A Day in the Life on the Playground (VIDEOS)

Where Filmmaking meets Technology

I’ve been a filmmaker since I was 11 years old, making claymation animated short films and Monty Python-esque skits with my friends doing in-camera editing with VHS camcorders. We were young, we were free and the woods behind our houses were our filmmaking playground.

Fast forward 10 years, I jumped on a plane on New Years Eve of 1994 to study film at the London Film School. I wanted to return to the place I was born, I wanted to be close to the land of Monty Python, and more than anything I wanted to study film at the London Film School, which had produced such venerable filmmakers, such as Michael Mann and Mike Leigh. Film school was a hands-on filmmaking playground.
After film school I spent many years stateside trying to get my own scripts off the ground. Times were tough, but I stuck to my passion and I produced, shot and edited two feature films for a good friend, shot and edited a documentary film on the farmworker movement in Texas (currently in post-production), and with a budget of $6,000 I produced, shot and edited my own script, The Law of Human Gravity.

After many years of flying by the seat of my pants living the filmmakers dream, I realized that I wanted and needed to make a living. I have a wife, I wanted a future. Then came Rackspace. Rackspace is a cloud computing company located in San Antonio, Texas. I am the Rackspace Video Manager, Lead Producer and Storyteller. In many ways I thought Rackspace would be quite the deviation from my life as a filmmaker, but it hasn’t been. At Rackspace I have the freedom to be creative, push my own envelope and continually develop and hone my skills. Rackspace is my newest playground.

My work on the Culture Branding team documenting the Rackspace culture created the perfect opportunity for me to personally challenge myself to shoot and edit a full video in one day. I started a video series entitled “A Day in the Life.” These videos were meant to capture the Rackspace culture and give people glimpses into a tech company. I often start shooting before the sun comes up and I usually have no clue what’s going to unfold during the course of the day. I keep my eyes and ears open and spend the day on the run. By the time Rackers are leaving for the day, my video is out on social media.

I shoot with the Canon 5D and I love to alternate between the 50 mm 1.4 Canon lens and a cheap Russian Zenitar 16 mm fisheye lens. When you’re both a shooter and an editor you know what you need to capture to tell the narrative. But by shooting for 20 minutes and then editing for 20 minutes, I am able to produce this video series by editing virtually in real time. Exhausting at first, I think I’ve gotten the hang of it.

These videos have captured an impromptu Racker wedding, product launches, the SXSW startup bus arrivals, and even Robert Horry lurking around Rackspace (former NBA player — 10 time champion). These videos are random, quirky, zany and sometimes even inspiring. And I think they hit the nail on the head when it comes to depicting what a Day in the Life at Rackspace is really like. I used to take a double take when I’d see someone ride by on a unicycle in the office — not anymore.

What’s the next challenge?