First Week as an Intern

So it was my… second official day interning for Zerosun, and I was already in the car on the way to a shoot with two other interns. Being a film student at the University of Denver, I love having a camera in my hand, but once all the equipment was unloaded, my nerves were getting to me a bit, I’ll be honest.

But within minutes, James, Tim, and Phil’s positive attitudes quickly eased whatever tension I felt. They pulled out one of their Sony EX1s, kindly suggested manual focus, and the two other interns and I were off shooting behind-the-scenes footage of their Denver Five/Tag Raw shoot.

Within the restaurant we shot the setting–wine glasses hanging from the ceiling, oysters sitting on ice, spices in jars–the guys–Tim interviewing, Phil using the other Sony EX1 with extreme balance and steadiness (not sure how he does it…), James somehow shooting with the freakishly heavy Canon 5D shoulder mount, Devon taking still photographs and framing each moment with extreme elegance–and then us–either the guys showing us how to get the proper exposure in a “low light” situation, one of the interns, Ainsley, waving and smiling as she sampled one of the chef’s delicious creations, or Annie, another intern, asking one of the guys a question about the process as we got close-up with the camera on their eager faces.

The shoot was an amazing experience, one I didn’t think I would be able to be a part of so soon. The team was so focused and cranked out interview after interview… and then went and got amazing b-roll of the chefs cooking afterward. And right when the juice was running low after a long day, the guys boosted up the energy and positivity with a goofy photo-shoot in the back alley. For a team with such a strong, focused, and unified vision (that always gets executed with the utmost precision, effort, and talent), they were so willing and happy to incorporate us interns into what they wanted out of our time on set. The interns and I were able to capture, because of the guys’ trust and confidence in us, pretty great behind-the-scenes moments of the chefs, the production team, and of course, awkward faces from the interns.

- Kathryn Duft