“For the past 7 months I’ve been working on a project that is near and dear to me”

That was a message that came across my (now defunct) Instagram DMs in 2022 from Peter Kyesmu. A writer, poet and someone who seemingly found me at random and liked enough of my portfolio to reach out and start a conversation about getting a short film off the ground.

He told me the story was about a former bull-rider, and without hesitation or additional inquiry, I said “I’m in”. I didn’t care that I hadn’t read all of the script, I didn’t care that it would be a pro-bono project for me as a cinematographer and, later, editor and post-supervisor…I needed to prove to myself that I had what it took creatively to do a narrative, something that for years I had eschewed due to insecurity and an endless feeling that I needed to take only projects that would keep a roof over my family’s head and food on the table.

That very approach to my career has in a way backfired, as while I’m proud of my decade-plus directing and lensing documentaries, commercials and other forms of media, something was incredibly vacant in me and in my library of work: proper narrative filmmaking, the very thing that I picked up a camera to pursue back in the early 2000s. It was a pursuit that had been beaten out of me, metaphorically of course, by myself, people I looked up to, people I considered friends and a variety of experiences in the commercial film industry early on. So in short: this was something long overdue for me.

But back to Peter. His film is aptly titled “Bull”.

“Bull” tells the story of Ford, an injured bull-rider recovering from a traumatic injury, who is tasked with traveling across Florida to compete in a rodeo that might mark the end of his career, all of which he is doing out of a longing to feel close to his recently deceased father. During this road-trip, he has a series of conversations that will ultimately shape his decision and future.

The notion of being able to flex my creative muscle, utilizing real locations across the state, capturing the beauty of Florida that I have grown up knowing and observing since I was young, immediately drew me that much further in to the project.

And while I came onto the project initially to only serve as Director of Photography, I ended up being able to utilize my decade’s worth of experience to help Peter bring his vision and words to life, and very much cementing in my mind the notion of “oh shit, I can absolutely do this.”

This entry will be the first in a series of posts surrounding the filming of “Bull”, future entries will go over things such as my approach to serving as both cinematographer and gaffer, breakdowns of both the lighting and lensing of a scene, working with a first time director, the editing of the film and more.

Thanks for reading.

Me in my element, fiddling with our car camera on hour 16 of this day.

- Joe

Insight

Between the Spur & the Sky: Part 1