Present Day, Athens

Originally hailing from Sydney, Australia, Daniel Bombell first ventured to the U.S. in 2003 to complete his final year of film school as an exchange student at Ithaca College in upstate New York. While attending the school’s L.A. program, he interned with cinematographer Matty Libatique, ASC, and got his first introduction to working on set.

From there he started his journey in the camera department as a film loader and worked up to 1st AC, joining Local 600 in 2007. During his time as an AC, Daniel started working in commercials and music videos, dabbled in TV pilots and worked as an A-camera 1st AC on a number of major studio pictures. This experience working with many of the top DP’s in the world really helped prepare him for his next step as a cinematographer.

Present Day, Athens is an irreverent look at a day in the life of a local sheriff in the dusty, forgotten town of Athens, TX. Despite the stifling heat and mundane nature of his job, he goes about his seemingly futile business in a charming and unexpected way. The film’s look and aesthetic were somewhat inspired by the Coen Brothers’ No Country For Old Men and the spaghetti westerns of Sergio Leone. The Directors wanted to create an atmosphere at the beginning of the film that would make the Sheriff’s later actions unexpected for the viewer. The film was shot in one day in July in Palmdale, CA — not the most pleasant of conditions for cast and crew.

Daniel chose to capture the images on ALEXA XT’s and Minis with Cooke Anamorphic prime and zoom lenses as well as an Angénieux Anamorphic zoom — all provided by Keslow Camera. He opted to shoot ARRIRAW in order to have the best resolution and most information when it came to grade the film, which was completed using DaVinci Resolve. Other tools utilized were a 45-foot Movie Bird crane provided by TCC and a Steadicam operated by Local 600 operator Christopher Glasgow.

Daniel would like to thank the directors (the Coles) for having him join them in this collaboration and the cast and crew for all their hard work. Special thanks to 1st AC Joseph Cannon, Steadicam operator Christopher Glasgow, SOC; Key Grip Rudy Covarrubias; Gaffer Blue Thompson and Technocrane operator Christian Hurley.