John Beck Hofmann
John Beck-Hofmann (born 1969) is an American director, cinematographer, composer and actor. He is sometimes credited as John Beck . Background. John Beck-Hofmann was born in Omaha, Nebraska, and moved to Pasadena, California in 1991. He currently lives in Hollywood, California. Early career. In addition to his cinematic contributions for multiple television programs on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), Discovery Channel, Science Channel and National Geographic, he has served as stage manager for Geraldo Rivera from 1999 - 2003 for both CNBC and Fox networks as well as for other CNBC/FOX hosts such as Chris Matthews  and Greta Van Susteren. Current work. He currently serves as a director of photography for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. His work has appeared in the IMAX feature film "Roving Mars", James Cameron's "Aliens of the Deep", and "NOVA"'s "Mars: Dead or Alive?" & "Welcome to Mars". His more recent cinematography work can be seen in the National Geographic program "Five Years on Mars", which won an Emmy in 2009 for outstanding science and technology programming. His 1999 documentary on the Mars Pathfinder Mission, "The Pathfinders", won a Gold Plaque award at the Chicago International Film  Festival by Intercom. Beck-Hofmann is currently producing and directing several documentaries for NASA/JPL. His current video series project called "The Martians", is a web series, following people from around the world, who work on activities related to our journey to Mars. "The Martians" can be seen at: The Martians. Hofmann has also published a number of videos in his Youtube page, including "7 Minutes of Terror", which describes the atmospheric entry, descent and landing of the Mars Science Laboratory rover, scheduled for August 2012, and features several engineers from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory involved in the MSL  project. Beck-Hofmann's latest dramatic television work can be seen in the international conspiracy thriller "Tyranny", which plays on Koldcast, and Tyranny.tv. "Tyranny" was accepted as part of the official selection of the Geneva International Film Festival, November 2010. "Tyranny" also received four nominations for: sound design, soundtrack, best looking show and best thriller. Beck-Hofmann's controversial conspiracy documentary "Maidan massacre" (2014) is presented like this on Imdb.com: "Maidan Massacre is an investigative documentary into the shootings which occurred on February 20th, 2014, when nearly 50 people were gunned down on the streets of Kiev's Independence square . The massacre was the result of Euromaidan a massive three-month-long protest against the former Government of Viktor Yanukovich and his decision to reject a trade deal with the EU. Although no thorough investigation had been conducted, the blame was immediately placed on the officers who served under Yanukovich. This program investigates the scene of the crime, interviewing those who were there when the shootings occurred, and seeks to answer the questions as to who really was shooting that day on Kiev's Independence square - a place known to the people of Ukraine, as Maidan. - Written by John Beck  Hofmann" Music. Beck-Hofmann has played in several bands: SnoGlobe (1994–1996), Terminal-3 (1999–2001) and Silasfunk (2006). He has also created music used in multiple television shows, such as FX's "Nip/Tuck", MTV's "The Real World", Travel Channel's "Eye of the Beholder" and multiple NASA documentaries. He composed the original score for the ongoing conspiracy thriller "Tyranny the Series" under the name "Silasfunk". Beck-Hofmann currently lives in Hollywood, California.