Friday, 07 August 2009 08:13

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At least once per month, 360 LIVE will be highlighting one of San Diego’s many talented production or event professionals. This month, our focus is on Andy Kuepper, a Director of Photography with extensive feature film, primetime television and commercial experience.

Power to the People: The Impact of Digital Filmmaking
In 2007, Andy Kuepper gained widespread recognition from outlets such as American Cinematographer, International Cinematographer's Guild Magazine, and BroadcastEngineering for his pioneering use of Panasonic’s AG-HVX200 P2 HD camcorder to film "Sarah Landon and the Paranormal Hour." When Kuepper was approached to shoot the feature film, the producers were contemplating the up-and-coming HDV format. After extensive research, Kuepper came to the conclusion that “pro-sumer” grade equipment had reached a level of quality that could begin to attain the production value of a Hollywood film and recommended the unconventional approach.

"The tried and true format of film was not off the table, but I began experimenting with the various cameras on the market at the time,” said Kuepper. “I ended up liking what I saw with the Panasonic HVX 200. The P2 format was brand new, and people were questioning the divergence of a tape-based system, but coming from a film background, I could never stand the digital artifacting I saw with compressed tape. The P2 system held up rather well, and I liked the crushed look that the Cine-Mode of the HVX 200 offered."

Couple that camera with the new world of Depth-of-Field Lens adaptors, and Kuepper saw a winner. Kuepper worked with Brian Valente out of Redrock Los Angeles, who invited Kuepper to his home to help with preparations involved with outfitting the package with an adapter.

"I began my research on lens adapters months before production," said Kuepper. "This was when the guys in their garages were just finishing up initial home-made prototypes of these things and companies like Redrock Micro were starting to introduce products like the M2 adapter for wider consumption. There were no image inverters out and we were rigging monitors upside down on set.

"There were also no geared lenses, so we attached prototype lens gears from Zacuto. Steve Weiss went above and beyond in helping me to adapt prototype lens gears to the still lenses so my focus puller, Allen Achtenberg, actually had a fighting chance at my wide open stops. This format was also new to my gaffer, Ama Macdonald, who adapted quickly, closely watching ratios and using more bounced light."

Kuepper believes the secret of the "film look" isn’t a matter of frame rate as much as it is the three-dimensional characteristic of the lenses. Traditionally video lenses have different characteristics than the lenses we use in film cameras. Their depth of field is less shallow, so you see more of the image in focus. Video camera-based systems are cheap because the lens has characteristics that are different from what we are used to in the motion picture world. Cheaper lenses break down the ability to lessen the depth of field, or in layman's terms, make only a small plane of the image be in focus.

"Cine lenses are expensive to rent and buy. I found people who were starting to use adapters with still lenses from 35mm film cameras, especially the 1970's based Nikon Nikkors," said Kuepper. "The results were amazing. The portrait look of an 85mm Nikon Lens looked beautiful and nothing like the 'see everything' view of a video camera. I went on eBay and was astounded by how cheap the old lenses were. I gobbled up a whole set for the price of renting one 'real' lens for a few days.”

Professional and amateur filmmakers alike have begun to appreciate the variety and cost-effectiveness of digital technology. Modern advances are bridging the gap between cost and production value, lessening the drop in quality on smaller budgets. Still, knowledgeable technicians are crucial to fully capitalizing on the new technology.

"Sarah Landon and the Paranormal Hour" impressed distributors and was released in 1100+ theaters across the country, a large number for an independent feature. The high production value of the film was comparable to a big-budget production without matching the large price tag.

"It may not be a 35mm-killer, but it's also not a budget-killer," said Kuepper.

In addition to his work on 'Sarah Landon,' Kuepper is a San Diego resident and experienced camera operator. Kuepper's production career has included work for A&E, Comedy Central, the SAG awards, Slightly Stoopid music videos and "Veronica Mars." The original American Cinematographer article is available here (pg.1, pg. 2, pg. 3, pg. 4) and the original International Cinematographer's Guild Magazine article is available here (pg. 1, pg. 2, pg. 3 ). A trailer for Sarah Landon and the Paranormal Hour is available at IMDb, as is a full list of Kuepper's credits.

Andy Kuepper can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

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