Hey,
I have finally created my new blog!! Wooohoooo….So excited about it!
I will no longer be using the www.harveyglen.wordpress.com blog so to check out my new Blog and follow my latest adventures and shoots, go to
I created DOP BLOG as a resource for DOP’s, Cameramen, Photographers wanting to shoot video, and for anyone who has a passion for filming.
Keep an eye out for interviews with well known DOP’s, top tips, latest gear reviews and much more!
See you at the DOP BLOG!
Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: Director of photography, DOP, Harvey Glen
It’s been a crazy few weeks of non-stop filming, an ‘almost’ 30 party (we had the party, but just not quite 30 yet), a trip back to London which included a Lesbian wedding and a catch up with those close…
But as the title of the Post indicates, this isn’t about ANY of that! For all you UK peeps out there (and downloaders), get your intellectual heads on and indulge yourself in HG’s offering of visual delights which is:
THE STORY OF SCIENCE, POWER, PROOF AND PASSION
What a Title! Every time I read that title I think it says POOF and let out a cheeky grin… As in ‘Pif Paf Poof’ the famous catch phrase from 80′s Magician THE GREAT SOPRENDO, that is. What a hero! However, it doesn’t refer to that, or something to put your feet onto, but is actually about the Proof of Science! Although, thinking about it if I had of reminded ‘Pif Paf Poof’ to the presenter Dr Michael Mosley, I’m sure he would have been keen to say it during one of the experiments!
Awesome Word!
Dr Michael Mosley, is a bit of a BBC legend both in front and behind the Camera and not to be confused with the actor Michael Mosley from Scrubs – who is also a sort of Doctor… and are both house wives favorites!
Dr M Mosley is someone who is absolutely passionate about Science and Medicine! Definitely, the right man for the job and fantastic to work with!
I shot Programme 2 of the series which is all about Chemistry. It airs tonight Tuesday 04/5/10 BBC 2 9pm.
It was fun to shoot and I picked up quite a bit that I’d clearly forgotten about Chemistry! Had several rides in hot air balloons (with is always much scary than you think), popped over to Paris and shot some cool stuff and did lots of cross-country running with the most competitive person ever ‘R t’ the’ aka Ryan Patton a Fantasmagorical Sound Recordist!
As ever, when shooting something over a few weeks, most of the fun comes from the people who you get to collaborate with and the chemistry you have with them. The Director for this shoot is one I always jump at the chance to work with! Nat Sharman, an inspiring being, always ready and willing to push that extra bit further especially if there’s even an inkling of fun to had out of it….
Nat and I have worked, ok mainly had mind bending experiences that money could never buy together over the past 10 years… It all started in Iceland (pre-eruption/ disruption) when we were filming a programme called MASH for MTV… Which bizarrely led us onto working on a drama series about horrific terrorist attacks (sadly many have come true – be prepared for Mass Black Out!), a drama about the Fastnet race, trips to Egypt climbing through some unexplored tombs and now this ‘Power, Proof and Passion’…
It was shot on the HD Panasonic 900 and for drama style sequences we used the Canon 5D MK II. I don’t mind saying we were way ahead of our time last summer, people thought we were crazy using a DSLR (stills camera) on a Landmark BBC Series, but Nat and I thought it would be fun! Plus, it meant we could use tilt shift lenses and get to produce images a little less clear cut and obvious than maybe the usual!
I’ll be honest I haven’t actually seen the full edit yet, and as in the world of TV with almost a year passing since I shot it, there may be some surprises even to me… All I know is that it with Nat and the editor Graham at the helm it has to be good, actually better than that it has to be GREAT!
It’s also had some decent reviews too!
Dr Moovveeley as I used to call him (you’ll understand when you watch it) thinks it’s a Winner! Best in the Series I hope!
So there you go!
Watch it and decide for yourself!
Enjoy!
HG
…because I have been sooo crazy busy! It’s nuts! Plus the world is going even Madder!
So what have I been up to before and after the Volcano decided to reek havoc on the world??
Well lots of filming, but I guess as a DOP that’s a kinda given… I shot something for a Giant Drink Brand, the very same one that was responsible for burning MJ’s hair back in 84 http://tiny.cc/p9tu4 RIP JACKO!
I shot the project on a DSLR, yep you read it right, on a stills camera. After the success of the Mercedes job I did, which you can now view on my new website www.harveyglen.com
I decided to buy a Canon 5D MK II for both stills and video use, and to be fair it’s an amazing piece of kit (especially for stills), but to be honest the video function although very very good is not as amazing as the hype makes out… I love the full frame sensor and the shallow depth of field, but the compression is quite high and is visible check these guys for the rant that’s been going http://poetzerofilm.com/2010/04/8-reasons-not-to-buy-a-dslr
Some people love it, others are not so keen… Personally, I do think these type of camera are the future and for certain productions they really are the right choice!
On another note Virtual Revolution, the programme I shot for the BBC won a DIGITAL EMMY!!! So that’s totally WICKED!
Gotta thank Giles Talbot www.gilestalbot.com for designing and programming my new site!
Then the Volcano ERUPTED! WOW!
All in all mental busy, Earth saying ‘NO’ and much much more…
More regular blog posts to follow…
HG
It was great experience to meet and work with Melissa Rodwell when she was in town teaching her Advanced Fashion Photography Course at Gulf Photo Plus.
Melissa and her husband David Skyler (a very chilled, but switched on LA fella) gave some really interesting insights into the world of LA, the infamous fashion industry and the characters that exist within it… For a Brit all intriguing indeed!
Now as you know being a DOP and loving anything to do with framing, lighting and generally getting behind the camera, I was very excited when Melissa expressed interest in wanting to check out the RED Camera.
Being keen to promote the RED and with the amazing help from Production Manager/ Producer Heather McDonald (aka Swamp Girl, although a very clean one) from Alchemy Films we managed not only to let Melissa check it out, but Alchemy kindly provided her a RED to experiment with during her Dubai Spice Souk editorial shoot for Maniac Magazine…
‘WHAT’ I hear you cry, why would a Fashion Photography want to shoot on a beast like the RED..? Well unless you’ve been underground for the past year or so, you might have heard that everything is FLIP REVERSING! Yep, Flip Reversing (one of my favourite phrases), this world is going nuts! Stills guys are shooting video like Vincent Laforet (exclusive interview to be Live on here shortly) and Photographers like Greg Williams are shooting video with the purpose of extracting stills… Crazy! The lines are blurring and both visual mediums are integrating at a rate of knots! Well, why not it’s all kinda the same thing… Isn’t it..?
Melissa, rocked out the RED and I took a HDV camera with me and shot a behind the scenes of it all. DIT Andrew Clemson and Camera Assist Mohsin were both at hand to help Melissa out with the RED as I gave her a basic lesson about shooting on it.
Melissa and a RED flipped to Portrait
I’ve just cut a trailer for the shoot, which you can watch here and on Melissa’s Fashion Photography Blog FPBLOG.
Melissa has also written a really interesting Blog Post about her experience in Dubai – it’s an honest and genuine account from a LA gal about her experience. Well worth a read!
The full behind the scenes will be edited and ready to view when the editorial is out about mid April. You can see how Melissa Rodwell approaches a stills shoot, her thoughts on the RED and oh and you can see good ol HG Hairy as ever on there too… Why is it that you never really think you have a beard until you see yourself…
HG
Melissa and Dubai gang with the RED
Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: Alchemy Films, Andrew Clemson, Bareface, Cinematographer, Cinephotographer, David Skyler, Director of photography, DOP, Fashion Photography, Fashion Photography Blog, filming, FP Blog, Greg Williams, Harvey Glen, hddslr, Lighting, Maniac Magazine, Melissa Rodwell, RED ONE Camera, Spice Souk, Vincent Laforet
This week I had he pleasure to work alongside a fellow Brit, well Welshman to be exact David Wynn Jones. It was a great opportunity to learn from somebody who has been in the craft of lighting, shooting and directing for almost 40 years… That’s a lot of coffee in polystyrene cups…
David has been through all the camera grades starting on the film 2001 Space Odyssey as a clapper loader, focus pulling on films including Bond’s ‘Live and Let Die’, ‘The Exorcist’ and ‘Superman’. David now combines his skills as a DOP/ Director specializing in food commercials and that is where I had the pleasure to meet and operate for him.
Being a DOP myself I rarely get to work with other DOP’s, so being offered the chance to get back behind an Arri 435 35mm Camera and work with somebody with so much experience and knowledge I could hardly resist.
It was a commercial for a Pizza chain and for me it was the first experience on set in a long time where I wasn’t consistently racing around and thinking… Sounds odd, but I wasn’t… Normally as DOP (or DOP/Director as I am sometimes booked) you have so much responsibility on the shoot. This ranges from organising and motivating the crew to ensure your setups are correct, liaising with the Producer and Clients, actual filming, trouble shooting lighting, ensuring you don’t run over schedule, motivating your talent, as well as you main responsibility ensuring everything looks fantastic and cuts together well… As operator all I had to do was watch listen and learn.
A very enjoyable experience. Plus it was an opportunity to get back behind an Arri 35mm Camera and burn some good old film stock. As much as I love technology, there’s nothing like the whirl of a film camera…
Sweet
HG
Posted in HG's adventures | Tags: 2001 Space Odyssey, Arri 435mm Camera, BSC, Camera Operator, Commercial, David Wynn Jones, DIrector, DOP, Kodak Film Stock, Pizza, The Talkies
Amazing Video from OK GO!
Absolutely Crazy that they filmed this in 1 take! Judging by the amount of paint they have on them I think they must have shot a lot of takes to get the 1 take!
Watch it for yourself!
Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: amazing music video, OK Go, physics, Rube Goldberg Machine version, steadycam, This Too Shall Pass
Well we arrived and am now in Sunny Sri Lanka.
It’s all very relaxing, we are here for a friends wedding Mark and Kat. I was planning to have a filming free holiday, but everywhere you look is photogenic so it would be a crime not to capture at least a little bit of it… So equipped with my Nizo Super 8mm camera and some very old school stock I’ve set out to try and get a flavor of the culture in a timeless and romantic fashion… Plus due to the fact I have a Canon 5D I’ve already found myself conducting interviews for the wedding…
Anyway, the surf is getting huge so I’m off…
HG
Posted in HG's adventures | Tags: dlsr, filming, hddslr, holiday, Nizo Super 8mm Camera, sri lanka, Surfing
Well it was a fun and a very busy day filming in the Spice Souk at Dubai Creek.
Melissa Rodwell was shooting high fashion for an American magazine called Maverick, which was very cool! The main board model Zelika from Bareface moved incredibly well and was not at all perturbed by all the onlookers and by onlookers I do mean onlookers… I don’t think any of the workers in the souk had EVER seen anything like it… One, the American fashion photographer nimbly moving around creating a crazy form of dance, constructing beautiful scenes in the deep interesting alleyways, two the sheer size and beauty of Zelika (I think the average height of the men down there was about 5ft 6). Three, the fact that Zelika wore a purple bikini with only a sheer top sexily draped over her… The purple wasn’t the interesting part… All I could picture was being arrested… and finally the fact that we had the RED camera out! Which is quite a beast and to the untrained eye looks slightly well alien…
Alchemy Films Dubai kindly provided the camera as well as internationally acclaimed DIT Andrew Clemson and the faithful and trusted Camera Assistant Mohsin.
I HG was on hand to fulfill two tasks. Firstly, to shoot a behind the scenes of Melissa’s photos shoot in Dubai and secondly to teach her how to use the RED camera. As both myself and Nick Davidson DOP/ owner of Alchemy Films decided it was time to try taking stills from the RAW 4K video footage and with Mellisa in town it was the perfect opportunity.
Melissa said she had been offered to do this several times State Side, but no-one ever came up with the goods. Being true to our word we did! Not only that, but for true stills shooting Cam Assist Mohsin even managed to rig a side plate to the camera so it could quickly and easily be rigged portrait – something you don’t have much call for when shooting moving image…
When your aim is to pull stills from video you need to increase the shutter speed to freeze the action and that is exactly what we did. We set the shutter at 1/250, frame rate at 30fps which is still native 4K and got an exposure at about T2.8 which provided a beautiful shallow depth of field even on the 25mm.
The location was Amazing! People fantastic and what I hear from DIT Andrew the stills he has already pulled look as Melissa would say ‘HOT’!
Watch out for Melissa’s blog in the next couple of weeks www.fashionphotographyblog.com as she will be writing all about it and posting the video I shot, that is when I find time to edit it…
I’m off to Sir Lanka for a few days to a friends wedding! Hoping to get some surfing in and maybe even a little filming on the Canon 5D oh and keeping real and knocking off some old school Kodachrome 40 stock on the good old school Super ‘Duper’ 8mm – hhhhmmmmmm! Hope someone still processes it!
Can’t wait!
HG
RED stills, the behind the scenes video and more all to come! As they used to say on TV when I was nipper ’Stay Tuned’!
TV is so last year, or maybe even 7 months before that… Whatever… I’m off on holiday…
Hope Canon bring out the Firmware update soon, if they do it while I’m still away hope I can get to an internet connection. One man who will certainly know is HD DSLR expert Philip Bloom
Had a great couple of days learning from Fashion Photographer Melissa Rodwell now off to flip reverse it and give her some pointers about the shooting on the RED Camera. Talking about flip reversing it Melissa is going to do exactly that and instead of shooting video on a DSLR (which is all the rage now), she is going to shoot moving image on the RED and extract stills afterwards. Just like Greg Williams did for the cover of Esquire Magazine with Megan Fox. Only the model won’t be half naked, nor in bed nor will it be Megan Fox – but you get the similarities…
Anyway this is all going to be possible thanks to Nick Davidson, the Alchemy Films team and Bareface Dubai Model and Production Company.
We’re also going to shoot some behind the scenes footage, which I hope I will be able to post on here… the Alchemy site and Melissa’s blog…
Melissa Rodwell and DOP Harvey Glen
Fun, Fun, Fun
HG
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