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Kramer Versus the World by Gail Koffman
Herzog shoots the yard at the Big 'Q'. photo: courtesy K. Herzog
DECEMBER 13, 2005 IS KNOWN AS THE
execution date of Crips founder Stanley “Tookie” Williams at San Quentin State Prison in San Rafael. That was when film producer and videographer S. Kramer Herzog rented his San Quentin Village home to Fox News as a retreat site during its coverage of the controversial event—and when he initiated his shooting of a behind-the-scenes documentary that would earn critical acclaim.
“Eye of the Storm,” the 34-minute documentary, has reaped Kramer the CreaTV’s best producer award for 2012, the “Citizen Journalism” award for best short documentary at the Lighthouse International Film Fest, and was named by the Hometown Awards best independently produced documentary for community media programming in 2012. It was also an entry in the Denver Film Festival.
It all started when, in return for the use of his home, the Fox News crew granted Herzog permission to film and interact with them over the course of the 24 hours leading up to the midnight execution.
Herzog masterfully captured the reporters’ anxious conversations, interviews with protesters and the demonstrations leading up to the execution, including protestors trying to shout down a Fox News broadcast. As the reporters try to re-establish their position, the demonstrators shout louder, claiming Fox is interfering with their freedom of speech. The showdown escalates from a shouting match to shoving and hitting.
“Even I was assaulted a few times,” reports Kramer. “There was a lot of anger out there. Normally this is a calm, quiet community.”
Logo for Herzog's San Quentin film 'Eye of the Storm'. photo: courtesy K. Herzog
The documentary has picked up awards, Kramer believes, since it “objectively examines the firestorm of controversy” and because of his deft use of different camera angles, from high up to ground shots and close up shots of the faces of reporters and demonstrators. See the “Eye of the Storm” trailer here.
Producing award-winning films seems to be Kramer’s forté. His documentary “San Quentin Inside”, which presents a rare inside look at sports in prison, scooped up the 2010 Video Excellence Award for Western United States. He also produced a film about a San Quentin program, "No More Tears", which uses role-playing strategies to give inmates practical guidance on how to cope once they are released from prison to prevent recidivism.
His film “I Remember Mo-Me” won the 2010 The Hometown Award for Video Excellence, a tribute to his life lessons from his surrogate father Mozart Kaufman. His films about the art of carving Polynesian gourds by traditional Hawaiian artisans, “The Art of IPU,” and “Best Little Dancer in Gunnison,” about a nine-year-old dancer in Colorado also did well.
To what does he attribute to these awards? “Picking a subject that isn’t dry,” noted Kramer, dryly.
Kramer got his start in video production in 1978 when at age 35 he purchased his first black-and-white JVC video camera. He was living in the Colorado town Crested Butte at the time, and his first video program featured stories about the guests at a Colorado resort. His only professional training was a three-month filmmaking course at UC Berkeley.
Born and raised in San Rafael (his grandfather, Sigfried K. Herzog Sr., was the second mayor of San Rafael), Kramer returned to his Marin County roots and began producing videos for Marin Community TV in 1985. In 1994 he started taping AA meetings for St. James Recovery to air on the community TV channel.
Herzog relaxes at home. photo: courtesy K. Herzog
Over the years, Kramer became certified on all the video equipment at the Community Center of Marin (CMCM) and collaborated with other community producers on such shows as “Morocco,” “Comedy Campus,” “Teen Vision TV,” and “The Recovery Station.” He was also a lead cameraman for Comcast for four years.
He now operates his video production company, VideoZog, out of an office in San Rafael, strewn with memorabilia, trophies and family photos.
Kramer, who can be reached , is preparing to leave in August for a video shoot in South Africa, where he will document the delivery of over 100,000 meals to hungry orphans in a Capetown community by the Christian organization Kids Around the World. Stay tuned for more from this sharp-shooter.
Gail Koffman is a Marin County based freelance writer who loves edgy, alternative film and people and can be reached .