Gallery Entry 1: Andrew Burke – Documentary Reel
Posted on: April 16, 2009
Andrew Burke – Documentary Reel
I can’t remember how I came upon producer, cinematographer and editor Andrew Burke’s documentary demo reel, I just remember thinking it was extraordinary. No, it’s not an example of complex studio lighting techniques, just the opposite. But his visual style demonstrates a discerning and painterly eye for composition and a confident use of natural light. His editing style and choice of music show a natural instinct and sensitivity for rhythm, motion and flow.
Andrew started out with a strong interest in animation. After bouncing around a few schools including San Jose State and North Carolina he ended up at Chico State University in northern California, where he studied Communication Design. He won a top award at the student film show, and went on to organize the event for the next few years. He attended Film classes through the Communications Department and Fine Art Photography classes through the Art Department. I found it interesting that during his last semester he was actually able to earn his tuition fees “in-trade” for the production of web videos. “The school paid for the content, I paid them for tuition. It worked out nicely”.
He cut his teeth editing digitally in a rural high school class on Adobe Premiere 4.0, where he says his claim to fame was ‘figuring out’ they could Print to Tape without rendering. “It saved the class a LOT of time!” He’s been working in Final Cut Pro since 2004. As aspiring freelancers we take work when we can get it and Andrew recently picked up some work on a commercial set as a workflow tech. (aka DIT or Digital Imaging Technician) He said the work of managing the P2 and CF card media was rock-solid using FCP.
In terms of his Gallery reel, Andrew explained to me that the majority of shots came from commission work for various television and web outlets. The subjects range from the cousin of revolutionary Che Guevara, to the fastest mountain biker in the world. “To be sure, I am still very “on the fringe” in regard to the TV and film industries. I mainly shoot and produce short-form content”. Call it ‘backpack journalism’ (though he believes that’s become a derogatory term) his demo reel includes projects that are made distinctly with a hybrid approach: not as in-depth as PBS is, but also more engaging than the evening news.
Andrew shot most of the images with Panasonic’s HVX200 P2 based HD camera. He told me “I like to get the color dialed in the camera, so only a few of the shots have any color grading or correction”. The opening shot, with streaky lights, was shot in Buenos Aires, Argentina and is an in-camera technique that he’s been working on for a few years, which will be displayed in an upcoming project.
The animation handiwork is care of the comic artist. Burke shot the material in 24p mode on the HVX200 and gave the artist 12p QuickTime files to draw on top of. He then composited the the images in Final Cut Pro. He cut the reel together using FCP 6 and Photoshop.
The bike sequence where the rider ends up as a bunch of images in the frame was shot on a 35mm Canon RT SLR, which he describes as “a pretty neat toy!” and has the ability to shoot 7 fps without blacking out the viewfinder. He accidentally brought those still photos into a DVCPRO-HD sequence at their full resolution. “To Final Cut Pro’s credit, I basically had 4k photos, 1080, 720, and DV all living in the same sequence. Normally I’d have to optimize the photos first.”
I asked him about the amazing shot of the bike jumper, which starts with a bee in the foreground. He told me, “I would say the bee was one-in-a-million, but it’s closer to 36-in-a-million 
I’ve had many insects “ruin” shots but in this instance the bee seemed to make that shot. Nevertheless, he told me he always carries some Cutter brand insect repellant in his gear bag.
Andrew has several projects currently in progress. One is a 25 minute documentary on the making of the largest mural in North America at Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge, commissioned by Urban Greenspaces Institute, and a promotional piece for photographer Bryant Austin who uses a 50 Megapixel Hasselblad camera to photograph marine mammals underwater. Andrew is excited to be based in Portland, Oregon where he is now a member of Oregon Media Production Assn (OMPA).
Finally, the mesmerizing, soothing music is by Lali Puna, a band from Germany and it was used with permission. He recommends you check them out at: http://www.last.fm/music/Lali+Puna
Andrew can be reached at his website http://www.bikefilms.tv
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April 16th, 2009 at 9:38 pm
[...] Read the original post: HDFilmtools.com » Blog Archive » Galler­… [...]
April 27th, 2009 at 5:34 pm
Thank you for posting this demo. I really enjoy the fresh, simple and pure images of this artist. As with many excellent demos, music is an important driver. I have downloaded the Lali Puna track from iTunes and really enjoy listening to it.
Thank you for widening my universe.
April 28th, 2009 at 11:30 am
Nice reel. Cool that it combines sports photography with sensibility for nature and humanism. Much more comfortable to watch than typical ‘extreme sports’ footage. The music is a big plus! Great editing and photography generally. Thanks for sharing. – tom
May 5th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
wow. you do really beautiful work!
March 31st, 2010 at 2:37 pm
UPDATE: “In The Eye of The Whale” recently won the Adventure Filmmaker Award at the 2010 San Francisco Ocean Film Festival. Watch life-sized whales come to life, as the music score by Sigur Ros and Alexa Casciato smoothes out the vibe.
http://www.mmcta.org
Thanks everyone!
Andrew
DoP/ Co-Editor “In The Eye of The Whale”