DEAN MILAN
filmmaker, sound designer, photographer, writer, and more!
Bringing ideas to life!
Here I focus on showcasing some of my favorite personal work and the projects of others that I had the pleasure of being involved with. Each of these projects is incredibly influential and iconic for me.
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The memories I collected and the on-hand experience I learned were timeless and make these films undoubtedly special for me. So, I'd like to take you through that journey I had the privilege of working on.
Quick note! All snapshots of projects can be enlarged, click on them!
"The Breakup" - Short Film, SCAD
March 2023
A couple has just finished a film at the movie theater, but they both feel differently about this blockbuster! Actor who? This is quite the life changing movie to watch *wink*.
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This film production was a major pinnacle of experience for me currently attending SCAD. This was the result of the Film 232 class for camera and lighting. Assigned all the same script, we were encouraged to create a short that used the same dialogue, ​but had its own stylistic or scenic spin to it!
Our professor, Alan Caso, had already invited students from the performing arts department to join a traditional auditions set up. Attending this was worth it! I'm so happy I picked Camryn and Myles to play Erin and Rodrigo; I really got to learn about being a true director instead of other crew positions.
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Overall, everyone did an absolutely incredibly, efficient, well-communicated job! I couldn't have had a more amazing team, and we knocked this out in hours, it was unbelievable! We had our celebratory Wendy's afterwards, as they were the only ones open that late. Fries well earned.
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Shot with:
RED Komodo Camera
Titon 150 Micro Gold Mount batteries
Rokinon Cine DS Primes
Wireless Lavaliers
Zoom H4n Pro
RODE NTG2 Shotgun Mic
Zoom H5
Nanlite Pavotube 30C
AKG K361 Headphones
"Bye Bye Kitty!" - Short Skit, SCAD
November 2022
What a project! This short skit production was made for my Production 103 class. As my final came along, we had to produce a physical prop and utilize it in a way relative to our major. I made my "laser blaster" out of car parts, and filmed with it!
Making this was so exciting! I went to a junk yard to collect random parts and see what I could make look like a funky space age weapon, and was amazed with the potential. I drilled into it, added bolts and nuts, and put it all together too!
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My partner Aynsley was my star actress, and we went along to the outskirts of the city and filmed! Safety was my biggest concern, so I had made sure to have water and a fire extinguisher. It went incredibly well!​
Filming this was also a wonderful opportunity to experiment with CGI in After Effects. I loved learning about keyframes, animation, and other rendering effects to emulate my laser abilities. My skills in sound design also played a factor for the energy buzzes and booming flames! Overall, went incredibly well and looked beautiful.​
Shot with:
Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K
Rokinon Cine DS Primes
"What's Online" - Mystery, SCAD
October 2022
"Social Media influencer mysteriously goes missing and is presumed dead, her boyfriend is the prime suspect in her disappearance💻"
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For this project, I got to serve as the main sound operator for production audio! It's been a while since I've had the chance to be sound boom operator again, and I met an incredibly talented guy, Aidan, who I worked together with. He had brought in additional gear and supplies to sell things, and production for audio was a great success!​
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Later on, the director, editor and I were able to talk about how the look of the film worked. I commonly work on the color grading and technical aspects of RAW video like REDCODE, Blackmagic RAW, or CinemaDNG. I also contributed to reconfiguring the camera on set to give us the best opportunities for style in post.
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It came out wonderful, and the lighting work was also fantastic!
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Shot with:
RED Komodo
Photo by: Ana Coelho
"DJ" - Short Drama, SCAD
October 2022
I met up with a friend from the production "The Jungle", and he needed a Director of Photography for a short project of his own during my sophomore year. I got the chance to work directly with RED cameras!
I loved playing with how the REDCODE footage works in Davinci Resolve. The sharpness, color bit depth, and quality of dynamic range is unlike anything I've seen before. Its strength with skin tones and the highlight roll offs is fantastic.
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Set was also fun. I met Ash, who knew a lot about the LED light kits we were able to mount on our C-stands. We played with warmer and cool colors on set to make things visually interesting to fight the boring white walls, since we didn't have the resources to paint.
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Combining FilmConvert curve and grain tools, LUTs, and Hue vs Sat tools helped create a great image. The RED Komodo respects the classic filmic workflow. It takes some procedures to set up for shoots, calibrate in post, but the pay off is huge!
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Shot with:
RED Komodo
Rokinon Cine DS Primes
"A Day in the Park" - Experimental
July 2022
Never before have I had the chance to use a motion picture film camera that shot at a framerate greater than 16. I was able to obtain a Krasnagorsk 16mm camera, and it has the ability to shoot any at a cinematic speed of 24 fps.
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The film gate shutter, beautiful vibrant colors, fine chunky grain, and organic hues! I loved this so much, I give anything I shoot with a little end card, "Film is Eternal". The highlight roll off, clarity, and dynamic range capabilities of Kodak film stock is totally unforgettable.
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Even though the camera is loud and would need a syncronous motor to be work with any sound recording solutions, its still a great and affordable tool to capture this look with. I can't wait until the days I can bring these rolls of stock to an industry camera like the classic Arriflex solutions!
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Shot with:
Krasnagorsk-3 Super 16mm camera
Standard Meteor Lens
Zenitar 16mm Lens
Helios 44-2 with SLR Magic Anamorphot-40 Compact
Kodak Vision 3 50D 5207 One Perf 16mm
Martha Lapeyre - Fashion
Design Reel, SCAD
May 2022
My first year of college was such a beautiful and engaging experience. Networking and meeting people with a love for art in so many different flavors has probably been the most enjoyable thing I have ever felt. I love how I can translate my skills, experience, and social focus to other people, and I built a reputation for myself.
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When other people begin to refer to your name for tasks, it becomes an exciting and spontaneous way to meet others and explore new projects. Working with other artists, in this case, fashion designers, lets me delve my mind into a whole other framework of expression in a metaphorical language different than mine.
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Martha and I stood side by side the whole time, combing through images, searching for scenery, filming, and building the editing together. It shows how valuable a diverse spectrum of talents in a pool of artists can make something stunning—a fantastic job.
Shot with:
Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K
Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8
"The Jungle" - Short Film, SCAD
February 2022
My first project opportunity in SCAD! At the time, I was reaching out and exploring all the projects avaliable who needed crew during the Winter quarter. I met Tara, and she walked me through the whole process of what the world of her story was, and to this day, is still one of the most successful projects I've worked on here so far.
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This was the first time I got to see the use of professional lighting equipment, and be a part of a crew to this scale. We had many grips, lighting teams, producers, anyone. Every shot we did was tailored with an amazing lighting crew who I got to work with. The film had a great flow of production, and crew was in harmony.
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Before college, I was always used to either be doing all these things by myself, or would only have access to 1-3 other additional people who would help with these things. This would limit the scale of projects I could accomplish in a timely manner. Now, things were going to be bigger!
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Shot with:
Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K
Rokinon Cine DS Primes
"Blood Pressure" - High School,
Music Video
April 2021
This one was a ton of fun! We got to create our music video based on a pre-assigned choice of music. We accepted the challenge and wanted to go further than we ever had before. Completing this short took a lot of team effort in an extraordinarily fast amount of time.
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We explored abandoned areas, used vehicles on set, and invested in props. This project was the first time we focused on action and scenes more than a script or characters or dialogue. It was solely a visual experiment. It was more scene blocking than a script, and it was fascinating to create non-traditionally.
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Because of that, we played with visual tricks, drone shots, tools, props, moving cameras, and dressing the characters. The drive you experience during the get-away through the whole video is the adrenaline we drove during production. An entire project based on the "fun part!"
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Shot with:
Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K
Rokinon Cine DS Primes
"Man's Best Friend" - High School,
Animal Documentary
November 2020
A local town in South Florida hosts a special animal needs store. They bring the healthiest food that dogs and cats deserve. They also host events for puppies and local pets. ​
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My goal when covering this story was to build a natural connection with the pair of workers that operate the store. Conducting their interviews was easily the most successful part for me, and effectively got an emotional connection and important moments from them.
I do as much research about the interviewee as I can before I record our conversations, to get deeper insight beyond what I can already gather from basic investigation. I loved the stories they told and what their history really meant to them.
Shot with:
Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K
Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8