Our Visual Team

FILM

Lydia and Shane Hurlbut, Founders of Hurlbut Visuals, In True Fashion Film Equipment Sponsor

Hurlbut Visuals was created by Lydia and Shane Hurlbut, ASC to educate and inspire one filmmaker at a time. It began as a way for Shane to share his many years of experience as a filmmaker, his pioneering spirit with new cutting-edge technologies and practical product knowledge on both commercial and feature films. Through the creation of original content, Shane and the Elite Team test new products and experiment with innovative techniques, which they share with the Hurlbut Visuals readership in blog entries in a way that is both engaging and informative.  The goal is to ignite the passion, creative ideas and dreams of the bloggers with more efficient, environmentally and economically responsible technology.

From the first blog entry in 2009, Shane, Lydia and the Elite Team began a dialogue with their audience that continues to this day. Initially through emails and then through blog comments, the conversation has expanded to include people from as far away as Iceland and spanning to Europe, Central America and South Africa.  The Hurlbut Visuals audience is made up of a myriad of people from around the globe who have a thirst for knowledge and information related to filmmaking.  For those where film school is not available, Hurlbut Visuals has become the go to resource with the latest technology and proven techniques flowing freely to all who seek it.

Hurlbut Visuals has a new, boutique production arm that currently generates short and documentary style pieces. We have successfully funded and produced the critically acclaimed short “The Last 3 Minutes” for Canon, USA.  It was selected by two Academy Award consideration festivals: LA Short Fest and St. Louis International Film Festival.  It won the Golden Ticket (Best-in-the-fest) award in the SoCal Film Festival. Po Chan was nominated for Best Director in the SoCal Film Festival. The Vimeo Festival nominated it for Best Short Film. Officially selected screenings were done at the Vimeo Festival, Ojai Film Festival and Emmentaler Filmtage in Switzerland.

Shane Hurlbut, ASC has the innate gifts of trailblazing and pioneering. As a result, we have created a time efficient system for HDLSR cameras based on the design and ease of shooting with the ultimate capture medium: film. The Master Cinema Series is a method for rigging that is intuitive for both cinematographers and independent filmmakers to help deliver a project on time and on budget.

The HurlBlog is the educational focus where Shane Hurlbut, ASC and guest bloggers share their practical knowledge and personally answer every question. The B&H Educational Series for Cinema is where Shane Hurlbut goes into specifics about shooting with HDSLRs. The Hurlblog Interview Series gives a personal glimpse into the companies whose gear we trust. Hurlbut Visuals HDSLR Bootcamp is a high-end master class (link it here) offered annually giving both small group instruction and practical shooting experience using a vast amount of gear. Upon completion of the course, there is certification by Shane Hurlbut, ASC.  In the boutique HDSLR Cinema Rental Division hands-on learning happens everyday with gear checkout and rig building.

Zach Osterhout, Cinematographer at Bonfire Films, In True Fashion Producer, Lead Videographer & Editor

Raised in Seattle, Zach established himself at an early age as an action sports filmmaker. After winning the Northwest Abode Young Flimmaker Award, he left home to pursue a film degree from Montana State University. After only two months of school, Zach won the award for Best Journalism Piece of 2006 for his cinematography work at the HATCH Arts Festival. During his junior year, Zach teamed up with a fellow student and traveled to Central America to shoot a documentary titled Travel Belize. Upon returning to Montana for his senior year, Zach co-wrote and shot the short film Sunny, which was awarded Best Short by his professors and was nominated for Best Cinematography at the Tracy Awards. Only five days after earning his BFA, Zach headed to Samoa to work on two seasons of CBS’s hit television series Survivor.

Zach currently resides in Los Angeles where he works on various television shows, short films, commercials and music videos.

James Atkinson, In True Fashion Videographer & Editor

James Atkinson is a video editor who has cut sketch comedy, documentaries and music videos for companies including Comedy Central, HBO, ABC and Time Magazine.

One of James’ first jobs was teaching a summer video production class for teens. He was amazed by his students creativity and ever since then tries to bring that same energy into his own life.

Anna Goodman-Herrick, Television Producer, Founder of Anna Goodman-Herrick, In True Fashion Documentary Film Advisor

Anna Goodman-Herrick writes and directs provocative and envelope-pushing stories in both documentary and narrative. Her work includes TV series airing on major networks across the world.

Having begun her career as a playwright, her plays have been produced nationally, including Off-Broadway and at the Telluride Theater Festival. Having completed Playwrights Horizons Professional Playwriting Conservatory in New York City, she was invited to work in the creative department at Broadway Video (SNL, Conan OBrien), Lorne Michaels’ production company. She went on to work on the network side as a writer and creative producer for MTV.

Anna has written, directed, and/or produced some of the most successful TV documentary series including MTV’s My Super Sweet 16 and True Life.  She has created and overseen programming for MTV, Bravo, E!, CMT, FOX and A&E. This year on OWN, (The Oprah Winfrey Network), she was proud to air Addicted to Food, a groundbreaking documentary series exploring eight addicts on a moving mission towards recovery.

She takes her passion for merging pop culture and moving stories of the human experience to create memorable and entertaining work that connects with large audiences.

Anna is an active mentor for underserved youth. She has been a guest speaker at Los Angeles high schools.

Anna Hossnieh, In True Fashion Videographer & Editor

Born and raised in Berkeley, California, Anna Hossnieh gravitated toward filmmaking as early as high school when she started making short films with friends. She took her passion to UC Davis where she graduated with a double major in Film and Technocultural Studies and realized her inclination to make documentaries.

Anna’s first real documentary “Standing Compassion” won Best Documentary at the 2011 UC Davis Film Festival. As In True Fashion’s film intern, Anna oversees the shooting and production of all In True Fashion visual media components.

James Kicklighter, Founder of JamesWorks Entertainment, In True Fashion Videographer & Editor

James Kicklighter is the 23-year-old founder of JamesWorks Entertainment and has joined In True Fashion to profile the production process and, more importantly, the evolution of the students’ learning. A film director and producer and featured in the Examiner.com “CEOs Under 25″ series, recent titles include The Car Wash (with The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’s Edith Ivey), winner of the Audience Choice Award at the National Film Festival for Talented Youth; Theater of the Mind, created for the National Association of Broadcasters Convention in Las Vegas; and Di Passaggio, winner of The Accolade Award of Merit alongside ABC News, USA Today, and Discovery Kids. He was a screener for the 2009 International Documentary Association’s Distinguished Feature Award.

A graduate of Georgia Southern University, he earned a B.S. in Public Relations, serving in numerous capacities during his undergraduate career, including Director of Publicity for the Student Government Association and Student Programming Board. He was twice named to Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges, selected as Public Relations Student of the Year, and was inducted into the John F. Nolen Hall of Leaders, an award given to a very select group of seniors who exemplified a four-year commitment to the positive enhancement of the campus.

He recently completed work as Program Director for the National Student Leadership Conference on Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of California at Berkeley, and producer of Land of Higher Peace, a documentary observing the challenges Ethiopians face through the eyes of American visitors to the northern town of Gondar. It will be released in 2011.

James is also in pre-production on his next film, Followed, based on the story by Hugo Award-winning author Will McIntosh. It tells the story of a socially responsible college professor whose perfect world is threatened by the appearance of a tag-along zombie child.

Julien Lasseur, Assistant and Media Manger at Hurlbut Visuals, In True Fashion Videographer

In addition to his work with Hurlbut Visuals, Julien is a freelance filmmaker with aspirations to direct. Julien’s keen eye and gift for teaching assures him a bright future in the eyes of anyone who has had the privilege of working with him.

Darren Mann, Owner of Mann-made Pictures, In True Fashion Videographer

Darren Mann is an award-winning director/producer and founder of Mann-made Pictures. His first film was the Super-8mm feature, Cul de Sack, which won Best Narrative Feature at the Decatur Arts Film Festival. He edited the 2004 Sundance and Cannes Film Festival hit September Tapes (First Look Pictures); He directed/produced the documentary American Sumo (iNDEMAND), and produced the documentary An Ox’s Tale, on the life of John Entwistle of “The Who” (Image Entertainment). He directed the feature narrative, FIGHTF*CKPRAY which premiered at the 2008 Atlanta Int’l Film Festival. He recently shot/edited the documentary Becoming Barack, on Obama’s years as a community developer in Chicago (BET); and he is currently in post-production on two feature-length documentaries: Holiday in Rwanda (director/producer) about the burgeoning tourism trade in Rwanda; and State of Control (director/producer) which examines the Tibetan struggle in the age of technology to save their culture under the oppression of the Chinese government.

In addition to films, Darren has directed/produced hundreds of hours of broadcast television for such networks as National Geographic, Discovery, FOX, VH-1 and SPEED to name a few. His company has just completed production on ten HD episodes of Uncaged, an animal-conservation series for kids. His work has led him to such areas as Antarctica, Africa, India, Nepal, China, Tibet, the jungles of Central and South America, and the Arctic Circle. He holds a degree in Film/Television earned at Boston’s Emerson College.

PHOTOGRAPHY

Isaiah Mays, Owner of Isaiah Mays Photography, In True Fashion Photographer

Raised in The San Francisco Bay area, Isaiah is the second oldest of 10 children. His father, Dennis, is a retired software engineer for Hewlett-Packard. Isaiah’s mother, Donna, began teaching him to read at age 4. Isaiah was home-schooled with high involvement by both parents. With the help of his older brother, he began a web design company at age 13. By the time he graduated at age 16, had already received his first IT certifications [Novell Netware and IBM AS\400]. He became an intern for the Winters, CA based tech firm, ESI Group.

Perhaps influenced by his invlovement in his family of 12, Isaiah used his spare time volunteering in religious organizations that taught core values to young people. In 2001 he relocated to Michigan to study Communications at a subsidiary of Thomas Edison State College. Though often refered to as an “old soul,” Isaiah never lost touch with his inner child. Whether reading aloud to 4-5 year olds at a local library or wrangling 10 & 11 year olds through grueling summer camps, children gravitate to him at every possible moment. He says the feeling is mutual.

Though it began as a fun way to capture memories, by 2005, Isaiah’s career in photography had taken over his schedule, nearly eclipsing his IT work and pedigree. He is now a full time photographer. Is resume includes well known celebrities, glamour, fashion and clothing/product lines. He has been published in multiple magazines including Pamela Anderson in OK Magazine (UK) & TVGuide (USA).

Thyronne Millaud, Owner of Thyronne Millaud Photography, In True Fashion Photographer

Thyronne is a photographer with 15 years of experience specializing in beauty, celebrity, fashion and music photography. His work has been published internationally with high acclaim. Thryonne considers himself on an endless quest for beautiful and interesting faces and willing, new talent.