In addition to other works already noted here, these are just a few projects shot by Holben during his near decade-long tenure as a cinematographer.
1999/2000 Cinematographer's Reel
The last cinematographer's reel Holben cut - from 1999/2000. His work from that time to his official "retirement" as a DP in 2006 was all from word-of-mouth referrals. All of the footage contained was shot on 35mm motion picture film, with a select few shots on 16mm.
Tranquility, Inc.
Tranquility Inc. a short film written and directed by Jamie Neese was a camera test for the new HDSLR technology of the Canon EOS 7D camera. Shot in a single, very rainy, Los Angeles afternoon. For more, see Holben's Digital Video magazine article about the shoot "When Daylight Fades."
Midnight
Midnight is a short film directed by Jamie Neese as part of the top ten director's assignments for HBO's Project Greenlight . Neese was a finalist who was assigned a very generic script to intrepret - the dialogue (with the exception of two "free" lines the filmmaker was at liberty to change) was the same for all filmmakers -- hence it's a little odd and stilted here in this short thriller. Photographed on the Sony/Panvision HDW-F900.
Femme Fatales opening titles "Sizzle"
Holben was the producer, cinematographer and director of the opening title sequence for HBO/Cinemax's Femme Fatales anthology series. Nearly immediately after a shooting day with model Heather Carr, the show's producers were meeting with HBO executives and wanted something to show them to whet their appetites. Holben cut this sequence together very quickly as an early sizzle to the title sequence. The final sequence is here. Shot on the Canon EOS 7D.
Tech N9ne "Imma Tell"
After shooting promotional spots Tech N9ne's Absolute Power with director Christopher Horvath, Holben shot this wildly popular live-concert/impromptu video in just a few hours with the director, Tech and his crew. To date, this YouTube video has 6+ million views. Holben recalls, "I shot Tech's performance from within the crowd with a Sony HDW-F900 HD camcorder. It was intensely crowded and I was, basically, right at the edge of what became a mosh pit - just at the foot of the stage. The other band performing that night was Insane Clown Posse and many of the audience members were wearing white pancake clown makeup. When I finished shooting Tech's numbers, I rushed backstage and took the camera off my shoulder to change out the battery - only to find the entire right side of the battery pack was caked in white makeup. At some point, I clocked some poor bastard pretty damn hard - and never felt it! Lesson learned. Never mosh with a dedicated cinematographer!"
Building 429 "Fearless"
For director Eric Tozzi, Holben photographed this music video for the faith-based rock band Building 429. The central focus of the video are the two stars, Will Decker and Tom Scott of the reality series Travel the Road , where the missionaries cross the globe and gospel. Footage from the show is intercut in the video. Shot with the Panasonic Varicam.
Waiting for Ronald
Director Ellen Gerstein's touching look at two mentally handicapped men trying to have a functional life outside of a facility for the impaired. One of the last projects for actor Bruno Kirby and produced by Glee's Dot Marie Jones. Shot in 35mm with Panavision cameras.
The Moor
Director Caerthan Banks tackles her father Russell Banks' (writer of Affliction, The Sweet Hereafter) short story on a December/June romance, rekindled many years later. See the full short at IMDb.
Shot 35mm with Panavision cameras and lenses.
Inspired by cinematographer Mikael Salomon, ASC, (Always, The Abyss, Backdraft ) Holben employed a technique for a flashback sequence that few would be brave enough to attempt: shooting through the film backwards. Having an assistant hand-wind several 400 foot rolls of 35mm Kodak film backwards (emulsion side out), Holben grossly overexposed the scene by five stops to get the light to penetrate the anti-halation backing on the film. The result is an aged look that is very unique to this project (colored by David Joshua Smith).
It Came From Beyond the Mountain
Writer Director Douglas Bankston creates a decidedly toungue-in-cheek parody trailer for a 1950s atomic disaster film. Used as a test project for the lens adapters, the Canon XL2 miniDV camera in addition to Micro Jib products and more. See the full "trailer" at IMDb .