08
Color TV, No Vacancy
Shot By: T.J. Williams Jr.
Operator
T.J. Williams Jr. | Operator
T.J. Williams, Jr. has been making pictures since his high school years, when he started out shooting on documentaries under his DP father, T.J. Williams, Sr. At first, teenaged T.J. thought the paid travel was the best part of what he saw as “the coolest after-school job ever,” but through doing the day-to-day work he quickly realized that the subjects he was capturing in camera would be the focus of his career. He joined the Local 600 in 2008 as a camera and Steadicam operator, and has spent the time since working alongside great cinematographers while building his own résumé as a D.P. This is T.J.’s second ECA; he received his first in 2013 for director Jeremy Mackie’s The Return.
Finding his frame across media, projects, countries and cultures has taught T.J. to put story first. This sensibility was especially integral to T.J.’s work on writer/director Dan Brown’s highly conceptual Color TV, No Vacancy – a visual poem that contextualizes fantasy with grounded, intimate performances. The film is set in a motel that may not belong to this world, each room occupied by a timeless story, retold forever. When a kamikaze pilot arrives seeking his kidnapped guardian angel, his presence breaks the cycle, freeing the lost souls constrained within. T.J. worked with Dan to establish a tone that would encapsulate both the magical realism of this world and the real emotions felt by its mystical inhabitants.
T.J. shot on a Red Epic-X in 5K, on a stage built in a warehouse, and he remarks, “Pretty much the entire film was shot on the same motel room set with very minimal set dressing alterations, yet in the story each scene takes place in a different room with a different style. There was a lot of attention paid to making creative shooting choices, mixing up angles and lighting to sell the idea of movement between multiple spaces.”
A native of the Northwest who splits his time between Los Angeles and Seattle, T.J. thanks the Seattle film community for teaching him artistry, integrity, and that working with your friends is the best.