Bobby Weisblatt talks to Atlanta cinematographer and filmmaker Trevor May on the making of the film “On Island”, the art of documentary filmmaking and an upcoming project.

Check out Trevor’s work at @trevorpmay and at @straighttotell on instagram.

“On Island” Directed by Trevor Kane, DP Trevor May

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Shownotes:

00:30 – Introduction

01:44 – How did you get into film making? When did you decide that this was your career path?

10:11 – Discussion on the feature documentary, “On Island” centered on the community in Martha’s Vineyard and the drug, alcohol and substance abuse programs in the area. Could you share how you captured the feeling of community as the cinematographer of the project?

19:55 – People who have influenced Trevor. Filmmaker Sean Dunn who focuses on finding unique subcultures that people haven’t covered, the idea of sharing space with people and talking to them without making your picture seem a certain way + making people feel safe and respected in order to get real honesty

23:37 – Balancing “not about me”,  being about the space, vs capturing the beauty of landscape

25:47 – Filming the “On Island” documentary during COVID-19 in Martha’s Vineyard

37:00 Making something feel like you are having a conversation with someone and being in someone’s living room

38:48 – Examining Theo Anthony’s “Rat Film” (2016) on Baltimore , the idea of navigating space in the film with a small camera

53:38 – What do you have coming up?

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Trevor May is a cinematographer and filmmaker from Atlanta, GA. His focus is primarily on documentary storytelling but has worked in narrative, commerical and music videos as well.