Sentient Pancake
I was director of photography on an unreleased short film, Sentient Pancake. Shot on Nikon Z6 with Kipon Baveyes full frame to medium format focal reducer, DJI Ronin RS2, BRAW 12-bit 4k footage, and Pentax 67 lenses.
Ronnie is enjoying her second date with Will, but is trauma from past bad dates going to ruin her chances of finding love? She's had some wild bad dates in the past, like the one with the sentient pancake.
Directed by Ashley Vasquez. Edited by Robby Brent-Salisbury
TBD Coffee Co.
In March of 2020, the night before the world shut down from the COVID-19 pandemic, I met Ashley Vasquez at a mutual friend’s birthday party. The connection was instant. Five months later; we were crazy about each other and crazy enough to start a coffee company together.
Ashley had a background in social media management and my background was in cinematography, photography, and animation. We created TBD Coffee Co. I drew the characters on each coffee bag label, took product photos of each coffee bag, and filmed videos showcasing the bags. Ashley took those and created a TBD Coffee Co Instagram page, ran social ads, and ran PR campaigns with various news outlets.
We started with our Per My Last Email Dark Roast and then kept creating from there. Fast forward to the present and the company is much larger with 12 signature coffee labels. We bought a new home together at the start of 2022.
In an interview with Canvas Rebel about TBD Coffee Co, I was asked to share a story that illustrates an important or relevant lesson you learned in school. I answered that I’m a director of photography and producer now, but I started off in film school.
I had a film professor who told us that when crafting a story, it’s best if we take from our own personal lives as inspiration.
If we imitate other films then we’re creating a duplicate of something that already exists.
We regularly film ads for TBD Coffee Co for use on social media. Here is an ad that we shot for Hulu. It ran for 3 months. The ad was shot on the Nikon Z6 with Pentax 67 lenses and a Kipon Baveyes medium format focal reducer flying on the Ronin RS2 gimbal.
Summoners Riff - GODS and Everything Goes On
Two music videos by Riot's very own a cappella group, Summoner's Riff, a group of Riot employees based out of our Los Angeles headquarters. The first arrangement is of the song Everything Goes On - a song created in collaboration with Porter Robinson celebrating this year's Star Guardian event. The second song is the Worlds 2023 anthem GODS originally Written by Alex Seaver of Mako and Sebastien Najand. Both videos were directed by Ben Boas with cinematography by Zachary Dripps.
Super Art Power Hour
I had a wide breadth of involvement in this series. My role on Super Art Power Hour as a content producer included the tasks of casting talent, building the soundstage set, designing the lighting, setting up cameras, filming, and then editing and color grading each 1-hour episode with the addition of 90-second cutdowns for social media.
The Riot Games Super Art Power Hour is a long-form educational segment spotlighting artists at Riot. Each episode features a Riot employee demonstrating their artistic ability and talking through their work. Each episode guests will share advice to other prospective artists on how to get into the industry, demonstrate top-level industry workflows, and inspire others by creating new and fun art. Some of the past episodes have included roles such as illustrator artists, 3d model animators, and character texture artists.
Riot Games Seattle Office Video Series
The Riot Games Seattle Office Video Series was a collection of 3 videos showcasing the employees working at the local office and the video gaming culture of the Seattle area. The videos were relased on Life@Riot LinkedIn and Twitter.
I took on many tasks in the creation of this video series, including renting camera gear to bring while traveling, location scouting, production development, camera operation (gimbal stabilizer operator, tripod), gaffer/grip, editor, and colorist.
Riot Games’s primary goal is to be the most player-focused video game company. “Player experience first” was a goal for every video I worked on. For this video series to be as engaging as possible to players and accurately depict Seattle, I cold-called multiple Seattle venues (barcades, museums, restaurants, parks) asking if we could film at their locations. I was able to secure 3 locations with owners excited to have Riot Games filming at their venues: the MoPOP Museum, Gameworks Barcade, and Mox Boarding House.
A Mission
I was director of photography on the short film A Mission. Shot on Sony a7s with Kipon Baveyes full frame to medium format focal reducer, Panasonic AG-LA7200 anamorphic lens, and a 12-foot Jib Arm for smooth, calculated movements that match the character in the movie.
While on his mission, a vengeful Mormon Elder is pushed to prove himself-but, true identities are revealed in the home of a retired Bishop.
Winner: Best Actor @ Santa Clarita International Film Fest 2021
Directed by Skylar Sandak, Produced by Alex Cohen
Starring Connor Keene (Ted TV Series, The Railway Man)
Breakdown
I received my Master's Fine Arts degree in cinematography from Boston University’s Cinema and Media Production program. My thesis film was Breakdown. BU’s program was structured so that each student applied with a specific discipline: directing, producing, or cinematography. In the first semester, the students were paired into groups of three, one for each role.
The first two semesters, the majority of our work was prepping for the thesis film. We went through all the stages of production. In addition, each discipline had classes specific to their program. The cinematographers had extra camera and lighting classes with adjunct professors who taught them steadicam operating and advanced cinematography techniques.
We filmed in the Blue Hills Reservation south of Boston, MA. Every 11 years, caterpillars hatch in the woods at remarkable numbers. They crawled on the green screen, into the vents of the Alexa Mini, into everyone’s clothes, on the actors, and dangled down into shots on their silk webs. The crew handled surprises with ease and respected the wildlife.
We chose the Angenieux Optimo A2S Anamorphic lens on the Alexa Mini because as the characters in the film became separated emotionally, we wanted physical space between them in the frame. A 2:40:1 aspect ratio enhanced this composition. We chose a zoom anamorphic lens for the Vertigo shot at the film's climax.
Troye Sivan - Dropbox
I color graded the BTS footage for the Troye Sivan Lucky Strike music video produced by Dropbox.
PRETTYMUCH - Jello
I color graded key scenes of the Jello music video by the band PRETTYMUCH.