Mark Billingsby

Ultrabook Challenge

Billingsby — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 04:45:40 +0000

I did a shoot a few weeks ago in San Francisco for an agency out of Los Angeles called Super!Alright! The crew working the shoot was awesome (Shout-outs to @jessedana, @bryanbaeta, and @superalright) and made the days fly by. While at work today I got a text from my wife saying “You know that Dell commercial you shot? It’s the second most viewed video on YouTube today!” Check it out!

Games Highlights

Billingsby — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 08:08:55 +0000

Crunched two late nights at work to deliver this piece. These are the biggest moments from the 2011 Reebok CrossFit Games. I chose to slow some of the shots down to aid with the drama and awesomeness of the competitors. One thing I learned from this edit is that Optical Flow in Apple’s Motion worked better on the shots i wanted to slow than the Twixtor plugin for After Effects. There was a lot of trial and error finding shots that would work and not jello too bad. Some of the shots worked very well and others not so much. When it takes 5 minutes to render a 3 second clip on a tight deadline, some times you just have to let some questionable ones slide. My personal favorite was the slowed shot of the female swinging on the bars at 5:11.

DIY Baby Plate

Billingsby — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 03:44:57 +0000

I recently purchased a cheap Vizio 22″ LED to use for a client and lighting monitor on video shoots. I needed a way to mount it to a c-stand for viewing in the field. I could have bought an expensive mount, but decided to go the DIY route on this one.

Materials:
5/8″ weldable steel rod $10 (Any length will do, but need to cut it down to about 4 inches)
LCD Monitor TV Flat Panel Wall Mount $13

You will need to get the rod and wall plate down to bare metal for the weld.

Now comes the fun part. Welding!

Give it a final mockup before applying the finish coat.

Logo Design

Billingsby — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 09:06:39 +0000

I’ve been designing this logo and site for it to live on. It’s still a work in progress, but another exciting project to add to the list.

November 20th Timelapses

Billingsby — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 05:52:10 +0000

These two timelapses were shot on the Canon 20D while I was out grabbing some surfers and scenics with Will at Pleasure Point.

Houston Head Shots

Billingsby — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 04:00:36 +0000

Two months ago I traveled down to Houston, TX to film a CrossFit event. There were several games competitors there so we set up some interviews and head shots to use in features leading up to the 2012 CrossFit Games.

I decided to shoot on black for simplicity as we only had a two man crew. Marston Sawyers ran 2nd camera and grip while I was DP/producer/gaffer.

The rental company in Texas had a Hot Rod Cameras 7D-PL. It’s basically a gutted 7D configured so you can mount PL mount lenses. I own a 17-130mm Russian cinema zoom so of course I had to take advantage of the opportunity. I am pretty happy with the results and I was able to get a sick lens flare.

Docs and DJs

Billingsby — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 04:23:55 +0000

Landed my first freelance gig since moving out West. Work at CrossFit isn’t as crazy as it was during Games season so I’m trying to get out and work on some production crews.

On Sunday I arrived back in California after being in Philadelphia for the wedding of one of my best friends. I grabbed a couple of hours sleep and headed up to San Francisco for the night to shoot a documentary on DJ Cheb i Sabbah.

Chebi was diagnosed with stomach cancer and given weeks to live. His family, friends, and fans raised enough money to send him to Germany to get the cancer under control. The documentary will follow Chebi on his battle and hopefully have a happy ending.

I was hired to shoot DSLR for a benefit concert. These are just a few screen grabs from the shoot. As you can see I had to deal with incredibly low light. I shot wide open on my Olympus glass and in the 1200-2000 iso range.

Quiet on the Set

Billingsby — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 16:22:11 +0000

This week at work I got to light a few setups. The first one was a 3 person interview with two couches and daylight in the background. I decided to go with fluorescent lighting. For this setup I used two 4 foot 4 bank Kinos as key and two 2 foot 4 bank for hair and fill light.

This setup was for shooting CrossFit movement videos. It required a majority of the gym to be lit so the athletes could move freely. I went with two 4 foot 4 bank Kinos, 4 2 foot 4 bank Kinos, and 4 200w fresnels for the background.

300 Test

Billingsby — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 03:45:59 +0000

It’s hard to shoot surfers and wildlife without a big telephoto lens. So I got a 300mm. Its an Olympus OM Zuiko f/4.5 I picked up off Ebay. On the 7D with the cropped sensor, it is effectively 480mm. Not the fastest, but if it’s anything like my other OM glass it’s should look pretty clean. I haven’t had a chance to shoot any video with it yet, but I grabbed some stills on the way to work this morning. Not the best light, but you get the idea.

Sunset Scenics

Billingsby — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 03:31:01 +0000

Production continues on scenics around Santa Cruz for an upcoming project. This week I’ve only had time to get out and shoot around sunset. Here are some screen grabs from today’s shoot.