On a Feature Movie Set

Last year, a friend of mine directed his first feature-length film called "His Father's Son". He called me up and told me there is a scene that has a videographer shooting a cooking show and knowing that that is my job, he asked if I could come in and provide the gear and consult on how I would film it since he wanted the scene to be as authentic as possible.

It was actually incredibly nerve-wracking for me; here I was, setting up lights and cameras in front of truly seasoned filmmakers including a real director-of-photography, gaffers, grips, and of course my talented friend who was directing the movie. The whole time I'm setting up, I'm thinking, "Are they judging me for how WRONG I am doing things???" but everyone was actually SO nice and supportive. Despite being masters of their craft, they really did allow me to set things up as I normally would and listened to my consultations on how and why it was done this way in the corporate video world. There was absolutely no snobbery or elitism. Everyone was very kind to me and it was an amazing experience. Very surreal to be "teaching" a real director-of-photography how to film something.

It was wild though when during a take, I was standing back watching like 14 crew members gathered behind my camera staring at my tiny moniter screen when it's usually it's just me behind it.

Anyway, I'm posting about this now because His Father's Son is having it's premiere at the Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival this Sunday at the TIFF Lightbox. Congrats to my friend Meelad Moaphi on completing his first feature! What an accomplishment!

Learn more or buy tickets here: https://www.reelasian.com/.../centerpiece-gala.../