Directors Guild of America

I am honored to be on the DGA Awards  entries (Specials) list  for Moby-Dick, the opera that aired on PBS this November with 32 other directors, especially Don Mischer and Matthew Diamond.  Don brought me into the DGA in 1983 and I worked with Matthew briefly a few years ago.

Barber for Families Opera Vision at San Francisco Opera

This last Sunday(Nov.24) during the Barber for Families intermission Doug Hunt(camera operator) and I visited the balcony for an impromptu survey regarding opera vision .  We have never  spoken to families so this would be new territory for us.  

We had 20 minutes and here is what we found:

One family made up of 2 children commented that the screens really help.   Though a grandmother of one of the group really was upset that the Count's serenade from Act 1 was cut out.  

Another elderly patron who had not liked opera vision in past visits was very happy with it on Sunday.  I asked her what was different.  She said that there was so much action that opera vision really helped her follow the action.

Two other families loved opera vision and their children said it really helped because the people are small on stage. From the mouths of babes.

One woman did mention that the screen projection did not reflect the same colors as the stage.  We have gotten this feedback over the last two years.  Could be the bulbs in the projector need replacement, most likely because the stage is using various lights and they have different  color temperatures our shader is always shading for skin tones so some colors of costumes and overall lighting looks, especially the deep blues will be slightly off.

Tomorrow (Nov. 30) will be our last opera vision of the season.  It will be fun.

One more big Splash! Moby-Dick!

Last call - If you missed the national broadcast of Moby-Dick it is on the PBS website at

http://video.pbs.org/video/2365112413/   Thanks for watching!

Thanks - More operas to capture!

Thanks for the comments regarding the PBS broadcast of Moby-Dick.  It was fun watching it at home last night.  Tomorrow (Sunday) I will be directing an opera vision capture of the Flying Dutchmen at SF Opera.  This opera has excellent projections to go along with a great cast and outstanding music.

Moby-Dick update

Here is a nice article reviewing Mob-Dick.
http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/Moby-Dick-review-Opera-as-big-on-TV-as-on-stage-4937277.php

Moby-DIck on PBS this Friday!

San Francisco Opera announced the Company’s presentation of composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer’s award-winning opera Moby-Dick, will be broadcast nationwide on Great Performances on Friday, November 1, 2013 at 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings), as part of the PBS Arts Fall Festival.

This live-to-tape broadcast is produced by San Francisco Opera’s resident production team in collaboration with WNET using San Francisco Opera’s own high-definition (HD) media facilities to capture Moby-Dick’s dramatic stage action and critically acclaimed musical score. The HD taping of Moby-Dick is video-directed by Frank Zamacona, a veteran video director of more than 42 stage productions for San Francisco Opera, Seattle Opera and Opera Company of Philadelphia. 

Opera Vision at the San Francisco Opera

OperaVision – Summer 2013

As the resident video director at SF Opera, I had the opportunity and privilege of directing the summer operas for OperaVision and future distribution.  Capturing these operas not only takes a lot of preparation and coordination with one’s score, crew and other departments of the opera but also the audience.  That’s right, the paying customers who watch OperaVision.  

OperaVision has been around since 2007 and was the brainchild of General Director David Gockley.  OperaVision has been a great idea along with the ballpark simulcasts.  OperaVision is shot live with our complement of 11 cameras.  Besides OperaVision, we broadcast live simulcasts and capture for DVD’s, theatrical as well television releases like Moby-Dick which will air on PBS on Nov. 1 (check your local listings) In this blog, I am going to talk about OperaVision.

As many OperaVision audience members know the San Francisco Opera covers three and sometimes four opera performances for each opera title. This summer’s Tales of Hofmann had us covering it four times and Cosi Fan Tutte and Mary Magdalene three.

Each of these three operas had their own challenges.  One important element to any director is that you always want to keep your audience in mind.  My job is to tell the story.   Since the beginning of OperaVision (2007) camera operator Doug Hunt and I have ventured up to “our people,” in the balcony and asked them their opinion of our coverage. 

Throughout the years we have questions like;  “What are your thoughts regarding OperaVision, good or bad.”  In the first year, we got an affirmative 60 per cent.  Over the years, the affirmative vote has climbed to 90 percent. The remaining 10 percent like it but still prefer to see it with their opera glasses or live.

Here are some of the responses during the summer of 2013:

1  “Love it, we changed our subscription to sit up here.  The close-ups are great.”

2   “It’s great not only seeing the close-ups but also seeing the super titles on the screen , it really helps.”

3   “You really tell the story.”

4   “This was my first time coming to the opera and the OperaVision really helps.”

5   “My wife and I love the OperaVision and the directing is spot on.” His wife said  “Almost of the time.”

6  “I love sitting in the balcony for the music and now I get to see the close-ups.”

7   “I am glad that there are cameras because I cannot see the set and action when it is way upstage.”

8    From a couple from Los Angeles: “I come to all the OperaVision’s and this time I brought my wife.”

9  “Many audience members wish that SF Opera would have OperaVision for every performance.”  (Note: We did every other performance the first year just so we could work out the bugs) budgetary considerations have limited us to offering only 3 to 4 per each opera.

Some critical remarks were:

1   “The projection sometimes does not match the color on stage.” (Note: sometimes the stage lighting uses different types of lighting for live effect and in HD Video we color correct for skin tones)

2   “I would rather see it live.” (From a person who uses opera glasses)

So there you have it a tiny sample of our unofficial surveys .  This season you may see Doug and I ask for your opinion.  If you have never been to an  Opera before, Opera Vision  might be for you.  Thanks for watching!

Live Simulcast tomorrow

I will be directing the live simulcast to Stanford's Frost Amphitheater tomorrow night.  If you are in the Bay Area, check it out, it's free!  Here is the link for more info http://live.stanford.edu/event.php?code=SFOM
I am still tweaking my score adding more shots, taking away shots.  Never satisfied till the bitter end :)!

3 Days to Live Simulcast to Frost Amphitheater

Worked on more blocking today in Act 3.  Picking out my closeups carefully getting the most impact.  I Choosing the right camera and angle to tell the story is like making the right chess move.  At SF opera we have 11 cameras and 4 camera ops so everyone has at least 2 cameras at a time.  2 of the 11 are static.  It involves strategy and a little bit of juggling.  

5 Days to Live Simulcast to Frost Amphitheater on Oct 11.

Yesterday we captured and rehearsed the final dress for the cast and musicians of SF Opera's, Falstaff.   Tomorrow we will review it with the cameras operators.  We had a couple of bad lens'.  Sent them off to Fujinon.  Hopefully they will be fixed in time for the simulcast.  Another great show and if all goes (technically well) the 8,000 attendees will be entertained by a great story and music.

Had a great time last night.  Looking forward for the feedback from audiences from Europe.
My crew was terrific and the cast was fantastic!

Me(White shirt), score reader , Micah and Josh, TD.

Camera crew Gerry, Ray, and Mike.

Countdown......

Tonight's the night.  We are set to go live to Europe and 92 theaters.   SF Opera's Mephistofeles is a great opera and I hope the publicity is good and people will fill the Movie Houses.  Thanks to everyone for their help on this project.

Counting down to broadcast

Monday - September 30.  Viewed Mephistofele captures with Soprano, Patricia Racette.  We had a good time and creative session watching the last couple of performances.  We can't wait for Wednesday. We  will broadcast to theaters in the UK, Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Russia and Spain.

Counting down to October 2 broadcast

Captured Mephistofeles this afternoon at SF Opera.  Patricia Racette was incredible.  The HD crew had a great run-through.  We even rehearsed  the intermission  segments today.  One more meeting and we are live on October 2 feeding 92 theaters in Italy, Spain and France.

8 days and counting to England and Beyond

Had a good capture last night of Mephistopheles.  We rehearsed our intermission content and this capture will serve as our back up master for October 2nd's live broadcast.  Still refining some shots and blocking.

Moby-Dick screening Monday September 23.

Had a great screening of the opera Moby-Dick at ILM Theater in the Presidio on Monday night.
About 100 cast, crew, friends and family had a chance to see this opera captured last summer at the San Francisco Opera.  It will air on November 1 on PBS (check your local listings)

Director Frank Zamacona (left) and Editor Francis Crossman (right) at ILM in the Presidio holding the Moby-Dick Blu-rays

Some of the cast and editor Francis Crossman  with Darth Vader at the ILM Moby-Dick screening.

9 days to England/Mephistopheles

Hi All,  Team HD at the SF opera (that's what we call our HD crew) will broadcast live to England Mephistopheles on October 2.  We are counting down the days.  Today I am prepping the score, going over notes from the stage director Laurie Feldman and tonight we will capture and rehearse the opera.  Tonight will also be an OperaVision night for the audience in the balcony at SF Opera. 9 days to England.

Check out my website

Last couple of weeks have been busy. Last night we had our first rehearsal of Mephistopheles getting us ready for our broadcast to England for European Theatrical distribution.  Last week I met with Tenor and Maestro,  Placido Domingo and the SF Opera Media team regarding Cyrano de Bergerac.  We shot it a couple of years ago and were making selects from our captures.  Tonight it is Opera Vision coverage for the opera, Dolores Claiborne.

San Francisco Opera Season, August 28, 2013

Well it has been awhile since I posted. A long time.  I have just begun the 2013-2014 San Francisco Opera season and will be capturing Mephistopheles, Dolores Claiborne and Falstaff.
Mephistopheles will also be broadcast to England in October.  That will be exciting and I will be writing about that experience.  Falstaff will also be simulcast to Stanford Amphitheater in Palo Alto, California in late October, so there is a lot to do.  Stay tuned.

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