I was hired to shoot interviews of soldiers while my friend was shooting the main unit stuff for an ad for the US Marine Corps in Okinawa. I convinced the production to also let me shoot photos and surprisingly they did, on my medium format. I don't think they ever used them, but I got some great shots out of it.
This is the only short I directed at film school that I'm willing to show. The other ones are far too cringe to give a spotlight, even a decade later. This was for a class where I had to make a short film using reflections. I don't remember why - it could simply be because of procrastination - but the entire thing happened in one day. I asked a friend of mine to write me a script about some kind of drug deal that goes down inside a car in parking lot at night so I could shoot through the mirrors. I loved the script because I was afraid of getting into the nuances of drug deals which I had no context for and was afraid it would be ridiculous. Ironic, because it is undoubtedly ridiculous, but in a good way, not a trying-to-be-sincere-and-failing way. Anyways, he wrote the script - I think during whatever morning class he had that day - then gave it to me around noon. Then I contacted two actors that I had their info for and asked if they were available that night. I rounded up a couple friends to run sound and move some lights around and pulled my car into my backyard once it got dark and started shooting. I had our school's Red One camera because I was ACing on a larger student-project the next day. We shot about 10 different setups, ran through the script one take per setup, wrapped, I stayed up all night editing, and then presented it in the morning and went off to the other shoot in the afternoon. I probably got a solid B.
During COVID, Call of Duty became an important ritual. Same time every night my friends and I would log on and play Warzone. Looking back this was a special time. My friends are all much better than I am. When I discovered the crossbow as the primary weapon, I felt that I found my niche. It was a one-shot kill, so I didn't have to maintain good accuracy for the duration of firing the gun, I also just thought it was cool. However, my friends got really angry at me for using it, they thought it was a waste of our collective arsenal. My argument was that I already sucked, so why not let me use the weapon that I have the most success with. This led to many arguments. To prove to them how great the crossbow what I purchased a game play recording device and began recording myself using the crossbow so I could create a highlight reel to show them. This didn't move the needle, but its fun to watch.
