Meet Ray Ellis | Director / Director of Photography / Owner – Footpath Pictures, Inc.

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ray Ellis and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ray, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
My wife, Susan and I were working for one of the largest film and video production companies in the southeast United States in the late 1990s and early 2000s. We worked on films, commercials, and interactive games with different ad agencies, Then 9/11 happened…and I think that changed everyone in one way or another. For sure, agency work dried up for awhile as the economy took a hit, but what drove Susan and I to start our own business was that we wanted to be producing work that meant something important to humanity and the greater good.

We were quite sure how we were going to do that, but someone handed Susan a brochure for three week volunteer-vacation trip with the international non-profit Care in Ayacucho, Peru. Besides volunteering at the local tutoring and after-school program in the city, we also took a camera and documented the entire trip, interviewing other volunteers and capurting the expansive work that CARE was doing for the Peruvian people. When we returned to the states, we edited a short video for CARE which they used to market their program and increase their volunteerism. It even played on Detla Airlines in-flight videos.

That is when it became obvious. We could use our story-telling talents for non-profits in the US and internationally to capture their amazing work in the areas of health and human need, the environment, education, etc That is the good work that we wanted to do and be of service to the rest of world.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
It has been a long but amazing journey. In the 1990s I was a freelancer in film and video production, so in a way I was running my own business early on but much different from Footpath Pictures today. As a freelancer, work would ebb and flow based on what productions were in the area. Freelancers got paid a day rate so when you didn’t work, you didn’t get paid. I learned early on that working hard, and going above and beyond would impress the producers and get you hired again next time.

At that time, I honed my skiils in production as a Gaffer (lighting direcotor) for both the DP and the Director. I paired attention to how directors and DPs worked, their individual styles and what worked and what didn’t. I also worked with 35mm film, Super 35mm and Anamorphic filming, so when things went digital with High Defintition and Digitial Cinematography, I had a solid foundation of knowledge in both the art and the science of film production.

I push myself very hard and I don’t settle for what it easiest. I want to make every shot count and capture an image that will move the viewer emotionally and keep them engage in the story. I constantly questioned how to better enhance the story with unique framing and dramartic lighting. In the edit room, I was even more focused on how to cut the scene so that the audience would be most moved by the story.

It took a lot of time. That investment mean long hours and little sleep. But what pushed me was not just about impress the client or even the next client, it was about being satisfied that I did all I could to make the best story possible.

I’ve learned that when you choose your career, pursue it with passion. Love what you do. If you don’t love what you do, you’ll never be satisfied. I hope that when people look at the body of work at Footpath Pictures, they will see people who prioritzed creativity, communication and service to others.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
There is so much to do in Colorado! That is a hard question. I’d say we’d start with a beer at The Great Divide Brewery tap room and then catch a Colorado Rockies baseball game or The Denver Nuggets. Dinner at Linger and the Dairy Block are a must one night of the week. Then we’ll head up to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park, down the Great Sand Dunes and over to the San Juan mountains. I love the outdoors so Colorado has a lot to offer.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Wow. That is a tough one because there are a lot of people that helped us along the way. We didn’t make it here by ourselves, I’ll try to go in chronological order:

Warren Gentry who was my mentor in directing and cinematography. He enlighten me to how to draw emotion out of framing, lens choice and lighting.

Susan’s parents, who supported us going out on our own and starting our own company.

CARE and The Nature Conservancy who were our first clients and trusted us, even though we were a new start-up, to tell their story in a way that moved people to support their work around the world.

The New Voices Foundation – The non-profit from North Carolina approached us to not just do a short video for their fund-raising purposes but to think about producing a feature length documentary on children with cerebral palsy. We did just that and it changed our company from there all out.

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