East Aurora native Shane Hurlbut was working in Hollywood as a grip truck driver on “Phantasm 2,” a modestly budgeted horror film, when a colleague made an inquiry that would illuminate Hurlbut's true calling.

“We were on a crematorium set and he asked me if I would be scared to walk in there, but every nook and cranny of the place was lit. From that point on, everything I looked at was light,” Hurlbut said.

There may indeed be no better way of describing Hurlbut's career choice than a light bulb metaphor. As a director of photography, Hurlbut has managed the arrangements of color and light in music videos, commercials and major motion pictures for more than ten years.

Hurlbut's most recent work, “We Are Marshall,” stars Matthew McConaughey as the coach of a college football team recovering from the loss of several players in a plane crash.

“There's a freshness you feel when you get in there, when you're on the field, you feel like you're in the huddle,” said Hurlbut, who is also a member of the American Society of Cinematographers.

The highlights of Hurlbut's resume include music videos for The Rolling Stones and Smashing Pumpkins, as well as the feature films “Drumline,” “Waist Deep” and “The Greatest Game Ever Played.” He is currently in pre-production on “Semi-Pro,” a basketball comedy set in the '70s, starring Will Ferrell.

As they discussed how they could capture the aesthetic hallmarks of the '70s in the film, Ferrell told Hurlbut that “Semi-Pro” would be the first comedy where, as the wildly popular comic told him, “People are laughing their asses off and saying, 'Hey, this looks good too!'”

Ferrell is far from the first Hollywood luminary to appreciate Hurlbut's work. He strives to light his sets in such a way that actors need not constrain themselves to one precise point where the lights align perfectly on their faces. This approach to photography finds a welcome audience with actors, especially those who, like Ferrell, prefer to improvise their words and movements from one take to the next.

Hurlbut often encounters other actors who are true to their somewhat self-conscious stereotypes and consult with him to ensure that his light falls upon their facial features in just the right way. Although he works to help actors look their best, Hurlbut is out to do more than beautify.

“My lighting style is very real, I'm not a movie star lighter,” Hurlbut said.

Despite collaborating with celebrities at work, Hurlbut prefers to keep his distance from Hollywood's massive culture club at home. In 2003 he purchased an avocado orchard in Santa Rosa Valley, where he lives with his wife, Lydia, also of Aurora, and children Kyra, 8, and Myles, 5.

“My wife keeps me incredibly based in reality and knocks me back,” Hurlbut said. “That's one reason I love her so much.”

The orchard also gives Hurlbut's children a glimpse of how he grew up. The absence of traffic and street lights at Hurlbut's home summons memories of the serene rural setting of his childhood. However, the orchard's six acres are dwarfed by the 250 Hurlbut enjoyed as a young boy in East Aurora, where he lived and worked with his parents Ronald and Sylvia Hurlbut.

“He wasn't afraid to attempt anything - he made his own maple syrup for three years with his friends,” said Sylvia. “He had his own water evaporator.”

His father, Ronald, added, “He worked long and hard to get where he is, and he had more than a good home life. That makes all the difference.”

Hurlbut's parents are also grateful, if unsurprised to see that their son's life in Los Angeles has not gone to his head.

“He became friends with Bill Paxton (director of ”The Greatest Game Ever Played“) but most of his friends are teachers, they're not in Hollywood,” said Sylvia.

Hurlbut did not have Hollywood in his sights from a young age - unlike fellow filmmakers like Steven Spielberg, who Hurlbut recently met through Jerry Seinfeld while working on previews to the comedian's upcoming animated feature, “Bee Movie.”

“It's not like I went around shooting Super-8 movies as a kid,” Hurlbut said.

In his early years, Hurlbut focused his creative energies on music rather than film. He spun records at high school dances as part of a DJ duo with his friend Dan Wade. After a classmate observed that Hurlbut had a “radio voice,” the light bulb turned on and Hurlbut was on his way to Herkimer, where he completed an associate degree in the TV/radio program.

Hurlbut's path to working in moving pictures began after his first year at Boston's Emerson College, when he worked as a crew member on a local production headed by his friend and filmmaker, Gabe Torres. The feature was called “The Legend of Firefly Marsh,” and Hurlbut found the experience of working on a film set to be “absolutely amazing.” The light bulb had turned on once again.

When Hurlbut returned to Emerson, he plowed through every film course he could find on his way to finishing his bachelor's degree in mass communication.

“I basically finished a four-year film degree in one year,” Hurlbut said.

Despite having the degree to his name, Hurlbut attributes the greater share of his success in the film industry to his experiences working on his parents' farm in East Aurora.

“Growing up in Hollywood and going to film school is one side of the craft, but the other is being able to think on your feet and react,” Hurlbut said. “The ship goes wrong 92 percent of the time on set, so that's where that farm common sense comes in.”

As Hurlbut fashions his reputation in Hollywood with each film he adds to his resume, he also entertains the notion of becoming a director. But for the time being, he believes that cinematographers have the better job, even if they don't enjoy as large a share of the limelight.

Staff writer David Wilcox can be contacted at 253-5311, ext. 245 or david.wilcox@lee.net