Getting ready for Halloween...

This is a little promo piece I worked on for Disneyland a few weeks ago.  Getting to spend time in the park after all the guests have gone home is always a bit of a thrill, even if it's done with the sacrifice of sleep (we shot this between the hours of 8pm and 6am). 

Buying 25 Pumpkins at the end of September was also a little fun.  You can imagine the looks and comments I got in the checkout line! 

Loading up the carts with pumkins - seems normal in October, but is weird in September

adding a little fog for ambiance

the crew in our safety vests shooting on main street at 3am

Behind the sets: My Prop Table

Working on a fun shoot for GQ Magazine this week.  Can't divulge too much info on it (Like who the HOT men we are shooting are) But I can share my fun prop table.  An interesting an odd collection of things to play with!

And my poor prop hands -- no wonder manicures never really last on me!!!

Behind the Sets: Stop Motion in Poland

I've only been back a month but those Polish editors are FAST! The 2nd commercial is done, and it's adorable.

Check it out:


3 days to shoot 30 seconds.  Everything has to be moved one frame at a time.  And everything is also shot horizontally.  Could you tell?

This is how it looked on camera:

 Here is how it looked in person:

 Everything is flat, and although lying down at work seems like a dream job, the actors have to be real troopers to hold their positions all day long!

Behind the sets: Goodwill Donation Commercial

A fun little commercial that I designed. Mixing a few 3D items in with an entire 2D set.

Here are a couple of behind the scenes photos of how the set looked

 

Skårt Spotting in a Lowe's Commercial

Have you seen the newest Lowe's commercial directed by Dave Meyers?  It is super fun and quirky with amazingly fun transitions from scene to scene. But you know what really makes it outstanding? They rented some Skårt pieces to use as background set dressing.  See if you can spot it:

Yes, if you blink you miss it and it's not even hung on the wall, plus it's actually UPSIDE DOWN!!!  But I found it and now you see it too -- right?    And although I wish I could have done the production design for the whole ad, I'm still honored that there is a hint of my design included in such a fun commercial. 

Behind the Sets: Guess what the ice cream is actually made out of?

for an extra hint, here is how it looked as I was making it. 

Goofin' around at Disneyland

Had the best week last week shooting a short film starring Goofy.  The whole shoot took place in Disneyland which meant that we had full access to the parks before anyone else got there.

Kind of eerie seeing main street this empty!

We also got to see the behind the scenes area aka "Backstage" which was even more fascinating than the parks.  Characters walking around, Birds singing, Brooms sweeping frantically (or being controlled by a mouse in a wizard hat) you know the usual stuff you would expect behind the magic! 

They kind of frown upon people taking pictures of "the Magic", so I can't share with you visuals of ALL behind the scenes stuff --- at least not if I want to do more of these projects!.  

The best part about being backstage was never knowing who you would run in to.  I know they are not REAL, but it's still kinda neat seeing Cinderella on her lunch break or Woody just meandering about.  

And, no, we didn't really have time to go on the rides.  But that's okay, because my favorite ride was back at the Hotel -- The Water slide at the Disneyland Hotel!!! -- we made some time for that! 

Behind the sets: Target Toys Summer Catalog

Have you gotten your catalog in the mail yet? If not you can view the whole thing here.  I got such great response to the behind the scenes pics from the winter catalog that I thought I would share some of our tricks from the summer one.

The summer catalog's design involved lots of simple shapes and cut outs to make the background scenes, mixed with some super sized "real" objects imposed later on with digital effects. 

For example we shot this amazing 8 year old pro skateboarder on a ramp in the studio.  And later they superimposed a clam shell over the ramp to make it look like she was actually going down the side of the shell.

Where it looks like the kids are holding something.  We gave them a cardboard or "placeholder" object so it looks like they are carrying the "real object"

The hardest set to create was the "Backyard" where we had a working sprinkler and water slide.

To capture this we first built a base pool pretty much the entire size of the studio to act as a catch for all the excess water.  Next we made a small platform for the floor to sit inside the catch pool and then covered that with our green vinyl "grass".  The back walls we painted blue and hung our clouds.  We had mini trees in the background to give the illusion they were farther off in the distance than they actually were.  A little water heater, and hose hook ups and Voila:  Backyard water fun ready to go!

The slip and slide was interesting.  We padded underneath the slide to simulate a softer surface to slide on, but it was still not easy or safe for them to take a running leap to get the power needed to generate a good slide and splash.  We ended up having to physically push push the kids down the slide.  After much trial and error the 'ole curling throw stance seemed to work the best.  Of course they photoshopped the "slider helper" out so there is no evidence in the final picture. No kids were harmed in the making of this catalog.  They were having a blast.  In fact for the most part so was the crew.  (YES, I tried the slide ... someone had to make sure it was safe!)

The Commerical We Made in Thailand

Contrary to what you thought, I didn't just go to Thailand to play with elephants and eat amazing food.  I did go to work.  In that time we made this gorgeous commercial.  Check it out:

My Props are on the Move

In the photo world I am sometimes referred to as a "Prop Stylist". What this means is that In addition to designing large sets and the overall look of things, I am sometimes also responsible for bringing and arranging the smaller items that an actor or model would have around them in the world that we are creating.

Usually a "prop" is designated as anything that the talent touches or interacts with during the shoot. For example a book they pick up, a telephone they answer or food they eat would all be considered props. On the rare occasion I get asked to bring an animal in to use as a prop. I LOVE THESE OCCASIONS. Cute puppies, kittens, rabbits, monkeys --- you name it I've "propped" it. Last week I was asked to bring in an exotic, domestic, kitten to use for a shoe and handbag catalog.

I made a few calls and I found Simba, a gorgeous, 5 month old Savannah Kitten.
She is new to the business, this was her first official shoot, but she was immediately a star.
Although the animals are working, they are always well cared for. A lot of patience is required because it can take a while for them to do what is needed. And when the animal is finished for the day it will let you know it and that is that. The trainers I work with are all very professional and treat the animals with a lot love and respect.

Below are a few pics of my favorite animal requests that I've had to arrange.
The chimpanzee was for a story in GQ ... the one I'm holding is a baby, she's only 3 years old. As chimps get older they get much stronger and much more aggressive, we had an older, male chimp on set who we were not allowed to interact with. We had to avoid eye contact so as not to accidentally upset him. They were very much like working with children, they understood what was asked of them and would get rewarded with a bit of root beer after a job well done.

The Lion was trucked from from a reserve in North Carolina to a studio in New York. This was one prop that I didn't want to hold. Although Drew got pretty close to the cat, this actual picture was manipulated in photoshop, she sat closer to the tail away from mouth and jaw. The large chains around the neck were also taken out digitally. Working with a lion means the lion is the boss --- the lion does what it wants when it wants, we just hoped to get a good shot out of it.

The Dolphins were for a Teen Vogue story. We went to them (it's really hard to get dolphins into a photo studio) -- we shot this at an aquarium in Miami.

Yes, that is a real bird sitting in Russel's nest of a hairdo. It's actually a white pigeon which is most commonly used as a white dove. Getting the bird for this shoot was the easy part. Convincing Russel to let us put it on his head was a little more difficult. In the end he was a good sport.

How I spent my summer vacation...

While you were spending your summer soaking in the sun, sending the kids off to camp and drinking icy beverages I was building snow-forts, giant gingerbread men and decorating a 45' christmas tree.

The fruits of all my summer "hard labor" arrived this week in the mail. It came in the form of the Target Holiday Toy catalog. For a week this past June I spent 16 hours a day in a studio creating many of the sets and backgrounds to shoot the toys featured in the catalog. We built a life size gingerbread house, glued together giant gumdrop trees, and created an entire bedroom snow-fort out of Styrofoam and salt. When was the last time you put together a three story Barbie Dream House (btw, when did her house get so big and complicated?) or baked an Easy Bake oven cake? We had to do all that and whole more for this catalog. So before you line your bird cage or toss it in the recycle bin, take another look at it. Let me share with you a few secrets behind one of the sets we made and let you in on how much work goes into just one of those shots.

If you have the catalog you can turn to page 42 for reference. Or click HERE for a better view.