Shooting The Other Side for the 100 Hour Film Race

When I first started working on short films as a cinematographer, I was rarely happy with how the shots turned out. Part of that was due to inexperience since I still had a lot to learn. But another major reason was that I didn’t have much help with lighting. On most shoots, I’d have to put the camera down and run around placing lights myself.

Then one year, I joined a team for the 100 Hour Film Race. It was a great setup. They already had a script, a director, and a full crew. The only thing missing was a Cinematographer, so I jumped in. We filmed everything in a house over the course of a day. I used my Sony FX9 paired with a set of vintage Leica lenses, and the images those lenses create are just beautiful. I had also clearly grown in my understanding of lighting because this film looked noticeably better than anything I had shot before.

One of my favorite scenes in the film is at the end, when both characters walk into a haze-filled doorway that represents their deaths. For that shot, we blasted every light I had toward the door and filled the entire entryway with haze. It was incredibly fun to shoot and gave me the kind of creative freedom that really motivates me as a cinematographer.

After filming, I handled both the edit and the color grade. I’m really glad I took that on because cinematography is so dependent on how the footage is treated in post. It’s one of the most overlooked parts of the process, and I’ve seen great images look terrible in a film from poor grading. Taking control of that step gave me a lot of creative input, and it also reignited my interest in color work. I learned a lot during that process. I also contributed heavily to the sound editing, especially in the final scene, where I layered in a lot of audio to build tension.

We submitted the film on time, but it didn’t win any awards in the competition. To be honest, I think the writing held it back. The story wasn’t particularly strong, and most of the film was just two characters looking sad in different rooms. Still, I was proud of how it looked, especially given the limited resources. It was a big step forward for me and reminded me why I love doing this.

Since then, I’ve improved a lot, and I’d love to enter another competition like this or the 48 Hour Film Festival. Next time, I want to put together a stronger team and go after a win.