Boston Public Library: McKim Building

Boston Public Library: McKim Building is a documentary on the McKim Building and what it still means to the city. We made it at Above Summit in 2022, with me as camera operator and senior editor, and it runs just under half an hour. Above Summit is the Somerville production studio where I worked as senior video editor, camera operator and gaffer.

The Shoot

The McKim Building runs on the library’s schedule, so we started very early and filmed before the doors opened, while the halls were clear and we had room to work. We shot on Canon C70s, RED Komodos and GoPros and flew a drone through the building. The clips above are from that shoot.

The building works on two scales. From the air it sits on Copley Square among the Back Bay towers, and inside it’s arched ceilings, long reading tables and brass doors. Between the ground cameras and the drone, we got both.

The Edit

As senior editor I had footage from every one of those cameras to pull together, on the ground and in the air. I cut all of it into one film about one building.

For Your Building

Filming inside a working institution means working around its hours and the people who use it. If you’ve got a building, a campus or a collection you want on film, I’ll plan the shoot around your schedule. There’s more on my work as a Boston camera operator and DP, or have a look at another Above Summit job, the CRISPR office design walkthrough.

Watch & Links

Watch on Vimeo → All films →