John Behrens

John Behrens (Technical Director, Tesla Coil Visual Effects) John began in Community Theater at age 12 and continued thru high school as a lighting designer and actor. He began experimenting with High Voltage at age 16. After high school following his passion for entertainment he moved into film and television, and visual effects. John is currently a Cinematographer who photographs independent features, television, documentaries and live music. He has toured the world with musicians such as, Michael Jackson and Sade. Recently, he co-designed the 15 camera live video system for Metallica’s latest world tour. He also spent time in Portugal and England in 2004 photographing the independent feature film The Other Half. In 2006 and 2007 John was aboard a TP-52 racing boat photographing ocean racing training for the upcoming Disney Pictures documentary Morning Light . When not traveling around the world John is the owner/operator of Point Beach Productions, a full service production and effects company for the Motion Picture and Television industry. In his spare time he still satisfies his passion for High Voltage, staging and performing Omega Recoil for live and television audiences world wide, in England, France, Germany, the US and the Burning Man festival in Nevada. John has also served as a High Voltage consultant for Discovery Channel’s Myth Busters.

In 1999 John began performing with Dr. Megavolt and Dr. Richards at Burning Man. For the following year he lead the design of a 2nd 9 foot Tesla coil based on Dr. Austin Richards electrical and physical design. John’s goal for the new coil was to create a large Tesla coil that had more sculptural aspects to the design as well as being easy to transport, set-up and breakdown. The triangular base of this new coil was the first of it’s kind in the Tesla coil community. With the help of: Austin Richards, Greg Solberg, Richard Cossel, William Keller, Paul Mathis, Gunthar Hartwig and Jonah Stein, the new coil was built for the 2 coil truck show at Burning Man 2000. Austin and John collaborated on shows at Burning Man in 2002, 2003, and 2006.

John was been the technical director of Dr. Megavolt since 2001 and produced commercial performances for : Oracle and Allergan as well as television performances for England’s Channel 4, France’s Canal Plus and Germany’s ZDF. With Dr. Richards, John also produced a performance for the TV show Ripley’s Believe it or Not on the TNT network. He has also produced the performances of Dr. Megavolt for the Fire Arts Festival for the Crucible in Oakland since 2004. During his time with Dr. Megavolt he has designed tricks, gags, and performances as well as creating Mistress Megavolt who was performed by Jessica Hobbs.

John has since formed the High Voltage performance group Omega Recoil as a departure from Dr. Megavolt. The new group is creating completely new performances incorporating extremely high voltage, science, art and social commentary.