John Heino creates 3D Photos, writes music, performs live as a keyboardist, opening for bands like Lynard Skynard and is completely elated he left the corporate world behind!

WDSE-WRPT's Patty Mester, is the President and General Manger of Duluth's local PBS station. She goes behind the curtain to give us tips on how to get our films distributed by the #1 entertainment brand in America.

"I shoot movies, brew beer, and ride my bike."

Scott McLeslie, DIT, drone operator and cinematographer talks with host Cirina Catania about his recent work with Village Studios on some pretty awesome projects with major stars and a great team. He has some very interesting and amazingly candid comments about the future of the DIT's position with the production—and it is NOT on the set! We grabbed Scott as he was in his car and stalked him at the airport in Nashville as he was headed out to his next assignment. Listen in!

In This Episode

00:14 - Cirina introduces Scott McLeslie, DIT, drone operator, and cinematographer.05:20 - Scott talks about the TV series Salvage Marines, directed by Shaun Paul Piccinino.11:01 - Scott explains the intricate ways of shooting on RED Helium’s 8K camera when working on a movie.16:56 - When did Scott McLeslie first realize he was born with creative skills that led him into the film industry?21:53 - Scott discusses how they produce LUTs and color grade on sets using Qtake, a digital video assist software.26:05 - Scott explains the seamless workflow he structured for Village Studios’s setup for making various productions.31:17 - How is DIT going to be handled in the future?36:27 - Do DITs need to be on set/gig all the time? What are the primary key responsibilities of a DIT?41:57 - Scott talks about Grand Isle, a film directed by Stephen Campanelli.48:16 - Visit Scott McLeslie’s website at scotty.ru or his company Black Hangar at blackhangarstudios.com to learn more about him.

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Transcript

This is Cirina Catania OWC Radio, and I am so excited. Scott McLeslie is on the phone with me. We've been chasing around trying to get this interview done for at least a month now, but his production schedule is unbelievable. Scott, where are you, and what is happening today? Oh, by the way, I should tell people what you do so they have a little bit of background. Scott is the Chief Technical Officer at Village Studios and Black Hangar. He's a DIT specializing in 3D stereo and 360 imagery engineering, and he's also a post-production supervisor. And he's been around for a while now, even though he's quite young. So we have a lot to talk about today. And let's start off by asking you where are you? Where are you going? What's happening today for you?

All right. Hello, everybody. It's super exciting to be on the show. And at the moment, I am traveling to New York. We just wrapped a shoot for the first block of Salvage Marines, which is a sci-fi movie that I was not only doing DIT, I was flying some drones, shooting some camera. And now I am off to do some establishing shots for our next thing. 

Oh, my goodness. Are you in a car? You're literally traveling. I mean, when you say you're traveling, you're literally in the car, right? Sounds like it.

Yeah, I am. Don't worry, and I'm not behind the wheel, so it's safe to talk. 

Okay, good. No texting while you drive. I'm glad you're not driving. That's awesome. So you're headed to the airport? Where are you currently?

New Orleans. We started off in Baton Rouge, and we are almost at the airport in New Orleans.

Oh, my goodness. Well, we're just gonna keep asking you questions. So first of all, let's just set a stage for what is Village Studios? What do they do, and who do they do it for?

Okay, so Village Studios is a pretty interesting project in terms of its size and capacities, because the way it was built, it's relatively new. The major renovations happened three years ago, so what we tried to do is we tried to take the top of the top technology, basically shrinking a full-size production studio into a very, very small footprint of the property, everything we need to run a full-scale production of tier two, tier three if we must. Should I say, we succeeded. The last productions we did though the Jeepers Creepers, Blaze, those movies you don't actually shoot in the middle of nowhere,

Lij Shaw speaks with OWC RADiO producer and host, Cirina Catania. He shares a bit about his Grammy awarded recording studio, The Toy Box Studio in Nashville. And if that isn't enough, we also get a chance to hear about his yearly adventures with Hay Bale Studio at Bonnaroo, and his sessions with some of the world's greatest musicians! They also discuss how Lij relies on OWC gear for his workflow and he shares detailed insight on its everyday use.

In This Episode

00:17 - Cirina introduces Lij Shaw, a chart-breaking, award-winning music and podcast producer and the host of the podcast, Recording Studio Rockstars. Lij is also the owner of the Grammy awarded The Toy Box Studio in East Nashville, TN.07:03 - Lij describes the work that goes into doing a full studio setup for their Bonnaroo recording studio.15:32 - Lij expresses how he prefers to mix while the band performs rather than doing a lot of work in post-production.21:56 - Lij talks about his podcast, Recording Studio Rockstars, and the gears he uses for interviews and production.27:33 - Lij tells the story of how he bought a vintage MCI board console that was supposedly inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to put on display.36:17 - Cirina and Lij discuss how OWC equipment helps them with their heavy workflow using storage and machine reliability.43:40 - Lij tells how he quit his two jobs in London and left to join his brother’s band in Hong Kong.50:16 - Cirina asks Lij how he handled shifting from analog to digital recording and the differences between the two.56:06 - Lij shares some of the memorable moments he’s had with musicians throughout his music industry career.63:40 - Visit Lij Shaw’s website, Toy Box Studio at toyboxstudio.com, and listen to his podcast, Recording Studio Rockstars, at recordingstudiorockstars.com.

Jump to Links and Resources

Transcript

This is Cirina Catania with OWC Radio. I have Lij Shaw on the line. I cannot tell you how many awards this man has won, how many groundbreaking music projects he's been involved with. And I have been doing some research also in prep for this interview. T here's just so much. Lij, welcome. I've been reading about you, been listening to some of your work, and you have an amazing history. So how are you? What's going on today? 

I'm doing good. It's a pleasure to be here, Cirina. And today, I don't know what date this airs, but in Nashville, it's just gorgeous outside. The summer has landed here. I think we just had the summer equinox. Every morning is beautiful, and you can mow your lawn till nine o'clock at night. 

That's awesome. I'm in San Diego. And it's also nice, and the hummingbirds are flying around the feeders. But I talked to a friend of mine in Berlin this morning. It's 104 degrees there. 

Well, that is hot. It'll get close to that at some point this summer.

So you just came back, I don't know, it's recently from Bonnaroo–where you are running the Hay Bale Studio. Can you tell people what Bonnaroo is? And I love what you did with the double-wide. 

Oh, cool. Yeah. So this was actually my 15th year doing that. And the Bonnaroo festival is a festival of about 80,000 ticket concert goers. And then you probably have like another 20,000, and I'm sure on top of that are the staff, so you got 100,000 people who descend on Manchester, Tennessee. And at the beginning of this thing, at the birth of this thing, they basically just found a farm there that would let them start doing kind of a jam band festival. And then over the 15 to 17 years something that they've been running the festival, eventually, they just bought all this land. I don't even know the exact number, and it's so many acres of land down there that just belongs to this festival. And once a year, for about a week, it becomes like a city. I mean, it's bigger than the town that it's hosted in. But this year, I got a great statistic from somebody. And they said, "Well when you're in front of the center stage,

Cinematographer Dan Kneece has worked with some of the world’s most iconic directors, including David Lynch, Wes Craven, Quentin Tarantino, and Joel Schumacher. But did you know that he was an award-winning musician, that he comes from a very small town in the American south, that he has worked on more than one movie simultaneously, traveling across the country to meet deadlines with no sleep, and that his favorite camera is… nope, no spoiler alerts here!

Bringing some of the world's greatest films to a screen near you.

Cinematographer Dan Kneece has worked with some of the world’s most iconic directors, including David Lynch, Wes Craven, Quentin Tarantino, and Joel Schumacher. But did you know that he was an award-winning musician, that he comes from a very small town in the American south, that he has worked on more than one movie simultaneously, traveling across the country to meet deadlines with no sleep, and that his favorite camera is... nope, no spoiler alerts here!

Dan Kneece's secrets are revealed in this interview with OWC RADiO Host, Cirina Catania. Listen in!

In This Episode

00:35 - Cirina introduces Dan Kneece, a longtime Steadicam operator and a cinematographer.08:09 - Dan tells the story of how he was first interested in making movies with a Super 8 camera at 13 years old. 17:17 - Dan points out what he learned from the news business that was relevant to the film business.24:08 - Dan shares the first experience using a Steadicam in the movie Chain Gang.32:27 - Dan talks about movies where he worked with David Lynch and how David entrusted him with his skills and ideas.40:53 - Dan explains some of his responsibilities in being a Steadicam operator based on his experiences with various directors and actors.48:28 - Dan explains how important it is for the script to be on point and why it is the foundation of a film  57:35 - Cirina asks Dan if it’s hard to decline projects from his trusted networks. Dan explains his principle of hiring and working with people.64:24 - What are some of Dan’s favorite lenses?71:41 - Follow Dan Kneece on his social media accounts and visit his website at DanKneece.com to learn more about him.

Jump to Links and Resources

Transcript

This is Cirina Catania with OWC Radio. I am speaking today with Dan Kneece, who was a longtime Steadicam operator and now a cinematographer. We call them DPs in our business. And, Dan, I'm so happy to talk to you on the air because you're just a rarity in this town. And welcome to the show.

Thank you very much for having me. 

We have so much to talk about. Let's just start almost at the beginning, and I like asking people what they liked to do when they were 5, 6, 7 years old. What were you like as a little boy, and what was life for you growing up?

I grew up in the small town of Black Hill, South Carolina. It had a population of about 2000 people and was surrounded by swamps and alligators, and it's 10 miles from Barnwell, South Carolina, where James Brown was born. In 14 miles, another side of that is a little town called Allendale, where Jasper Johns grew up. I think what really happened in the area, people are saying this must have been something in the water. But I think really, what happens is so darn boring down there that if you have a creative urge, you got to figure out a way to get it out, or you're going to go nuts.

You need time to be creative. And I think in a busy life in the cities, and we don't often have time, I totally agree with you. I think some of my most wonderful memories are escaping when I was a little girl from my house and climbing into an apple tree to write poetry and just think about the meaning of life. So I think when you're in a small town, that's what happens, right? That's great.

There's not too much trouble you can get into because even if you go out in the woods and get lost, the dog knows the way home. So you just follow the dog out of the swamp, and you're back in your little town. I grew up from a very young age, but when I was a baby, my mother would take me and put me in the playpen. But rather than turn on the television set, she'd put on classical music on the record player. And so I know all of the melodies, from all the classics of classical music. So that was kind of an interesting way and helped my brain develop musically early. And then that took me in a musical direction for a while. And then,

Aubrey Mozino describes herself as a "tornado in a linen closet." This intelligent, weirdly wacky actress has comedic timing and a big brain which comes in handy when dealing with her position at SAG. She talks with host Cirina Catania about her career, growing up in Philadelphia, studying the Meisner approach to acting with Bill Esper, and an organization she helped to start and to which she contributes regularly, "We Make Movies." Put your seat belts on before listening to these two women chat! To learn more about Aubrey, go to AubreyMozino.com where you can see her comedy/character reel and her drama reel. Oh, and did we warn you not to get into a drinking contest with her? Yep. You'll lose.

Aubrey Mozino describes herself as a "tornado in a linen closet."

This intelligent, weirdly wacky actress has comedic timing and a big brain which comes in handy when dealing with her position at SAG. She talks with host Cirina Catania about her career, growing up in Philadelphia, studying the Meisner approach to acting with Bill Esper, and an organization she helped to start and to which she contributes regularly, "We Make Movies." Put your seat belts on before listening to these two women chat! To learn more about Aubrey Mozino, go to AubreyMozino.com where you can see her comedy/character reel and her drama reel. Oh, and did we warn you not to get into a drinking contest with her? Yep. You'll lose.

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Peter Hamilton and Host Cirina Catania discuss the current state of SVOD distribution for Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, PBS and others. Peter is a veteran business development consultant who played a key role in the international expansion of Discovery and other global channels’ brands. His weekly newsletter DocumentaryBusiness.com shares analysis and context on the unscripted video sector with his 20,000 subscribers worldwide. Want to know what deals can be made? Listen in.

Peter Hamilton and Host Cirina Catania discuss the current state of VOD and SVOD distribution for producers who want to sell to Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, PBS, and other outlets. Peter is a veteran business development consultant played a key role in the international expansion of Discovery and other global channels’ brands. His weekly newsletter DocumentaryBusiness.com shares analysis and context on the unscripted video sector with his 20,000 subscribers worldwide. Want to know what deals can be made? Listen in.