Orlando, Florida - International director/cameraman and educator Calvin Crane “hit the ground running" after he and spouse Christel Crane, a documentary producer, moved their operational base from Washington D.C. recently.

A famed South Beach venue, the Opium Club, was the site of a shoot with Jessica and Ashlee Simpson for New Jersey production company DWJ. The challenge was to capture both entertainers following the MTV award bash. The crew got the shots that the client needed including an interview with Ashlee - but not before a jumpy bodyguard pepper-sprayed fans that got too eager. In the melee that followed Crane was heard to remark, “its like shooting in a mosh pit!” The day wasn’t over until after a visit to a North Miami teleport for the feed to New York at 2:45 a.m. The footage was cut into VNR’s that began distribution that same morning.  

It was all hands on deck for NBC as Hurricane Frances took aim at Florida. NBC’s Atlanta bureau led the charge with Crane brought in by MSNBC’s national desk to provide arresting visuals for the breaking national news coverage. Working through the height of the storm Crane discovered that there was more to "arresting' than just the heart-pounding visuals. The truck was halted numerous times by law officers enforcing curfews. When the weather got really lousy “we no longer had that particular problem”, says Crane.

In order to keep the truck "in play" at the peak of Frances, Crane and his crew stayed out around the clock. With wind gusting to 80 to 90 mph the only shooting position was through the windshield or in the lee of the truck. When there was good stuff “in the can” the crew called back to the NBC base in the Disney World Resort Hilton. Engineering staff was ready to immediately log and uplink the tapes to New York for distribution. Frances brought the crew to a near standstill several times with the crew struggling to keep control of their 4WD SUV. Traveling over major highways lent a surreal sense to the scene. “Several times we were on the I-4 without seeing a single car”, said Crane. “Shooting at the airport was creepy. Orlando International is busy at almost any time of day. The parking lot was packed, but there was not a soul to be seen.” Most humans had taken cover during Frances. Area wildlife had nowhere else to go. “I filmed a group of six herons hanging out in the lee of a patch of woods. They were acting like, we’ve seen this all before.”

Crane also shoots and lights for tape and 16mm and 35mm film projects. He is a veteran of large-scale corporate projects and television commercials as well as television news.  Currently an Adjunct Professor of Film and Digital Media at  the University of Central Florida and a Consultant in Entertainment Technology to Valencia Community College, he is active both as a teacher and as a member of the National Council for History Education and the National Council for the Social Studies. The Cranes recently returned from a two-month shoot in the Kingdom of Bahrain, an island nation in the Arabian Gulf. With Mrs. Crane, Calvin won the Gold Special Jury Award for Documentary/Television Series at the 2002 Houston International Film Festival.

Calvin may be booked by contacting Christel Crane locally at 321 242 7960 or via D.C. mobile number 571 242 1080. Email: calvin@tcom2.com.