Great news as a documentary that I dp’d for director Dan Kruse gets accepted into yet another festival. It wasn’t too long ago that Zoom! won “Best of Arizona” in the Arizona International Film Festival. Zoom! is the endearing story of Burt Schneider and Ray Lindstrom, who created Zoom Records and recorded some of Tucson’s hottest young rock ‘n’ roll stars in 1959.
Dan and I connected while I was the Post Production Supervisor at the School of Theatre, Film and Television at the University of Arizona. Dan was taking a production class and wandered into my office to introduce himself. We talked, found a slew of common interests (drumming, music, production..) and it was obvious we had to work together. He told me about his thesis for his Masters of Ethnomusicology, which involved a documentary about music in the late ’50s. With my interest in drumming and music, I had delved into the realm of ethnomusicology; I offered my help and off we went.
Spanning almost two years of production, Zoom! represented my first foray into dslr cinema. My wife and I had just purchase two Canon 7Ds for a still photo job and when that was over we realized we were sitting on a couple of fine video cameras as well. The first day of shooting, covering Burt Schneider at work behind the mic at Arizona Public Media Radio, Dan was a bit surprised to see me filming with what appeared to be a still camera. Concern faded, though, as soon as he saw the first dailies when I opened the files up in Apple Color and demonstrated the enhancements that were possible. The small form factor of the 7D came in handy, not only with portability for our small crew of 3, but also when we filmed the transitional inserts. I built a small jib arm based on a DIY project on OliviaTech. It was just the right size for adding motion to our shots of a vintage record player spinning the 45’s that were featured in the documentary.
Dan and I are off on another music documentary adventure about a local Tucson, internationally renown jazz pianist. I am honored to work with an amazing producer, director, musician and friend, and grateful for his reaching out and walking through my door 3 years ago.
Bob Demers 