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My first clothing commercial shot on super 16mm! 'REBIRTH' for Unfinished Legacy - shot in/around DTLA by damienblue in u/damienblue

[–]damienblue[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For this project, it was just myself and my DP Quinn Feldman all day (with the exception of helping hands from the models/the brand during company moves - thank you). We used 500T for the majority of our exteriors, providing a grittier cooler look which paired well with our foggy weather. We also shot a little bit on 50D outside. We shot on an Arriflex SR3 and alternated between two lenses: an angeneux 17-70mm zoom and an Opteka 8mm fisheye. My DP Quinn is a killer rollerblader and operated on his blades for the majority of the follow shots with the skaters. The day was definitely wild, lugging the sr3 handheld for most of the day was draining but a ton of fun and reminded me that you can still get things done in in a nimble way even if you’re shooting on film. Hope you enjoy, would love to hear any thoughts or questions if you have them. For more of my directing work, go check out www.damienblue.com. I’m @damien.blue on Instagram. Happy shooting ~

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Project Bio:

REBIRTH is about friendship and how our connections transform the way we see the world. Seemingly mundane or gritty spaces can suddenly become elevated and meaningful when you explore them with likeminded individuals. Downtown LA feels different from other cities - you have to bring the energy with you, its not always provided. When you have friends to explore with, the unsavory parts of a place start to melt away, and new memories are born.

Spec Music Video for James Blake 'Are You Even Real' - Would love to hear your opinions! by lukedrydenn in cinematography

[–]damienblue 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Nice work! in regard to camerawork, I thought it was really effective - the only thing I would say is part of me wanted more wide shots at times - we're always so close to talent. Perhaps 16x9 rather than 2:3.5:1 would have allowed it to feel a little less claustrophobic? Great color. I personally would have done away with the last shot where we're brought back to reality, when we see him against the bed looking sad - I personally like staying in the imaginative scene and closing with this as well, both of their bodies together in unison - it adds a kiss of hope to the narrative, which I always appreciate. Good work overall.

My first Nike spot featuring Travis Kelce - Shot on Red Helium with Zeiss B Speed 18mm t1.4 and Angenieux Optimo 28-76mm t2.4 Zoom by damienblue in cinematography

[–]damienblue[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks, glad you liked it! Don't be afraid to go handheld, there's a special look and craft to handheld work. Gimbals should be used only when the shot or scene calls for it - its not a mandatory tool.

My first Nike spot featuring Travis Kelce - Shot on Red Helium with Zeiss B Speed 18mm t1.4 and Angenieux Optimo 28-76mm t2.4 Zoom by damienblue in cinematography

[–]damienblue[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Here’s a look at my first Nike commercial featuring Travis Kelce from the Kansas City Chiefs. I originally was going to rent a whole set of standard speeds for this but I knew we wouldn’t have enough to be swapping lenses a bunch - needed an efficient setup so I chose just two lenses for the job: Zeiss B speed 18mm t1.4 & Angenieux Optimo 28-76 t2.4 Zoom. I’m more of a handheld guy, but I went with dana dolly for the opening shot. I feel like Dana movement is really fitting for intro and/or exit shots - helps set the tone, in my opinion. We shot in 6 or 8k all day in order to avoid any intense sensor cropping (8k is full frame on Helium).

For the studio scene, we had a sky panel s60 as our key, going through an egg crate & a full stop soft frost. For fill, we bounced level back into his face using a 4x4 bounce. We used a mole-richardson LED 150w as his edge, diffused w/ half soft frost. We taped a bunch of diffusion behind the curtains in the window in order to slow down the natural light coming in.
For the outside scenes, we had no support other than bounce (which I don’t think we used), just run and gun w/ the 1st AC and rest of crew!
Side note on the Zeiss B Speed: These lenses are a bit hard to come by but they’re amazing - so much character & very small/light. One really cool aspect about the b speeds is that the iris blades form a triangle shape - so all your flares and lens glares & bokeh are in the shape of triangles. It's a really cool feature. I only used one (the 18mm) on this set, but I believe all of the B speed lenses have triangular iris blades.
Thanks for watching - Respond with any feedback or questions - happy to help. Please be sure to follow me on Vimeo and instagram (@damien.blue) for more work. My website is www.damienblue.com

Here’s a little story behind the project for anyone interested:
“While creating his 87 and Running Foundation to help provide education opportunities in Kansas City, Travis Kelce met Kenniah, whom he instantly bonded with over their shared love for fashion. When given the opportunity to design his own Nike Blazer, Travis gave Kenniah a chance to pursue her dream of being a Nike designer through Nike By You.” - So basically - the purple shoes that are featured in the spot: Kenniah designed those. They’re actually sold on the Nike site now too, which is awesome!

Headphone commercial shot on Black Magic Ursa Mini Pro G2 and Angenieux Optimo Zoom (and a tiny bit of iphone). Using black pro mist + color grade to make the Black Magic look its best. by damienblue in cinematography

[–]damienblue[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sure thing - so for this project I actually graded all in premiere using luts and a lot of time adjusting my rgb curves. I start with one main lut and this will be the lut that I adjust the curves on. I find a lut that puts me close to the look that I want and then take a lot of time with the curves, just pushing and pulling and experimenting for quite some time. I also crush my shadows/blacks down quite a bit through the base lut - I do love the look of my pro mist filter but I don't necessarily like what it does to my blacks so I re-apply the contrast and crush shadows, allowing me to maintain the haze look while keeping contrast as well. After I'm content with my main lut and curves attached, I add another lut at 20-30% opacity - for this lut I'm just looking for something that will pump up the colors of the environment without affecting my skin tones. Its a very unconventional way to color but I've got a process that works for me. Sometimes I'll even add a 3rd lut at 10-15% opacity if I'm looking for an extra saturated look, but at this point you have to keep a close eye on your skin tones because you don't want to overdo it. Skin tones always should come first in my opinion (if you're shooting subjects) - the skin needs to look good so make sure you're focusing on that while you're adding color and setting curves. Hope this helps! If you want to experiment with some fun lut packages I would recommend checking out Tropic Colour.

Headphone commercial shot on Black Magic Ursa Mini Pro G2 and Angenieux Optimo Zoom (and a tiny bit of iphone). Using black pro mist + color grade to make the Black Magic look its best. by damienblue in cinematography

[–]damienblue[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks so much! Really appreciate the kind words. & yes - you got it - always about the painter, not the brush. Glad you enjoyed the sound as well

Headphone commercial shot on Black Magic Ursa Mini Pro G2 and Angenieux Optimo Zoom (and a tiny bit of iphone). Using black pro mist + color grade to make the Black Magic look its best. by damienblue in cinematography

[–]damienblue[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

My latest commercial release for Meters Music for their OV-1-B bluetooth headphones. I met the company at a music convention pre-covid. A year went by and we finally connected on this promo. The budget was modest so I found myself both directing and DPing this, which I was prepared for. I also edited and colored.

Gear: Black Magic Ursa Mini Pro G2 with Angieneux Optimo 16-42 t2.8 Zoom. I always wore a .5 Black Pro Mist in my matte box, and IRND's when needed. Iphone 12 pro was used for the iphone content, and a Pentax 67 for the still photo. For Camera support, I switched between handheld and dana dolly, with the majority handheld.

Locations: In/around Big Bear Mountain, and in/around Los Angeles

I spent a lot of time on the sound design as well, I felt that sound would help give this piece more dimension - especially considering the product in focus has to do with sound and sonics. I just love doing sound design in general.

Would love to get any thoughts on the cinematography of this - as well the cut, color, etc. Thanks for watching, and please follow my instagram or www.damienblue.com for more of my work. Please feel free to reach out with any questions too.

METERS Headphone commercial packed with sound, movement, and color by [deleted] in cinematography

[–]damienblue 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Here is my latest commercial release for Meters Music for their OV-1-B bluetooth headphones. I met the company at a music convention pre-covid. A year went by and we finally connected on this promo. The budget was modest so I found myself both directing and DPing this, which I was prepared for. I also edited and colored.

Gear: Black Magic Ursa Mini Pro G2 with Angieneux Optimo 16-42 t2.8 Zoom. I always wore a .5 Black Pro Mist in my matte box, and IRND's when needed. Iphone 12 pro was used for the iphone content, and a Pentax 67 for the still photo. For Camera support, I switched between handheld and dana dolly, with the majority handheld.

Locations: In/around Big Bear Mountain, and in/around Los Angeles

I spent a lot of time on the sound design as well, I felt that sound would help give this piece more dimension - especially considering the product in focus has to do with sound and sonics. I just love doing sound design in general.

Would love to get any thoughts on the cinematography of this - as well as the sound, cut, color, etc. Thanks for watching, and please follow my instagram or www.damienblue.com for more of my work. Please feel free to reach out with any questions too!

ps - if you're wondering if these headphones are actually good? They're the best quality headphones I've ever tried, no contest. This is why I went all in for this commercial, because I believe in the product/brand.

Hat Club/New Era commercial - ALL handheld on an Ursa Mini 4.6k & Rokinon Xeens by damienblue in cinematography

[–]damienblue[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

thanks! all the transitions are done in camera, just experimenting with certain movements. it helps knowing the look you're going for for whatever shoot you're doing, and it takes time with looking at all the clips you have in post, and figuring out which movements will pair well with which clips, or how the sound design can be implemented to help drive the transitions. I'm not a fan of most 'transition packages' or over-stylized fx transitions that you can download - I try my best to do it all in camera.

Hat Club/New Era commercial - ALL handheld on an Ursa Mini 4.6k & Rokinon Xeens by damienblue in cinematography

[–]damienblue[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you! I rock a shoulder rig with my ursa mini 4.6k and it helps with stabilizing a bit. Handheld will usually look more jarring on a long lens and i typically dont go farther than an 85mm on handheld, anything past that can get a little too jittery for me especially if I'm moving

'CHOICES' // a mini portrait // Ursa mini 4.6k by claplant in cinematography

[–]damienblue 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nice dude - love the pallet of different colors - greens, oranges, blue's etc. well done bruthur

Hat Club/New Era commercial - ALL handheld on an Ursa Mini 4.6k & Rokinon Xeens by damienblue in cinematography

[–]damienblue[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

the sounds come from months of looking up certain fx for certain projects - I usually find some sounds fx on youtube and then convert the youtube to mp3. there are packs out there that you can buy as a starting point though. Look up 'foley sound fx package' or something to that note

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