Some of the work I did in 2010 included but was certainly not limited to cinematography, photography,  motion graphics, web design, media consulting, asset management, development and outreach of educational media, even becoming inspired while teaching on a floating

Sunrise in the Puget Sound; photo taken with a Droid X.

classroom around the Puget Sound. All the while expanding my skill set and continuing to evolve my worldview.

This year was also one of exploration, learning, and listening to further develop my technical and creative skills. 2010 was about uniting various skill sets, including motion graphics, web design and cinematography into a lesser known and under defined position I refer to as a Digital Media Specialist. I believe the role unites the power of video, web and social media to deliver a smarter, more connected and engaged society through the collective narrative in which we are all intrinsically tied.

So what am I thankful for this year besides rafting the Grand Canyon for 20 days? I would have to say… all those I have been fortunate to work with and each project, company, and organization I collaborated with to deliver powerfully engaging media. The list includes:

A few Collaborators:

• IslandWood; A School in the Woods; Educational media development.
• AltRider.com; Adventure touring motorcycle products and E Commerce website
• Vindulge; Wine consultation and education
• PhilanthropyReports.org; Nonprofit and philanthropic education

Some of the projects:

• Cinematography: Visualizing a native history with master basket weaver and Suquamish tribal elder; Ed Carrier.
• Educational Media: Helped develop, design and execute an educational outreach campaign with YouTube, Vimeo and Teacher Tube.
• Web Design and Development: Worked with Content Management Systems such as Drupal, WordPress and Plone.
• Motion Graphics: Making statistics come alive in the Nonprofit sector with motion graphics using Final Cut and Motion.

And a few fun facts:

• Collaborated with a team to deliver a short video, which aided in raising nearly 1 million dollars for IslandWoods Dinner in the Woods fundraiser.
• Reached 10,000 video views in one month on YouTube with an infographic for the nonprofit sector.
• Photography was used in a National Marketing Campaign
• Increased exposure through a YouTube outreach campaign; reaching the top 5 referring sites from 250 in one month. Those that entered from YouTube spent an average of 25 minutes on the site.
• Screened Holding to Form at the  Celluloid Film Festival and Native American Television Channel

One of the many revelations I uncovered this year was how intertwined my work is with my life. How media is not just a job or a career to me, but a passion.  A titillating narrative adventure weaving its way between a complex  media paradigm and the human condition.

There is a great deal that I am excited to accomplish in 2011 and I am already hard at work ca-hooting, researching and developing concepts to deliver. And by this time next year I hope to accomplish even more.

Stay well and tuned in 2011.

//

Currently in post production; this documentary is the second installment of a cultural film that follows Suquamish elder and master basket weaver as he weaves his signature clamshell basket passing down a waning traditional art form to his grandchild  in Indianola, Washington.

The first film, Holding to Form, covered the work Ed did on a authentic bark basket he completed for IslandWood’s cultural center. The basket, now resides in the great hall open for children and adults alike to capture wishes while teaching our youth about a waning tradition.

This project was important to me because we are loosing a very critical and authentic portion of our human history, Native American traditions. There is a great need for us to pass down our knowledge to our  youth. In many Native American tribes there is a great migration and thus an extinction to a way of life.

Making this production was imperative to continuing their ritual, story, art form, and cultural history. But most importantly, pass down a way of life, a tradition in an age of modernity. It is so easy for us to dismiss our past in order to make way for the future.

Choosing the JVC GY HD  200 video camera was a natural choice to follow up the first documentary. Over all it is a great camera with a super powerful piece of glass. The Fujinon lens is fantastic and allows for great depth of field. I shot Holding to Form at 30fps and wanted to test out 24 frames per second with this project. I then used a 1/48th shutter speed and a circular polarized piece of glass. most importantly was it’s ability to film good images in low-light situations. Keeping the camera close was important to me because I really wanted to show Ed Carrier’s ninja weaving skills, his dexterity, and how he works.

Production took place on location in Indianola, Washington where Ed has lived and learned all his life. Shooting on the beach of course is always tricky when the wind is howling. Even more fun is the flight pattern of planes passing overhead every 15 minutes, like clock work.

Still frame from the documentary

The production took a splendid turn when we were able to set up and film at a clambake on the beach prepared in the traditional ways, which to Ed’s knowledge, has not been caught on camera. Shooting on the beach we had limited ability to light with anything other than natural light, I opted to film using the fire itself as my key and fill light. This meant the subjects had to be close to the fire, and the fire had to be a little bigger than normal. But in the end it looked great and a little dramatic.

This project was certainly a wonderful experience and I am so fortunate to have been able to work with Ed learning and seeing firsthand the power of traditional basket weaving.

One can tremble at the very thought of fully comprehending all of the components of digital media. The size, scope and speed of information can numb our senses yet energize and awaken those who understand it’s potential.

There is clearly a demand for us to understand the digital revolution and its place in our lives. How does the human condition and our complex psyche always find a way to physically manifest new ways to communicate and connect?

For humans it really is about connection, we have an instinctual need to connect with each other and an even deeper intrinsic need to tell stories. From drawing pictures on stone walls in dark caves to the great traveling orators that passed on culture and lore, to the literary masters that refined our history, to the auteur of the lens and moving picture, there has never been a more powerful or accessible story telling device than the internet.

The first official film I was Director of Photography on outside of film school came through collaboration with a skilled writer in the writing program from Vancouver film school. Divided was written and Directed by Jaxon Defa. This short film was a dialogue rich covering various stages of a relationship.

Divided was filmed with a Panasonic DVX 100A mini DV camera. The crew consisted only of myself, a sound guy and the director. The script called for only a few locations mostly exterior with one of the exteriors on the Beach and a second at night at a bus stop. We wanted to run and gun, so this meant keeping everything light.

As a cinematographer I prefer to work in a minimalist fashion, while I love the use of expansive lighting packages, I like to work with available natural light whenever I can. Much of my work is done in documentaries, but as a cinematographer I feel that forcing light can be a detriment both viscerally and artistically. Of course the use of light and  higher ratios will be unique to each project.

Divided’s night scene called for two actors sitting side by side in a bus stop downtown. The scene is lit by a bright advertisement sign in the bus stop that illuminated enough to cover the principals. The beauty of the DVX 100A is the incredible picture quality shooting at low light (in particular from a distance) one of the reasons I used this camera. With a t-2.8 and a shutter of 1/30th the camera performed flawlessly with very minimal grain and deterioration of the blacks. There was even some detail in the blacks.

Another difficult scene on this production was the poignant climax on the beach that was driven by dialogue. The director and I wanted to go with a handheld feel to raise the dramatic tension of the scene. Being on the beach we had to walk carefully to avoid rocks, logs and other obstacles while maintaining natural blocking. Keeping the tension of the scene was important, I felt that crushing the two of them by keeping the camera close and a little rocky helped to achieve visual tension while blocking the actors was imperative as well.

Overall it was a fun project to collaborate on with Jaxon and the rest of the crew. Working on a dialogue heavy script can be difficult, the focus often falls on the actors and it is important they can handle the subtle nuances. Blocking becomes important for both the actors and camera movements so that the viewer can viscerally live the experience. This project certainly offered great opportunities to play with a dynamic relationship between camera, dialogue and actors. I am would love the opportunity to work on another piece that focuses on the power of well written and delivered dialogue.

The second round of our final projects at Vancouver Film School meant the use of one of my favorite cameras, the Arri SR2 16mm film camera. And for this round I was selected as the 1st camera assistant. I was stoked to get this position because it allowed me more hands on the film camera. I was also able to help play with lens choice to distance ratios and even more important loading all the 400 foot mags.

This production was a drama about voodoo, chickens and freaks. A very super picture from director Daniela Tovar. The set that was built for this final project was very well done which made lighting and filming quite fun.

Having the ability to work with film one last time was important to me for a few reasons; the first being that film was wonderful to work with, secondly was that digital was now pushing forward hard. And making great progress against the film world, to the dismay of the old school die-hard film guys and gals.

We are beginning to see a very fundamental shift in the technology used to capture film today and it has only begun to brush the surface. From the advancement of DV to the advent of HDV to future of HD and chip size we are in for an exciting ride in digital video capture.

Crew of the production Feast setting up one of the shots

Director: Ou Chu Ping
DoP: Jung Suk Park
Producer: Moira Connor
Camera Operator: Kevin Michael Martin

So the spring of 2006 was upon us, birds chirping, flowers blooming and a close to one of the rainiest winters in Vancouver, BC’s history. I mean no sun for almost 60 days straight. Pretty wild. Despite the torrid rain and cold weather finals had finally arrived.

Two rounds of films, first on digital and the second on 16mm film. My plan for these rounds was to stay in the camera department to get as much experience and credits in the camera department. So I was selected by Jung Suk and Chu-Ping to be the camera operator along with Jon Pander as 1st AC.

It was a breath of fresh air to film a project in a more hospitable manner. Not pulling all nighters or working in the dead of winter outside wading in frozen ponds like Frost. Nope this one was regular hours with only one night shoot.

Goodbye was shot using the Sony DSR 570 DV Cam with a Fujjinon lens. The project was a dramatic love story. Shooting entirely on location crossing all over Vancouver, BC proper.

I suppose the biggest part of the film was that there was a great deal of hand held shots following a lot of action blocked by the director. Coming from a documentary background I was more comfortable with this method of operating. But it was a big learning experience on how to work directly with the director, actors and DP to capture the movement just right.

This shoot was a blast to work on, from cat naps in Denny’s at 4 am, sunrises, Northwest rain, good people and working the camera.

The camera and lighting crew Jonny Pander 1st AC, Kevin Michael Martin Cam Op, Dick Chua Gaffer, Jung Suk Park DoP

Kevin Martin and Jonny Pander working their camera mojo on the set of Goodbye

Bundeling up durring our night shoot downtown Vancouver, BC

Going crosseyed in the cab on as we slate for the cut away.

Taking up the streets of Vancouver, BC.

You can never forget to laugh on set.

So after finishing up on I Saw You we began preproduction on the second round of mid-terms and this meant we were pulling out the 16mm Arri SR1 Film camera’s. Lenses, hoods, kodak film stock, and the works. So as any good camera lover would do I put my hat in for a cinematographer position and was chosen as cinematographer and editor for the project.

Frost was a period thriller set in the early nineteen hundreds set in central canada in the winter. Yes, this one was a doozy. As the cinematographer I set off to work directly with the Director, Jon Pander and the Producer Alexander Joho to begin dissecting the script and putting together the fun and exciting logistics of shooting winter vista’s in Vancouver British Columbia.

When we began this story it was set in the early nineteen hundreds in a cabin somewhere in Saskatchewan Canada. We needed to figure out if we were going to build a set or find a location to film the production. Luckily after exhausting location scouts we found the perfect locations. Despite the fact they were spread out all over southern BC we had the fickle Northwest weather to deal with as well. Will there be snow in Vancouver? Luckily the further from the coast we went the more snow we found. And find we did.

Jonny, Joho and I came across a park about a stones throw from the United States Border. It was perfect, large open areas, snowy fields, and a frozen pond. We approached the instructors at VFS and told them we want the actor to walk into a frozen pond breaking ice as the final scene of the film. Blank stares and a couple raised eyebrows later a discussion ensued. In order to run this little scene we needed to try a dry run (so to speak) out on ourselves to see if it would even work.

Jonny and myself grabbed a dry suit and made our way one snowy afternoon in early December. I suited took one for the production and walked in breaking some ice and headed on in for a little dip. The mission worked and the reluctant powers that be gave us the green light.

Now we had ourselves a good old time on this shoot, we had the park scene which had to be filmed all in one day. The parking lot was a mile away and we had to haul the gear out there and set up for the shoot.I grabbed my biggest pack and hoisted the Arri SR1 and a 400 foot mag with my first and operator and took off into the field to gather various cut-aways, establishing shots and three key scenes.

Now shooting in low double digit temps is a difficult task but the hardest part is keeping the batteries working, thankfully the Arri SR1 camera is a champ, but the light meter and the batteries were shot and all the spares fried quickly. So I had to dig deep and hit the math to coordinate the film stock, color temperature changes from waning light and filters  to receive a solid readable image. A challenging but rewarding task, which paid off when we rushed the dailies. There was a sigh of relief that I was right.

The final scene approached and we got our team together to construct the dolly tracks needed to push in on the talent as she made her way into the frozen pond. Nerves were high, tension thick as the park authorities were there for safety and all our precautionary methods were put in place. The time came; camera rolled, dolly cued, and action was called we wrapped the day with a successful frozen pond death scene.

Once principle photography was completed we went into post production. Using Avid Media Composer I disappeared into the dark dungeon-like basement editing suites the school had. Cold  dingy and a bit lonely. But a great place to really cut away. After 3 weeks we sent off the final cut to our sound campus and held several sweetening sessions.

As the school year went on and we learned and shot shot and learned we came to our midterms. The second film I had the honor of working on was a short narrative psychological thriller called I Saw You directed by Jamie Davenport. I was approached by the powers that be and Jamie to serve as the Producer for the film.

Now the way it worked at VFS was that they would green light 3 films and split the class into various positions, give you a production office, full DV Sony SR570 camera package, enough lights and electric to fit a box truck and about $25,000 to shoot the film. The beauty was that this was all us, we were mentored through the process in script revisions, producing, camera, directing and all the positions to make a solid film.

I remember the production like it was yesterday and looking back I would not change it for the world. It was the most challenging script and called for the production to shoot in a working bookstore that we could control, a controlled location for a stabbing scene, two city locations and very late nights. So on the location scout we scoured the scene from Vancouver to Westminster, landing a quaint family owned bookstore in Burnaby, who incidentally, gave us their key to the store to film from 6 pm to 6 am. Which meant, late nights in a very small location, and I don’t even drink coffee.

Another need was to shoot the final exterior scene in a controlled environment due to a stabbing scene. This was a beast more difficult than the bookstore because we needed to adhere to the legal nature of shooting a murder scene with an exposed weapon in the city. So we had to be creative. We found a well know location out side Vancouver in Burnaby that is often used by many film production units called Riverview Hospital. A formerly burned location by previous students I had to talk my way in and rekindle positive relations with them to allow us access to shoot there. And of course another British Television series The Hard Corps was shooting the only day we could so I had to broker a small deal with them to piggy back. Luckily we were able to snag a little grub too from crafty too.

Working with the city was a painless but tedious process. Luckily we only had two other scenes that needed to be filmed on location. One on a street and the other was in a park. Despite the tedious paperwork and minor hoops both permits were simple to retain. Especially in comparison to the other locations. But of course served us up a myriad of other production snafu’s.

All in all we survived our first short narrative film shoot. Handing in the equipment at the zero hour with the sun up on our 14th hour of our 5th day of shooting we were quickly sent home to bed to sleep off a grueling week.

Principle Photography was in the can and off to post we went.

Once graduated from Fort Lewis College in 2004 I decided that I really needed to learn more about the technological and theoretical aspects of film production. I had already been throughout the country filming in places like San Diego, Mexico, Washington DC, Farmington New Mexico, Georgia and more. But had little background knowledge in film production.

So in the spring of 2005 I decided to take off and leave for Vancouver British Columbia where I would attend Vancouver Film School. While attending I had the fortune to make 4 films serving in various above the line and below the line positions.

My first VFS film was a documentary I directed called, Trials of the Trails a documentary covering the exciting and prolific downhill mountain biking of the North Shore. When I first arrived there was a group of City Council members that felt there was a need to limit and ban the downhill biking in the rain soaked mountains. Funny thing is, the bikers took better care of these trails than the hikers and other users.

Shooting with a Sony DSR 300 and a crew of 4 we set off lugging all sorts of bulky equipment to the North Shore Mountains. We met some amazing riders and hiked all sorts of single-track trails watching sick high flying stunts and talking with some of the O.G.’s of the trials in those mountains.

Poetry of an atomic veteran, Leonard Bird

Click here to watch video

While attending Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado I found my passion working with and making film. In 2000 I purchased my first mini DV video camera. Traveling to shoot various social issue events across the country. But in 2003 I became a Co-Producer with director Dr. Kurt Lancaster on a poignant 24 minute short documentary film called Folding Paper Cranes, Memoirs of an Atomic Veteran.

This project tells the story of how Bird, as a young Marine, was exposed to radiation in 1957 at the Nevada Test Site during this nation’s largest open-air atomic blast, and how he eventually found answers to his horrific experience at the Hiroshima Peace Park thirty-five years later.

Throughout the film shoot we found ourselves learning not only about Bird’s emotional struggle but about the peace he has found. From his journey to Japan meeting a gentleman at the Hiroshima Peace Park who lost his wife and daughter, to his internal struggle with a deadly form of cancer, to the painful memories he holds being only a few hundred yards from the atomic bombs tested in Nevada.

Folding Paper Cranes resonates with many deeper issues our world faces. Until that fateful day in July 1945 when the first atomic bomb was detonated at the Trinity site in New Mexico, we as a species had a shift both consciously and subconsciously. We discovered a definitive way to end civilization! From then on we have lived in a true state of fear that would evolve and shift becoming the epitome of control.

During principle photography it came to our attention that Fort Lewis College was going to host Dr. Helen Caldicott to speak on her exhausting work on nuclear proliferation. We were compelled to fit an interview in her already busy schedule. Bringing her into the project as an expert on nuclear issues was important to establish just how dangerous the current nuclear threat is in the world.

The project went on to screen at the Durango International Film Festival and the Southwest Popular Culture Conference. Along with being shown at Peace parks across the country. It was a project that would set me off on a journey to discover, tell and teach the stories of others through the use of film and digital media.