Janet studied cinematography at the University of Texas at Austin. She’s had an impressive career in the camera and electrical department on many feature films. She’s worked as Best Boy Electric on films such as Boyhood, The Tree of Life, Machete and Predators. She was a gaffer on Sonic Highways, It’s in the Blood and Puncture, among others. In 2010 Janet began working in animation and visual effects for Troublemaker Studios and was the Visual Effects Supervisor on Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, Machete Kills and From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series.
God Made Man co-producers, Kayla Olson and Nate Locklear created a Pinterest board that served as their “look book” for the film ( click here for look book ). Olson had been adding to it for years while she attempted to craft the original draft of the screenplay. Later, Locklear was added to the board and began pinning as well. Look books are often created for films to help the filmmakers get on the same page as to how the film should look and feel. Pictures, paintings and artwork created by other artists are usually what is used. It can also help illustrate the intended film to potential producers, studios and financiers and serves as inspiration.
Locklear took it a step further and created a set of rules or guidelines that he and his lighting team would follow while shooting the film.
GMM Cinematography Rules by Nate Locklear
1. Use available light when possible (street lights, indoor dramatic light, lamps, practicals, Xmas lights, neon etc)
2. Make light seem natural if not natural (i.e. pump light thru windows w/ blue gels, or colored gels for neon signs)
3. Light should bloom. And flares are good!
4. Use in camera filters as much as possible but also leave room for heavy post color grading
5. Use unidirectional lighting (with a distant backlit source) as much as possible (see Bill Henson photography)
6. Use negative fill
7. Use as much saturated colors as possible
8. Think of interesting ways to add colors to scenes (even if it breaks rules 1-2)
9. Use shallow depth of field but also use wide angle lenses for texture and curvature
9b. If wide angle on Close-up of a face- try to shoot 45° angle (above actor)
10. All camera work must be handheld, shoulder rig mounted or steadicam (unless for special optical effects). Dolly/wheelchair is permitted but no tripod
11. Use prime lenses as much as possible (no quick zoom in for effect unless absolutely necessary)
12. “Drifting” is encouraged but also find that “handheld stillness”
13. Try to plan out shots more (in accordance with drama/story) rather than just getting coverage. Try longer takes.
14. Try to block actors in interesting ways to change shot sizes (see Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolfe)
15. Don’t be afraid of the dark. Slivers of light are good. If unsure on light amount err towards trusting your gut rather than pumping in more light.
16. No matter what, get eye light in every shot, especially darkly lit shots (unless there is a reason for no eye light)
17. Refer to look book often but don’t be afraid to get creative
18. Shoot consistent f-stop f2.8-f4 split unless too extreme shallow depth of field- then stop down. Critical focus is a must. But don’t be afraid to have subjects move in/out of focus
19. What’s interesting is what’s important. Shoot what is stimulating rather than just what’s happening
20. Try china-balls on boom pole (with battery power) for traveling face light
21. Don’t ever let the cinematography style detract from the story or emotions. It should help enhance them
22. The point of this movie is to capture intensity and movement- character movement and camera. Majority of shots will be Close-up (see Blue Is Warmest Colour and/or John Cassavetes films, 21 Grams)
23. Any of these rules can be broken but only with an inspired reason
John (aka Jb) received his Associate’s of Applied Science degree from Austin Community College in film, while also working as a Teaching Assistant in the Radio-TV-Film department. He was the ADR Operator and Location Mixer/Recordist for Speed Dating (short) and Challenger Street Newspaper (documentary) both screened in the 2015 SXSW Film Festival. Soon after, he went to work as Location Mixer/Recordist for the short Braver Than You Believe and Assistant Camera & Audio Lead on Austin Community College’s public broadcast series Picture Up!
Besides creating a slew of other projects including a documentary on love, he also runs Newhouse Aperture, a media production company helping to edit, film, write and share unique and creative stories with the world.
Mark (pictured with GMM actor, Sebastian Cummings) is an actor, filmmaker, editor, and award winning magician, musician, and music composer with many years experience creating and producing audio and video content for multimedia, radio, television, and film. Past production credits include award winning software titles and films, videos, radio spots, parody videos, and television shows, including the Emmy® award-winning series on PBS, The Daytripper, the web series, Once You Leave, and the award winning feature film, Land of Leopold. Mark has taught video/audio production, and video editing in the department of Radio, Television, and Film, and advanced music composition and desktop music production in the department of Music Business and Performance at Austin Community College. In addition to his musical accomplishments, Mark has been performing magic since his childhood. He was the 2010 – 2012 president of the local Austin chapter of the International Brotherhood of Magicians, and since 2009 when he won the role of “Merlin The Wise” at Sherwood Forest Faire, he continues to entertain the thousands of attendees to the festival with his own unique style of magic, music, and comedy.
Alex edited and co-produced the short documentary, Challenger Street Newspaper, which was an Official Selection for the 2015 SXSW Film Festival and the Hill Country Film Festival. He also edited and co-produced a longer version of the same documentary now titled, Challenger: Voices From the Street. The longer cut was shown at the 2016 SXSW Film Festival. He lives in Austin, Texas.
Adam was born and raised in Texas and spent many years in Austin studying television and film on his own, as well as when he was a student and Teaching Assistant at Austin Community College. In his time at ACC, he worked on many short films, web content, and live band performances/music videos. Adam initially discovered his love for film from watching Hitchcock films and early Scorsese films, as a late teen. He enjoys the teamwork and dedication it takes to get films made. He has aspirations of writing and directing as well. After ACC, Adam was a floor director at KXAN News in Austin, Texas. He now lives in Florida and is a Director for WFLA News Channel 8.
Brian Gallagher (aka Cousin Courageous) is a bedroom musician who writes instrumental tracks for films, as well as lo-fi indie pop music (under Bobee or Bedroom). He provided several tracks and even created new music for the webseries, Once You Leave. For God Made Man he created dozens of tracks for either background additional music, music for promotional material like trailers and music for behind-the-scenes material.
He currently resides in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, but misses Austin, Texas.
Christie (pictured with GMM actor, Gabriella Holland) studied FX makeup at Make-Up Designory MUD, a post-secondary institution that provides rigorous training in the field of makeup artistry for film, television, fashion, and retail. She has been key makeup artist and assistant makeup artist on several short films and features and has worked with Missing Hill Productions for it’s TV show in development, Media Mavericks™, the short film, Braver Than You Believe and now God Made Man.
(Pictured L-R, Nate Locklear, Sara Stein, Anne Wharton, Sarah Wingfield, Deanna Noriega, Samantha Ireland, Kayla Olson, center below- Gregg Baethge)
While studying dance at Austin Community College, Sarah (pictured with the GMM dancers/actors and crew) took Nate Locklear’s Film and Video Editing course to learn about film editing. They became friends, began sharing dance videos they liked and planned to work together in the future. Sarah was then accepted into The University of Texas at Austin, studying Humanities. Since 2012 she has worked as a dance Teaching Artist at Forklift Danceworks and as an Assistant Choreographer at Kids Acting & Center Stage Texas.
Once Nate Locklear (GMM Director) realized they were going to have an intense dance performance in the film Nate knew there was only one choice of who should choreograph. Sarah crafted an intense, modern, experimental dance built around the themes of flesh, anger, passion, possession and love. She and her dancers worked hard to create something visceral but still beautiful.