Iron Lung

Allen E. Ho, SOC, is a Taiwanese-American cinematographer and camera operator born and raised in a small town outside of Redlands, CA. For Allen, coming from a family of immigrants trying to assimilate in America, film acted as a language to bridge the gap between two cultures. He fell in love with movies at a young age and snuck into the local cinema so often that his parents had to limit how many movies he could see in a week. He would go on to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in Film Studies at University of California, Irvine and then an MFA in Cinematography from the University of Texas, Austin before putting down roots in Los Angeles in 2012.

After college, Allen worked on a variety of shorts, digital series, documentaries and live events. His more recent work includes Blackout, which was nominated for a NAACP Image Award for Best Live Action Short, and Artificial – a digital series awarded a Primetime Emmy for Innovation in Interactive Media. After joining Local 600 as a camera operator in 2019, Allen operated on popular television shows such as The Chosen and Grey’s Anatomy, and the feature films Jesus Revolution and Incoming.

Iron Lung is a suspense drama set after a severe tropical storm knocks out the power to one of the last remaining iron-lung ventilators, and a polio survivor and her engineer sister must race against time to find a way to survive. The project is directed by Jamaican-Cuban filmmaker Andrew Reid and features a diverse crew of talent behind the camera. It was supported by Panavision’s New Filmmaker Grant Program, which generously provided an ALEXA Mini camera package with Panavision Primos. For the look of the film, Allen wanted to push the limits of the sensor, shooting at a higher ISO with lower intensity lights. The intention was for the darkness to have texture and to slowly envelop the characters as they run out of hope. Working with the director, Allen and his team choreographed ways they could motivate light throughout the film, using hidden LED fixtures in modified practical units.

Allen credits his career to the support given by many mentors throughout his life: film scholar Fatimah Rony, Director/Director of Photography PJ Raval, and Directors of Photography Paul de Lumen and Larry Fong, ASC. He was invited to participate in ASC’s Vision Mentorship as well as Film Independent’s Project Involve. Recently he joined the Society of Camera Operators as an active member.