
"Let's Stop it Down a Bit"
This 2025 ad campaign was another awesome chance to work with director Josh Baker, and my favorite collaboration to date. Working with a great pair of brands like Rheem Ruud was also an exciting opportunity to push the work with a range of bold looks.
There were some last minute changes that compressed our schedule, and made the shot list a bit more challenging, which raised the question of whether we should swap our primes for a zoom in order to move faster. I hadn't worked with zooms much before that, and I was worried about the slower T-stop, but I'd also just finished a string of projects using wide open super-speed primes and I didn't like the ultra-shallow depth of field as much anymore.
Since filming almost everything in full frame lately, I've realized that the T2.9 maximum aputure on most cine zooms isn't a limitation. Better to stop down to a T4 or more anyways, since that still delivers shallow DOF but with a more classically cinematic amount of bokeh.
Still, the convenience of a zoom shouldn't be ignored either. We had multiple concepts and half-a-dozen or more alts in a single day on this project, including a 4-hander table scene with two different versions both requiring full coverage.
Fortunately, we were able to get a 30-95mm Cooke Varotal/i FF zoom from the rental house. That lens carried us through beautifully and even elevated our images while doing so, which simply wouldn't have been possible trying to shoot with primes.
"The 4th Kid" & "The Garage Split"
DIRECTED BY: JOSH BAKER
1st AD: Adam Dozier CINEMATOGRAPHER: Ian Van Alan CAMERA ASSISTANT: Emmali Bradley GAFFER: Paden Smith KEY GRIP: Nathan Price GRIP: Cyanne Rain and Joel Hodge LOCATION SOUND MIXER: Kyle Sherling PRODUCTION DESIGN: Brad Hatton HAIR AND MAKEUP: Keshette Burton PRODUCTION ASSISTANT: Colton Jones
CAMERA: 8.6K Sony Venice 2 + Cooke Varotal/i FF Zoom T2.9
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behind the scenes










