Observations from the field on sports, action, and the craft of capturing split-second moments before they are lost forever.
Field Notes is where Reel Kinetic shares ideas, lessons, and observations from the work itself.
Some notes come from live sports shoots.
Others come from the wider experience behind Reel Kinetic Media — years of studying how emotion shapes action, and how action reveals emotion, across martial arts, stunts, comedy, video games, and behind-the-scenes film documentaries.
Others come from the tools we test and use — cameras, lenses, color, sound, communication systems, editing workflows, and production gear that help shape the final image.
This is not about chasing trends or talking about equipment for its own sake.
It is about understanding what makes a moment matter — and how craft, instinct, preparation, and technology can help reveal the story inside it.
FIELD NOTES #006: The $2,245 Question: Is This Cinema Camera Really a Bargain?
A $2,245 cinema camera is enough to make me rethink my kit. But once lenses, workflow, and the demands of live sports enter the picture, the Blackmagic PYXIS 6K raises a bigger question: what makes a bargain worth buying?
FIELD NOTES #005: Why We’re Becoming Reel Kinetic Films
Reel Kinetic Media is becoming Reel Kinetic Films. Here’s why we’re changing the name—and how our filmmaking roots, digital tools, and commitment to human stories shape the way we capture live sports.
FIELD NOTES #004: READING THE RHYTHM
A fight is a conversation without words. Drawing on a lifetime in martial arts, stunt coordination, and action filmmaking, I reflect on the rhythm, deception, adaptation, and consequence I witnessed while filming DeCourcy vs. Mellor at UNF 38. The complete cinematic MMA short film is included at the end of the Field Note.
FIELD NOTES #003: BEYOND COVERAGE
The scoreboard tells you who won. It doesn’t tell you why anyone cared. Beyond Coverage explores why great sports media should preserve more than the play—it should preserve the human journey that gave the moment its meaning.
FIELD NOTES #002: A DUDE AND HIS DOG
How a man and his dog on the wet sand at The Wedge in Newport Beach became the emotional anchor of a surfing film shot during the Hurricane Narda swell—and how editing can create non-verbal dialogue without a single spoken word. The short film is included in this post.
FIELD NOTES # 001: WHY WE BUILT TITAN
Big sports and action events can feel epic in person, but ordinary footage can make them look distant, flat, or forgettable. Titan was built to change that — a long-range cinematic system designed to make faraway action feel immediate, powerful, and cinematic.