Pixel Lightening was hired a few years ago to create, what turned out to be, a set of 6 commercials.  All of them have a testimonial in the middle to promote and talk about their experience with Conditioned Air.  The commercials were updated each year with an emblem change.  We used a crew of about 8 for the two day shoot.  In 2017 Pixel Lightening was tapped again to create another series of commercials, 3 in this case.

Given its extensive use of archival material, 16mm was, perhaps, a natural choice for Pearlstein — whose previous credits include Sumo East and West, Imelda — when it came to her choice of format.

Behind The Scenes

Shooting in film was definitely not for practical purposes. I do own my own 16mm camera. But on my first shoot, when I went to rent my Super 16mm magazines as I had done many many times before, I quickly learned that there was so little demand for these mags that the rental house had taken them all apart for parts.

So shooting in film was definitely an aesthetic choice. But as a DP, it is how I enjoy shooting a film. And as a director, I thrive on the challenge of working within the confines of a limited number of 10-minute rolls. It’s my way of thinking through the process and mapping out the film, while not overshooting, which is a risk shooting digitally.