Mud Brothers

How's this for a fun old film? It was recorded by my dad way back in the day, and I think it's a brilliant little piece of storytelling. The idea of capturing real moments like this (and attempting to manufacture them once in a while as well) is one of the reasons I wanted to get into video production. You are looking at some of my inspiration.

I always thought this clip would make a good character developing flashback in a larger work, possibly to demonstrate the start of a character's corruption or something. I'm not saying that's what happened to me in real life, but in some ways this does respresent my relationship with my older brother and our separate personalities. I think this piece speaks for itself.

I added the Smashing Pumpkins soundtrack and the feathered edge to increase the dreaminess of it. That's what it feels like to me when I watch it: a dream or a faded memory. I'm so glad I have this one preserved.

Solstice weekend

Well, the weekend was as full as predicted. The Solstice festival on Saturday was sort of overshadowed (at least in my mind) by the music video shoots on Friday and Sunday. We did attend the parade, but to be honest, I thought it was a little dull. Last year's parade, being that it took place two days after we moved into town, seemed more eye-opening and odd. It was quite a first impression; this year felt more like a rerun. I'm glad we didn't invest too much time into waiting on the curb for it to start. We were actually a little late because we were busy "getting our wine on" with some Newcomer friends. I enjoyed socializing with them and continuing to make use of our porch. It sure beat facing the crowds at the beer garden in the park.

After the events in town we attended two BBQs. One was with R's coworkers, which made for a good opportunity to put some faces with names, not to mention eat some excellent food. The other party was at our friend Paul's house. We were worn out by this time and didn't stay long, but it was worth the stop. Paul and company are hip people and it's always a pleasure to hang out with them.

Back to the video shoots... It felt great to be on a set again, to witness somebody's artistic vision materialize, to help where I could... mainly in the form of crowd wrangling, set design, grip work... anything I could to make the director's job easier and allow him to focus on the creative stuff. It was a role I will gladly accept, especially when I stand behind the project as much as this one. Friday night -- with its fog machine'd trees and extra large crescent moon -- was the perfect setting for a party, and I'm pretty sure that translated onto the footage. I can't wait to see the results.

I was busy during the filming and didn't take too many of my own shots, but check out what I have in this gallery. Note: the people playing instruments in the photos are NOT the band. They were just some extras goofing around during a break. You'll have to wait a few weeks to see the real stars.

Time rides a bullet train

After tweeting so much lately, writing a blog entry feels like a lot of typing. I'm forgetting how to form a paragraph. Twitter is definitely easier to keep up-to-date when you are short on time -- a situation that applies to this week -- but I'm not ready to give up long form blogging altogether.

This weekend looks packed to the brim. I’m excited to be helping with the previously mentioned music video tonight and most of Sunday. I met with the director and gaffer on Wednesday to go over the shots and help set up. They have a giant, self-lit, fake moon that we hung from a tree. It is going to look so awesome on camera, floating over the heads of the band. I can't wait to see this come together.

Tomorrow, we have multiple BBQs to attend in the afternoon/evening, plus some people are stopping by our place for a drink before we head down to the Solstice parade and festival earlier in the day. I’d still like to get the house cleaned (or at least organized) before then. That will be my job tomorrow morning while R prepares some food for the BBQs. It’s all about teamwork.

The last few weekends have been a little quieter. We've been attending more Newcomer events, most notably a luau and another trip up to wine country. Otherwise, we’ve just been enjoying the start of summer: potting plants (pictured above), going out for coffee or dinner, biking to the beach, hanging out on our porch, etc. Can you believe that R and I moved here one year ago from today?

R had her wisdom teeth removed a few weeks ago. The recovery period was as unpleasant as a person, especially one with his or her own extraction experience, might expect. But she handled it well and followed the doctor’s orders to a T. Plus, she looked really cute with those puffy cheeks. Unfortunately, the camera was off limits during this time :-(

I do hope to take a few photos this weekend. The parade is sure to provide an interesting subject.

Campus Scope ad

Check out this clip that aired on my college campus' TV station circa 1999... and has been rarely seen by anybody since. A guy named Stephen did most of the work for this one. I helped mainly with the concept and by sharing my wondrous acting ability with the world. As long as we're laying down some sarcasm, I should also mention how great the buzzed sides of my self-given haircut look. See for yourself.


I digitized this video, along with some old news packages I made for Campus Scope (our monthly college news program), from a VHS tape a few years ago. And I just recently unearthed the files on my hard drive. It was fun to pull them out, see some of the old sights around campus (like my dorm room in the video above), and fondly remember the early days of my hobby.

When you watch this you have to keep in mind it was made before digital video cameras and nonlinear editing software were available to students like us. Today you can probably shoot a better looking clip on a cell-phone. The editing here was done on a reel-to-reel tape machine. I remember spending many hours in that editing suite, usually late at night because that was the only time it was available. Sometimes I would sneak in and work on my personal projects as well. I don't think that was allowed on the school's equipment, but I made a point of never asking because I didn't want to know for sure. One of my favorite old shorts, "Marco Polo," was created during these times (that one has yet to make its internet debut).

I was so thrilled by the process back then. It seemed like anything could be made interesting if you put it in front of a camera. Distorting time and mixing images via editing was like a magic trick. It's kind of a shame now that I have a decent camera and my own personal editing system, and here I am NOT constantly using it. Maybe I'm running out of ideas. Maybe the pressure of my day job is sucking the life out of me. Maybe I'm worried that I don't have the resources (e.g. people, lights, a smooth tripod) to make anything that will look good enough. But rising standards or a lack of time should not be an excuse; I need to get out there and shoot something new.

There was one interesting development this week... I was asked to assist with a music video shoot happening during an upcoming weekend. It's for the local band Threadspinner who, as you probably know, I'm a big fan of. Once again, it's not my own project, but the group of people involved with the video and the music are incredibly creative and it is an honor to get the chance to work with them. Also, from what I've heard of the shoot so far, it sounds right up my late-night-atmosphere-loving alley. I'll let you know how it goes.

Not desperate enough…

...but airing on a nationally televised program anyway!?!

Remember the "YARD" video I posted a few entries ago? It didn’t win the contest, but we received an email from the promoters saying our submission was “one of [their] favorites” and they want to play it in an episode of Desperate Landscapes on June 25th! They asked me to send a copy of the video with the LOST music/sounds removed, due to copyright concerns.

Unfortunately we don’t get the DIY Network, but I noticed that Hulu airs the show. I’m extremely excited to know that something I shot may be appearing on national cable. (This will top my Restaurant Week ad which only aired locally.) I’m trying not to get too pumped until I see it actually happen, but let’s hope this does indeed come to fruition.

I'll be watching.

Rose Overload

One of the things I've been wanting to use this blog for is to share some videos that aren't necessarily my finest work. Some might be home movies (like the recent kite and skiing videos); some might be clips from short films I made years ago; and some might be new, experimental pieces that are stepping stones between more major projects (see the example below). I don't want to post all of these "B movies" on Vimeo or YouTube because if somebody Googles me, I'd prefer they come across the pieces that I am most proud of rather than these lesser works. By posting them on my blog instead, along with a brief explanation, I feel like I can retain more control of my image and keep my better output from becoming diluted. Yeah, I'm narcissistic like that.

The clip below is my first experiment with some free animation software called Monkey Jam. It's an easy-to-use program that basically takes whatever images you give it and plays them one after another, allowing you to put together some simple stop-motion.

For this one, I imported 200 photos of flowers snapped in our condo's rose garden, added a few titles, picked out a Depeche Mode song, and voila...


Fun stuff. I already have a second animation test in the planning phase. The new one will be more true to the concept of stop motion and, if all goes according to plan, will feature our good friend R. I'm excited!