Some test animation and compositing practice from some footage I took outside my apartment. Started off tracking in PFTrack but eventually just used 2D tracker in AE since there’s no real rotation/perspective change. Will take this and try and do something more elaborate.
View animation here.
Some more practice shooting with the Jag35…
http://vimeo.com/5087951
Some quick animations I put together using dynamics, mograph, etc. Multi-pass renders rock 
Lebron James inspired animation
I finally finished my Whistler snowboarding documentary 2 weeks ago. Sorting through 14 hours of footage, editing them down, syncing music, fixing audio, and color correcting was an exhaustive process. Not to mention that it took over 13 hours to render.
I definitely took a lot of short cuts and after 3 edited versions, I finally came away with a 50 minute movie that I felt somewhat happy with. Is it the type of professional style documentary I envisioned? Definitely not. Actually, not even close. But is it a fun memory filled movie that myself and friends can always treasure? Yes, and to the reactions from my friends, they certainly enjoyed it. I world premiered it on my friends 60+ inch projector screen, complete with surround sound, and it really was rewarding to see your efforts on the “big screen”. I know my second short film/documentary/idea will be greatly improved with the added experience.
With that said, I recently purchased a 35mm DOF adapter for my HF100. I finally got to play around with it last weekend and so far I am very pleased with the early results. Having shallow depth of field opens up a whole new possibility for my footage and I feel like it really separates it away from your typical video look to a more cinematic ‘film’ look. There are definitely some issues I’ll need to work around or get used to. Shooting a flipped image, focusing precisely, and getting maximum light are just a few. There’s a lot of good reviews and resources floating around on the web for anyone interested in learning more. And by the way, Jehu Garcia (creator) offers exceptional customer service and is really a helpful person.
Stills:
According to Compass Intelligence, a global market research & consulting firm, US mobile application sales will reach 9 billion by 2011. It seems almost every major brand has a mobile application to accompany their online identity.
With that said, we have some very interesting applications currently lined up in our project pipeline. Our first app should hit iTunes very soon. Stay tuned!
1) Went to Bermuda in early April. Captured some great footage and had an awesome time. Still doesn’t compare to Hawaii though..
2) Attended the Industry Spotlight VII hosted by Siggraph NYC at FIT. Seemed like the usual talks from all the nyc big shots. Nathan Love however were hilarious! They showed a studio project they were working on about some horror animation movie. It was amazing and grossly entertaining. Curious Pictures are also working on a 3D short.
3) Had to say goodbye to a wonderful coworker/friend and what better way to do that than drunk bowling! You will be missed..
4) I used to hate indexhibit sites. They seemed to all look the same and lacked any sort of personality. After installing it and messing around with the CSS file, it’s hard NOT to love this little tool. It’s an easy, efficient way to create a portfolio site. I work in Flash all the time but sometimes, it’s just not the right tool to use for a website. Sure, it’s flashier (no pun intended) and more engaging, but when I have to wait 3 minutes for a site to load, that’s 2 minutes too long of wasted time. I never thought I’d say this but I may cross over to the HTML side…
5) Wrapping up (finally) some big projects at work which I hope to include in my portfolio soon. And of course, more new and ongoing personal projects to come as well…
Playing around with the mograph module, I decided to create something for my friend Dave, who just happens to be the biggest UNC fan. Watching the tar heels win the NCAA championship was painful, so creating this image was kind of like systematic desensitization for me.
In need of some inspiration? Check no further than digup tv. Digup tv is a “video documented review on digital design.” I personally loved the interviews of Mate Steinforth (Psyop), Rob Chiu & Chris Hewitt, and Pierre Magnol (Gkaster). All the interviews are well shot, edited and put together to really tell a fantastic story and keep you totally engaged for the full ~10 minutes.
On a side note, I contacted Pierre a few months ago with some questions about two of his projects. He was very friendly and helpful and it’s nice to watch his interview in retrospect. Just goes to show that if you have questions, JUST ASK! I still think his reel is one of the 3 best I’ve ever seen.
My new reel is linked out from Feed and Original Linkage. Pretty happy since I’m a fanboy of both. When I emailed in to share my work, I also found out that Original Linkage is run by Bob Sakoui, who is the head of art direction at MRM Worldwide, part of McCann-Erickson WorldGroup. I’m a fan of all inspirational creative resources, especially when I know it’s run and managed as a side gig. Plus it’s always good to know the backstory of a site I visit frequently. Anyways, thanks to both!
Updated my portfolio along with a brand spanking new showreel. Check it out!
Random sidenote: Duke advances to the Sweet 16! That made my entire weekend.
