Following in the mode of my last post, I've been looking for ways to branch out as a storyteller in the digital age. I've been doing some research on Youtube, Vimeo, and the internet in general to see where I can settle in and have a place of my own. I know what format I want this new site I'm designing to take and the content I want to create. I haven't found anything else of it's kind but, through my research, I have found a lot of interest in it.
The down side to my situation is the same problem I've had in the past with my other projects: Place and Equipment. However, unlike my other projects, I may have a solution available to me. With my other projects, the benefit was all on my side, and therefore made it difficult to partner with anyone else. My ideas, stories, credit, etc. However, with my new project I may have found a partner. I apologize for the ambiguity in all of this. Since none of this is official yet I don't want to start throwing my ideas out there only to see someone else get to them before I can. Also, as my partnership isn't set yet I don't want to count my chickens before they hatch. Suffice to say, they have been looking for content, and I have been looking for a little space of my own to shoot videos (with their equipment).
Some of the sites I came across during my research have really inspired me so I'll list them below. Some of them are comedic, others are more serious, but all of them have found their place in the current digital world.
Rhett and Link
Ted Talks
Freddie W
Will It Blend
How Stuff Works
All of these have their own Youtube and/or Vimeo channels and other places online that they have found success reaching out to their audiences. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Monday, January 30, 2012
New Technologies, New Horizons
I saw the film "The Artist" this past week and it made me think of how similar the film business is to the character of George Valentin. As the silent films faded away before the advent of talking pictures, George fought against it. He gambled everything he had on trying to maintain the old ways, and he lost. Times changed and the audiences moved on leaving him penniless and unhappy.
As new technologies gain power in the entertainment industry, it seems the old guard are fighting against them as hard as they can. The internet, particularly, has promised to bring change to the entertainment landscape for some time now and that change is coming now. I marvel how history repeats itself time and again. Just as George Valentin fought against the talkies, so now the movie distribution companies are fighting against the internet.
I spoke recently with a man who has worked in film distribution for the last thirty years. While he agrees that change is difficult, painful and always uncertain, he also finds it exciting and exhilarating. He's working on finding a way to bridge the gap between the old and the new; using the knowledge and experience he has gained over the years working in the industry to benefit from the coming change. He reminded me of the character Peppy Miller from "The Artist". Peppy, while beginning her career in the silent films, embraced the talkies when they came and she soared to the top.
I do not believe "The Artist" came at this time as mere coincidence. I believe Michel Hazanavicius is trying to send a message to the industry through this film, reminding them of the past in the hopes that the future may continue to bright.
As new technologies gain power in the entertainment industry, it seems the old guard are fighting against them as hard as they can. The internet, particularly, has promised to bring change to the entertainment landscape for some time now and that change is coming now. I marvel how history repeats itself time and again. Just as George Valentin fought against the talkies, so now the movie distribution companies are fighting against the internet.
I spoke recently with a man who has worked in film distribution for the last thirty years. While he agrees that change is difficult, painful and always uncertain, he also finds it exciting and exhilarating. He's working on finding a way to bridge the gap between the old and the new; using the knowledge and experience he has gained over the years working in the industry to benefit from the coming change. He reminded me of the character Peppy Miller from "The Artist". Peppy, while beginning her career in the silent films, embraced the talkies when they came and she soared to the top.
I do not believe "The Artist" came at this time as mere coincidence. I believe Michel Hazanavicius is trying to send a message to the industry through this film, reminding them of the past in the hopes that the future may continue to bright.
Monday, January 23, 2012
Writing
Now that I'm left with only my night classes I have a lot more time on my hands than usual. The rare and elusive 'free time' has appeared and, as this situation has not confronted me in some time, I've had a hard time dealing with it. Wasting time is easy, too easy. And so, having each day regimented has helped ease the burden.
I thought back to my old college days and how I would spend all my free time writing and plotting out stories and character arcs. Those days were, I would have to say at the risk of sounding fruity, magical. Stories and characters flowed so easily and it seemed the more I wrote in my free time, the more free time I had to write...and the less time I had to do my physics homework. As I'm now a freelance storyteller it's obvious which side of my conflict of interest won out.
But I'm getting off the point. With all of this new found free time I've been able to get back into a routine of writing. to clarify, I've always made time to write, but now I HAVE time to write. I've set a goal to write a new chapter in IMMOLATION every week. The plot is mostly together now and I feel I'm in a good place to really begin putting things down in the story.
The plot for IMMOLATION is more complex than anything I've attempted before so figuring all of that out in itself has been a learning experience. So, in the coming weeks as I post subsequent chapters for IMMOLATION in the WRITING section, feel free to leave comments and suggestions on how I might improve.
I hope you enjoy the story.
I thought back to my old college days and how I would spend all my free time writing and plotting out stories and character arcs. Those days were, I would have to say at the risk of sounding fruity, magical. Stories and characters flowed so easily and it seemed the more I wrote in my free time, the more free time I had to write...and the less time I had to do my physics homework. As I'm now a freelance storyteller it's obvious which side of my conflict of interest won out.
But I'm getting off the point. With all of this new found free time I've been able to get back into a routine of writing. to clarify, I've always made time to write, but now I HAVE time to write. I've set a goal to write a new chapter in IMMOLATION every week. The plot is mostly together now and I feel I'm in a good place to really begin putting things down in the story.
The plot for IMMOLATION is more complex than anything I've attempted before so figuring all of that out in itself has been a learning experience. So, in the coming weeks as I post subsequent chapters for IMMOLATION in the WRITING section, feel free to leave comments and suggestions on how I might improve.
I hope you enjoy the story.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Pre-Production
Having recently graduated from the Seattle Film Institute's 10 Month 'Total Immersion Program', a few of my fellow classmates and I decided that the best way to keep up our newly acquired skills in filmmaking was to make movies ourselves. Fairly straight forward but so many people wait around, hoping for movies to come to them.
Any way, this group was the core of the 30 Films in 30 Days project and we felt confident that we'd be able to produce some good films together. The difference between the 30 Films in 30 Days project and the one we are now pursuing is the same difference between an artists sketches and a finished piece. This month we're focusing on the pre-production elements of a short thriller written by one of our members. We're polishing the script, preparing for auditions and otherwise going through the paces to make sure we have as high production value as we can. Filming should begin the last weekend of February while at the same time we'll begin pre-production on our next film.
All in all, this is a great way to begin a New Year, working on a project with people you know and trust to pull their weight and work towards a unified goal.
Any way, this group was the core of the 30 Films in 30 Days project and we felt confident that we'd be able to produce some good films together. The difference between the 30 Films in 30 Days project and the one we are now pursuing is the same difference between an artists sketches and a finished piece. This month we're focusing on the pre-production elements of a short thriller written by one of our members. We're polishing the script, preparing for auditions and otherwise going through the paces to make sure we have as high production value as we can. Filming should begin the last weekend of February while at the same time we'll begin pre-production on our next film.
All in all, this is a great way to begin a New Year, working on a project with people you know and trust to pull their weight and work towards a unified goal.
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Freelance
A friend and I finished work on a fundraiser piece for a local chapter of the Boys and Girls Club recently. I use to work with the Boys and Girls Club when I lived in Utah so this project was particularly important for me. The location was amazing, Museam of Flight, and had some great balcony and wide angle opportunities. The interviews turned out great thanks to some simple audio equipment we rented and, of course, our Panasonic HMC 150 which handled the low lighting very well. We even found a glass elevator we could use to simulate a crane shot and add just that much more to our production value. All in all I think it turned out well.
In the end, though, it was the thanks we got from the board members that really made this project worth it. A bit sappy sounding, I know, but it's the moments like this that make me keep at it when times are hard.
In the end, though, it was the thanks we got from the board members that really made this project worth it. A bit sappy sounding, I know, but it's the moments like this that make me keep at it when times are hard.
Friday, December 9, 2011
New Skills, New Responsibilities
Over the course of my education at the Seattle Film Institute ( commonly known as SFI) I've made it a point to be a go-to guy. I've taken a fair amount of my spare time to go into school and study more in depth aspects, particularly with editing.
For editing, SFI uses Final Cut Pro 7 and Adobe Premier Pro CS 5.5. I cut and recut all of my projects multiple times just for the experience with the software, as well as with Motion and After Effects as I added in simple but effective special effects. The extra practice has paid off as, on multiple occasions, classmates and even teachers have asked for advice on how best to achieve a look or an effect in a film. This trust and expertise (I'm not an expert, that takes years, but you can get an idea of where I'm at by watching my films) led to my being put in charge of the graduating class' film reel.
DVD Studio Pro was a program that I wasn't familiar with, and I only had a week to get the DVD composed. I tinkered for a day to learn the layout, menus and buttons, and then I watched tutorials for another day. I like to tinker first before watching/reading tutorials because I'm a hands on learner. Then, when I did go through the tutorials, I had a better idea of what was going on. I also gained a greater appreciation for the intermediary steps since I'd gained a better understanding of where all the steps were leading. Compressor became my friend as I exported the movie files into workable DVD formats.
I've gathered the needed films for the graduation reel and my layout should be finalized before the end of today. I'm rather pleased with how well things have turned out. Learning new programs and finding interesting ways of implementing them has always been a joy for me. If I have time early next week, I'm going to put together a custom background animation for the DVD using both Photoshop and Final Cut Pro 7 to make an animated collage of the graduating class and stills from our production sets. It's not that hard and it would add a nice touch to the DVD. Don't get me wrong, the ready made backgrounds in DVD Studio Pro are nice and I'm pleased with the one I've selected thus far but it never hurts to put a little extra work in, especially when I know it would add so much more to the finished project.
There are a lot of programs that could have been used in place of the ones I listed, these are just the ones that I'm familiar with. They're all great tools; powerful and easy to use (once you've put in the time) and allow you to be creative, rather than getting frustrated with technical issues that stifle your mind.
For editing, SFI uses Final Cut Pro 7 and Adobe Premier Pro CS 5.5. I cut and recut all of my projects multiple times just for the experience with the software, as well as with Motion and After Effects as I added in simple but effective special effects. The extra practice has paid off as, on multiple occasions, classmates and even teachers have asked for advice on how best to achieve a look or an effect in a film. This trust and expertise (I'm not an expert, that takes years, but you can get an idea of where I'm at by watching my films) led to my being put in charge of the graduating class' film reel.
DVD Studio Pro was a program that I wasn't familiar with, and I only had a week to get the DVD composed. I tinkered for a day to learn the layout, menus and buttons, and then I watched tutorials for another day. I like to tinker first before watching/reading tutorials because I'm a hands on learner. Then, when I did go through the tutorials, I had a better idea of what was going on. I also gained a greater appreciation for the intermediary steps since I'd gained a better understanding of where all the steps were leading. Compressor became my friend as I exported the movie files into workable DVD formats.
I've gathered the needed films for the graduation reel and my layout should be finalized before the end of today. I'm rather pleased with how well things have turned out. Learning new programs and finding interesting ways of implementing them has always been a joy for me. If I have time early next week, I'm going to put together a custom background animation for the DVD using both Photoshop and Final Cut Pro 7 to make an animated collage of the graduating class and stills from our production sets. It's not that hard and it would add a nice touch to the DVD. Don't get me wrong, the ready made backgrounds in DVD Studio Pro are nice and I'm pleased with the one I've selected thus far but it never hurts to put a little extra work in, especially when I know it would add so much more to the finished project.
There are a lot of programs that could have been used in place of the ones I listed, these are just the ones that I'm familiar with. They're all great tools; powerful and easy to use (once you've put in the time) and allow you to be creative, rather than getting frustrated with technical issues that stifle your mind.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
30 Films in 30 Days-November Ups and Downs
Last month, some classmates and I wanted to see if we could make 30 short films in 30 days. We had a camera (Panasonic HMC 150, which, by the way, is a great camera and served us well), an audio recorder (nothing fancy, but it worked when we needed it) and a half dozen committed people. Most of the films I've posted here were from that endeavor, hence the numbering. The films were like a sketch book for us, as we ran around, writing, filming and editing all in the same day. Nothing got terribly fleshed out but we got a lot of really good experience trying new camera angles, lighting, effects, and so forth. Things were going well.
One of my classmates and I were out filming about halfway through the month. We'd been able to get a bit ahead in our filming and I had the footage stored on an external hard drive in my backpack (along with all the other projects I'd worked on this year). Upon returning to my car, I began buckling my one year old son into his car seat when my classmate said,
"Your window's been busted."
I looked and, sure enough, the car had been broken into, both our packs had been stolen along with the memory card and battery for the camera (we had the camera with us, thank goodness). All our footage, gone. There wasn't much we could do but wait for the new battery and memory card to arrive. We threw together a couple more films in the time that we had, including an apology for being late on our films, but in the end the setbacks became too much. People fell away from the project as class assignments came due and so, as I type, I'm uploading one of the last few films we were able to shoot before the end of the month.
Even though we failed to reach our goal of 30 films, and I had to pay for damages and stolen property, I've learned a lot from this experience and I'm grateful for it.
1) I've learned the value of pre-production, as we didn't get a lot of it and it shows.
2) Find out who you can rely on and share responsibilities. It's almost impossible to make a film alone.
3) Leave nothing in the car, regardless if it's under a seat or in the trunk. If someone wants it, they will take it.
4) Let things go. I wanted to be angry with people when they didn't show up or follow through (when I knew they couldn't be relied on). But in the end it was me relying on them when I knew I shouldn't have.
5) Forgive. After my car got broken into I wanted to hide out in that neighborhood and see if I could catch whoever it was that broke into my car. I wanted some kind of vigilante justice to be meted out on the wrong-doer(s). But in thinking so, I lost my creativity. It wasn't until I forgave him/her/them that I was able to write and film once more.
30Films30Days
As an old friend of mine likes to say, Peace be the Journey.
One of my classmates and I were out filming about halfway through the month. We'd been able to get a bit ahead in our filming and I had the footage stored on an external hard drive in my backpack (along with all the other projects I'd worked on this year). Upon returning to my car, I began buckling my one year old son into his car seat when my classmate said,
"Your window's been busted."
I looked and, sure enough, the car had been broken into, both our packs had been stolen along with the memory card and battery for the camera (we had the camera with us, thank goodness). All our footage, gone. There wasn't much we could do but wait for the new battery and memory card to arrive. We threw together a couple more films in the time that we had, including an apology for being late on our films, but in the end the setbacks became too much. People fell away from the project as class assignments came due and so, as I type, I'm uploading one of the last few films we were able to shoot before the end of the month.
Even though we failed to reach our goal of 30 films, and I had to pay for damages and stolen property, I've learned a lot from this experience and I'm grateful for it.
1) I've learned the value of pre-production, as we didn't get a lot of it and it shows.
2) Find out who you can rely on and share responsibilities. It's almost impossible to make a film alone.
3) Leave nothing in the car, regardless if it's under a seat or in the trunk. If someone wants it, they will take it.
4) Let things go. I wanted to be angry with people when they didn't show up or follow through (when I knew they couldn't be relied on). But in the end it was me relying on them when I knew I shouldn't have.
5) Forgive. After my car got broken into I wanted to hide out in that neighborhood and see if I could catch whoever it was that broke into my car. I wanted some kind of vigilante justice to be meted out on the wrong-doer(s). But in thinking so, I lost my creativity. It wasn't until I forgave him/her/them that I was able to write and film once more.
30Films30Days
As an old friend of mine likes to say, Peace be the Journey.
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