Premiering The Award-Winning Short Film “More Than A Cut”

We couldn’t be more excited and proud of the whole team! Keep reading to learn about the vision, process, and crew that made this award possible.

After recently adding two brand-new ARRI Alexa Mini cameras, Zeiss CP3 Lenses, and a Freely Movi-Pro to our camera and production equipment rentals business, I was super excited to try them out and looking for a special project to show off the amazing cinematic capabilities of our complete menu of in-house production equipment. That’s when I came up with the inspiration to film an artistic short film about my trusted barber and friend Trevor Brown, otherwise known as, “Trevor The Barber” at Atomic Barber Co. His unique approach and philosophy to cutting hair seemed like the perfect fit: it would allow us to show off the capabilities of Starling Production’s wide range of production rental equipment in Orlando and Las Vegas, and to highlight my creative vision as a cinematographer.

Our goal with the storyline was to capture Trevor’s unique talents and the energy of the space, showcasing the craft of cutting hair but also bringing viewers along on a journey to learn why, to him, it is so much more than just a haircut.

The challenge of filming a story like this is that it can’t be scripted, it can’t be forced. You have to allow your subject and their story to take shape naturally. First, we sat down with Trevor to discuss the vision and creative direction for the project. We knew we’d have to create an environment for him to feel comfortable giving us a window into his mind and into the world of one of the most successful and highly respected barbers in the world.

After careful planning and with a crew of 15, we managed to pull it all off in single day shoot at two locations. I had so much fun collaborating with our talented team: Director Gilbert Gomez (creative director at Laughing Samurai), Gaffer John Ogden, 1st AC Andrew Patania and sound mixer Brandon Dew. Concept, Production, and Cinematography by myself, Robert Starling, while my editor, Joe Campanelli, did a sublime job of distilling 12 hours of media and audio into a two-minute masterpiece.

I knew the moment the storyline was conceived that my go-to editor of 12 years, Joe Campanale, was the right man for the job. When you only have two minutes to tell a story, every single frame and cut has to be just right. Clearly, it was the right choice because Joe’s skillful editing won us a Gold Telly Award. Way to go Joe!

“When I reviewed the footage before meeting with Robert, I was ecstatic. Here was an opportunity to tell a unique story mainly through images, music, and sound fx. I relished the idea that there weren’t many spoken words and was especially drawn to the spiritual aspect of the story.

Robert and I sat for a meeting to discuss an approach to the editing and we both quickly realized we were on the same page concerning tone and pacing. He asked me to hold shots for as long as possible, which is anathema in today’s media and allowed incredible freedom to try new ideas.

Robert and I have had a fruitful working relationship for over 12 years and one thing we’ve developed is trust in each other, which is also very freeing. It means that I can spend less time and energy explaining or justifying my choices, and more time experimenting to find creative ideas he nor I hadn’t initially thought of. It’s an awesome collaborative partnership and I can’t wait for our next adventure!” – Joe Campanale, Editor