Jeff Barklage

Incredible project I was fortunate enough to DP for Hyperquake! Illumina is a biotech medial company specializing in genome and DNA sequencing and they built a beautiful campus in San Diego..this 2 minute video shopwcases the incredible eyecandy that Hyperquake designed for them..truly a fun project…please turn UP the audio!

John McDaniel Directed, Krystie O’Brien produced, I DP’d, Chris Andrus gaffed. Time lapse, Jibs, steadicams, interior drones, sliders, lots of great craft service and a trip to Bali Hai! Who could ask for more.

NATIVE “Jarritos” Social Media spot I shot, Nicholas Schmalz directed.

A powerful interview I shot for Hyperquake and Illumina, 3 x cameras, incredible post production!!

John McDaniel directed, Krystie O’Brien produced, I DP’d, Chris Andrus gaffed…

I guarantee this is a VERY different interview than the normal genre…

Short doc featuring renowned “light” artist Ray King!

Ray built this beautiful dichroic glass sculpture in the Illumina HQ in San Diego. We filmed this project over the course of several months as it was a huge display and required many weeks to fabricate…dichroic glass changes colors based upon the light source and viewing angles, so this artwork is always morphing as the sun travels its path, truly beautiful.

I was the DP, John McDaniel directed, Krystie O’Brien produced, Chris Andrus gaffed.

Lottery spot I just shot for director Jonathan Bekemeier and producer Kim Cline.

TV spot I DP’d for Fabreze, Ryan Spalazi directed

trailer for a film I shot for Bill McAdam’s, also with Ron Gonzalesz…shot with Ron’s Atlas Orion anamorphic primes in Granbury, TX

ENSURE TV spot I shot.

Dave Lee/Planetary Productions produced.

Skyline Chili commercial I shot, Sarah Godman-Lightfoot directed, Jeffrey Martin styled

Here is the latest Newport Aquarium spot featuring their new Octopus! Super dark environment to help the sea creatures who live in very deep waters...we could not use much lighting due to their sensitive nature, so I used my Red Gemini which has super low light shooting abilities and it turned out great! Jason Young did outstanding work with his gimbal and steadicam rig, gaffer Andy Thomas was terrific in dealing with this situation....always wonderful to work with director Greg Newberry!

TV spot I directed & shot for DUDE WIPES. SUPER FUN creative!!

Awesome production by Drive Media House!

Music Video I DP’d, Sarah Reeves directed. Jason Young shot some beautiful steadicam work!

LensBaby was used for the boxing scene.

DUDE WIPES TV spot I directed and shot....SUPER FUN creative and a KILLER crew!

Thanks to Drive Media House!!

Mo-Co spot for Woodford with repeated moves that allowed us to introduce various awesome cocktails. Shot with my Super Baltar primes

Director: Jake Anderson, I DP'd, mo-co guru: Paul Lanterman

Here is a timelapse of baking Cinnamon Rolls for a Kroger social media campaign. Shot in a custom glass oven. Mary Seguin was the food stylist. I am not super happy with the colors for the backgrounds...its a brand thing. The music is cool!!

HOSTESS Cupcake TV spot I shot, Danielle Calodney Directed, Ryan Spalazzi Produced

Christmas Holiday TV movie I shot for Director LESLEY DEMETRIADES, Production MPCA for the GAF Network. Gaffer: Matt Bauske, Key Grip: Tyler Plant, 1st AC: Payton Bayless, Operator: Neil Newby Producer: Amy Krell

Lottery spot based on those talent reality shows..crazy fun and odd contestants....

Awesome lens flares from the Cooke zooms!

Directed by Jonathan Bekemeier,

I DP'd,

Gaffer Mattie Ware,

Key Bobby Spalding

AC Steve Cates

We used a Cammate to fly the camera, operated by Troy Blome

Kim Cline produced

My latest CULINARY DELIGHTS!!!!

I LOVE to shoot table-top & food…LOVE making beautiful eye candy!

HIRE ME to make your product look incredible!

Fun beverage TV spot with a 50's/GREASE vibe, shot with my Lomo anamorphic zoom at a drive-in located in Paris, KY. Jason Epperson/Eppic Films Directed

Shot on my Epic Dragon.

Love shooting table-top work! Here is the latest Firsch's/Big Boy TV spot..Marg Seguin food styled, Riann Wiggins produced for LightBorne...matter-of-fact my very 1st EVER work in this biz was when I was a Junior in high school at age 16..I was hired as a camera PA/Clapper/Loader on a Frisch's all-nighter TV commercial shoot! WOW! Great times!

Tv spot I shot for the new disposal/recyclable aluminum cup from BALL.

Combination of live action, motion plates and CGI...we matched the look and colors of the CGI on set to create a seamless blend of reality and computer imager.

Sam Womelsdorf directed,

I DP'd.

TV spot for Frisch's BIG BOY sandwich. I DP'd for Lightborne, Mary Seguin was the incredible food stylist, produced by Riann Wiggins produced.

Shot on my Red Epic with Leica zoom...and hard light! Fun shoot!

Table Top Pizza campaign I DP'd for Steve Paszt, directed by Dan Magdich of the Brunner Agency, produced by Emily Juengel, Andy Thomas was gaffer.

Mary Seguin was food stylist!

TV spot I DP'd, Neal Morris directed, Cindy Hoard produced with Marc Swenker at Circle Films

TV spot I shot for AES Power.

Indianapolis location, Zoo Creative LA was production company.

Joel Umbaugh directed.

Shot on my Red Epic Dragon with Cooke Speed Panchros

I DP'd this spot for Director Joe Pernice...super fun shoot with the "effect" of the Donettes bag actually a real practical effect by Laura Dennings! Produced by Ryan Spalazzi.

Low Budget TV spot I shot for director J. Todd Anderson.

Lots of “poorman’s process” of the truck driver inside the semi’s cab, shot in a garage. Gaffer & Key spun lights, did the usual fun stuff!

Exteriors all shot with a tiny Sony a7R camera.

IVORY....P&G's latest international TV spot for IVORY.

I DP’d, Neal Morris directed, Cindy Hoard produced, Upstream 360/Circle Films, Toronto

Mark Jwayed directed this crazy spot, I was the DP. Mark found some hilarious 1980's vintage TV spots he wanted to emulate and we studied the production techniques of that time period: dutch angles, snap zooms, hard lighting, odd choices of framing, really bad blue/green screen inserts, 4x3 aspect ratio, etc.... adding video artifacts in post like misaligned tubes helped sell the idea to the audience!

My hat is off to the ad agency's creative team to dream up this idea and then allow it to be posted with this visual style!

Deb Price produced and Preston Price did post, PPS Cincinnati.

Trailer for STAR TREK NEW VOYAGES/PHASE-2 web series "MIND SIFTER".

I DP's this episode, Mark Edward Lewis directed, James Cawley produced.

Awesome fun shoot working on James' INCREDIBLE sets!!! Really a super treat and a childhood dream!

Sorry that the audio sounds a little hollow in this file, no idea why...you may watch the entire episode at this link if you would like: https://www.stnv.de/en/4x09_mindsifter.php

The INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY OF WEB TELEVISION nominated me for BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY for this episode!

This spot was one of the first I shot during the quarantine....very small crew, the cast were actually a real family and we shot in their home! Fun project with a very fun director: Jason Epperson.

Shot on my Epic with Cooke Speed Panchro primes and lens nets.

Trailer for the very last episode of STAR TREK NEW VOYAGES/PHASE-2 web-series. This episode completed principle photography and its rough edit, but the CG FX were never finished when Paramount/CBS shut it all down. Quite a bummer!!

I was the DP, Mark Edward Lewis directed, James Cawley produced...this was actor Richard Hatch's LAST performance before he passed away shortly after production wrapped.

Maybe one day the lawyers will let this episode be finished....until then, enjoy this trailer.

A sequel to the 60’s TOS episode "For the world is hollow, and I have touched the sky".

Shot on my Red Epic camera with vintage Super Baltar primes [like Finnerman used on TOS] and with Mitchell diffusion filters on the lead female!

Here is 1 of 15 or so cooking/recipe web videos I shot for Con Agra. Simple 2 camera setups with nice lighting and subtle camera moves. Issac Murray directed.

GAIN spot that I DP'd, Neal Morris directed, Cindy Hoard produced...great talent!

they are running this spot almost non-stop! I am sure you have seen it several times...sorry :-)

A spot I shot for dishwasher CASCADE. Shot in Toronto with Circle Films. Neal Morris directed, Cindy Hoard produced.

Here is a BOUNCE TV spot I DP'd, Neal Morris directed, Cindy Hoard produced, Upstream 360 + Circle Films

TV spot that I DP'd, Neal Morris Directed, Cindy Hoard Produced, shot in a VERY tiny house in Toronto :-)

A crazy TV spot I shot for PENN STATION, a take off on MEN IN BLACK.

My latest CULINARY DELIGHTS!!!!

I LOVE to shoot table-top & food…LOVE making beautiful eye candy!

HIRE ME to make your product look incredible!

TV spot for Frisch's BIG BOY sandwich. I DP'd for Lightborne, Mary Seguin was the incredible food stylist, produced by Riann Wiggins produced.

Shot on my Red Epic with Leica zoom...and hard light! Fun shoot!

I DP'd this spot for Director Joe Pernice...super fun shoot!

Produced by Ryan Spalazzi.

Grey Advertising

Table Top Pizza campaign I DP'd for Steve Paszt, directed by Dan Magdich of the Brunner Agency, produced by Emily Juengel, Andy Thomas was gaffer.

Mary Seguin was food stylist!

Beautiful photography wraps this TV spot for Kroger's house brand PRIVATE SELECTIONS.
We had a gorgeous day to shoot, a wonderful location, super great director & crew AND my SWEET Super Baltar primes :-)
Shot in Portland.
Jim Walter directed, I DP'd

I shot a series of 15 or so of these cooking demos for Con Agra….Issac Murray directed.

Simple 2 camera setups with some nice lighting and subtle camera moves.

Here is a fun Halloween spot I recently shot in Portland, OR for the Kroger/Ralph's/Fred Meyers grocery company.

Manny Bernardez directed,

Food Stylist: Bridget Meyer

Sarge & Coach Fleskes gaffed and key gripped,

Cory Sorensen pulled focus,

shot in a single day on a location IN THE RAIN!

We used my beautiful Super Baltar primes as well as the 17-50 Leica/Red mini-zoom.

Shot on the Red Epic Dragon.

A Holiday spot that I lensed and Sharon Brown Directed.

Shot in many locations yet trying to keep the visual tone the same. We used turntables and Mini-Skater dollies, sliders, Weaver+Steadman's with 3rd Axis heads on jibs, etc...usual table-top fare. 

The trick is to make the food "live" in a real world [a house] yet make it stand out and be separate from that real world...which is always tricky in real practical locations where the kitchen's island is usually 5' from the refrigerator! So working with extreme shallow focus and creating lens flares or veiling help "pop" the food subjects away from the stainless steel world of the dishwasher in the background.

Plus, with anything holiday oriented, you can inject specular background highlights with candles or Holiday mini-lights, reflections off of metallic bows, anything at hand that can give you the spark of interest in the background.

This is a short piece for COKE. I was the DP, Jeff Kauck was the Director. Shot in Chicago on my RED ONE, all at 2K rez due to the highspeed over cranking we did for the liquid and ice. Mostly shot between 90 and 120fps.

Fun spot for Back-to-School..using BOLT motion-control and conventional cinematography.
Directed by Steve Giralt and Manny Bernardez

Frisch's BIG BOY's new Prime Time Burgers....I shot this spot on my Epic Dragon with vintage Cooke Speed Panchro primes, on a 3rd axis Weaver+Steadman head atop a beefy slider.

Montage of various table top food shoots I have worked on, different subjects & styles.

The correct combinations of BOTH DP and LENSES MAKE or BREAK a TV spot!

I DP'd this spot and shot it with Baltar primes.

Jim Walter DIRECTED

Fun Holiday Cocktail spot I shot.

Luke Perkins Directed

Greg Broadwater Art Directed

Howard Kennedy Produced

Charlotte Omnes Food Stylist

The most recent HOLIDAYS spots that I DP'd and Sharon Brown Directed.

Shot on Epic Dragon with Baltar primes and Cooke Speed Panchro Series 2's & 3's...all on location...which, most of the time, was crappy rain and dreary skies. Ian Jennings gaffed and created the absent sunlight to make these images sing! I LOVE lens flares and super shallow focus!

A new ultra-yummy food shoot!

Usual suspects: Epic Dragon camera, Cooke Speed Panchro vintage glass, Weaver+Steadman 3rd axis head on slider, etc.....

HOLIDAY TV spot that I DP'd and Sharon Brown Directed.

Shot on locations, mostly in a VERY remote log cabin...beautiful location, very hard logistically to get all our crew and trucks to...especially down a long dirt road in CONSTANT rain! But the location added to the look and mood with its rich warm tones.

We could not get a dolly into the location so we utilized the tiny yet brilliantly versatile P+S Technik's Mini-Skater Dolly.

Shot on Epic Dragon with Super Baltar & Cooke Speed Panchro glass.

I LOVE shooting food!!!!

Seriously.....I do

This spot allowed me to shoot both fun food/action shots with live-action.

They wanted a DP who can shoot BOTH life-style AND food...I do both...so it was a nice shoot, single location over 1.5 days.

We could have used 2 days, since they would swap out the beer for soda, the wings for BBQ...many variations on a theme...you know what I mean :-)

To organize the shoot schedule, we spent a half day before doing a heavy tech scout with the director, myself, the keys [gaffer & key grip] as well as the production designer and the food stylist.

I have a director's finder which I can mount the actual lenses on and snap stills to show exact framing and depth of field...we used this with stand in food [soccer balls, wadded up newspapers, empty water bottles...anything in the correct physical size of the future food]...we had the agency's art director with us on this scout and could discuss placement of the food, the backgrounds, what type of camera support we would need, lighting ideas, etc...

We made detailed notes and floor plans and then hit the ground running on the shoot day with a wonderful plan for everything! It saved us a boat load of time knowing which food would be ready at which time and which location [in the kitchen or living room] we would need it, as well as what type of food rig to work the food [mini-catapult, mini-onion chute, turntable, Weaver+Steadman head, jib, dolly, slider, etc....]

I LOVE working this way because it gives up a plan to start with, and if things go awry, it allows up a better chance to punt and get back on schedule sine a lot of the leg work is already figured out :-)

The camera [Epic Dragon] was flown over/around the table-tops on a Weaver+Steadman w/3rd axis on a jib arm. I actually prefer the older Weaver+Steadman head to the Lambda as I can more easily work the mounting tubes to set my center of gravity & balance a lot easier...I will shift the CG to help me operate down shots, dutch shots, etc....

Lensed with my "DESILU" Super Baltar primes to capture that "creamy" smooth look that these vintage optics give the modern day digital image.

Jim Walter directed, I was the DP

Restaurant spot I DP'd....mostly shot in a working kitchen [they could not shut it down...not fun and noisy!].
Also, it was -10F degrees outdoors when we shot...again, not fun.
We used the new Ecco-Punch Plus LED lights to generate the "sun" from outdoors...and these lights work great in this extreme cold, we were impressed! Our power cables froze and could not be coiled at wrap, yet these LEDs worked perfect!
Multi-camera setups allow additional coverage as we had a short scheduled day yet with a lot of scripted setups..actually, I like multi-camera setups :-)
My Epic cameras, Cooke glass, Matthews HD-DC Slider, fun shoot with GREAT crew!

TV spot with folks eating & snapping selfies! Lots of hand-held "look" but actually shot on a combination of a Halo Head & Shot Ball.

Photographed in a WC restaurant that was closed for us for a day..crazy thing, a massive electrical storm hit the area were were located that day, knocking out ALL power for blocks, but since we had our own production genny, we were the only ones with light!

More table-top work, this time featuring salads.
I was the DP, Jeff Kauck was producer. 
Shot on my Red One camera. Somewhere out there on the internet, someone was saying that the RED cannot photograph the 'green' of a salad....probably due to the camera having the name of the opposite color...go figure! Anyway, salads have a VERY short lifespan, so often times we could only get 1 take on set before the leaves wilted under the lights!
Shot in Chicago for Red212 Productions.

Wild tv spot I DP'd.
Each shot is MANY elements.
The opening shot of the turntable was shot in individual pieces: tone-arm, record, record player....the center of the record was a blue screen. The liquid chocolate is actually brown latex paint with green mint color injected with hoses, all shot at 120fps. The finger grabbing the candy was shot green screen with only 1 Velamint actually on set. The box was photographed separate as was the light pattern on the background.
Jeff Kauck directed, Rich Walker produced.

I shoot a lot of tabletop. This project was for a series of Long John Silver's seafood stores.
I was the DP, Jeff Kauck was the Director. The opening shot was shot at 1,000fps with a Phantom. We had to have so much light that we melted foamcore and had to resort to the back white side of a metal no-parking sign for our bounce! Shot with the Revolution lens system. Other shots were with my Red One camera.

Fun spot that has the appearance of all CG, yet was actually not..mostly not.
We shot the various iCAT's [and iDOGs] on a spinning glossy white plexi disc. The hard part was how to light something like this with little to no noticeable light sources reflected in either the toy's chrome trim or the reflective surfaces of both the cat and the table surface.
I had the guys hang a series of 6K space-lights in the studio grid. We then flew 2 x 20'x20' bleached silks in the air between the shooting area and the lights, leaving a 4' gap between the frames. This provided the needed diffusion to cancel out the source of each light.
We had to squeeze the camera into this area and we used an Innovision Probe-2+ to help get the camera away yet get the lens close to the subject. 
Lightborne was the production company, Scott Durbin produced.

FOLGERS spot I DP'd.
This is the director's cut.
Jeff Kauck directed, Richard Walker produced. Shot on a 2-wall set. Shot at 40fps for a 24fps telecine. Fun shoot.
ENTIRE SET was lit with 1 light!!!!

What a great concept! Combine a bar with great food with a full size arcade! These shoots were terriffic! After we wrapped, the entire crew hit the bar and then played arcade games!
I DP'd these campaigns and Marty Driscol was the Director, Nick Wood was the Producer for Sandlot Films. shot on 35mm with my Moviecam Compact, Cooke glass and with a Revolution Lens for the tabeltop.

I DP'd this spot, combination of table top & stills [stills shot by OMS Photography].
Shot on my Epic camera, utilizing Cooke primes. 5K resolution allowed for very soft focused backgrounds.
Louis Rub was the incredible food stylist!

Cute spot I shot for Kroger/Fred Meyer/Ralph's in San Diego for their Easter campaign. 

We used vintage Cooke Speed Panchro primes to embellish the romance/soft images and lens veiling and flares...subtle yet polished look.

FABREZE tv spot I shot for director Ryan Spalazi/Grey Advertising

Cool tv spot shot mostly in camera! The only CG elements are the floss 'rope' and the top of the talking floss container.

I was the DP, David Dolle was director, Joe Doria produced for Broadside Films, Mark Ovington gaffed...all with the very able assistance of Adam Rabinowitz!

Shot on 35mm with my Arri 35-3.

OLAY Body Wash beauty products TV spot I DP'd...simple black environment with heavy top light and sharper edge lights to pop the water droplets and to glorify the skin.
We used large 4'x8' silver cards with Ecko-Punch Plus LED lamps to generate the needed foot-candles to allow us to over-crank the camera....silks & ultra-bounces to smooth and blend the harder edge light to the fill side...which we mostly let fall off exposure wise.
Neal Morris directed.

ARIEL & TIDE commercial work…in-camera effects!!

I shot this FABREZE commercial, Ryan Spalazi directed

Grey Advertising

IVORY....P&G's latest international TV spot for IVORY.

I DP’d, Neal Morris directed, Cindy Hoard produced, Upstream 360/Circle Films, Toronto

TV spot I DP'd, Neal Morris directed, Cindy Hoard produced with Marc Swenker at Circle Films

TV spot I DP'd, Neal Morris directed, Cindy Hoard produced with Circle Films in Toronto.

We shot a half dozen spots the week we shot this spot, all on sets clustered on a sound stage..used Cooke glass and occasionally used Glimmer Glass filters.

MR. CLEAN spot I shot, Neal Morris Directed, Cindy Hoard produced.

A spot I shot for dishwasher CASCADE. Shot in Toronto with Circle Films. Neal Morris directed, Cindy Hoard produced.

Here is another MR CLEAN spot I shot, Neal Morris Directed, Cindy Hoard produced.

DOWNY TV spot that I DP'd, Neal Morris Directed, Cindy Hoard Produced with Circle Films

DAWN ULTRA dishwashing TV spot I shot in Toronto.

Neal Morris directed, Cindy Hoard produced.

GAIN spot that I DP'd, Neal Morris directed, Cindy Hoard produced...great talent!

they are running this spot almost non-stop! I am sure you have seen it several times...sorry :-)

Here is a BOUNCE TV spot I DP'd, Neal Morris directed, Cindy Hoard produced, Upstream 360 + Circle Films

Here is a spot I DP'd for DAWN ULTRA dishwashing liquid.

This was a simple single wall set...the demo portion was shot on a larger stage with a cyc...Fisher-10 dolly with 4' ubangi to allow the camera to fly over the table with all those dishes.

Neal Morris directed.

TV spot that I DP'd, Neal Morris Directed, Cindy Hoard Produced.

Shot in Toronto in a VERY small house location :-)

Another in the series of OLAY beauty spots I shot.

Cosmetic spot I shot.

Neal Morris directed, Cindy Hoard produced.

Lots of “sun” and bright highlights/glints! Stuff we love to create :-)

OIL OF OLAY spot I DP'd.
Shot on stage on a 2-wall stage in the middle of winter, right next to the stage door. Poor actress had to endure very cold water, grips constantly added hot water, but probably enjoyed the sights :-)
Used the swing-shift lenses, aka: swing and tilt. Mostly shot at 40fps with the water drop shot at 120fps.
Jeff Kauck directed, Richard Walker produced.

OLAY Masks cosmetic spot I shot.

Neal Morris directed, Cindy Hoard produced, Mark Ovington gaffed.

A “loft” location with added sunlight, thanks for some big guns and lens flares courtesy of Super Baltar primes :-)

TV spot I shot for Polymath, Produced and directed by Ronny Young and TJ Bitter!

Mostly shot all in camera..a bit of a mess in the studio :-)

trailer for a film I shot for Bill McAdam’s, also with Ron Gonzalez…shot with Ron’s Atlas Orion anamorphic primes in Granbury, TX

Lana Read directed, I DP’d..had a ball shooting this thriller!!

Christmas Holiday TV movie I shot for Director LESLEY DEMETRIADES, Production MPCA for the GAF Network.

Gaffer: Matt Bauske, Key Grip: Tyler Plant, 1st AC: Payton Bayless, Camera Op: Neil Newby

Producer: Amy Krell

This is the trailer for a 25 minute big screen film we shot for the International Horse Parks museums. I was the DP. We shot on Super-35 so we could achieve the needed 1:2.35 aspect ratio yet still utilize standard spherical optics. Originally we were to do a segment in Mongolia and the thought of traveling the globe with huge and heavy anamorphic glass would have been a challenge.
We traveled the globe for this project: Cairo, Egypt, Amman and Petra, Jordan, all over the UK and all over the US. We tried to keep the camera traveling with the horses....and we also wanted to showcase the beautiful landscapes in which all of the history of man and the horse.
We rigged small Arri 2C's under Sulkies and Egyptian chariots, flew massive camera cranes over stampeding buffalo, traveled thru the carved city of Petra, documented $20 million dollar thoroughbreds being auctioned..a fun shoot!

Here are 3 trailer for features I shot..these we shot on 35mm but I only have SD copies..sorry...regardless of the Rez, enjoy the images! They were fun to shoot!!

Trailer for STAR TREK NEW VOYAGES/PHASE-2 web series "MIND SIFTER".

I DP's this episode, Mark Edward Lewis directed, James Cawley produced.

Awesome fun shoot working on James' INCREDIBLE sets!!! Really a super treat and a childhood dream!

Sorry that the audio sounds a little hollow in this file, no idea why...you may watch the entire episode at this link if you would like: https://www.stnv.de/en/4x09_mindsifter.php

The INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY OF WEB TELEVISION nominated me for BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY for this episode!

Trailer for the very last STAR TREK NEW VOYAGES/PHASE-2 web-series. This episode completed principle photography and its rough edit, but the CG FX were never finished when Paramount/CBS shut it all down. Quite a bummer!!

I was the DP, Mark Edward Lewis directed, James Cawley produced...this was actor Richard Hatch's LAST performance before he passed away after production wrapped.

Maybe one day the lawyers will let this episode be finished....until then, enjoy this trailer.

A sequel to the TOS episode "For the world is hollow, and I have touched the sky".

Shot on my Red Epic camera with vintage Super Baltar primes [like Finnerman used on TOS] and with Mitchell diffusion filters on the lead female!

This is a 1 minute clip of the short film THE KILLERS, shot on a 60 year old Mitchell BNCR camera with vintage Super Baltar lenses! Shot on Kodak 35mm neg to give that film noir look. Alex Chikov directed.
When Alex contacted me to shoot his short, he insisted on using my Mitchell BNC camera and glass...and I was more than happy to oblige! 
I insisted we go total old school and use ALL tungsten fresnel lights, no Kinos, LEDs or HMI....we wanted that look and feel of that era. 
We shot in an abandoned 40's diner, the art department restored it to its original glory and gaffer Russ Faust and his clan brought it to life.
Alex and I viewed many film noir pictures to recreate the lighting and shadow style of the era..the fedora hats always create a challenge to light the face, but we nailed it! This was an actual location with practical walls, so moving that gigantic camera and working hot lights inside a metal building created quite a greenhouse effect, which the actors in wearing wool long coats, suits and ties had to endure.
Of course, the compression needed to stream on Vimeo has all but removed the beautiful subtle film grain :-(

Camera assistant Amy Faust and loader Michael Wooten had a blast learning and working with this mythical beast of a camera!

Here is my blog about the creation of this piece:

http://www.barklage.com/blog-1/2021/12/18/the-killers-35mm-film-noir

This is a trailer for a picture I shot called THE NAKED MAN.
Written by Ethan Coen [Coen Brothers] and directed by J. Todd Anderson.
I believe this was the last picture October Films produced.
Shot in Minneapolis and stars Michael Rapaport, Rachael Leigh Cook, John Slattery, John Caroll Lynch
Shot on 35mm using Moviecam Compacts.
Story involves a big time wrestler who has a mental meltdown and suddenly believes he has become a costumed superhero!

Here is a trailer for a feature I shot: NOTZILLA

This is a zany parody of the famous Kaiju monsters...true "man-in-rubber-suit" action with rear-projected backgrounds, smashing miniature builds with model Army tanks and consumer grade fireworks pyro!!! Shot in anamorphic with vintage Lomo glass...its all fun toungue-in-cheek comedy..check it out!

Directed by Mitch Teemley

Production Designer: Gabby Leithsceal

Producer: Aymie Majerski

Special Effects: yours truly

CG Effects: Jim Bailey

Crazy fun short film I shot, Anthony Francis Moorman directed.
We utilized every bit of the 1:2.35 widescreen aspect ratio! Always great to frame side to side.
Very violent & bloody..you have been warned!
We went for a hyper-reality look, with jacked up color saturation & super heavy contrast...very comic book like.
Way over the top bad guys & good guys/girls!
Incredible cast & crew.
Shot on two Red One cameras so we could duel cover the action.
12 minutes screen time
enjoy

HALLMARK Christmas TV movie "A CHRISTMAS MELODY"...i was the DP, Mariah Carey directed & co-starred.

This is a montage of several clips from this show. Shot on Epic Dragon with Cooke & Super Baltar vintage glass.

Trailer for A CHRISTMAS MELODY, a Hallmark TV movie I shot.

This is the BIG musical number at the end of the picture: Mariah Carey's OH SANTA! as sung by Fina Strazza [who is absolutely brilliant!!!!]

I was the DP, Mariah Carey directed & co-starred. 

We had a bunch of cameras on this: 3 x Epic Dragons, a Scarlet and a Sony a7r-2, utilizing Steadicam, Cranes [Jeff Fisher], dollies, planted cameras, etc....

"A CHRISTMAS MELODY" Hallmark TV movie, I was the DP, Mariah Carey directed & co-starred. 

This clip is a "winter time" night exterior, shot on Steadicam [Adam White operated, Brad Baker pulled focus]. I LOVE all the sparkly Christmas lights! We used vintage Cooke & Baltar primes with an old school SupreFrost filter to help bloom the highlights. Sort of conventional coverage..hard not to deliver this type of work when you have a mere 15 days to do over a hundred pages os script...GREAT CREW!!

I DP'd this motion picture starring Virginia Madsen and Rick Rossovich. Jum Amatulli directed.
Shot on 35mm Moviecam Compact and my Arri 35-3.
Sorry for the quality of the clip, as a DP, you usually have a hard time receiving quality images of your work....yes, it is crazy!

I DP'd this picture in Miami Beach and West Palm, Florida. Based upon actual stories of "pain-med" doctors, this violent story plays out rather tragically.
Shot in 9 days on both my Red One cameras in the summer Florida heat, ZERO heat issues [don't believe all the hype!].
Directed by David Donnelly, all local crew along with my trusty Operator Alex Esber.

Action movie I DP'd in Croatia. Starring Mirko "Cro-Cop" UFC Champion.
Shot on 35mm with my Moviecam & Arri cameras.
Croatia is a beautiful country with an excellent crew!
Directed by Mark Burson.

Directed by Jay Craven, shot on 35mm on location...this picture focuses around a group of college students around the Kent State shootings and the anti-war movement.
Starring Martin Mull, Fred Willard, Henry Gibson, Jonathan Brandis, Marin Hinkle and Meredith Monroe.
DP John Foster started the picture and I was brought in to replace him midway through...a rather odd situation I found myself in with a slight crew revolt until they realized I wasn't a monster and was fun to work with and fast :-)

BTW, DP John Foster created BRILLIANT work…I am unsure why they replaced him with me..I hope to never know.

I shot this trailer for Emilio a few years back....it was a fun little gig.

This was a fantastic shoot! We traveled to Colorado, Utah and Arizona to capture the American west. I was the DP, Dave Dollie directed, Joe Doria produced, Alex Esber was the AC and Chris Athy gaffed & rigged.
We had cameras everywhere! Underwater, on cranes, on Tyler Helicopter mounts, mounted all over Jeeps and on bikes, etc.
Shot on both 35mm and Super-16 with my Arri's and Bolex cameras.

Lottery spot based on those talent reality shows..crazy fun and odd contestants....

Awesome lens flares from the Cooke zooms!

Directed by Jonathan Bekemeier,

I DP'd,

Gaffer Mattie Ware,

Key Bobby Spalding

AC Steve Cates

We used a Cammate to fly the camera, operated by Troy Blome

Kim Cline produced

JJ Abrams created a new look for Star Trek with all the intense lens flares...we tried to out do him!
This is a VERY original TV spot for the North Carolina lottery.
A crew in space on a starship find an "object of incredible heat" in outer space. Once the science officer alerts the captain that it is worth a million dollars, the captain orders the tractor beams to grab onto the object and pull it into their bay.
Shot at Boulevard Films' stage. An INCREDIBLE set!!!
I cant say enough about how incredible this set was! Interactive flashing control panels and displays, etc...
Zack Resnicoff directed, I was the DP.
Shot on the RED with streak filters.

I was the DP on this campaign, shooting with 2 of my RED ONE cameras and Cooke glass.
Fun spot, shot all in 1 day on location, all stunts done IN CAMERA!
The laser-beams surrounding the glass case were inserted in post.
Zach Resnicoff was the Director, Debra Price of The PPS Group was the producer.

Mark Jwayed directed this crazy spot, I was the DP. Mark found some hilarious 1980's vintage TV spots he wanted to emulate and we studied the production techniques of that time period: dutch angles, snap zooms, hard lighting, odd choices of framing, really bad blue/green screen inserts, 4x3 aspect ratio, etc.... adding video artifacts in post like misaligned tubes helped sell the idea to the audience!

My hat is off to the ad agency's creative team to dream up this idea and then allow it to be posted with this visual style!

Deb Price produced and Preston Price did post, PPS Cincinnati.

Another fun lottery spot that was directed by Zack Resnicoff...I was the D.P., Deb Price of The PPS Group was the producer.
Shot in a parking garage [obviously]. The over head lights were a weird mixture of sodium vapor and quartz. The walls were painted green. We wanted a night time feel [but the client wanted to shoot in the daytime], so the G&E depts blacked out huge portions of spilling daylight as well as blacked out large windows in the background. Due to an impending thunder storm with rain, we opted for massive amounts of thick black Visqueen [waterproof material, held down with iron pipes]. John Pinella operated the Steadicam, Mark Ovington gaffed, Andy Thomas was key. Shot on a Scarlet at 4K rez. All Cooke primes.
Rob Grey and his gang did incredible air cannons which exploded the cash in the car.

Lottery spot that I DP'd, David Morrison Directed, Deb Price Produced for PPS. Shot in 1:2.35 aspect ratio using my Lomo anamorphic square front zoom...in this time of Covid, the creative came up with dynamic scenarios!

I shot this spot for the DORITOS SuperBowl campaign for 2014....we were in the top 3 but apparently not the winner :-(
Fun piece! Great to do comedy/period work...shot on my Epic with Cooke glass. Used a black net filter to soften image, make it sort of dreamy and to help pop all the specular highlights from the Pharoh's costume.

Crazy PENN STATION spot I shot for director Will Benson.

A take-off on MEN IN BLACK.

I love the framing of the very tall customer!

Crazy TIDY CATS spot I shot...very German abstract.

Very simple & powerful....shot actor against a "Shooting Black" [basically black velvet sown in a standard size rag frame with grommets to tie onto a frame].

We composed the actor in the actual positions [drew on the monitor for placement] and gave him good eyelines.

We lit this with simple soft edge light to give him dimension yet keep the contrast as a strong visual element..after all, his hair & wardrobe were black, yet he doesn't disappear into the void. 

This dude crushed it! GREAT and funny guy! It was hard to hold our laughs during the takes :-)

Fun beverage TV spot with a 50's/GREASE vibe, shot with my Lomo anamorphic zoom at a drive-in located in Paris, KY. Jason Epperson/Eppic Films Directed

Shot on my Epic Dragon.

Crazy web campaign for FRANKS REDHOT. I was the DP, Joe Herbert [Herbert Bros] directed.
Web campaigns are extra fun! More craziness that we are allowed on broadcast TV.
Enjoy!

Comedy spot I shot, Directed by Jerry Pope, Produced by Ben Ryan of the Miller Ad Agency in Houston.

Crazy fun series of web spots I shot for TIDY CATS!
Resource produced.
The HANS character is incredible!!!

This is a very fun spot...sort of a spoof on Mission: Impossible!
Penquins invade an aquarium....popping out of sewers, darting around corners, climbing steps, etc...
In reality, things were quite a bit different. These are birds..wild animals, they do what THEY want! So, we first shot many many penguins on a green screen. Easier said then done! We had to build a make-shift green screen studio inside a frozen meat locker where these little guys were staying..they 'deposited' all sorts of treats on that greenscreen for us :-)
Then, the director Greg Newberry, with editor Mark Cretcher, sat thru the hours of footage and pulled the best penguin action..and Greg wrote a script around that!
This really is the way to do this! Brilliant!
Then, we shot all the background plates for the already shot action. We used life-sized photo cut-outs of the Penguins to assist in framing these shots and we always rolled a few feet so the editor knew the correct perspective and animal size per shot. We had to base our initial camera setups on the specs from the original greenscreen shoot: focal length, lens height, tilt angle, etc...
In the end, it became a fun piece!
Animal Instincts was the production company, Greg Newberry directed, I was the DP, Mark Cretcher cut it.
I will say, penguins do not have a sweet aroma!

Wild web commercial I shot on my Red One, Joe Herbert [of the Herbert Bros] directed.
Shot in an old factory, actor rides Segway through factory.
Time-machine sequence was shot in an abandoned power plant. Time machine effect was realized with the super-bright Eco-Punch Plus LED light, smoke machine, Mole fan & OPTEFEX streak filter.
Super fun & crazy production.

OK..check this one out!
The "THICK" room...nice!
Hard to explain...you have to watch this web commercial I shot, Joe Herbert [Herbert Bros] was director.
Shot on my Red One, Cooke primes :-)

I DP'd this spot for Director Joe Pernice...super fun shoot with the "effect" of the Donettes bag actually a real practical effect by Laura Dennings! Produced by Ryan Spalazzi.

One of a new series of TV spots I shot for the Kroger family of stores. Shot in Portland, OR on an Alexa, I was the DP, Kevin Costello directed.
We used 'enhanced' natural light to create the bright yet soft environments...basically silks on the outer windows with Arri M-18's splashing through. The interiors were complimented with Kino's and white bounce cards. Elegant yet simple in execution. Heavy use of primes wide open helped create the ultra shallow depth of field look. Great art direction made it sing! [Thanks Barb!!]

I LOVE shooting food!!!!

Seriously.....I do

This spot allowed me to shoot both fun food/action shots with live-action.

They wanted a DP who can shoot BOTH life-style AND food...I do both...so it was a nice shoot, single location over 1.5 days.

We could have used 2 days, since they would swap out the beer for soda, the wings for BBQ...many variations on a theme...you know what I mean :-)

To organize the shoot schedule, we spent a half day before doing a heavy tech scout with the director, myself, the keys [gaffer & key grip] as well as the production designer and the food stylist.

I have a director's finder which I can mount the actual lenses on and snap stills to show exact framing and depth of field...we used this with stand in food [soccer balls, wadded up newspapers, empty water bottles...anything in the correct physical size of the future food]...we had the agency's art director with us on this scout and could discuss placement of the food, the backgrounds, what type of camera support we would need, lighting ideas, etc...

We made detailed notes and floor plans and then hit the ground running on the shoot day with a wonderful plan for everything! It saved us a boat load of time knowing which food would be ready at which time and which location [in the kitchen or living room] we would need it, as well as what type of food rig to work the food [mini-catapult, mini-onion chute, turntable, Weaver+Steadman head, jib, dolly, slider, etc....]

I LOVE working this way because it gives up a plan to start with, and if things go awry, it allows up a better chance to punt and get back on schedule sine a lot of the leg work is already figured out :-)

The camera [Epic Dragon] was flown over/around the table-tops on a Weaver+Steadman w/3rd axis on a jib arm. I actually prefer the older Weaver+Steadman head to the Lambda as I can more easily work the mounting tubes to set my center of gravity & balance a lot easier...I will shift the CG to help me operate down shots, dutch shots, etc....

Lensed with my "DESILU" Super Baltar primes to capture that "creamy" smooth look that these vintage optics give the modern day digital image.

Jim Walter directed, I was the DP

Fred Meyer EASTER spot, shot in San Diego utilizing Cooke speed Panchro glass, Epic Dragon camera.

Have you ever wondered what vintage Baltar prime lenses look like when mounted and shot with modern digital cinema cameras?

Well here you go! This spot was shot with my Super Baltar primes, +60 year old set of classic Hollywood lenses that had new PL mounts and uniformed fronts applied...shot on the Epic Dragon, EXCEPT for the scene of the little boy in the truck, which was shot with a Sony a7r-2 camera [due to size and the hostess tray rig]. 

LOVE the flares and veiling!

Directed by Sharon Brown, Gaffed by Rusty Pouch, AC was Kevin Smith. Shot in Naples, Florida

Grocery chain TV spot that I DP'd, David Yosha from Magnet Films directed

Another "in the home" spot showcasing a wide range of food products.

Here is the situation:

We scout on a Monday, it is one of those SUPER DYNAMITE BEAUTIFUL days with perfect sun, perfect blue sky, perfect temperature...the producer is loving the natural light and is so hoping that we shoot we mostly natural available illumination...the gaffer and I know we need to cover our butts...

Wednesday: The shoot day rolls around and it could not be any more HORRIBLE!!!!

Massive thunderstorm with super heavy non-stop rains! The sky is sooooo dark it is like some sort of "Biblical Darkness" has smothered the land!

Every window in this location is so dark, we have to frost them and blow light through each and every one them from a very soggy slopped yard...our lights all need double rain hats and the crew ladders skid in the mud...the G&E crew [BLESS THEIR HEARTS!!] are so soaked, they decide to have a "wet crew" who do nothing but stay soaked and outdoors working the big guns we had to bring in to fight the darkness and a dry crew who work inside....you can guess the pecking order in this....

We did manage to pretty much hide the fact that its basically midnite outside [in appearance, not by the clock] and we did manage to get a little lens flare and lens veiling...but not what we really wanted.

Seriously, if we could have shot on the beautiful day, we would have been a ton faster, made better images and with much few lighting units....but one can never guess these things in advance, only trust your gut and have a standby backup plan..with plenty of lights & electricity.

I love shooting Holiday spots! The colors, the lights...all the eye candy :-)
This spot was a national for all the Kroger brands: Fred Meyers, Ralph's,, Fry's, etc....
Shot on Epic with Cooke glass....mostly using the ShotBall to achieve the "organic" hand held look without the handheld pain & agony [as someone 6'3" tall, there is NO shoulder mount!]...sometimes using the ShotBall on a Slider, other times the camera was rigged onto an old fashioned mono-pod!
Shot in Portland, OR with the usual WONDERFUL Portland crew.
Jim Walter directed.

A national TV spot I DP'd...shot on Epic with Cooke glass. Really good color grade at Portland's Mission Control Post.
Brent Carpenter directed.
Fun shoot, terrible weather, a house location that I had serious misgivings about due to it's very bland color scheme...but we pushed the warmth in the wood tones and Mission Control did the rest!
I was SERIOUSLY happy with the final result! Like the pacing and music track.

National TV spot I DP'd...shot in and around Portland, OR and the wonderful Mt. Hood area. Shot on my Red Epic using the beautiful Cooke 18-100 zoom and assorted Cooke primes. The 'hand-held' look was achieved using the Shot-Ball camera support and Easy-Rig [I much prefer the Shot-Ball!].
The 'natural look' was achieved with Arri M-18's and a 12K HMI shooting thru heavy grid-cloth from outside windows, kino's strategically tucked in corners and overhead, and lots of positive & negative fill.

TV spot I DP'd.
Shot in Houston, TX on my Epic Dragon, all Cooke glass.
Had to chase the sun all day with a moveable park bench as we shot the 2 "mom" actors from every conceivable angle...yet always tried to keep the tree dapple on them.

Fun holiday spot I DP'd for KROGER, kids running around a picnic, warm summer days, biking and fireworks! What more could you possibly want?
Shot on Red Epic camera with...wait for it...wait for it....SWING-TILT LENSES!!!!!!
The art director wanted a nostalgic reminiscent look to the images...I suggested shooting at 40fps [transferred at 24fps] and using SWING-TILT lenses to enhance the flashback/dreamy feeling of the visuals...they agreed!
Very fun shoot, wonderful crew, Jim Walter directed.

This HOLIDAY spot was a national for Kroger/Ralph's/Fred Meyers, etc...
I shot this on the Epic camera, Cooke glass [always!], "organic" operating and really embellished & amplified the holiday visuals with extreme shallow focus, many specular highlights and colors...I LOVE to shoot projects with this art direction..its just visually fun!
Plus, you simply cannot beat Cooke glass for their look...they have a soul, they flare & veil beautifully! Cooke has an "alive" feel, romances the image, and enhances beauty...not cold, sterile and lifeless like too many modern glass makers produce.
Jim Walter directed.

Recently shot grocery chain spot I shot with TWO POPES in Lancaster, PA.
Shot on RED MX [which is a dream to shoot in a store!] and post house SHOOTERS did a terrific color correction.
Bright & simple spot.

Creative tv spot with an inventive guy rigging a slide that allows his BudLights to pop out of his fridge and slide into his waiting hand..as he basks in a pool with his lady.
Believe it or not, this rig actually works!
Shot during an actual heatwave in a small stage. We used the Kenworthy Snorkle system to allow the lens to chase the Bud bottle as it traveled down the rig and slide. A vintage fridge was cut up so we could rig lights to back-light the bottles in the freezer.
I DP'd, Jeff Kauck directed, Richard Walker produced.
Shot on 35mm with an Arri 35-3.
Please forgive the rough compression. As a DP, I am often given poor copies of my, this, case in point, was from a DVD, which imported, converted, compressed, etc.. gave it this mushy look.

Casino spot I shot for Hoosier Park Casino.

This is a SUPERBOWL Bud-Light tv spot I DP'd. Joe Scudiero directed for Champ Films/Chicago.
Shot in an actual burnt out crack house!! On the 4th floor..so burnt out we had to use condor lifts to haul the dolly and lights up. Billy Nielsen was the Steadicam operator.

Fun spot that was a blast to shoot!
This was for Kentucky Tourism to boost the KY BOURBON trade...incredible locations! Plus, a few tasting opportunities :-)
I was the DP, Michael Ivey was the director, Doug Cribbs AC'd and Tim Kramer produced.
Shot all on film, some 35mm, some super-16..a LOT on my Bolex.

SUPERBOWL TOP 50 COMMECIALS OF ALL TIME!! [USA TODAY]

Another SuperBowl Bud-Light spot I DP'd.
Very fun spot with our con guys trying to sell a busted copier to an unsuspecting businessman.
Shot on 35mm with a Moviecam Compact, Billy Nielsen ran the Steadicam, Joe Scudiero directed for Champ Films.
The pyro guys out did themselves on this one!

This is a spec spot for Victoria Secrets.
Russian Super Model Anastasia is featured.
Shot at a closed night club..which was a great location! Anastasia was incredible to work with.
Fashion photographer Annette Navaro directed and since she comes from the world of models, she was able to speak 'modelese'!
Shot using short-ends on 35mm as well as Super-16mm.
This is the only copy of this work remaining, since the editor lost the master! Hence the high video compression...sorry about that! Its a shame to view beautiful women on mushy video..I will say that even though the film stock was out dated, the original images are incredible!

Shot on miniDV with an anamorphic lens attachment to allow those cool horizontal lens flares. We also used a tiny motorized pan head to get the shots of the card players from the table center.

Here is a tiny segment of a much longer piece [awaiting permission for the entire scene].

Shot at 90fps @ 5K.

90 second PSA for THE HARDEST HIT FUND [which is REALLY a cool program!].
I DP'd this series of PSA's, Zo Wesson directed, Road Pictures produced.
So on Epic Dragon, Cooke glass...nice desaturated finish...nothing flashy, all about the somber emotion of this little frame.

Here is an ANTI-SMOKING TV spot I DP'd, David Sabbath directed.

Shot with a Lens Baby...these anti-PSA's were fun to shoot, usually pretty innovative and allowed a certain freedom in executing the lighting and camera work.

OK, this is an odd-ball PSA! Envisioned like an old silent movie…LOVE the art direction and the cast...well..these guys have incredible faces!! VERY fun to light and shoot and we had a BLAST doing it! Deb Price produced for the PPS group!

Wild anti-smoking TV spot. I was the DP, David Sabbath was the Director. Shot on my RED ONE cameras, lots of over-cranking, wire work, rain rigs, etc...

Touching PSA: a daughter tries to give her father a glimpse of the past, tries to bring some memories out.
We shot this PSA at the Alois Alzheimer center..even the opening sequence with the dusty sun beams in the attic [where she pulls her late mom's wedding dress out of a chest]...we rented a hazer but the facility had a smoke alarm system that prevented us from using this device for the effect...so we ended up doing an old theatrical trick by stretching a 12'x'12' double net behind the actress and creating sun rays on the net with our lights! 
Greg Newberry directed, Jamie Ferguson gaffed, Chuck Turner was key grip.

Creative tv spot with an inventive guy rigging a slide that allows his Budweisers to pop out of his fridge and slide into his waiting hand..as he basks in a pool with his lady.

Believe it or not, this rig actually works!

Shot during an actual heatwave in a small stage. We used the Kenworthy Snorkle system to allow the lens to chase the Bud bottle as it traveled down the rig and slide. A vintage fridge was cut up so we could rig lights to back-light the bottles in the freezer.

I DP'd, Jeff Kauck directed, Richard Walker produced.

Shot on 35mm with an Arri 35-3.

Please forgive the rough compression. As a DP, I am often given poor copies of my, this, case in point, was from a DVD, which imported, converted, compressed, etc.. gave it this mushy look.

Fun Budweiser spot which we shot in the Gulf Of Mexico...right off Tampa, Florida.

Joe Scudiero directed, I was the DP, Billy Nielsen was the Steadicam operator..whom we had to lash to a cat-walk on the camera boat!

Shot in 35mm with Moviecam Compacts.

Champ Films, Chicago was the production company.

Another SuperBowl Bud-Light spot I DP'd.

Very fun spot with our con guys trying to sell a busted copier to an unsuspecting businessman.

Shot on 35mm with a Moviecam Compact, Billy Nielsen ran the Steadicam, Joe Scudiero directed for Champ Films.

The pyro guys out did themselves on this one!

Fun Budweiser spot which we shot on the beach...right off Tampa, Florida.

Joe Scudiero directed, I was the DP, Billy Nielsen was the Steadicam operator….

Shot in 35mm with Moviecam Compacts.

Champ Films, Chicago was the production company.

This spot ran in Chicago…we shot in the winter at Wrigley Field..pretty darn cold!

We built scaffolding to support the camera to get it to the correct level to shoot the actors in the seats. The little IVY rig was problematic but did finally work.

The dog at the end of the spot had no trouble weeing on our actor!!

Joe Scudiero directed, I was DP, Billy Nielsen operated, Dave Morenz was 1st

I shot this campaign for BUD LIGHT for CUZ Films, Chicago. This "Golf" spot starred Dick Butkus and was shot in Florida..Butkus was actually great to work with! We had gators in the water trap!

The FX team built a crazy powerful air-cannon to launch the golf balls..which was under0-used in breaking the prop window at the tail of this spot..I mean this air-cannon could latch these balls high enough to hit an airplane!!

Joey Scudiero directed!

This spot is a spoof on a local Chicago auto empire's TV spots.

The 2 salesmen you see are long time fixtures for TV viewers in ChicagoLand.

I'm not from Chicago, so I had no idea who these guys were..but they were GREAT to work with and the local crew really enjoyed those guys.

The old beat-up Taxi cab had a severly modified trunk to allow our actor to climb inside and be seen thru the door cut behind the license plate. Also, the mechanism that launched the beer bottles out of that same hole actually worked!

I was the DP, Joe Scudiero [Champ Films] directed, Billy Nielsen ran steadicam.

I'm not sure if this version ever aired...but it was one of the last BUD LIGHT spots we did with the 2 "con-men" characters. This story involves a fake tree [VERY FAKE!!] that has Bud Light bottles growing on it as it's fruit! You could plant bottle-tops as seeds to grow these trees!!

Fun to shoot.

Joe Scudiero directed [from Champ Films], I DP'd and Billy Nielsen ran steadicam, Rob Scott gaffed.

Shot somewhere in Florida on 35mm.

BUD-LIGHT “APARTMENT” tv spot

This one started it all. This spot began as a spec spot. Director Joe Scudiero and his Champ Films took on this project to help introduce themselves to the group at DDB and Anheuser Busch.

The basic concept is an apartment hunt for an unlucky fellow. Being lead astray, our hero finds himself in a total disaster hell-hole apartment: smashed windows, peeling paint, buckled floor, sink hanging off the wall…yet a brand new refrigerator! And ‘what do you know’? Empty except for a tall cool frosty bottle of Bud-Light!

WOW!

He grabs the single bottle, closes the fridge door when the ‘realty agent’ [aka: con man] opens it again and we magically find yet another single bottle of beer!

It’s total magic and it keeps happening again and again until the apartment hunter has his arms full of this magic beer! “I’ll take it!!” he exclaims! After he leaves, we find that our con-man/realty agent has an accomplice hiding in a hole in the wall behind the fridge and was replacing the bottles each time. Cute spot.

In reality, the location WAS a hellhole! It was up 3 stories and its stairs were so unsafe that we had to take all of the big and heavy production equipment up on a condor [which is “movie-speak” for a very high man-lift] and through a hole in the outer wall which the grips and art department had smashed through! This overall atmosphere of an incredibly burned out mess really added to the comedic aspect of this spot. Joe’s great comic direction and wonderful choice of casting made this a hilarious spot! Chicago’s elevated high-speed passenger trains really ran right outside the windows of this place, not more then 20’ away causing the entire building to shake every time they went by, and they went by about every 6 minutes!

This spot never aired. The folks at Anheuser Busch thought this location looked so incredibly bad that the viewing public may actually think it was a crack-house…and they did not want their product associated in any way with a crack-house. So, we reshot the entire spot shot for shot at that same exact location...but first the art department did a complete rehab of it and plastered the walls, fixed the windows and sink,. Etc…

That is the spot that ran on the SuperBowl.

Personally, I think that the redo/rehab caused the spot to loose its original sense of comedy…the visual horrid state of the place made it really funny when the guy actually agrees to take it simply because he can get some free beer.

But what do I know; I only play with light and read a meter!

Director: Joe Scudiero

Steadicam: Billy Nielsen

1st AC: David Morenz

Gaffer: Jules Tomko

Colorist: Tom Rovak/Swell

Music Video I DP’d, Sarah Reeves directed [she was wonderful!]

Jason Young did some killer steadicam, a LenBaby was used for the boxing scenes.

Andy Reale directed this music video, I was the DP and shot on one of my RED ONE cameras. We used the LensBaby a LOT on this shoot..it was very cool.

This location was an old underground abandoned brewery..very large, cold and dirty…bit WOW!! :-)

Music Video I shot, Mark Burson directed, shot on Super-35 with my Arriflex 35-3, Cooke glass

This is one for the books!

I always get great audience response when showing and telling a lighting class about this shoot!

BIZZY is a Grammy winning rap artist…thus his record label wanted to spend zero money on this video…makes sense so far?

The shoot was scheduled, but there was no storyline. Suddenly they wanted to shoot at night in urban alleys, all handheld. OK…but it was pouring buckets when we arrived at the studio…and that is when I found out that I had absolutely zero crew! No one! No crew, no lights, nothing…..

They did ended up having 2 roadies [yep…roadies!] help me with the camera cases…and the guys did rig a Vari-Beam rock and roll style lamp in the grid. No AC or loader. I said I would not do the shoot in the rain with no help with the camera gear [I was the DP, operator, AC & clapper/loader]. I hadn’t even a changing bag!

So, we shot in the studio…which was just a big room with a black curtain, no props besides a microphone….no art department, nothing.

Not much to look at for an entire 4 minute video!

I was having no help from production since besides the director there wasn’t anyone…

So, trying to be the ever resourceful DP [and my thoughts were if you are going to work for free, you might as well make it something for your reel!]…I looked around and saw some clear plexiglass panels used to mute drums during audio recording…I had the roadies set a few of these 6’x8’ clear panels behind the artist and one in front of the lens [as a shoot-thru], but these were too clear to make an interesting…what could we do to these plexi sheets to give the set some flair?

The answer: the liquid hand-soap in the men’s restroom!

I grabbed a glob of the stuff and smeared it onto the plexi-panels both in front of the lens and behind the artist…beautiful!!!

With the vivid colors and patterns of the Vari-Beams backlighting this smeared mess, the set became really cool, and the foreground ‘shoot-thru’ worked well as if it was some sort of weird swing-tilt lens.

This produced some striking images, yet the music video suffered from lack of forethought and planning…but the director did a GREAT edit.

BTW, BIZZY and his Roadies were FANTASTIC to work with!!'

I need to uprez this clip

Metal music video I shot for director David Thies. LOTS of fun LensBaby work…..Great crew:

Gaffer: Russ Faust

AC: Amy Faust

Editor: Terry Lukemire

Shot on my Red Epics & Cooke primes with LensBaby bonanza!!

I DP'd and Directed this music video. The band was great, their management and label were not. I never received payment for this video, yet I did pay my crew out of my pocket.
The first 2/3rds of the video was shot on 35mm with 2 of my cameras [Moviecam Compact and Arri 35-3], the end of the video with all the girls crashing the set was Super-16. Used a rear net on the lens to get the nice star pattern, Christian Dior "Black Orchid #10" I believe.
Zach Riggins was the gaffer. Kevin Mark did a very nice telecine.

Music video I DP'd for Director Major Lightner.
Shot mostly at the South Gate House in Newport, KY.
Shot on 35mm with several Arri 435's, almost entirely at 120fps and with very outdated filmstock! Some stock was so old it had shrunk enough that it would not pull thru the throat of the magazine.
Lots and Lots and Lots of greenscreen elements shot both inside the club's main stage and also outdoors in front of the building.

Pretty fun dance music video. I shot this several years ago, but due to some political bullshit between label and artists, it sat on a shelf...so I took it upon my own and gathered the original Red footage and cut it together myself. Now I am a DP, not an editor...but if I didn't do this, it would never be done! So please forgive me regarding the edit...
Annette Navarro was the producer and director and put a great deal of time getting this whole thing put together. Annette is INCREDIBLE to work with! The artist was a dream to work with and we shot this in a dance club and I talked production into using the OpteFex Streak filter..which is kick-ass!! Roger Holiday was the AC, Scott Lipez was the gaffer and did a great job creating the moving streaks..which were ALL done in camera! Since I have zero idea how to create these in post, everything you see was created in camera! Shot on my Red One camera.
I LOVE lens flares!!! :-)

Political spot I shot for SRCP MEDIA

Kathy Hochul for NY gov spot I shot, Declaration Media was the production company

This spot is in the TOP 50 SUPERBOWL ADS OF ALL TIME "Hall of Fame" [USA TODAY]

Another SuperBowl Bud-Light spot I DP'd.
Very fun spot with our con guys trying to sell a busted copier to an unsuspecting businessman.
Shot on 35mm with a Moviecam Compact, Billy Nielsen ran the Steadicam, Joe Scudiero directed for Champ Films.
The pyro guys out did themselves on this one!

This furniture spot was shot on a stage in Chicago. I was the DP, Bob Egle was the Director, Ben Bass of Flying Fish was the producer.
Shot on 35mm at 40fps with a 24fps telecine, using swing-tilt lenses and rear-nets on the lenses.
Speed ramps accomplished in post.
we used Leko lights hit into large broken mirrors for some of the cool light patterns on the various surfaces of the set walls and sofa's.

State Fair spot I DP'd.
Ron Hamad directed, Scott Durban produced.
Fun shoot at an actual state fair with great frame composition and art direction.
Shot on 35mm with my old trusty 35-3.

Cool tv spot shot mostly in camera! The only CG elements are the floss 'rope' and the top of the talking floss container.

I was the DP, David Dolle was director, Joe Doria produced for Broadside Films, Mark Ovington gaffed...all with the very able assistance of Adam Rabinowitz!

Shot on 35mm with my Arri' 35-3.

I DP'd this tv spot for GoodYear Tires. This campaign compared your average Joe with NASCAR.
Shot in 35mm on my Moviecam Compact.
Great Carolina crew!
Bob Egle directed, Jennifer Combs produced.

Hospital TV spot we shot in Des Moines, IA.
Shot all with a Steadicam, operated by my friend Billy Nielsen. Directed by Joe Scudiero, I was the DP.
Shot in literally 2 hours due to an impending thunder storm!
I actually think the soft light helped the overall feeling.
The airport security x-rayed our entire batch of 35mm film that was heading to FilmWorkers Lab in Chicago....some of it was very damaged, but thanks to Joe's ability to cut around the x-ray damage, we got a great spot.

Fun Budweiser spot which we shot in the Gulf Of Mexico...right off Tampa, Florida.
Joe Scudiero directed, I was the DP, Billy Nielsen was the Steadicam operator..whom we had to lash to a cat-walk on the camera boat!
Shot in 35mm with Moviecam Compacts.
Champ Films, Chicago was the production company.

I'm not sure if this version ever aired...but it was one of the last BUD LIGHT spots we did with the 2 "con-men" characters. This story involves a fake tree [VERY FAKE!!] that has Bud Light bottles growing on it as it's fruit! You could plant bottle-tops as seeds to grow these trees!!
Fun to shoot.
Joe Scudiero directed [from Champ Films], I DP'd and Billy Nielsen ran steadicam, Rob Scott gaffed.
Shot somewhere in Florida on 35mm.

This spot is a spoof on a local Chicago auto empire's TV spots.
The 2 salesmen you see are long time fixtures for TV viewers in ChicagoLand.
I'm not from Chicago, so I had no idea who these guys were..but they were GREAT to work with and the local crew really enjoyed those guys.
The old beat-up Taxi cab had a severly modified trunk to allow our actor to climb inside and be seen thru the door cut behind the license plate. Also, the mechanism that launched the beer bottles out of that same hole actually worked!
I was the DP, Joe Scudiero [Champ Films] directed, Billy Nielsen ran steadicam.

Stop Motion TV spot from the late 80's.
I was the DP, David Kallaher was the producer of Kallaher Productions. Carley Anderson was the mo-co programmer, Joe Busam was the animator. The mouth and eyes were rotoscoped on in post, the animation puppet had dots for the eyes and mouth during the shooting. Joe did the verbal timing off of a pre-recorded voiceover soundtrack and the eyes and mouth were created using conventional cell animation. We shot this at the Createfex Studios. I built the foam latex animation puppet [foam latex cast in molds from an original I sculpted in Pastiscene, David Crosby turned the wooden baseball bat], the hotdog set dressing was a foam latex cast copy of a real hotdog due to the problems if using real food material when shooting for long periods of time under hot lights! The mustard was actually painted hot glue that the Crosby brothers created!

Stop motion spot from the late 80's. Joe Busam was the animator, I was the DP, Carley Anderson was the mo-co programmer and Dave Kallaher was the producer. Shot at Kallaher's studio.
The set was built 3' off the floor to allow the animator's assistant to slide under the floor to help bolt down the bear's feet for each step. The floor was pre-drilled for each step and a bolt was run up thru the floor to secure the bear's foot to the floor. Allison Ahrens created the bear's fur and stuffed the bear, B.P. Taylor from Tom Scott Models built the ball & socket armature from aluminum and titanium based upon my original drawings. We utilized a primative video assist system of a VHS camcorder that fed a live image to an old B&W TV monitor. The assistant using a grease pencil would draw the figure's last position onto the monitor and would verbally tell the animator where the next position for the figure should be. We would fire a frame and erase the image and re-draw the next position!
The bear at the end of the spot that winks at the camera was a separate bear which had a special eyelid that was made using model airplane servos cables and winked over a glass eye from a taxidermist!
The live action of the boy was shot on 16mm, the stop motion bear was shot on 35mm with a Harrison & Harrison fog 1 filter..the flavor of that era!

Indianapolis location, Zoo Creative LA was production company.

Joel Umbaugh directed.

Shot on my Red Epic Dragon with Cooke Speed Panchros

Here is a fun spot that I shot for Director Jeanne Kopeck, Producer Riann Wiggins.

Dogs, kids and RC cars…this spot has it all :-)

This was one of the very first shoot with both the RED ONE and LIGHTNING STRIKES!
It worked great!
We had several Lightning Strikes mounted on Condors as well as rain-trees and Ritter Fans to create the storm.
I was the DP, Marco Baca was the Director, Greg Malone of Road Pictures was the producer

Tidy Cats TV spot introducing a series of characters that are the “brains” behind the new cat liter.

TV spot I DP'd for Director J. Todd Anderson for Lawyer Mike Wright.

Tiny 3 man crew...truck driver was shot all "poorman's process" inside a garage...exteriors all shot with a tiny Sony a7R...fun little shoot!

Funny yet somewhat scary TV commercial that illustrates how our world and our interactions are covered with germs!
Doesn't sound like a fun subject to cover does it?
But this campaign injected humor and it was a blast to shoot!
Shot in practical locations, utilizing lens flares for establishing time-o-day as well as to work as transitions.
Mark Jwayed directed, Sam Womelsdorf produced.

this was a fun shoot! I was the DP, Jerry Pope was the Director, Greg Pope of Two Popes was the producer. 
Shot on the Red One camera and the Canon 5D MK-2.

This is a TV spot I DP'd for WILD ADVENTURES in Valdesto, GA.
We principly shot on my RED ONE with some on-board rollercoaster shots utilizing the GoPro. We actually wire-tied the GoPro to the coaster!
Lots of wide angle lenses.
Michael Maney was the Director

TV spot with a mom towing her kids in a parking garage...boarding her van and then getting rear-ended [spoiler alert!!]
Shot in the heat of an underground parking garage...summer heat plus the warmth of hot car engines makes for a fun shooting environment!
I was the DP, Marco Bacca directed. Produced by Road Pictures. Shot on my Red One.
The RED worked great in the heat...the trick is to simply boost the van for the environment.
The last shot, and overhead shot, was accomplished with a Kinoptik 9.8mm super wide lens.

Yes...Yes...Yes! I do hospital spots!! I usually do not seem to put them on my reel, but due to several recent inquires I uploaded this spot.
I was the DP, shot on my Epic, Red One and a handful of GoPro's. Steadicam god Bill Nielsen flew his rig and helped rig some cool shots with the GoPro's. Amy Cunningham-Faust AC'd. Russ Faust gaffed. Shot mostly with available light and embellished with the usual blue Kino-Flo tubes to go all CSI on the lab stuff. A trick I play with a lot is doing a slider camera move shooting thru a sheet of clear plexi [perspex to all you Brits out there :-) I love the way the light reflects and the image bends with the refraction as we slide/dolly thru & past this foreground element.

NATIVE Jarritos Social spot I shot, Nicholas Schmalz directed…this was one of a series of spots we shot for NATIVE..fun table top stuff!

Here is a timelapse of baking Cinnamon Rolls for a Kroger social media campaign. Shot in a glass oven. Mary Seguin was the food stylist. I am not super happy with the colors for the backgrounds...its a brand thing. The music is cool!!

We went total "Wes Anderson" on this project: symmetrical composition, nodal point tilts, etc....we used a large gobo to create the "slide projector" effect.

Directed/starring Levi Bethune,

I DP'd,

Gaffer was Russ Faust,

Scott Lipez Key'd,

Amy Faust AC'd

Produced by Cindy Schroeder

Here is one of many READY-SET-EAT cooking web videos I shot for Con Agra. Simple 2 camera setups with some nice lighting and subtle camera movement.

I believe we shot something like 15 of these cooking demos during a 3 day shoot.

Issac Murray directed.

We went total "Wes Anderson" on this project: symmetrical composition, nodal point tilts, etc....we used a large gobo to create the "slide projector" effect.

Directed/starring Levi Bethune,

I DP'd,

Gaffer was Russ Faust,

Scott Lipez Key'd,

Amy Faust AC'd

Produced by Cindy Schroeder

Holiday TV spot shot in-camera stop-motion animation!!! I was the DP and head animator, Bart Browne also animated and designed the beautiful storyboards for this project [as well as art directed], Don Lee from the Horizon Companies produced and directed.

I shot this with my Red Scarlet camera, which worked GREAT as an animation camera! Normally I have shot stop-motion on film, Mitchell's, Mauers and Bolex's...but the digital route was really fun!

here is my BLOG on how we shot this project:

https://www.barklage.com/blog-1/2020/11/17/aaa-holiday-stop-motion-tv-spot

This is a sample of some of the miniature effects shots I created for an indy sci-fi film I'd love to put together. This is a B&W 1950's sci-fi genre picture about [what else!] giant insects attacking mankind!!

This sample features real living CICADAS crawling on and around miniature set pieces I constructed. Shot outdoors using real backgrounds and skies in a forced-perspective manner to integrate the miniatures into reality. Overcranked to give sense of scale in the insect's motion.

This was the LAST of my attempts of filming a missile take-off...watch the video and you will see why! :-)

From the movie NOTZILLA.

From the movie NOTZILLA, here is an effects clip that is uncut....notice my hand lighting the fuse :-)

I built these miniatures and set this environment up in my garage at home...production would not let any pyro work happen in the studio or any location..so the "danger" was solely upon me! Super fun to shoot this stuff in my yard!

This was a tongue-in-cheek comedy giant monster movie with a man-in-rubber-suit, so we approached the miniature photography in the same manner…

Stop Motion TV spot from the late 80's.

I was the DP, David Kallaher was the producer at Kallaher Productions. Carley Anderson was the mo-co programmer, Joe Busam was the stop-motion puppet animator. The mouth and eyes were rotoscoped on in post, the animation puppet just had tiny dots for the eyes and mouth during the shooting. Joe did the dialogue sync timing off of a pre-recorded voiceover soundtrack and the eyes and mouth were created using conventional cell animation. We shot this at the Createfex Studios. I built the foam latex animation puppet [foam latex cast in molds from an original I sculpted in Pastiscene, David Crosby turned the wooden baseball bat], the packaged hotdog set prop was a foam latex cast copy of a real hotdog due to the problems of using real food material when shooting for long periods of time under hot lights! The mustard was actually painted hot glue that the Crosby brothers created!

Again, sorry for the fuzzy low resolution copy here…it was originally shot in 35mm.

Stop motion spot from the late 80's. Joe Busam was the animator, I was the DP, Carley Anderson was the mo-co programmer and Dave Kallaher was the producer. Shot at Kallaher's studio.

The set was built 3' off the floor to allow the animator's assistant [me] to slide under the floor to help bolt down the bear's feet for each step. The floor was pre-drilled for each step and a bolt was run up thru the floor to secure the bear's foot to the floor. Allison Ahrens created the bear's fur and stuffed the bear, B.P. Taylor from Tom Scott Models built the ball & socket armature from aluminum and titanium based upon my original drawings. We utilized a primitive video assist system of a VHS camcorder that fed a live image to an old B&W TV monitor. The assistant using a grease pencil would draw the figure's last position onto the monitor and would verbally tell the animator where the next position for the figure should be. We would fire a frame and erase the image and re-draw the next position!

The bear at the end of the spot that winks at the camera was a separate bear which had a special eyelid that was made using model airplane servos cables and winked over a glass eye from a taxidermist!

The live action of the boy was shot on 16mm, the stop motion bear was shot on 35mm with a Harrison & Harrison fog 1 filter..the flavor of that era!

Please try to look past the fuzzy standard definition resolution of this piece. We shot in glorious 35mm but the edit was done on NTSC equipment running 525 lines of resolution, and the copy given to me was a 3/4” video tape with a total of 400 lines of resolution.

Another unedited clip from NOTZILLA of a miniature missile launch...this time, the "bottle rocket" firework that is mounted inside the plastic missile shell misfired and instead of igniting from its lower base and shooting straight upward, it ignited through its side and sent the missile spiraling..which was not intended, but funny and fits perfect with this comedy movie! Shot at 250fps in my driveway!

Faux trailer for my ATTACK OF THE GIANT KILLER CICADAS!!!

A spoof of the 1950's Giant Insect Movies! Actual 17-year Cicadas placed on photo enlargement/cutouts of buildings..all fun stuff! Cheesy narration by my [at that time] next door neighbor: Steve McGowan....

This is a sample of some of my time-lapse work I shot using my portable mo-co pan & tilt head. After we wrapped on the Euro Marlboro shoot in Moab, Utah, I stayed for an extra week, rented a jeep and shot some of this footage. Due to the intense July heat & sun, I had to cover my trusty Arri 35-3 [with Norris Intervalometer] with aluminum foil to keep the film from frying in the sun..the Arriflex cameras being painted black.
The mountains and fields were shot in Bozeman, MT.
The city footage at the end is from one of a series of TV News promos I shot..sometimes with the camera mounted on top of the news truck, other times mounted on the hood of my camera van.

Here are a +half dozen slow-motion shots I have created to illustrate the speeds of shooting various high-speed subjects and their effect once played back at standard 24fps.

This is a great way to pre-viz slo-mo movement before you shoot and give you an idea of which camera to use.

Collage of frame grabs from a BIZZY BONE music video I shot, 35mm