Magical Suitcase

y chance one winter in the desert, a month of circus work facilitated a great honor. To collaborate with a kind, talented, unique, and dedicated performer on capturing the heart of his act, honed twice nightly at the Zoppe Italian Family Circus for a months long tour around and down west of Mississippi.

Captivating Solo Act from Justin Therrien

Justin and I negotiated to use the ring one night after a three show Saturday. I balanced my BMCC on a gimbal for the first time, we grabbed a few specific sounds with my mic and we captured several full run throughs and 3-4 takes of each beat in the act. These moments to 1:30am were the last before strep throat decimated the camp for a week. All circumstances combined to create a perfect window with a dream of production value, and a real polished classic professional performer that can land take after take in the most exhausted of spare moments in a full life.

Before shooting the magical suitcase video, Justin had some footage in the can from a previous year. A one-take behind the scenes look at a day in the life of a young circus clown. Not too exaggerated and a really wonderful community creation. I endeavor to bring a heartfelt group creation to every significant gathering I become a part of. I came on as the editor and put this video together with Justin, the start of our creative relationship.

Where's Papa?

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The Zoppé Children's Circus Camp

I don't have any circus skills good enough to get me in the ring, so in order to have a place at Zoppé Italian Family Circus I negotiated a deal to film the Circus Camp Zoppé offers every year in Chandler, Sell DVD's of the performance to the families of the kids, splitting any profits over a certain number with the Circus, a number we never reached. Below is the short mini-doc I put together of the camp that led into the performance on the DVD I made. The whole idea was not financially worth the time, but was well worth getting to work on the above two videos with Justin in the off-hours from filming the camp.

It was a great experience for the kids and I admit I was jealous! Not just to go back in time and jump in myself as a youth, but to put the camera down and get some professional level circus training myself! The kids had no idea what a deal the resource these talented friendly people were, and I gleaned as much as possible from behind the lens and after hours. When you capture a group of performers in a small town, no matter how talented they are, they are available as a resource to whomever's around. I ended up picking up pin juggling for the first time, and Justin paid me partially with some amazing circus legacy juggling knives. I use them every day, and like the kids below, I dream my circus dreams.