My friend Glenn Chow is a stunt man who has recently been working on the new Wolverine  movie. He is actually a trained actor as well as a stunt man but gets most of his work doing stunts. Glenn wanted to be able to demonstrate to people that he was capable as an actor so we shot some scenes to build up a talent reel for him. The talented Sylvia Keays, Aria Newton and Jesse Rowles helped us out in the supporting roles.

This was also an opportunity to continue to play with lights and lenses in a relaxed setting.

Marriage Counselor

The first scene was supposed to be in a psychiatrists office. The space Glenn organized was a large hall with white walls. Now one of the biggest lessons I have learned regarding shooting is that great lighting and a great camera will not make a boring location look amazing. Set design and the art department are key. In this case Art department is us. So we put up some paintings to break up the background and scrounged up a pot plant. The Bruce Lee painting was fantastic as it gave me an opportunity to add a little subtle framing to the shots. When the couple first arrive the painting is to their right, kind of watching them. but when they return with more trouble the painting sits between them like there is a dividing element between the couple.

The Interrogation Room

The second scene was in the same space. This time I removed the paintings and let the starkness work as I imagine an interrogation room to be a sparse place. Just 4 walls, a table and chairs. To make it interesting I went with some more extreme lighting, placing a single light panel on a C stand pointing down as if it’s on the roof giving a back/hair light to the actors. I also added a lamp on the table with some ND gel around the globe to add some fill. It’s a rather extreme lighting set up but I think it worked well.

Here is Glenns reel: