Nathaniel Hansen - Filmmaker » Commercial Film Production

Headed to the White House – Sorta.

nathaniel — Fri, 07 May 2010 18:12:02 +0000

Participatory Chinatown is a 3-D immersive game designed to be part of the master planning process for Boston’s Chinatown. Players assume the role of one of 15 virtual residents and work to complete their assigned quest – finding a job, housing, or place to socialize.

Matthew Hashiguchi and I were asked to create this short doc for a presentation to Boston’s City Council and for the White House. I shot with an EX1/Letus Extreme and a Zeiss 85mm f1.4, and Matthew was shooting on a Cavision rig with a 7D, Canon 50mm 1.8, 70-200mm 2.8, and a 20-55mm 2.8.

The development was funded by a grant from the MacArthur Foundation.

Hanging Cleats 30 Second Commercial for 2010 World Cup

nathaniel — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 01:50:30 +0000

hangingcleats.com is a non profit organization dedicated to providing access to sports, specifically soccer, to youth who live in high risk areas around the world. Their founder contacted me after viewing some of my documentary work, and asked if I would be willing to shoot a short commercial that would air during the World Cup.

I thought a lot about what the commercial should be, and in the end came up with three strong ideas. Logistics, budget, and timing forced us to pick the third idea, but looking back, I’m of the opinion it was the better idea all along. It’s simple, direct, and invites the viewer to interpret the work.

I collaborated with Jerry Thompson on this shoot, and we decided to use his Canon 5D and his arsenal of L-series Canon lenses. We used the 50mm f1.2, 70-200mm f2.8, and the 16-35mm f2.8.

The music (to which I’m still trying to get the rights) is placeholder for now, but is the song Zeyphr by the excellent Scott Morgan (AKA Loscil) who scores for documentaries and games, as well as has several terrific albums out. Hopefully I can secure the rights.

It was great to have him there to guide me through the post production process, and a short commercial like this was a great test to get a feel for the Canon workflow. I’m really happy with the outcome, and I hope you like what we came up with. Enjoy.

World Cup Commercial

nathaniel — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 15:40:02 +0000

I was recently asked to direct a commercial for a non-profit that does educational outreach through football (soccer). I’m really excited about this project, not because of the exposure it will get because of the venue (the 2010 world cup!), but because if the powerful message I’ll be able to help craft for this great organization. I’ll be sure to post as things develop, but it should be an exciting month and a half, to be sure.

Studio Shoot

nathaniel — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 02:36:18 +0000

I was fortunate enough to direct a shoot for studioCase out of Manhattan, and their client Johnson and Johnson. We had a great time at National Boston studios, who were amazing, and Jesse Hubbell did an outstanding job as our all around grip/lighting expert. While I can’t talk about the content of the shoot, I can say that it looks to be a very interesting product and certainly one that will change they way people think about J&J.

While I’m not able to post any video from the shoot until they launch this spring, I can provide some excellent behind the scenes photos taken by one of our crew, Bartholomew Singer, who was running the teleprompter. I always enjoy a set where everyone is cool, calm, and collected and feels comfortable enough to chime in (from the PA all the way on up). The shoot was seamless, from location, crew, food, hair/makeup, talent, client, everything went well. Enjoy the pictures!

Charlie/Johnny Depp Stand-in - On Audio

The White Box

Prompter

Me trying to look serious

Kristal Williams-Rowley ... an AMAZING producer on this shoot and a very talented filmmaker in her own right

The Thinkers (from J&J)

Manning the Camera

Jesse - the studio manager and all around good guy

Art Director from studioCase, Jeff Jeppesen, with the talent

Trying to look "directorial"

...

Jeff, a long-time friend, is laughing behind my back

The final look