The Vision Center An Idea From the Tech Community to
by Lisa Stacilausakas, SOC
Fight Childhood Blindness
Left: Clay Westervelt (Director), Joel Deutsch (DP) and Joe Gunawan (1st AC) discuss the shot. Right: Dr. Mark Borchert and Joshua Corbaley try out new technology on camera. Dr. Thomas C. Lee, Director of the Vision Center at Children Hospital Los Angeles is visionary (no pun intended) and progressive. His list of achievements and innovations in treating children with complex eye diseases are astounding (look him up at CHLA.org). Equally great is his talent for getting the best out of the people working with him, and that includes us—the Society of Camera Operators. In the summer of 2016, Dr. Lee made a presentation to the SOC Board of Governors, who attended both in person and remotely from filming locations, reporting that recent videos produced by the SOC for The Vision Center helped procure over $4M in funding. With this new knowledge, SOC president, George Billinger and the SOC Board of Governors agreed to boost the SOC’s commitment to The Vision Center by increasing the budget for the video, and make it a part of the annual operating budget of the organization. Thus ensuring the funds to produce a professional quality video annually. After three years, director Clay Westervelt and I had learned the best way to discover the topic for the current year’s video is to meet with Dr.Lee and ask, “What interesting things is The Vision Center doing right now?” Inevitably, numerous ideas emerge, but this year the idea of a Research Incubator/Accelerator stood out. It’s an idea that Dr. Lee gleaned from the tech community in Silicon Valley. This kind of out-ofthe-box thinking is what makes Dr. Lee a visionary. He looks to technologies and ideas outside the medical community for inspiration (see past videos on The Vision Center’s innovations at SOC.org website). As a counterpoint to all the tech talk and medical jargon, and to present an inspiring, optimistic tone, Clay proposed infusing the piece with a little humor, mostly poking fun at Silicon Valley stereotypes. It turned out to be a tough sell to the hospital due to its closely guarded image as a serious institution, but in the end, and with the amazing
CAMERA OPERATOR · SPRING 2017
voiceover talent of actor/comedian, T.J. Miller, I think we found the right balance. Dr. Lee plans to use the video to target donors in the tech community so speaking their language and poking a little fun should help break the ice. In fact, within days of completing the video, Dr. Lee had it in front of a donor who then made a $5 million estate commitment to The Vision Center. Woohoo! As always, a slew of volunteers and donations made the video possible: T.J. Miller, Clay Westervelt, SOC, Lisa Stacilauskas, SOC, Joel Duetsch, SOC, Amanda Thurman, Alicia Robbins, SOC, Louis Normandin, SOC, Keith Jefferies, SOC, Jae Shim, Joe Gunawan, Somlit Inthalangsy, Brooke Damato, Joshua Corbaley, Gary Hebert, Lee Sanders, Adam Parrish King, Kyle Hardy, Allison Jensen, Charles Smith II, David Yee, Imaginaut Entertainment, Evidence Cameras, Evidence Film Studios, Matthews Studio Equipment, G&L Entertainment Inc., Soundworks, Shapeshifter, and all the staff at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. Thank you to you all!
Lisa Stacilauskas, SOC has been an Active member of the SOC since 2008. She has served on the Board of Governors as third Vice-President, and Chairman of the Charity Committee which oversees the SOC's charitable activities, especially related to The Vision Center at the Children's Hospital Los Angeles. She's currently working on the new ABC comedy, American Housewife. Photo by Matthew Meindl
43