Rex Ballard is a

cinematographer The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the photographing or recording of a film, television production, music video or other live action piece. The cinematographer is the ch ...

with a career in movies, music videos and television programs
Ballard
served for seven years as the Principal Cinematographer of ABC's '' Extreme Makeover: Home Edition'', and is currently the

Director of Photography The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the photographing or recording of a film, television production, music video or other live action piece. The cinematographer is the ch ...

for the program. With more than 30 years of experience in television entertainment, Ballard has traveled the world working on a variety of projects including

documentaries A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in term ...

for

National Geographic Channel National Geographic (formerly National Geographic Channel; abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo or Nat Geo TV) is an American pay television television network, network and flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel owned by the National Geograp ...

and

The History Channel History (formerly The History Channel from January 1, 1995 to February 15, 2008, stylized as HISTORY) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney ...

, and camera work for television programs such as ''

Nanny 911 ''Nanny 911'' is a reality television show in the United States, which originally aired on Fox from 2004 to 2007. On February 27, 2008, Fox announced that it sold the rights to ''Nanny 911'' (as well as its partnered Fox show, '' Trading Spouses ...

'', '' Kid Nation'', ''Matlock'' and ''

The Merv Griffin Show ''The Merv Griffin Show'' is an American television talk show starring Merv Griffin. The series ran from October 1, 1962 to March 29, 1963 on NBC, May 10, 1965 to July 4, 1969 in first-run syndication, from August 18, 1969 to February 11, 1972 a ...

''. Ballard has also been behind the camera for music videos by artists including

Tony Bennett Anthony Dominick Benedetto (born August 3, 1926), known professionally as Tony Bennett, is an American retired singer of traditional pop standards, big band, show tunes, and jazz. Bennett is also a painter, having created works under his birth ...

BB King Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shimm ...

The Neville Brothers The Neville Brothers were an American R&B/soul/funk group, formed in 1976 in New Orleans, Louisiana. History The group notion started in 1976, when the four brothers of the Neville family, Art (1937–2019), Charles (1938–2018), Aaron (b. 19 ...

and

The Pointer Sisters The Pointer Sisters are an American pop and R&B singing group from Oakland, California, that achieved mainstream success during the 1970s and 1980s. Their repertoire has included such diverse genres as pop, jazz, electronic music, bebop, b ...

, and has developed commercials and features for most major national broadcast networks and many national brands.Rex Ballard - About This Person - Movies & TV - NYTimes.com
/ref> Ballard is also an innovator,

inventing An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an i ...

a special camera crane for filming inside operating rooms as part of his 30 years of work with

Medtronic Medtronic plc is an American medical device company. The company's operational and executive headquarters are in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and its legal headquarters are in Ireland due to its acquisition of Irish-based Covidien in 2015. While it ...

, filming surgeries used to educate individuals in the medical profession. The crane he developed allows surgeons to teach as they are operating on the patient without the filming process obstructing the view or surgical work in any way. In the early 1980s, Ballard also helped design, build and manufacture The Barber Baby Boom, a 100% mechanical jib arm that was the first of its kind in the industry. Additionally, Ballard designed a movable jib base specifically to address the challenges of filming on construction locations for ABC's ''Extreme Makeover: Home Edition''. Engineered with special tires so the jib base can be moved from location to location and he later went on to develop a motorized version of the jib base to make set-up and movement even easier that has been used in recent seasons of the program.

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ballard, Rex Living people American cinematographers Year of birth missing (living people)