Cinematographer on my first feature-length film

Justacinephile – Alexander Wiley

19 July 2022

Photos & Videos by Yellow & Black Studios

“Refuge: How the Rest Was Won” – Western Film by Holy Wood Productions & Outreach for America in Jay, Oklahoma

Brief overview: A young preacher, Henry Walker, comes into the town of Refuge to help spread healing and hope.

A little under year into officially being a videographer & cinematographer, I was contacted on May 8, 2022 by a production company to be a cinematographer for a feature-length film.

Under a year into being in business.

I officially launched Yellow & Black Studios on May 13, 2021. Being contacted by a production company to be a cinematographer shouldn’t happen until I have at least five years experience. Correct? I launched my videography & cinematography business because I love film; I’ve loved studying, viewing, and enjoying film since I was a child.

At first, I thought this was a joke or a scam, just like the of scam emails and phone calls I get weekly. I talked with Amy about this and she agreed I should be cautious. She was excited for me, too.

However, it was real. Below is the message sent by Cristi Hinton, one of the owners of the production company in eastern Oklahoma. The message is through Facebook in response to my Videography advertisement for wedding videography.

After some messaging back and forth, Cristi wrote, “we look forward to hearing from you! We have about 5 days of filming in July. It would be good to see if we are a good fit to work together.” After a lengthy phone call with David and Cristi Hinton (husband and wife), who are seasoned road warriors for their ministry, I was excited about moving forward with getting hired.

I talked with some videographer/cinematographer friends and they highly suggested I get a contract drawn up and make sure I know the parameters of the project before agreeing to anything. This is sound advice from my fellow professionals.

The next time the Hintons talked with me in early June, they told me they were in talks with another cinematography company out of Dallas. The Hintons did work with them in the past. I was bummed and understood they wanted to hire a company they knew instead of a one-man-show. I mentioned how I’d love to work with fellow cinematographers. Before we hung up, I told them, “I always wanted to be a part of a feature length film.” I didn’t know this one line changed the course of my cinematography company.

In the back of my mind throughout June, I had a hunch all would work out. I kept the filming dates of July 1st through 5th open just in case; I declined some wedding videography jobs just to keep those dates open. I continued enjoying my summer with Amy, getting ready for our baby girl, doing various filming jobs, and traveling to Washington State to celebrate my sister’s wedding.

Then, I received this message:

So, I immediately jumped for joy. I was hired as a cinematographer on a feature-length film! I started packing, reviewed and signed the contract they sent, looked up the accommodations they booked for me, and planned out my trip to the film set. I was sad because I would miss celebrating the 4th of July with Amy and her family; however, they graciously understood this was a big opportunity for me.

June 30th

Along my travels to Jay, Oklahoma, which is about 2.5 hours southwest of Springfield, MO, a thousand questions came to mind: what will this sequel be like? I saw the first film, “How the West Was Won”, so will they have the same actors & actresses? What will it be like working with a director? What is the script? What does this set look like? How big is the cast? What other crew will I work with? What does this part of Oklahoma look like? How hot will it be in OK? Will I be able to stay hydrated? When will the filming day start? I know many of these questions should’ve been already answered, but this was a small independent film production company.

I love road trips (as shown in numerous blogs). Traveling to a filming set is a unique and fantastic destination for me. I’ve dreamed about being on the set of a feature-length film since I started fervently watching and tracking the films I watch in 2007. This is the payoff of making goals and holding myself accountable for them.

I arrived in Jay, OK, which appeared to be like any other Midwest small town with too many random gas stations, a sadly run down small downtown square, and an old closed movie theater. The Hintons wanted me to get there the night before to attend a cast and crew meeting. I drove to the outskirts of Jay and turned onto a country road. After fifteen minutes of attempting to find the turn off, I finally found the dirt road. This led me to a rockier dirt road, which was apparently resurfaced four days ago. I wasn’t sure if my car, Black Mamba (Hyundai Accent), would make it because of all the big rocks on the road.

My first impression of the set was, “this is straight out of a 1960s western. Am I going to run into Leone, Eastwood, Wayne, Fonda, or Cooper?” This place was thoroughly detailed featuring a jail, general store, café, hotel, school house, and church built all out of wood. The main road to the town was full of gray rock and dirt.

I was eager to start filming and meet the cast & crew. The Hintons called a meeting on their front porch (they lived on site). I officially met Cristi and David in person; they’re kind hearted people with larger than life aspirations. David is a mountain of man with an awesome beard and a booming voice. Cristi is sharp witted and down to earth. The cast and crew mainly consist of volunteers from around the country. Many are pastors and leaders in their respective churches; they all have deep connections with the Hintons and their ministries. I could never get everyone’s name straight because people came and went throughout the entire shoot.

We all broke for the evening and I went back to the motel because I needed to be on set at 6:00am. Since temperatures reached over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, morning and evening shoots were the only viable options. I called Amy on the way to the motel telling her all about the set and filming job. I was also interested in hearing from her and sharing how baby is doing.

Filming Starts

These next five days went by blazing fast. I journaled about them, but there was no way I recalled about everything because I was running, sprinting, darting, and moving around cameras/audio devices on set the entire time. I later told Amy these were the fastest days I experienced in a long time.

July 1st

I arrived at the set at 5:30am, the earliest I’ve arrived anywhere in a long time. People were milling about on set, rubbing sleep from their eyes, and getting dressed and ready for the filming to start 7:00am. I went through my practiced motions of preparing cameras and audio equipment: the two Panasonic camcorders, my Sony A6500, Saramonic microphones, and Synco microhones. I made sure the batteries for the lights were charged and I was ready to chat with David about plans for the day.

Filming officially started around 8:00am because the production needed to wait for the horses to arrive. These horses and horsemen were well-seasoned professionals who were in multiple films, shows, and events. Dressed to the toes in 1850’s garb, these horsemen looked like they came out off another movie set.

This is when events blur and I started running around a hundred miles an hour until we all broke for lunch. It was either getting up early or my first day filming, but I hardly recall any of filming that day. I think I was running from filming B-roll for extras to town scenes to horses riding through the town, microphoning actors, switching microphones, and making sure continuity flowed. Much of the shoot that day was me getting used to David’s directing style and directions; I liked working with David because his vision for the film was amazing. He had scenes, positioning, camera work, lines, line delivery, and everything all planned out. It was easy for me to get directions from him because I could easily visualize what he described. I positioned the cameras and we rolled on until lunch.

However, as the morning shooting rolled on, David began to slow down. He took a long break from the hot weather inside the house. We all started to worry about him.

The cast and crew for the next five days ate in the café on set. People cooked lunch every day which ranged from hamburgers to sandwiches to pasta. After a hot and tiring morning of filming, any food tasted delicious.

The cast and crew, instructed by David and Cristi, took an afternoon break. Cristi and David promised David was okay and needed some rest from long traveling days before the filming. I went back to my motel room to rest for a few hours. When I rose to get ready, I received a message from Cristi saying how the shooting commenced for the day and told everyone to arrive the next morning. I was a little relieved because I was exhausted, so I sauntered down to the BBQ restaurant in the motel. When I entered, some of the cast and crew greeted me and welcomed me to join them at their table. The conversation was lively and it was nice to connect with these wonderful people from the film set.

After dinner, the only appropriate activity for a filmmaker to do is check out the local movie theater. I enjoyed “Minions: The Rise of Gru” at the Center Cinemas Grove 7. Usually I don’t write about the audience, but the youth in the crowd cheered loudly at the beginning and end of the film. There were giant Minions fans in the audience, which apparently was a trend around the USA with youth going to see the film.

July 2nd

While driving to the film set around 6:00am, I stopped to enjoy the sunrise and take a few pictures. I soaked in this sight I do not enjoy enough. I made a note to try to enjoy more sunrises.

After making it to the set, chatting with various cast and crew, and going through the motions of setting up the camera and audio equipment, I was ready to go. The filming day started off slowly because the Hintons wanted to take series of cast & crew group pictures. It took a little while to get the horses, horsemen, actors/actresses in their costumes, and everyone gathered on the porch. Finally, we all gathered for the photographs and video.

The trickiest part of filmmaking, as any professional knows, is making sure the audio/sound is good. Good audio = good film; audiences do not forgive bad audio. I’m used to microphoning clients through my wedding filming. However, microphoning up actors/actresses is tricky because the microphones and lavaliers needed to be hidden. Thankfully the men wore shirts with pockets on the front or vests which could hide the microphones; I was most worried about scratchy audio. The women were tricky because it’s difficult to hide microphones underneath a dress; again, I was worried about scratchy audio with the device not being secured to the dress. I was a one-man film crew and could not hold a boom microphone. The cast was receptive to me helping them put microphones.

The first scenes we filmed were of the townsfolk interacting with the horsemen. This is when filmmaking got exhilarating because I filmed my first action sequences. The basic overview of the scenes were the townsfolk reacting to some rowdy horsemen being run out of town by the sheriff. The sheriff, pistol in hand, stood by the jail while the horsemen galloped towards him. The horsemen stopped in front of the sheriff when he fired his gun (sound to be added in postproduction), and listened to the sheriff as he told them to leave.

We took multiple takes of the scene and I had the idea of running alongside of the horses with my trusty DJI Pocket 2 which is a small, yet powerful camera, with an electronic gimbal. David thought he needed to put me in a truck and drive alongside of the horsemen, but I told him I could sprint. I took off my filming gear packs to lighten my load. I did a couple quick stretches and planned out my sprinting path. My heart was beating fast because this is an exciting sequence. I told David I was ready and he yelled in his booming voice, “action!” The horsemen encouraged their horses into a sprint, whipping up dust along their path. I began to sprint parallel to the road with the camera outstretched in my arm. I think I sprinted about twenty yards to get the shot. This is filmmaking! Cristi later told me how fun it was to see David and I work together to get these complex sequences.

Running, jumping, sleeping, eating, and wandering around the film set were a family of kittens and their mom. The kids on set loved holding these adorable kittens. I cannot recall the last time I saw kittens, but I was shocked how tiny they are compared to puppies.

I thought about touring around the area for my break, but I knew there was filming in the evening. I took a much needed nap at the motel and made my way back to the film set. I was gearing up for the celebration and dance sequences. However, after I got all set up, David and Cristi told me the dance sequences could not be filmed due to lack of extra actors/actresses needed. Instead, the cast and crew met in the Hinton’s living room for a meeting and read some of “Refuge”, the book the film is adapted from.

July 3rd

After a relaxing and well-needed rest, I drove to the set around 6:30am. Energized and enthusiastic about the previous day’s filming, I thought to myself as a drove down the bumpy and rough dirt road, “this is more than just a job, this is creativity.” I did not know being a cinematographer was this much fun. I knew filming was fun because it is why I opened my business. However, I was understandably nervous about being a cinematographer on a feature film set; anyone who cares about something should be nervous doing something new.

After filming some small scenes we did not get to the day before, the filming moved to the school house for a church scene with all of the cast. Wow, the building felt like a sauna; sweat beaded off my arms, shirt, and rolled down my neck. I did not want to wipe off the sweat because of sound interference reasons. David and I wanted to take multiple takes, so the cast needed to sit longer than they thought they needed to sit inside; I praise the cast for powering through the scene even though most were miserable in that building.

Since the church scene took a while to film and the cast needed some time to recuperate and cool down, David and Cristi told everyone to take a lunch break. I was told by David the next scene to be filmed was the memorial service at a gravesite on the property. I asked some people about it and they laughed when I said we needed to take off road vehicles to it. One of the women said, “yeah, at some point, the vehicle was almost vertical and people were sliding forward.” I was a little weary of being transported to the site, but I felt it all would be okay.

After lunch, I piled the filming gear into one of the cast’s Jeep Rubicon and took the jolting and rollercoaster ride to the gravesite. These five days were a bunch of “firsts” and this was the first off-road ride on a filming job. There were only two vehicles capable of getting to the site, so the Jeep and truck needed to take multiple trips ferrying cast members to the site. The memorial service was touching because it memorialized the husband of a cast member who was involved in filming last fall and passed away.

We all took the usual afternoon break and I went back to the motel to get a nap before the evening shoot. David and Cristi delightfully told me to plan on filming the celebration and dance sequences that evening.

An hour and half before I needed to return to the film set, I decided to get some dinner. When I got into Black Mamba, the low tire pressure light came on. Since driving along the rocky and bumpy dirt road for the last few days, I figured this was the reason for low tire pressure. However, upon me filling my tires at a grocery store gas station, I heard a hissing sound. “Oh no, that is far from good,” I said as I kneeled down to inspect my driver’s side rear passenger tire. Low and behold – a large screw was imbedded into my tire.

First thought that came to mind was to call the Hintons and tell them what was up. I also messaged Amy and we had a little laugh because this is the second time Black Mamba to get a flat tire. Meanwhile, I whipped Black Mamba into the local Walmart a minute away and parked it next to the auto center. I got in contact with the Hintons and they got me in contact with Ed, one of the actors from the film, who was staying in a hotel near me. He picked me up and we enjoyed lively conversation on the drive to the film set.

Immediately, when I arrived on set, I adorned my “filmmaker” hat and put the flat tire incident behind me. I chatted with David and Cristi to set up the set for the dance and celebration scenes. In the book, “Refuge,” the celebration was a culmination of celebrating life as well as the town fair. Some of the cast went out to find extras for this scene and they found about ten young people. The extras were all excited about getting dressed up and they looked fantastic.

Filming started around 8:00pm and as darkness fell, the celebration livened up. Cristi organized everyone to do some dance numbers, a band played, and couple dances commenced. I filmed most of the sequences handheld in order to get close-ups. Filming handheld is a highly respected skill of many cinematographers because it allows for intimate and personal shots. Sticking a camera attached to a gimbal in someone’s face gets a little intimidating, but using a camera like an event photographer is more friendly. I was impressed with the entire cast and extra’s positive energy. People like a good dance!

As a cinematographer, I quickly found out sleep is scarce. Late nights and early mornings are the life a cinematographer. There is filming to do!

July 4th

Bright and early in the morning I strolled over to Walmart to get my tire fixed. I was surprised on a holiday two other people showed up to get their tires fixed, too. Everyone’s tires got fixed within about 45 minutes and I headed to the film set.

David, with his big smile, welcomed me to the set and I prepared the equipment for the day. I was excited and asked one of the actors to take a picture of me on the 4th of July. Wow, I was proud to be filming on Independence Day with a group of cool people.

David said there were three major scenes to film in the morning: horsemen riding around town as people clean up from the celebration, David waking up underneath the trees, and a group of women making lemonade. I loved filming these scenes because they were intimate and close knit. I had more time to carefully plan out my shots and angles. Perhaps this was because I hit my stride in filming techniques, these scenes were akin to my preference of filming, or there were good vibes of energy.

Each day, I coordinated with Dale, a friend of the Hintons, to back up footage. Through virtual connection, Dale talked me through uploading each memory card to a server. There were cards from the DJI Pocket 2, Sony A6500, and the two Panasonic cameras, so the uploading took a little while. As a filmmaker, backing up footage and audio is as important as the actual filming. I’ve learned from countless videographers and cinematographers about their methods of backup.

After a break, everyone returned to the film set for four important evening scenes: parents chatting, asking permission for marriage, letter reading, and a wedding ceremony scene. The trickiest part of these scenes was they all took place inside the main house on the set, which meant everyone else on set had to be complete quiet. Since it was still about 90 degrees F outside, no one wanted to sit on the porch. I could tell the cast was nervous about these scenes because they were all in an intimate environment and all the cameras were directly in their view. For many of the actors and actresses, this was their first time with major speaking roles. Therefore, David and I went through multiple takes; I completely understood because this is part of filmmaking.

With my background of wedding filming, these scenes were enjoyable for me because I called upon my well-practiced camera moves and audio setup. Talking scenes: I love filming people talking because it captures authentic and genuine emotions which the audience/viewer easily relates to the expressions. Letter reading: I adore when the groom and/or bride reads a letter to themselves because the camera captures sweet facial expressions. Wedding ceremony scene: this is my bread and butter. I can count this as my eleventh wedding!

Filming wrapped up around 11:30pm; I got back to my motel room around midnight.

July 5th

I arrived on set at 7:00am for the last day of filming. I was a little sad because these last six days went by lightning fast and I wanted to make sure to cherish everything from my first feature length film shoot. As I set up the gear I thought to myself, “I can’t wait to tell Amy about all of this.”

The filming didn’t start until around 9:00am because some of the cast was late to getting dressed up. David was worried about the first scene, which was in the jail, because many cast members departed for home. Some of the people from the evening celebration scene on the 3rd showed up and this brightened up our day. One of them was a young woman who said this was her first film shoot. Her acting skills blew us out of the water in the two scenes she filmed as a flustered woman advocating for her brother in jail.

Some of the women dressed up in men’s clothes and rubbed dark makeup on their faces in order to add more people to the jail scene. David, in character, preached to the inmates, while I filmed from multiple angles and takes. This was a fun scene because of the rough and tough lines the inmates screamed out. As a filmmaker, I cannot laugh or show any emotion because it’ll be picked up by the microphones on set; this is one of those crazy things I learned quickly as a filmmaker.

As a celebration for the ending of the filming shoot, the Hintons took everyone out for lunch at El Vallarta Mexican Restaurant in Jay, OK. I did not have much time to connect with the cast and crew because I was filming or backing up footage most of the time. I wish I had more time to chat with my new friends because I loved hearing how they came about to be in the film. One of them lived in Washington State and was friends with the Hintons through ministry.

I returned to the film set and finished packing up my gear. I went through my usual checklist making sure I had all my gear. The Hintons met with me and gave me my first paycheck for a feature length shoot. I thanked them for hiring me and how much they positively affected me in my film aspirations. I cannot wait to see the final cut of the film. They still have more filming to do in the fall, but I cannot help out because Amy and I are focusing on our expected baby girl.

During my drive home, all I could think about was the fastest six days I experienced in recent memory. They were enjoyable, fun, crazy, wild, fast, energizing, and fulfilling. The film set is a catalyst of creativity where writing, acting, filming, lighting, audio, and every human emotion come together. I definitely want to be on film sets for either a short or feature-length films; they can be for films I help create or help film. I think the best part of being on a film set is the collaboration part. I’m accustomed to collaborating through my marriage, tennis coaching, elementary teaching, and much more.

This filming adventure is amazing.