New work, new site, new project

Here's a new image from a Visa print campaign, as well as a couple of screen grabs from the commercials, with one thrown in from another project, and a shot of the new site. It definitely looks best full screen. All of this is now live on my site, sugrue.com, designed by my friends at D10 Studio in Monterrey, Mexico.

I'm shooting my first commercial project on the RED on Thursday (with a 5D2 second camera), working with a pretty solid production team, brought together by my ace-in-the-hole Emily Miller. I could not recommend her more highly. She seriously does absolutely whatever it takes to get a job done properly. Working with me, Emily has acted in various capacities as den mother, bar tender, psycho-therapist, good cop AND bad cop, animal wrangler, wrangler to the animal wrangler, detective, queen bee, and financial consultant to name a few.

She's a saint for dealing with a certain city employee on this one, ensuring that all the i's are dotted and t's are crossed.

I have a new studio manager named Annie Pautsch. I'll put up a short video of Annie at some point, and she may do a little guest blogging. Right now she's busy greasing the wheels of the latest promotional campaign, rolling out over the next couple of weeks.


© Michael Sugrue

© Michael Sugrue

© Michael Sugrue

© Michael Sugrue

© Michael Sugrue

New (York Times) developments and inspiration

© Michael Sugrue

Here's an image from about a month and a half ago. I've been sequestered in my cave post-processing several jobs for over a week, with at least another week to go. I've been able to get some vitamin D while shooting a couple of new jobs recently, so I'm not a total vampire.

I'm proud to say I just had my first large ad in the New York Times. It was in yesterday's paper (10/22) on page A10. It was essentially a still from a commercial production for Visa that's online here. I shot 6 of the 9 videos, and edited a 7th. Much of that work will be on a new version of my site, which I'm pretty excited about launching around mid-November.

The trailer below, from a film by Grzegorz Jonkajtys, was shot with a 5D Mark 2. This is WAY better than anything I've seen from that camera. It just goes to show you that it's not at all about the technology, but how you tell the story using lighting, motion, sound, and editing (and some CGI). Basically all of the skills you can't just buy for $2700 from B&H.



Check out the film site here.

More new personal work

Some big changes coming soon. New site, and possibly some new digs. In the meantime, here is some recent work:

© Michael Sugrue


© Michael Sugrue

Digital friends

© Michael Sugrue
It's been quite busy lately, but I wanted to give props to my good friends at Pro Camera. They've saved me more times than I can count. This is Jen Wilson demonstrating the merits of a good gyro, not the greek taco either.

If you're ever in need of cameras, lighting or grip in the SF Bay Area or nationwide, I highly recommend Pro. This sounds like a paid testimonial, but I have to say, they are much cooler than the other place in town, super friendly, and always up for a chat.

Pro Camera Rental

New work from the Pacific Northwest

Two really long days, 2 1/2 hours of sleep in 48 hours, but well worth it.


© Michael Sugrue

Roger Deakins forum

Scene from from "Jarhead", shot by Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC

It's finally back up! This is a great place to learn and ask questions about cinematography. I've spent a lot of time pouring through the information here, then the site was taken down because it was attacked by a hacker. They finally got the site back up, and I highly recommend it.

Deakins forum.

Channel Islands from the air

8:12AM, 7/10/09