LightWave Media

A company built around the picture.

bridge the gap between human intuition and technology — building a company where AI agents, systems thinking, and world-class craft converge to create lasting value for clients, audiences, and the creative industry.

Independent. Personally involved.

Filmmakers, first.

LightWave is our production company and the home of our creative practice. We work directly with directors, producers and production companies, contributing the people, images and technical thinking a film needs. Based in Los Angeles, our work takes us across the United States and internationally.

The founders

Two disciplines. One conversation.

Joel E. Schaeffer and Erin Gilchrist bring cinematography and producing into the same company. We can work together on a production or join in a specific role.

Our perspective

The vision stays human.

Our mission is to empower meaningful visual storytelling and humane technology through mastery of image-making. We care about the craft of a film and the systems that carry it to the screen. Tools support the work. People give it a point of view.

In development

The practice also shapes our systems.

We design and use systems for our own creative practice. The Creative Operating System connects the whole; CineOS is its filmmaking domain.

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