Jack Dunham is seen videotaping a bluegrass session.
Wizard, rather cinematographer, Jack Dunham, once made an enormous Wizard of Oz head suspend on the Paramount stage that awed Theatre Bristol audiences. With actor, director, lights, green screen and camera, Dunham set up the scene and used several different takes to create the final projection. Add in some smoke – no need for mirrors – and it was a bespoke visual effect.
For the presentation of“Disney’s The Little Mermaid,” Dunham once again engages his creative skills with the Theatre Bristol production team.
Dunham, recently narrator for the new Paramount documentary, is multi-talented and uniquely suited for this arts collaboration. His many skills include film, photography, animation, music, aerial direction and drone piloting, production and more.
He began his first-ever camera work with WCYB. “I had never held a camera before and what I produced would be on television that night.” Soon, he bought a 3D animation program and began to build his digital and special effects skills. Working through a filmed recording he notes that “editing is like a video game, and something comes out nice and you win.”
During those years with WCYB, Dunham reflected on a promo on championship wrestling with Johnny Wood, lining up specific moments with the 1812 Overture. “I’ve always loved the way music works with television and movies, such a natural thing. At that point, I was hooked.”
He went on to work in 4K, large format, $100K cameras and advanced editing programs.
To work with a community theater is a very different experience from Dunham’s clients through his Dunham Productions over the years. Dunham produced the daily press briefings for the 1996 Olympics; shot a Martin Luther King Jr. Day special for the Oprah Winfrey show in Atlanta; and served as a robotic jib operator for the Kings of Comedy.
He’s produced Explorer episodes with Bob Ellis; produced The Big Room at Theatre Bristol and the Paramount; and worked on a documentary about Shirley Franklin, the first African-American female mayor, in Atlanta. “I did all the shooting and got to sit beside her all day with a camera.”
He filmed corporate award trips for companies, like Electrolux, Johnson & Johnson, voting and ATM machine manufacturers cruises to Hawaii and the Caribbean, and the Black Voters Summit travels. He worked on a documentary about Bill Pinkney, the first African American to sail around the world solo.
Dunham worked on a PBS America series called “Real Stories, Real Moms, Real Savvy” on pregnancy and newborns, and a regional show for PBS America called “Two Lane Traveler.” Among his many other credits include camera and audio work on the ‘91 World Series, This Old House, the NBC Nightly News, CBS Sunday Morning with Charles Kuralt, CBS Evening News with Dan Rather, First Flights with Neil Armstrong, the ‘94 Superbowl, political campaigns, corporate work and work around the world.
This Tennessee High graduate has won two Telly awards too, for work on The Opioid Epidemic and The Learning Exchange.
For“Disney’s The Little Mermaid,” Dunham dove in with special effects to create seamless transitions from the stage to the screen and back to the stage again.
His technical skills and artistry bring a unique added element to“Disney’s The Little Mermaid.”
“How much of a pleasure it is to work with people who let me use my imagination and bring ideas and let me play with them,” says Dunham.
Like the Wizard, Dunham guides Theatre Bristol actors to film the rescue before a green screen. Hours of work result in a 60-second action scene perfectly aligned with the music.
“People on the front row, be careful of the splash!”
