I had the pleasure of eating lunch with Marc Miller yesterday. He is a Director of Photography and Camera Operator who has been in the industry for 38 years. He has a significant list of credits and awards. His career started after attending Columbia College in Chicago, when he held staff positions in Chicago and New York. More recently he completed four seasons of CBS’s Big Brother.
Marc returned to the western suburbs of Chicago and is currently working on a documentary. He and I first met years ago, just after I left ABC to work on my first feature. Schedules didn’t mesh, so we never had a chance to work with each other, but we always enjoyed sharing our passion.
Halfway through lunch we chatted about one of the stories I’m developing. I broke down a few visual ideas and Marc knew exactly how to bring it to fruition. His understanding of set etiquette and diplomacy rivals that of a First AD. He is also the type of DP that appreciates a strong director who is flexible to explore the art of a story when time and budget allow.
Marc’s list of credits goes beyond features, television series and documentaries. He has done numerous corporate projects, music videos and commercials. His local projects have included shooting a training series for The Second City and a pilot for the History Channel.
Marc is a member of Local 600 International Cinematographers Guild, SOC and Digital Cinema Society. He is refocusing on features in hopes of finding stories that can make a difference in peoples’ lives. His goal is to construct visual stories that take the audience to places they can’t go, coupled with a subject matter that counts.
We’ve decided to shoot some test footage in the near future, which may double as a promotional piece to raise funds for my next feature. In fact, we’ve already started talking about locations and we’ll set up a scouting trip in the near future. It’s my hope that we will continue building our artistic partnership and I hope to share some of the footage with you.
CJ's Corner 