two Lite Panels 1×1 and some bounce for lighting. Since then, I’ve directed another sizzle reel (as both director and DP). Sizzle reels are a great way to experiment with storytelling and camera work as you use them to convey to your potential backers what your vision will look like as a feature.

“Every week, improvisors at Sea Tea Improv are producing the finest quality improv in New England.”

Writer – Daniel Russell
Performers – Sea Tea Improv
Narration – John Dankosky
Music – Kevin Scott
Director of Photography – Daniel Salazar III
Camera operators – Daniel Salazar III & Helder Mira
Directed and edited by Helder Mira

Overview video for the law firm of Tremont & Sheldon, personal injury lawyers in Bridgeport, CT.

One objective of the client here was that the videos present the family based business which offers personal connections with their clients. To do so, we created several videos; three highlighting the history of the firm, the collaborative work of the firm, and their groundbreaking work representing sexual abuse victims. These were augmented by individual portraits of the five partners.

The project was a collaboration between Rabbit Ears Media, Tremont & Sheldon, and Fathom.

The official trailer for “The Last Intervention” has been released. Written by Sarah Thorpe and directed by Giovanny Blanco, the feature film tells the story of a Dominican-American family concerned with Melky (Alyssa Abreau), who they perceive is dealing with drug addiction. A reality tv camera crew puts together an intervention for Melky at the behest of her father, Cheche (Hemky Madera). Filmed in and around Hartford, CT.

Rabbit Ears Media provided production equipment and worked as assistant camera operator to director of photography Daniel Salazar III, as well as second unit director of photography.

Gregory Tate during an interview for Behind Flipside.

And yet, he was just as much about discipline as his military recruiter character. Documenting Tate instructing the first Youth Play Institute in the consensus process that HartBeat Ensemble uses, he was as much the instructor as he was a part of the high school students. Listening to them, guiding them, encouraging them, while keeping them on task to create their play. He would provide guidance to craft the piece while embracing the students’ themes and lines, never discouraging, always encouraging their ideas. He was exuberant when they would take initiative and push their play to be the best they could be. Along with Julia and Steve and their assistants, they brought together students from disparate backgrounds in the city and the suburbs, and over weeks, created a small community via theater.

Much will be said about Tate. Nothing I can add to it will do justice to him. He was a progressive rabble rouser, protesting the injustices in our community and the world. He was a Chicagoan, transplanted to this upstart little city through the love he bore for his friends and colleagues. Here, he became a champion of community and of arts in the community. He was a hero to many of us in this community. He was a friend to all. He was a hero and a mentor to me at a time I needed most.

Julia Rosenblatt and Tate (because I always called him Tate… we all do) called me in to work with them on creating a series to document the process of Flipside which Julia had written and Tate would direct. For us, it was a new opportunity. We hadn’t worked together in a few years and this was a unique opportunity. It would allow people to see how HartBeat Ensemble crafts a play, from start to finish. For me, it would allow me to work with a group I respected, who were always contributing to the community. It would allow me the chance to give back to them, to hone my craft, to see how Julia and Tate craft their work first hand. More than that, as someone that wants to direct actors, to see how a professional theater director like Tate works with actors and learn from that.

The last time I saw Tate. I was having brunch at The Half Door and he came in with his niece and nephew and their mom, and with his love, Karen. It had been a month since I’d seen him at the benefit and he was beaming, his voice was back to normal. He was still hurting from the treatments but there he was expressing hope for the future as Flipside had been accepted to NY’s Fringe festival.

As they were leaving, Tate and Karen stopped by to say goodbye. Tate put his hand on my shoulder and thanked me for creating the DVD the submitted that got them into the Fringe festival. It was the least I could do, I said. I thanked him, thanked him on taking a chance on me and giving me the opportunity to film HartBeat crafting a play. And, more importantly, thanked him for the opportunity to work with him and to learn from him. The opportunity to be part of the community. Seeing him direct taught me how a director should work, how they should respect their craft and their partners.

I asked him if he was excited to direct it in New York. He smiled. “We’ll see.” And we said our goodbyes. He passed away on June 3, 2012.

Julia Pistell in her touching tribute to Tate, discusses being a supporting character in his life and how we are all supporting characters in each others lives. As I’ve learned from Tate and HartBeat, we are all an ensemble, needing to work together through consensus to create the story we want our lives to tell. As Julia Rosenblatt often mentioned, consensus isn’t easy for many of the performers but HartBeat would bring it together. Watching them work together, Tate at the center of a round table guiding the creation of the play, I realized how small groups of people can create something that matters. We are all players, each with roles, and eventually, there comes a time when we have to take the lead, not necessarily the spotlight, but we have to pick up the story and move it along to make our partners look good. Tate always made his partners, his actors, his friends, look good.

Thank you, Tate, for dedicating your wonderful life to those you taught, those you directed and shared the stage with, and to this community. You showed us that we are all part of an ensemble that needs to work and play together.

Exciting news! After being featured on American Songwriter’s website when it premiered, the music video for Caravan of Thieves’ single “Raise The Dead” is Spinner’s Video of the Day for April 26, 2012! Having worked on this video as second camera operator, assisting director Daniel Salazar III, it’s awesome to see a video we’re proud of getting such recognition.

Director of photography for this short informational piece about InterCommunity, Inc. a nonprofit behavioral health center in East Hartford, CT, providing services to adults and children with mental health and addiction disorders.

James Welling, a Los Angeles-based Hartford native, revisits Wyeth’s influence on his own development as an artist.

James Welling: “Wyeth”, a companion exhibition to Andrew Wyeth: Looking Beyond, includes photographs that correspond to Wyeth’s most iconic paintings as well as the works in the Wyeth exhibition. Both exhibitions will be on view through July 22, 2012.

Produced for The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art

This past Tuesday, I was invited to curate and host *the ear cave*, “a stripped down listening session, curated and hosted by a rotating cast of local radio professionals who want to share interesting, weird and wonderful radio.” *the ear cave* was created by WNPR senior producer Catie Talarski, as an off shoot of her popular live radio shows, Radio Adventure Theater. These are great events that bring community together in places like coffee houses and studios to listen to a selection of curated radio stories.

We had a packed house for my curating debut. And naturally, I had some technical difficulties as I tried to mix in video with audio pieces. And since a lot of others weren’t able to join us, I decided to put together a playlist here to share with everyone. These are some of my favorite pieces of video, radio, and podcasting that have inspired me over the last decade when creating films. The playlist is after the jump…

Negativland U2

I started off with one of my all time favorite ‘audio mash-up’ of ‘found audio’, Negativland’s U-2 (Special Edit Radio Mix).

I had only ever heard the audio before on an old cassette that a professor gave me sophomore year of college. Finding the video on Youtube was a splendid treat that I was glad to share with the audience.

Back To School in a Garbage Can

Looking for other collage style audio pieces, I came across this piece created from scraps of papers in garbage cans at a school, read by students and teachers. “A collage of love notes, tardy slips, and other high school detritus collected from high school garbage cans. Produced by Geraldo Hernandez and Giancarlo Hernandez for Curie Youth Radio.” I selected it because I enjoyed the playful quality that the producers strung the various quotes and voices together to create a storyline for a day at school.

Sounds of the Artificial World

This interesting piece I discovered when RadioLab featured Roman Mars of 99% Invisible on one of their podcast shorts. Mr. Mars “loves to spotlight the seams and joints that make up the world around us. He’s the host of an irresistible podcast called 99% Invisible–a series of tiny radio stories that provoke enormous questions.” In this piece, Mr. Mars looks into “the art of making modern electronic devices “sound right” with carefully designed beeps and clicks.”

Gates of Heaven
Another piece I knew I had to include was this excerpt from Errol Morris’ first documentary, the beautiful “Gates of Heaven“. In this scene, Mr. Morris focuses his camera on the subject and just lets her speak, not cutting away during her story until the very end. I just love the openness of the lady as she just tells her story. Would that I could get some of my subjects to just open as easily.

Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe

When Errol Morris approached filmmaker Werner Herzog about making Gates of Heaven, Mr. Herzog made a bet with Mr. Morris: Herzog would eat his shoe if Morris completed his first documentary. True to his word, Mr. Herzog celebrated the premiere of Gates of Heaven by eating his shoe on stage. Documentarian Les Blanc, who also documented the making of Mr. Herzog’s epic film Fitzcarraldo.

The full 20 minute film by Les Blanc can be seen here on YouTube. It’s worth it. (You can then check out my own interview with Mr. Herzog from 2005 at MassMOCA.)

Sullivan’s Travels

David Eagan discusses Preston Sturges’ film “Sullivan’s Travels” which inspired him in filmmaking on this piece from Studio360. I identified with this piece when I first heard it a few weeks back. I am an admirer of Preston Sturges and his work and appreciate how Mr. Eagan discusses this seminal film. Listen to this and then watch the film.

Act V
This American Life is the program the turned me into an NPR listener. And one episode that has always left an impression was Jack Hitt’s hour long special on the staging of Hamlet in a prison. I selected an excerpt from this hour, starting at 6 mins and through 18:45. Unfortunately, I can’t hot link to that time stamp, but I highly recommend listening to this full hour. The segment I had selected involves conversations between Jack Hitt and the various actors that portray Hamlet (there are 4) and “Hutch”, who portrays Horatio. It’s Hutch’s insight to the characters and world of Shakespeare that really speaks to me. Having just filmed a college performance of Hamlet in a black box theater, this particular piece was on my mind. Much like the play, this 2002 program is timeless.

That Tragic Night

While perusing Third Coast International Festival for pieces to present, I stumbled across That Tragic Night. Created for the 2008 shortdocs challenge, Radio Ephemera, survivors recount the sinking of Titanic . With the 100th anniversary of the sinking next month, it felt right to include it. But then I saw that it was created by *the ear cave* creator Catie Talarski.

Sensory Deprivation Tank

Another piece found on Third Coast International Festival was this piece by Jonathan Goldstein, host of WireTap. Mr. Goldstein records conversations with his friends over the phone, capturing “riveting stories that blur the line between fact and fiction, and are at turns funny, wistful, and even slightly strange — in the best possible way. In this segment, Goldstein’s friend Howard Chackowicz travels through the cosmos from the safety of his very own homemade sensory deprivation tank — fashioned out of a giant recycling box.” This piece fit in with the idea of the evening: sitting in a dark room listening to radio and allowing it to transport you to new places.

Loop the Loop

I closed the evening with this piece from RadioLab. I’ve listened to Loop the Loop several times and the story of aviator Lincoln Beechey continues to enthrall and inspire me.

Official music video for Caravan of Thieves, single from their new album “The Funhouse” available here.

I worked as second camera operator on this production for director of photography Daniel Salazar III. We shot this on Canon 7Ds. It was an amazing time and great fun, especially as we shot in Cedar Hill Cemetery as Hurricane Irene approached Connecticut.