I recently completed some After Effects work for a client. I was given a mountain of advertising pieces from all over the world that New Balance needed for a media sizzle at one of their conventions. I had to design for three separate screens with the center being 1920×384. It also needed to follow the beat of an Enrique Iglesias song which I won’t include here due to copyright. I was fortunate enough to acquire some footage shot at the actual event. Check it out!
A few days ago I headed up to 4 Mile beach to scout some locations for a potential short film. As I was walking out to the beach a man stopped me and asked if I was shooting photographs. I told him what I was up to and he asked if I would like to shoot him rescuing a stranded baby elephant seal. So I quickly threw down my gear, grabbed my camera and sprung into action. Minus the bad audio and lack of planning it turned out to be a really fun and unique experience. I am considering following up with the center to possibly do either a series on their rescues or possibly a documentary, but for now I wanted to throw this together so everyone could see the important work the Marine Mammal Center is doing in our area.
As I was digging through some of my footage to rework my demo reel, I decided to throw together some of my collection of scenics and surfing I’ve been shooting since moving out to Santa Cruz. It’s a work in progress and still lacks a lot of really great shots I want to get, but I wanted to show how amazing this place really is.
Recently I loaned out the Land Cruiser to be featured in a local indie zombie pilot. Check out Help! I’m Alive… for more behind the scenes photos from the shoot.
My wife spends some of her free time volunteering for the United Way of Santa Cruz. She got involved in planning a large charity auction and gala. On display would be one of the worlds largest private Marilyn Monroe collections. Being that my wife is so generous, she “voluntold” my services to create promotional videos for the event. So I sat down with the committee and we decided to create a promo for their website and local television. The day before the event the collection would also be on display for people to check out before it tours Europe next month. In addition to the promo we decided to create a short documentary about the collector himself. This would give people an opportunity to learn more about the collection as they walked through the exhibit. Special thanks to Will Duncan who performed the interview and shot 2nd camera.
Tim and Will aren’t your typical missionaries. These guys have been spreading the gospel since 1998 to over 70 countries in some of the most remote locations on the planet. They are now in their fifth season of reality television on TBN and I’ve been fortunate enough to get on board as a series editor.
I’ve cut a few scenes already for the show including their travels to Vanuatu , a remote island in the Pacific complete with active volcano, where they visit one cult tribe that worships a former Navy sailor and another that worships the current Prince of England. In another scene they travel to the Salomon Islands to visit a skull shrine and disciple to some of the local tribes.
It’s dramatic. It’s fast-paced. It’s exciting. Check out their website at traveltheroad.com or tune in to TBN every week at 11:30/EST.
Well, that settles it. I’ve officially gone independent. After nearly nine years of working a full-time job, I’ve decided to become a full-time freelancer. I was fortunate enough to get a few gigs lined up before leaving my job and things have taken off rather smoothly.
Although I love to get out and shoot whenever I can, I’ve decided to focus my career on editing. My true passion lies in digging through hours of footage and figuring out the best way to put a story together. I decided the best way to start was to get my edit suite out of our guest bedroom and set up shop in the garage. I partitioned off half of the space for my suite and the other half is a surfboard storage area/gym/workshop. Now I can jam out and crank on edits any time of day and not worry about disturbing my wife or the occasional house guest. It’s still a work in progress, but everything is set and functioning.
I did a shoot a few weeks ago in San Francisco for an agency out of Los Angeles called Super!Alright! The crew working the shoot was awesome (Shout-outs to @jessedana, @bryanbaeta, and @superalright) and made the days fly by. While at work today I got a text from my wife saying “You know that Dell commercial you shot? It’s the second most viewed video on YouTube today!” Check it out!
Crunched two late nights at work to deliver this piece. These are the biggest moments from the 2011 Reebok CrossFit Games. I chose to slow some of the shots down to aid with the drama and awesomeness of the competitors. One thing I learned from this edit is that Optical Flow in Apple’s Motion worked better on the shots i wanted to slow than the Twixtor plugin for After Effects. There was a lot of trial and error finding shots that would work and not jello too bad. Some of the shots worked very well and others not so much. When it takes 5 minutes to render a 3 second clip on a tight deadline, some times you just have to let some questionable ones slide. My personal favorite was the slowed shot of the female swinging on the bars at 5:11.
I recently purchased a cheap Vizio 22″ LED to use for a client and lighting monitor on video shoots. I needed a way to mount it to a c-stand for viewing in the field. I could have bought an expensive mount, but decided to go the DIY route on this one.
Materials:
5/8″ weldable steel rod $10 (Any length will do, but need to cut it down to about 4 inches)
LCD Monitor TV Flat Panel Wall Mount $13
You will need to get the rod and wall plate down to bare metal for the weld.
Now comes the fun part. Welding!
Give it a final mockup before applying the finish coat.
