michaelewood

[michaelewood]

This is a video I made for a friend who’s a part of a hip-hop collective called Next Stop. I was handed a drive with a bunch of footage on it and asked to make a short video that resembled the trailer to Transformers. Given the footage I had to work with, I had absolutely no clue how I was going to do that! So I prayed and God gave me some ideas, one after the other, until I had something with a nice shape to it. I added some titles, motion graphics, and one day later, I had something that had a nice, polished simplicity to it. For most people, something like this seems pleasing and simple but what’s amazing is all the thought, time, ideas, and effort that go into making something simple that works. This is one of those pieces where I’m reminded how powerful the editing process is. 

#Promo Video #Motion Graphics #Editing #Title Sequences

[michaelewood]

Here is the official trailer for Koharubiyori, the short film I shot in Japan 2 years ago.

#Koharubiyori #Toshimichi Saito #Japan #short film #cinematography

[michaelewood]

Gates & Greene

I started a production company! Gates & Greene LLC is a digital media company specializing in video content. Or at least that's what I call it when I'm trying to sound fancy. It's named after the cross streets where I grew up in Brooklyn. Since opening, we have made all of the video content for Bystander Revolution -- currently almost 500 videos for their website and Instagram channel. We make all kinds of stuff. Check us out at Gates & Greene's company website, which I designed.

#Gates & Greene #Production Company #Film Production #Video #Video Content #Bystander Revolution

[michaelewood]

Hot off the press! A trailer for 'Last Night', the directorial debut from my friend Cathy Yan, which I shot on location at Princeton University in 2012. In other news, was 2012 really 2 years ago? You can check out an earlier post with some production stills from the shoot here.

#Cinematography #Short Film #Last Night #Cathy Yan #Wyatt Rockefeller #Princeton #NYU Grad Film

[michaelewood]

For the last 9 months, I've worked as the video director of a new anti-bullying web campaign called 'Bystander Revolution' -- a crowd-sourced collection of videos with practical solutions to bullying. Above is the 3-minute trailer we made to introduce the project featuring interviews with Demi Lovato, Kevin Spacey, Jared Leto, Tony Robbins, Amanda Palmer, John Green, Jenna Elfman, Michael J. Fox, Akon, Chad Smith, Jillian Michaels, Missy Franklin, Salma Hayek, Jason Mraz, Shailene Woodley, Kenny Ortega and Elizabeth Banks, as well as several of our student contributors.

My production company, Gates & Greene, made over 300 videos for the site that can be seen here. They're all 1-2 minute videos from unscripted interviews with celebrities and students about their experiences with bullying. From the stories of almost 100 interview subjects, we identified 74 problem and solution categories that you can browse on the site as well. Check it out and please share with anyone you think it can help. Thanks!

#Bystander Revolution #Bullying #anti-bullying #Gates & Greene #video #interviews

[michaelewood]

'Gowanus 83' is a comedy short I made 3 years ago at NYU for a directing class with John Hamburg. Co-written with my longtime friend Chris Arp in a few days, and then shot in just a few more, this film came together quickly and chaotically -- an experience that entirely mirrored the spirit of the film.

Thinking the project was mainly for fun, I originally released it online but then took it down to pursue a brief festival run where it won the Spirit Award at the 2011 Brooklyn Film Festival. The full film is now available online above and on my vimeo page. Enjoy!

#Short Film #Gowanus 83 #comedy #brooklyn #brooklyn film festival #gowanus #action

[michaelewood]

Koharubiyori Awarded at First Run

Koharubiyori, the short film I shot in Japan last year, had its premiere at NYU's First Run Film Festival and took home the 3rd place Wasserman Award in Grad Film as well as the audience award. I also received a craft award for my cinematography in the film. Pretty sweet!

#Koharubiyori #Short Film #NYU Grad Film #Toshimichi Saito #Japan #cinematography

[michaelewood]

'Cross Your Heart' is a short film I made in 2010 during my 2nd year at NYU's Grad Film Program. It's about a guy who tries to reconnect with his 5 year old daughter after a 3 year stint in prison. Three years after making it, I'm finally releasing it to the world!

#Short Film #Brooklyn #Clinton Hill #Canon 7D #NYU Grad Film

[michaelewood]

Flow: a thirty minute take

I never studied psychology but I've read about the term flow to describe (via wikipedia) "the mental state of operation in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity." During this period, certain parts of our brains become hyper-activated and we become so singularly focused on the task at hand that we can lose a sense of time and even an awareness of ourselves. Musicians, athletes and other performers often describe this state as getting "into the zone" or "locked in".

On the last film I shot, my classmate Jason Stefaniak's thesis film 'The Middle Ground', I had a chance to experience this elusive state of flow as a cinematographer. In a completely improvised scene, two actors were play-fighting and cuddling on a bed while I filmed the action with a handheld camera. My 1st AC, the incomparable Jeff Brink, pulled focus for me while the sound team also followed the action. What resulted was nothing short of magical.

The director put on some music to set the mood and almost immediately, the actors and crew began what can best be described as a dance -- the crew moving around the actors as we felt inspired by the music playing and the life unfolding in front of us. Looking through my camera's viewfinder, I felt completely connected to the scene. My senses were entirely heightened. I was no longer just filming the actors but felt a visceral and emotional connection to what was happening before me. Without thinking at all, my instincts directed the movements of the camera like a ouija board. Time began to melt away and before I knew it, we had shot one take for 30 minutes straight. Despite the fact that my camera weighed 30 pounds and hurt my back throughout the shoot, I felt no pain whatsoever.

When the shot finished, I looked up at the crew and could see that everyone had experienced a similar thing. It was as if we had just been through a time warp together. For those 30 minutes, we had all been completely focused on our individual tasks and the feeling of finally coming up for air was almost disorienting. We had all just experienced flow in filmmaking and the process was more gratifying than any single shot I've ever photographed. You can see a few screen grabs from the uninterrupted 30 minute take above.

#Short Film #The Middle Ground #Jason Stefaniak #NYU Grad Film #Arri Alexa #Jeff Brink #Flow

[michaelewood]

Koharubiyori (小春日和)

In early February, I had the amazing opportunity to shoot my classmate Toshimichi Saito's thesis film in Japan. We filmed on the Arri Alexa for 8 days in Kobe, Osaka, and Okayama with a Japanese crew in some beautiful locations.

The project was particularly exciting as it was my first trip to Asia and Toshi was really open to explore unconventional ways of telling the story with the camera. 'Koharubiyori', which translates to English best as "Indian Summer", tells the story of a disconnected family and several lonely urban dwellers who join together at a funeral in a small village in west Japan's countryside. The film is a drama inspired by classic Japanese films like Kenji Mizoguchi's 'Ugetsu' and culminates in an enchanting Nihon Buyo performance by a mysterious and spirited woman who unexpectedly helps the family with preparations for the funeral. With an ambitious production scale and an almost entirely Japanese crew, the shoot posed some interesting challenges. For one, the set was run in Japanese and I needed a translator to let me know what was going on most of the time. On the first day, we were shooting guerrilla style inside the impossibly loud cargo hold of a commercial jet. While I was adjusting the iris on the camera, amidst a chaotic back and forth in Japanese, I was surprised to see in my viewfinder that we were recording a take! I hadn't learned the terms for "picture's up", "camera speeding" or "we're about to get kicked out this friggin' plane!" at that point. Thankfully, the craft of telling stories with images is way more universal than Japanese or English, and we were in no short order of talented filmmakers. The production was a thrilling experience of trying new things, working with old friends, and making new ones. We were in local newspapers, on national television, and while boarding the flight home, the smiling face of our lead actress bid us a final farewell from a Visa® billboard. The Japanese are great with warmhearted goodbyes.

#Koharubiyori #Cinematography #Toshimichi Saito #Japan #Short Film #Behind The Scenes #Arri Alexa

[michaelewood]

For the last two years, Dom Pérignon has hired me to edit an annual video highlighting their most exciting events, releases and promotions. Basically, they give me all the content they've created in the last year and have me string it all together. On this one I did all the editing, title design, and animations.

#Editing #Dom Perignon #David Lynch #Power Of Creation #Art Basel #Luminous Rose

[michaelewood]

Wrapped principal photography on 'Last Night', the debut short film by my dear friend, Cathy Yan. Cathy and I used to collaborate a bunch on dance choreography back in college so this project was a fun throwback to an old creative partnership. This production was particularly fun as most of the film was shot at our alter mater. Photos by the film's producer, my dude, and fellow Princetonian, Wyatt Rockefeller.

#Last Night #Cinematography #Cathy Yan #Wyatt Rockefeller #Princeton #Short Film #Red Scarlet

[michaelewood]

Bad 25 Hits Theaters

Spike Lee's Michael Jackson documentary I've worked on the last 5 months is getting a one week theatrical run. Starting today! Be sure to check it out if you're in NYC or LA. Here's what the New York Times had to say about it.

#Spike Lee #Bad 25 #NYC #LA #New York Times

[michaelewood]

Michael Jackson Documentary

For the last month, I've been working at Spike Lee's production company on a documentary on Michael Jackson's "Bad" album. For the next few months, I'll be assisting Spike's longtime editor, the incomparable Barry Alexander Brown, as we gear up this feature doc for it's premiere to mark the 25th anniversary of the album's release in the fall of 1987. Pretty excited to be working on this project as, like most of the world, I'm a huge MJ fan.

#Bad 25 #Barry Brown #Documentary #Spike Lee #Michael Jackson

[michaelewood]

Grad Film Schowcase

My short film "Cross Your Heart" is now available to view online at NYU's Grad Film website as part of their Grad Film Showcase. I made "Cross Your Heart" during my 2nd year of film school. While you're there, you can see some other great shorts by a few of my classmates and other NYU graduates. You can check out the video here and find more information about the cast and crew on my website or on imdb.

#Cross Your Heart #Short Film #NYU

[michaelewood]

Here's a video I directed and photographed for my alma mater, Princeton's Engineering School. Had a super lean but incredibly capable three person crew in my buddies Jeff Brink, Pepe Avila del Pino and Shiva Bajpai. Music is by Cameron McLain with a little bit of help from Jennifer Suhr on the cello. The video is narrated by the school's dean and was commissioned in honor of the Engineering Quad's 50th anniversary.

Here's Princeton's release on the video.

#Princeton #Engineering #Video #Commercial

[michaelewood]

Redesigned News Section!

Hey Mom (and anyone else who reads this)! Thanks for stopping by. I've finally made a few updates to my site. This news section is now being "powered by tumblr", as the kids say these days. This will make it much easier for me to keep up with. I should have some more news coming in the next few weeks so be sure to check back in or follow me on twitter for updates.

Lots of love,

Mike