Director of Photography. California, United States.
#FlashbackFriday #FBF Do you remember our Community Spotlight with David Kartsonis?
David Kartsonis is the associate producer at Bakers Man Productions, a family-owned business based in California. “Bakers Man does a lot of studio support and commercial production, but recently we have been branching out into broadcast television production.”
Work:
“I’m lucky enough to get to do a wide range of jobs at the company, and most of our recent work is shot in a way that allows me to be involved in many aspects of the shoot. During pre-production, I’m serving as associate producer. On the set, I’m the director of photography. In post, I often take part in editing. This allows me to fully embed myself in our projects.”
Biggest Challenge:
“I think my most unique challenge was a couple years ago when I was shooting a talking head on green screen, which should have been easy. The problem came when we learned the day before that we were going to need a teleprompter, but had no room for it in the budget.”
Solution:
“I went down the hall, took a picture frame off the wall and popped out the glass. I mounted the glass in front of the camera with a couple c-stands and put a black sheet over it and the camera. I downloaded a free teleprompting software onto my computer and laid it on a chair in front of the glass and, voila, I had an ugly, but very functional teleprompter.”
Favorite Technique:
“Timelapse! I love these, and I think they can really add to a project. They work perfectly as segues, but they’re also inherently beautiful and show the world in a way that most people would never see. In fact, I just finished shooting one for fun as I drove from Los Angeles to Kansas City, Missouri. No one in the car really enjoyed the large tripod and camera sitting in between the seats, but it ended looking beautiful. The US looks really different at 9,600 mph.”
Favorite Tool:
“I like a lot of tools, but I don’t believe I’d be nearly as successful without my XDCAM EX-1, Glidecam X-10 system, and Final Cut Studio 2.”
Projects:
“I’m working on two broadcast television shows. Around the World… One Bite at a Time, which examines the intersections between food and culture around the world, and Disease Chasers, which follows a team of real-life epidemiologists as they protect humanity from the dangers of infectious diseases.
“I graduated from UC Santa Barbara in 2006, so I’m relatively new to the working world, but I’ve quickly found a spot for myself that I love. Around the World… One Bite at a Time was my first project designed for broadcast television, but I’ve also done music videos, training videos, publicity videos, trailers, and shorts in my two working years.”
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