Rex Ballard is a

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

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 recording of a film, television production, music video or other live-action piece. The cinematographer is the chief of the camera ...

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 (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". The American author and media analyst Bill ...

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 network and flagship channel owned by the National Geographic Global Networks unit of Disney Enter ...

and

The History Channel History (formerly and commonly known as the History Channel) is an American pay television network and the flagship channel of A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the General Entertainment Content division of The Wa ...

, and camera work for television programs such as ''

Nanny 911 ''Nanny 911'' is an American reality television series that originally aired on Fox from November 3, 2004, to February 23, 2007, and on CMT from April 18 to June 6, 2009. Premise ''Nanny 911'' is loosely based on the British television progra ...

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

The Merv Griffin Show ''The Merv Griffin Show'' is an American television talk show starring Merv Griffin. The series had runs on two different networks on NBC (1962–1963) and CBS (1969–1972) but is most known for its run on first-run syndication from 1965 to 1 ...

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

Tony Bennett Anthony Dominick Benedetto (August 3, 1926 – July 21, 2023), known professionally as Tony Bennett, was an American jazz and traditional pop singer. He received many accolades, including 20 Grammy Awards, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, ...

, B. B. King,

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 female vocal group from Oakland, California, who achieved mainstream success during the 1970s and 1980s. They have had a repertoire with many genres, they have sold around 50 million records throughout their ...

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

Medtronic Medtronic plc is an American-Irish medical device company. The company's legal and executive headquarters are in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, while its operational headquarters are in Minneapolis, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Medtronic rebased to I ...

, 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)