March of 2009 came an exciting opportunity. Scott Jones, a colleague and friend, had always talked about how fun it would be to work with a sound team instead of the usual one man band that we were used to. The opportunity came when Jones got a call to work on a student short called "The Sacrifice of Old San Juan". He called me to work as his boom operator which I couldn't have been more excited about. Not only was this going to be my first narrative project but it was also my first time working with a sound department.

On the shoot, I met so many great people. It was really exciting working with so many people on the project. Realize up until then, I had only worked on projects that usually had only 3 people, a producer, cameraman and sound engineer which was usually me. Occasionally we would get the luxury of a gaffer or a makeup artist but never really more than that. Here, I was working with departments, a camera department, grip & electric department, art department, etc. It was still considered a pretty small crew but it was the biggest I had ever worked with.

The department I knew the best (meaning I knew one person on it) was the grip and electric. The gaffer who is the head of the department was Jason Tahara, owner of Light Factory in Boulder, Colorado. The Key Grip was Dylan Rumney who I had met and worked with before. These guys and their team were so great to work with. So much in fact, the last day there was no sound but I volunteered to work with the G & E department just to get to know them better. They had just finished working on another local project called "Ink" which is now available on Netflix. Check it out.

The other department I worked with most closely was the camera department. Our Director of Photography (DP) Pablo Berron and his 1st AC (Assistant Camera) Eli Berg were fantastic to work with. They shot the whole film on the Viper, made by Grass Valley, which was also a first for me. Up till then, I had only worked with broadcast style cameras like the Sony F900. This was the first cinematic camera I had worked with and I have to say, it was quite impressive. When ever anything was getting a little tense or frustrating, you'd hear Eli in the background singing Black Betty by Ram Jam. I found it so amusing I made it my ring tone.

There are many others I enjoyed working with on this project that it would take way to long to write about them all but i will say the best part of the shoot was when we had an effects team come in and light a truck on fire. I had know idea that this would just be the beginning of the multiple narrative projects I would be working on and that this path would lead me to move to another state.

Let's start with January of last year. Alicia and I had been working with 7 others on a series of webisodes dedicated to Heather Kartchner, a good friend who had recently been diagnosed with breast cancer. We put together some comedic sketches dealing with cancer and her family. I know that seems a little demented, but it was our way of supporting her since none of us knew how to cook. Well, that's not true, Alicia did cook for them also. You can view the webisodes at www.drewstorm.com/chucklestocurecancer.

It was during the filming of one of our favorite skits in episode 5 (What's that on your head?) that we got the news that was going to dictate our entire year. Alicia pulled me aside into the kitchen, gave me a big kiss and whispered into my ear "It's positive"! We had been trying for over a year so this was very exciting news. I am going to be a daddy. Now that I am writing this all down I wish I would have taken more pictures over the past year. I don't think I have even one of Alicia pregnant. I guess I'll just have to get creative. Yeah, I got this picture from Google images! What of it?

Back to Blogging

2009 has been such a crazy year for me and so much has happened. So I have decided to get back to the blog. I will start by catching you all up on this crazy year.

They say life's biggest stresses are having a baby, getting married, changing careers, going to school, losing a loved one and moving. 2009 has brought all but one of 'em to me. The saga begins on the next post...

Cinematography Merit Badge.

Back in February, I was asked to help the Boy Scouts in our ward with their cinematography merit badge. Yeah, I know, they have come a long way from knot tying and helping old ladies cross the street. So I thought, sure why not. Should be easy and could be fun. I had know idea how elaborate the requirements were going to be. Last week, I spent the day with the boys filming the movie they spent so much time conceiving and I am proud to say, troop 717 has completed this merit badge. It only took us around 8 months to do it but he who waits, right? Here is the final product. Keep in mind, I only helped. The boys created the story, planned the shots and directed the scenes. Not to shabby.

Telluride!

Immediately after the DNC, I met up with Dave and we headed down to Telluride, CO for the 35th annual Telluride Film Festival. When I say immediately, that is exactly what I mean. We started our 6 hour drive at 11:30pm. Now most people would think I had the luxury seat cause I could just sleep the whole trip down, but anyone who has ever driven with Dave knows this is not a possibility. In order to stay awake, Dave requires two things on full blast...the A/C and the stereo. Any smart person would have brought a blanket and some ear plugs but as we all know, I am not smart.

Luckily, we made really good time and about 5 hours later were in beautiful Telluride. We were able to sleep about 3 hours and then started our day at a V.I.P. breakfast. Not cause we are V.I.P., but because Starz, the company we hired by, wanted to get some man on the street interviews with the V.I.P.s. We didn't even get to eat the delicious buffet. It sucks not being a V.I.P. But the morning didn't completely suck. We did get to talk with some very nice stars including Greg Kinner and Lauren Graham. They were there promoting their new film, "Flash of Genius" about the guy who invented the intermittent windshield wiper. Yeah, I know. It sounds like a comedy, but it's not.

After that, the rest of the festival is a big blur. I remember eating chicken wings. (They were so good we had to go back a few times) and remember interviewing Jeff Goldblum and Michael O'Keefe. (The kid from Caddyshack!) We all sat there through the interview thinking, "gosh that guy looks familiar" and after he left and we were wrapping the lights, Dave blurted out "Caddyshack" and we all had this big "Aah Ha" moment as we realized that's where we knew him from.

We got blown off by David Fincher and spent a lovely evening reminiscing with Jean Simmons. (No, not the lead singer from K.I.S.S.) For all you independant movie buffs out the, he big movies to look for from the festival are "Flash Of Genius", "Adam Resurrected", "Happy-Go-Lucky", "The Good, The Bad and the Weird", "O'Horten" and "American Violet". All of these films got a lot of buzz. But if they suck, don't blame me cause I didn't see any of them.

DNC!

As well as working hard to get Daniel and AJ's wedding video finished, Denver hosted the DNC (Democratic National Convention). I didn't actually work the event, but I was hired to work on 4 episodes of a live show for TV One. They are a black entertainment station out of Washington DC. The name of the show was "DNC After Party" and it basically focused on all the events and commentary surrounding the convention. So I was working from about 12:00pm to 2:00am every day of the convention attending the after parties with our hosts interviewing celebrities. Some of the big names I got to work with were Sheryl Underwood, Hill Harper and Al Sharpton. We also got to interview Wyclef, Biz Markie and Jesse Jackson Jr. It was a lot of work and really long days, but over all it was a fun project to work on. Part of that was due to working with such great people. Josh, Ryan, Kevin, Tsia, Erica, Torian and everyone at Citizen Pictures, thank you for a great time and I hope to work with you again soon.

ps. A lot of the footage on the DNC After Party website is what my crew shot over the course of the convention. Check it out.

More from Daniel and AJ's video.

Here is more clips from the video. It features Alicia so I know you will all be on the edge of your seat!

The break-up told in the style of an 80's music video.