That iPad Pro Commercial Wasn't a Miss

I love old cameras. I probably shoot four rolls of 35mm a year on my AE-1. I like the smell of day-old spray paint on my fingers & still slow down when I see a new mural on a wall. I like keeping a beat on a set of drums, and love watching a piano player master the keys. I don't listen to vinyl, but secretly think people who do are cool. Believe it or not, I still buy DVDs, and wish I still had some of our old VHS tapes. I much prefer the tactile experience of flipping a page when I read a book. I like old stuff.

I also liked this iPad Pro commercial.

I don't care that this new iPad is the thinnest. I'm not gonna buy it, simply because I'm not the type of person who desires the latest & greatest. But, I see what they were going for, and despite the fact that Apple apologized for this commercial, it was clever, and it was not a miss. We're talking about it, and it worked. This "blunder" won't affect sales, and Apple was just playing along by apologizing. If they meant it, they’d have taken it down.

Good for them.

(By the way, in spite of the fact that I’m not at all into Star Wars, that other Apple commercial that just came out was pretty good, too)

BAMBINO // A Rare Night Out in 1989

If your parents had access to the most trusted babysitter app back in the day, they’d have been able to get out more, get it on more, and maybe they’d have made another sibling for you to play with. That’s the premise I came up with for this 30-second commercial that I co-wrote, directed & edited.

The Writing

It’s difficult to orchestrate a laugh. When it’s not an impromptu thing, a lot has to fall into place for the joke to work. In the confines of a 30-second commercial, you have to set the scene, deliver the punchline, relate it to the brand, and be snappy about it.

I came up with the concept for this piece, and fortunately, I had my friend Paul Boyer (a UCLA-trained screenwriter) by my side to assist through the writing process. We were dealing with innuendo & metaphor, so we knew it would be a challenge to make it clear & funny, upon the first view. We both took a number of cracks at the script to ensure the piece would be tight & coherent. Everything was thought out.

The Pre-Production

Paul & I also tag-teamed producer duties on this project. Budget was definitely the biggest hurdle. Without getting into details, we overcame budget restrictions, but it took time. There’s an old adage about creative work that says, between getting it done quickly, at low cost, and at high quality, you can only choose two out of those three. The adage holds true, so this project took time. If we had a larger budget, the process would have gone a lot faster & smoother.

No budget for a location scout, so we did it ourselves, spending hours driving & striking out, until we eventually found our lover’s point location, about a half hour from where we live. Fortunately, it was relatively easy & free to get filming permits for that spot.

No budget for a casting agent, so we did it ourselves, posting casting calls on multiple platforms, and corresponding with willing actors & actresses. Through a mutual friend, we eventually connected with Cedric & Christina, who delivered stellar performances and were awesome to work with!

Those were probably the two largest mountains to climb, but it only scratches the service when it came to the amount of pre-production we had to do. From sourcing a viable 1980s car, to hair & wardrobe, to gear & craft services, the list goes on.

I was stoked to push it creatively with this project. It was my first time in a while writing & directing dialogue, and this process was a reminder that I still got it! It was also gratifying to use metaphor & create meaning through striking imagery. It was an endeavor to ensure the disco light effect didn’t suck. There are things I would have done differently if given another chance, but at least the shot worked!

The Edit

As usual, the edit was a journey. Cutting the thing down to work in 30 seconds is a challenge in itself. Sometimes you have to drop the best take, in favor of the faster take. Luckily, those decisions weren’t too much of a sacrifice.

There were also some minor VFX to take care of in post, like cleaning up cracks in the windshield, removing mic packs in the sun visors, keeping the green wristwatch light on before cutting to the next shot, replacing the license plate with an older one, removing a sandbag in the background, and adding fog in the foreground.

These are mostly things that 9.8/10 people wouldn’t ever notice, but I wanted this thing to be clean, and I didn’t want to regret not taking care of them months or years down the road.

The Focus Group

This was also my first experience focus-grouping the work. Having put out a piece of comedy that fell flat (See ACED), we knew there’d be value in going through this exercise to see what about the piece is working, and what’s not. Is there anything confusing about it? Do people find it funny? Even if the responses & feedback can’t lead to actual improvements in the work, it could at least help shape how we talk about the work when we share it with the world.

Luckily, responses to this piece weren’t the same blank looks & awkward chuckles that ACED garnered. Out of the 50 people in the focus group, 84% of them got the story & genuinely found it funny the first time they viewed it. That number’s even higher (88%) when talking about the target audience; parents of young kids. Those trends were evident early on, and honestly, were pretty reassuring.

Final Thoughts

Super grateful to all who lent their time, talents & insight to this project! Paul & I felt super supported throughout. I can personally proclaim that this is one of the more gratifying projects I’ve worked on.

ACED // A Short (Tennis) Film

To cleanse my palette of the monstrosity that was Sons Rising, I wanted to whip up something that was narrow in scope, quick, and fun for those involved. ACED was a project that fit the bill. A half-day shoot on a Saturday morning, with two actors & a small crew was all it took.

Okay, there was a little more to it than that, but compared to the last short film I put out, this one was definitely more modest in scope & budget.

Snapshot of the Scope

I knew it only required two actors, but they needed to have specific characteristics. Our main character (who I just call Ace), had to be a legit tennis player, with a solid looking serve. He also needed to be fit, so that the audience buys in on the notion that he’s a serious player, in his prime. And to be frank, I also wanted to cast a minority, if at all possible. Davin checks all those boxes. He played tennis for Ave Maria University in Florida, and still competes in tournaments on a regular basis now, so I was stoked when he agreed to be a part of this absurd little film. The search for Banana Boy was a little more challenging, but I finally connected with Jeremy, who has a theater background & a willingness to actually be the punchline of a joke. I knew that theater actors have a tendency to bring it, and when it was his time, he certainly did.

Milanote board for the project. I used this to record my ideas for the piece, and also to communicate the vision for the project to people I was hoping would get involved.

Securing a location was the most expensive part of this endeavor. I specifically wanted the tennis courts at Stadium High School. This is the same school featured in 10 Things I hate About You. The entire property is exceptional. It’s known for its castle-like construction & the football stadium (AKA Stadium Bowl), but the tennis courts aren’t anything to scoff at either. There were blemishes on the surface that I just had to embrace, but ultimately, the uniqueness of the location was too much to pass up.

Crewing came next. This is where I had to rely on friends. I was lucky to recruit a generous & easy-going group of people who were willing to give up a Saturday morning, basically in exchange for a good time on set & some food, and I’m super grateful for all of them. Paul, the DP on this film, was an especially awesome person to partner with, because of the extent to which he took ownership of it. He dedicated time & energy to this project as if it were his own.

Due to scheduling conflicts with key people, though, we had to reschedule the shoot twice. This was honestly a logistical headache, and lead to what’s ultimately one of my two laments of the film. The morning we ended up shooting was completely overcast, and it didn’t provide the kind of light I was hoping for. There were a handful of ways I was planning to play with that golden-hour light, but I wasn’t able to, and I’ll always be aware of how this piece could have looked.

Nerd Stuff

There were definitely some light visual effects I had to implement in post. A lot of it had to do with removing bird poop.

In another shot, I had to insert the top of the brick building behind the tennis ball as it reached the apex of the toss. The shot just didn’t feel right without the roofline in the background. So I waited for another overcast day, went & captured a shot of the top of that building, put it in with the clip of the ball, masked it, blurred it out a bit, then rotoscoped the ball back over the brick building. If you’re scrutinizing the shot, you might be able to see it, but I doubt even 1/100 people will notice it without being told.

Final Thoughts

I think we managed to cultivate a nice tension in the piece. However, I jumped genres toward the end & it’s ultimately a comedy. The story’s literally the build up to a joke, with a punchline.

Did it work, though? Ehh, by most accounts, it’s not looking like it did. I broke a rule with that twist at the end. People thought they were watching one type of thing, and when it turned out to be another, they were left confused instead of giggling. The punchline (the reveal of our banana character) didn’t seem to land.

Ultimately, though, this project was an excuse to try some new things & exercise some creative muscles. I wanted to try out Milanote as a creative communication tool. I wanted to play with 120p (slow-motion). I wanted to create that title card you see at the end. I wanted to try a new color grading technique. And I wanted to create something that relates to one of my favorite sports.

All said & done, considering everything I threw at it, I’m pretty happy with the outcome. Nice & quick. Hope you enjoyed it!

The End.

The Story Behind 'Sons Rising'

Sons Rising was a passion project I kicked off in the summer of 2012, when I was a single guy in my 20’s with a lot of free time & gusto, but very little experience in visual storytelling. I’d just put out (270) Seconds of Summer, which was surprisingly well received online, and I wanted to capitalize on that momentum to propel my next project.

I launched a crowdfunding campaign via RocketHub (similar to Kickstarter) to raise a few thousand dollars for the project, and ended up raising $3725 in less than a month. This was in the early days of crowdfunding, and yes, even for a short film that’s a very modest budget, but hitting that mark was one of the first truly humbling experiences of my life. To be honest, at the time I felt undeserving of that kind of generosity, and I was blown away.

I’m grateful for all who contributed, and all who got involved in this project! That will never change, and I don’t want the tone of this story to negate that.

That said, I simply had no idea the scope of what I was getting myself into. It didn’t take long to realize that this project was severely under-resourced. I raised that money to cover a music license, a lens, and incidental expenses I knew would be associated with the production (like gas & props), but I had no clue that that was merely a fraction of what it would take to complete this film.

Accidentally A Decade in the Making

This all coincided with the launch of my production company, PIXELtechnics. Thanks in large part to a Vimeo Staff Pick award, the response to (270) impressed upon me that I might actually have the chops to do this stuff for a living, and finally be able to leave my job selling cameras at Best Buy. And so, I did. Soon after this project launched, I also met a girl who’d soon become my wife. In short, my life changed directions in a number of ways in a short period of time. As life evolved, and as I tried to grind out a new career, this passion project quickly became a side project that I’d take off the shelf & tinker with every six months or so, and in the end, it took me over a decade to get it to a point where I was okay with calling it done.

Ten freaking Years. I’m gritting my teeth as I type this. This thing was wrapped around my ankles for ten years, and I assure you that was not the intention when I started it. Maybe I’ll feel different in the coming weeks or months after releasing Sons Rising, but as of now, if you ask me how I’d do this over if I had the chance, my answer is, I wouldn’t. By the time I got a full understanding of the scope of this project, I’d already raised money from people who were expecting me to finish it at some point. I had a sense of debt to them that never quite went away. I did, from time to time, take on other quick, creative projects to experiment & keep me limber, but I never fully gave myself to another project, because I knew I’d have to wrap Sons first. In this way, Sons Rising became a burden. An anchor, something holding me back. And so the passion I once had for this project was zapped.

Throughout those ten years, I also grew as a professional & developed my craft. You’d hope for that, but when you’re eight or nine years in, and you look at stuff you shot in year one or two of the project, all you see is what you should have done differently. I’d go into a shoot planning to capture only one shot, when instead, I should have been capturing the scene four or five different ways, to give myself options in the edit. I shot in bad lighting, when I should have taken five or ten more minutes to light the scene better. I decided against taking 23 seconds to remove a distracting sign or bucket from the background, because I felt rushed. I ended up filming three childbirths (including our son’s), and still ended up having to stage another. And when capturing that one, I forgot to record the audio! These are actual mistakes I made that, years later, I felt stuck with. Some of this material, I shot over, but a lot of it I either resolved to work with in the edit, or cut altogether.

All told, I captured 101 micro scenes™ for this film. Most of those scenes had to be casted (which is an undertaking in itself), needed to have a shooting location, had to be booked in a way that worked with my schedule, the actor’s (and sometimes their parent’s) schedule, and the host’s schedule. None of these people were ever getting paid, so expecting them to move things around for this project wouldn’t have been rational. For that reason, I also planned for these shoots to be quick. I’d have to go into it knowing the shots I need & how I’m going to capture them (and early on, I wasn’t good at this). I was almost always flying solo, with nobody to help with lighting, audio or release forms, and sometimes it was a lot to manage. A lot of this was expected, but I really had no idea the toll that pre-production would take on me for all these micro scenes. Casting, location scouting, and scheduling are all beasts. I didn’t have actors audition for their parts (as it would be cruel to have them audition for parts that would only get them 1-3 seconds on screen & wouldn’t pay), but the casting calls & correspondence with willing actors was a true time-suck, on my end & theirs. And oftentimes we had to drive an hour in rush hour traffic, to get to location to make these shoots happen. When you consider all of this, you might come to understand how $3725 for a music license, a lens & some gas wouldn’t come close to cutting it. On top of gear, how about hiring a producer? A casting director & a location scout? A production assistant from time to time? A DP on occasion? How about paying some of the actors so you can reasonably expect more of their time? I haven’t run the numbers, but this would have shot the budget up well over $50K. Also consider that I had to generate business & earn money for, you know, life. Taking sufficient time to coordinate all of this for the film adds up to a real opportunity cost. So, a lot of the time, I couldn’t justify taking Sons Rising back off the shelf to work on it. That, in large part, is why it took a decade to complete.

I got tired of people asking. I got tired of having to explain why it’s taking so long. But some of these people donated to the film, so I felt they deserved not to be blown off. After all, none of these people were asking to badger me. They were just curious.

What I Wanted to Accomplish with Sons Rising

The idea for the film came late one night, listening to music in bed. There was a song I came across, the RAC remix of Boy by Ra Ra Riot, that flooded my brain with a rapid montage of images that told the story of the male experience. My motivation, at the time, was to share that little movie playing in my mind. For guys, I wanted it to be a relatable & nostalgic experience. I wanted them to get a sense that moments from their own lives were flashing before their eyes. Like, I remember finally standing up to that bully. I remember the first time I kissed that girl. I remember racing my buddies after I got my driver’s license. For gals, I just wanted it to be an honest & riveting insight into malehood (as if they don’t get enough of that already).

Years into the project, I realized a couple things.

One. There isn’t actually a lot I can depict on camera in a matter of seconds that’s totally unique to the male experience. Yes, guys tend to be more likely to play with toy guns, get into fist fights, play certain sports, work manual labor jobs & feel pressure to achieve financially. But we all know of women who have also experienced these things, and we also know of men who haven’t. So in the end, aside from things like a baby boy peeing straight into the air when his diaper’s getting changed, or a grown man shaving the stubble off his face, this film largely plays off of stereotypes or convention.

Two. Aside from maybe (hopefully) being entertaining, this film doesn’t really serve the audience. I’ve gotten to a point where entertaining viewers & bringing attention to myself as a filmmaker doesn’t really move the needle for me. I now want to make something meaningful, that will help people. I’d like people to walk away having learned something, having been challenged or having been spurred on toward growth. If they walk away thinking ‘Hey, that was cool’, or walk away having been made to feel some type of way for a few minutes, that’s nice. But if that’s where it stops, then, like cotton candy, this film is ultimately fluff, and it’s disposable.

My only hope, at this point, is that Sons Rising does entertain you & make you feel something. Maybe you like cotton candy. I enjoy it, from time to time (metaphorically). If that’s the case, and you enjoyed Sons Rising, I’m truly glad. But I’m moving on to make things that have more meaning than that. Either that, or something that will give people the gift of laughter.

What I Learned

Over the course of this project, I learned that filmmaking is truly a collaborative effort, and that’s the way it should be. Don’t let ego or insecurity get in the way of that.

I learned what it means to be a producer, and realized I actually don’t enjoy that role. However, through experience on corporate & commercial projects, I learned that a good producer makes things happen & is worth their weight in gold.

I learned that I’m not actually a great cinematographer, and I’m okay with that. There are a lot of people who are, and they’re freaking awesome to work with!

I learned that color grading is kind of challenging for me, and I’m okay with that. There are a lot of people who are great colorists, and I’d like to work with them!

I learned that directing actors is a discipline in itself, and you really have to trust & believe in them instead of micro-managing every microscopic thing they do.

I learned that it’s not actually a good situation to be in where people are volunteering their time & talents for free. Always be grateful if they are, but understand that in some ways, you’ll probably (rightfully) get what you paid for. If you can find a way to compensate them, do it. And even still, be grateful.

I learned not be a prisoner of the moment & let the status of a side project define you as a person. At times, I believed that the slow progress on Sons Rising was seen as a reflection of poor character, and it honestly made me feel like a failure, or a fraud as a creative. But in reality, oftentimes I was prioritizing my career, marriage & family, friendships, and preserving my mental health. Yes, there were months in there where I could have eked out one or two more Sons Rising shoots. But in my heart, I knew the project was a work in progress, and that I would, eventually, finish it. I really had to let go of my concern for what a few people might be thinking of me.

I learned that if you’re going to do something, spend the time, energy & money to do it right. If you don’t, you’ll regret it later when you have to live with those poor decisions.

I learned that substance trumps style. Early on, I just wanted to showcase my style of filmmaking, and now I just see that as hollow.

Boyhood

I’ve been asked about this a few times. Sons Rising is in no way inspired by Richard Linklater’s 2014 feature film Boyhood. The similarities in the premises of the two films is just a coincidence. Now that I’m done with Sons, I look forward to watching Boyhood for the first time. I do, after all, love Dazed & Confused, and enjoyed School of Rock.

Thank You

I really want to make a point of expressing appreciation to the 39 people who donated to this project. You rocked my world when you did that, and your generosity & vote of confidence was truly humbling. Thank you for your patience. I also want to thank all the actors who volunteered their time & talent for some podunk, no-budget short film that, as far as they knew, might never end up being anything. Same goes for the parents as well. Thanks to the people who opened up their homes or places of business for us to film in. Thanks to Paul for your narration. Without your voice guiding the audience, half of them probably would’ve gotten lost. And of course, thanks to my wife, Nicole. The only person who’s really known what this project has been to me. I’m grateful for your support & understanding. We no longer have to write “finish Sons Rising” as one of our yearly goals!

2018 Reel

In 2017, I felt that I’d hit a ceiling in my freelance career, and I was having a hard time breaking through. I was working with the same handful of clients (who I still love & work with to this day), same budgets, and oftentimes more time between projects than I wanted there to be.

I’d been resistant to the idea of putting out a reel, because I felt that if someone seriously wanted to check me out, they’d spend a little time actually watching the work in my portfolio. Part of me knew that was unrealistic, but I kind of resented the ADD aspect of reels & didn’t really want to enable that mindset. It felt like a trend that I didn’t want to follow. On the other hand, I needed a boost, so in early in 2018, when I had a stretch of down time, I decided to kick those stubborn thoughts & just do it.

I’m glad I did.

I actually enjoyed the process of it. Every time I sat down to cut, I was able to get into a zone with ease. The song I used, which I was able to get the license to, definitely helped with that. The piece turned out better than I expected, and it was particularly gratifying to see my work showcased in a tight 60 seconds.

Not only that, after the release of this reel, I was quickly in a new stratosphere in terms of clients & budgets. There was a definitive before & after. I was now collaborating with teams that brought me on to projects for brands like Microsoft, Amazon & AWS, and REI. I knew that this reel would cause clients to see me as a stellar editor, first & foremost, but the opportunities haven’t only come in that form. I feel fortunate that I regularly get to work with great people who respect the process of video production & editorial work. There’s also been a difference in the amount of down time between projects, and that’s definitely not a complaint.

In hindsight, putting this thing out to the world should have been a no-brainer. Not sure when I’ll put out the next one, but I’m looking forward to it. There are still more stratospheres to be reached.

SAVOVO

My friend Savovo's a young, whippersnappin' photog who likes to capture his world in spectacular fashion. I've been a fan of his pics for years, and he was gracious enough to let me capture he & his buddy Jon while they do their thing. There were a number of things I wanted to try with this project, and a lot of them came out pretty rad. The rack focus between footage & titles. Parallaxed photos. Visually, aside from the interview set-up we had to construct in a pinch, I'm pretty stoked with how this came out. 

I can't say I'm elated about the story told, however, and a lot of that's on me for trying to tell a story that was barely even there; a story of risk. As a result, in my honest opinion, the story fell flat, and I learned a valuable lesson.

All in all, though, not bad considering the amount of pre-production that went into this piece. Enjoy!

Brooks PR Invitational

I was lucky enough to get hired by FloTrack to capture & present the 2017 BrooksPR Invitational, one of the premier annual high school track meets, featuring many of the top track athletes in the country. I had less than 48 hours to capture & turn the edit around for them to post on their site. Pretty happy with how it turned out, considering. Enjoyed filming these phenoms do their thing.

CASE STUDY // The Mercadantes

At the time, they called themselves EVERYNONE. It was back then, a few years ago, when I first saw their piece called WORDS. I didn't quite get it at first. It was just a sequence of random shots that told no coherent story at all. But I looked at the comments under the video & saw people using adjectives like "beautiful" & "brilliant". It made me wonder what I was missing. So I watched it again.

Towards the end of my second go-around it, the light switched on for me. Play. Blow. Break. Split. Run. Fly. Fall. Light. Space. Such a simple concept for a film, but it was brilliant, and it was beautiful. So I searched for more from them.

I wasted no time to fandom.

I've been following them ever since, and it was no surprise when I started to see their work on television last year. Commercials for VW, Dicks Sporting Goods, Facebook, and more recently, Fitbit. I had no problem identifying the work as theirs. What they craft is so unique & exceptional, of course companies are going to approach them with opportunities to create for them. They established themselves as the people who do this work. They're sought after because of their style & their ability to take a simple concept & create something remarkable with it. The thing that's so inspiring about this, is that it all started out with their passion projects.

That's one of the lessons you can obtain from following the journey of The Mercadantes. You can take time to develop your own style. Refine it & perfect your craft. Put your work out into the world, and if you persist, people will take notice & opportunities will present themselves. Sounds rad, does it not? So let that inspire you & go create something you can call your own!

Fin.

RANT // Stop Trying to Impress People With What You're Shooting On

* UPDATE: I wrote this post a long time ago, and my tone & some of my views have changed a bit since then *

Because there's a good chance I can find loads of work shot on a T3i, a hacked GH3 or even an iPhone that's more inspiring or engaging than what you shot on that RED or C300. Personal experience has showed me that many of the people who boast about gear aren't actually producing work that makes their viewers feel much of anything, or at least captivates them. And too often it's just plain boring.

Before I go on making myself out to be even more of an arrogant cynic, it's not my aim to discount the value of higher end cameras like REDs & C300s, and there's an abundance of exceptional work shot on them. I've used them a few times & I'm aware of how their advancements & innovations benefit us, the brand equity they bring, and how not using them or others can prevent us from landing higher paying clients. The RED, for example, is kind of my whipping boy in this post because so many times over the past few years I've heard the words "We shot on RED" used as a means of impressing & blowing sunshine up the butts of people who don't know any better. Too often, it's the answer to a question nobody asked. It's flaunted as a badge of honor, or at least a means of validating their project. And this is a prime example of a mindset that's too prevalent in our industry.

Now to the core of what I'm really saying. Don't try to impress people with the gear you use. Impress them with the quality of your work. Impress them by making them feel something when they watch it. Impress them with how you structure & tell your story. Or at the very least, spend more time being detail oriented enough to eliminate the sloppy distractions in your work, instead of focusing on how to make your production appear to be more pro than it actually is.

Just focus on the creative first. Once your message & vision for the piece are defined & polished, then move on to the techy crap. But remember kids, oftentimes they really don't matter as much as you might think. This will be heresy to many, but quite often, it doesn't matter that you shot on a RED, C300 or F5 instead of a DSLR. Getting caught up in the minutia that comes with the former can be a real waste of time. It also doesn't matter that you used a knockoff Steadicam and not a MoVi. And in some situations it doesn't matter that you used a monopod and not a Zacuto shoulder rig complete with a matte box.

You don't need that stupid matte box. Get over yourself.

People just want to look like pros, even if their work isn't pro caliber. It annoys the crap out of me. That elitist mentality that sometimes comes with using top notch video gear, when the final product is anything but. It seems like in some circles it's become an unspoken rule that you need the latest & greatest to produce good work. This is so mindless & shows that their priorities are out of whack. You don't. You need a good eye, some heart and a creative vision. Like my pal Pablo Picasso once said, "Learn the rules like a pro so you can break them like an artist." This is a craft you're working in, so get crafty instead of talking about your tools all the time.

Rant OVER.

IMPERIAL MOTION // Color Change T-Shirt Series

Every once in a while you get to work with the kind of brand that kind of made you want to get into video in the first place. Imperial Motion is one of those brands. One day back in November, I got a call from them with an interesting idea for a project. They were coming out with a line of thermo-reactive dyed T-Shirts (or color change T-Shirts) like what I remember seeing in the early nineties. They were asking for a series of short pieces showcasing just how cool these shirts are.

It's nice having the kind of creative freedom they gave me for this. We had a clear objective & a 15 second time limit for each piece, but outside of that, they trusted my ability to communicate the main points in a simple & aesthetically pleasing manner. God bless 'em.

I'm stoked about all these pieces except the last one that just features our guy walking into frame & standing there while his shirt changes color. It's boring, un-engaging, and the change in color is hardly even noticeable in that one. The weakest of the five, for sure.

On a positive note, I saw this as a good opportunity to abandon my long lived dependency on music. I'd almost always depended on it to make the work more interesting for viewers. So for this one, I relied on the raw audio I picked up from the warehouse & had some fun reversing the audio of wine glass dings to add some fun. Worked well, don't you think?

Me too.

THE END.

JOGS FOR DOGS // Stay Fit. With a Friend.

Long before Jogs For Dogs ended up being one of the best clients to have worked with, I was left a somewhat vague voicemail about a potential project for some kind of dog running company. When Brenden left it, I thought maybe it was a joke, or at least I had a hard time taking it serious. He didn't tell me how he heard of me, and he seemed reluctant to tell me much about his business. In full disclosure, I kind of just went through the motions of corresponding & submitting a proposal, assuming it would be out of his budget, because after all, I perceived it as a dog running business.

Come to find out, this wasn't just a dog running business. It was a social network, of sorts, for dog owners & runners, and Brenden was in the process of refreshing his website & developing a mobile app to work in conjunction with the site. It also turned out that my normal rates were not out of his budget.

He wanted a high-energy edit featuring runners running dogs & using the new mobile app. He wasn't looking for something particularly informative, he just wanted something uptempo and engaging. He'd heard about me from Jared of 6th Ave Studios, who'd been working on the website & mobile app. I'd met Jared a few months prior at a New Years Eve party. Brenden liked (270) Seconds of Summer & thought some of that energy would be put to good use in the video he was looking to have produced for Jogs For Dogs. This was the outcome.

Almost everything went according to plan in the production of this piece, thanks in large part to Brenden! In many ways he's the ideal client. He trusts my creative direction & allows me to make a case when I need something & he maintains an open mind. When I told him I'd need to hire a second camera man & two actors, he was on board with that. When I suggested that we'd need an extra two hundred dollars for a music license, he agreed. He was prompt with payment & even offered to pay the full amount up front for the entire project. He showed many times that he trusted me & that was incredibly valuable.

The typography at the end was kind of a new thing for me. I'd wanted to learn how to mask text, and it took me almost a half day to research & figure out how to execute it.  It's amazing how much you can learn from YouTube & Vimeo tutorials.

For second camera, I worked with Kevin of Yes And Video, who's always a pleasure to work with, as we're always in sync while on shoots. For talent, I found J'nisha Towne & Dja Soufka on the Northwest Film Forum Callboard. A great team of people to work with on a day with such perfect Seattle weather.

Good times.

Brooks at O.R.

Bait me with an assignment that involves travel & I'll likely bite. It's one of the many reasons I got into video in the first place. Last January, Brooks hired Yes And Video, who commissioned me to travel down to Salt Lake City, of all places, to capture what they had going at Outdoor Retailer, one of the largest (if not the largest) outdoor gear & apparel trade shows in the world.

Brooks was putting together what ended up being an award-winning display & they wanted to document the process & the experience. This was the outcome.

From a creative standpoint I had a lot of fun playing with the photos of the Brooks logos at :07. That's something I've been wanting to try ever since I fell in love with what Guillaume Le Berre did at 1:27 in his riveting short, Incubation. I love the tempo & vibe of the piece, and so did the clients. On the flip side, after completing this video, I resolved to always try & use a monopod when capturing live action on the go, unless for some reason I want a raw & choppy aesthetic, which I really wasn't going for here. Overall, this ended up being a great experience & adventure, and I ended up with a piece of work I'm happy to slap my name on!

7 Lessons in Crowdfunding

I'm two for two when it comes to crowdfunding. Last year I helped drive Ben Union's KickStarter campaign to success by producing the video content for it. More recently, I managed to get my own RocketHub campaign fueled for my next film. I can't take all the credit for running a successful crowdfunding project. The majority of the credit must be given to my contributors (or fuelers). What I can take credit for is being calculated & strategic when conducting the campaign.

Before launching my project, I did a tremendous amount of research about what it takes to succeed at crowdfunding. This post is me adding to the pool of information in the hopes that it will inspire & help someone looking to launch a successful project. When I first heard of sites like KickStarter, RocketHub & IndiGoGo, I was excited to see what was possible, only to realize that in reality, just a small percentage of these projects actually hit their goal. I've found that it's because they're not willing to really put in the work and because their campaigns generally suck. Or at least they're perceived to suck. The following are a few things I can speak to out of experience & from research on how not to suck.

1) Tell them your story.
Who are you & what have you done? I see a lot of crowdfunding projects that don't explain this, so people have no way to trust that you'll do well with their money, or just as important, that you'll even do a good job. Crowdfunding is not charity. You'll get a few friends & family members contribute because they love you, but the general public doesn't trust nor care about you unless you give them a reason to. One simple way to build trust is by letting them know who you are as a creative & what you've done. That second part is clutch. If you're looking to get a book published, why should they help you if you've never written a book, an article, an essay, or a piece of poetry or whatever? They need to know that you've accomplished something. If you've had something published, tell them. If your band has performed at sold out venues, tell them. If you've produced a film that's been recognized, tell them. You have to be validated as a creative somehow, so don't be too modest. Luckily for me, I had my last film to point back to. If you have nothing to point to, like genuinely have nothing to point to, ask yourself if it's too soon to be asking people for money. If it is, produce something good without money & build a reputation from that. This ties into point two.

2) Build a brand.
I'm learning more & more how important this is, not just for crowdfunding, but for career & business development in general. When I say let them know who you are, a big part of what that means is building a brand for yourself. If you have a website, blog, a portfolio, Facebook or Twitter page, that all counts. Give them ways to find you to see what you've been up to & what you're all about. And make sure all these aspects of your brand are congruent.

3) Tell them what you'll do with their money.
This might be the biggest thing that plays into the trust factor. It's good to go into how you'll be using the funds (without constricting yourself too much or spoiling anything creatively). For example,  I let my audience know that $1500 will be going towards a music license, then I'll be using the funds towards a motion graphics specialist, paying a couple giving birth to allow a camera in the room, a photographer & gas, etc.. I also let them know that I'll be using some of my own money to produce the film as well, which is definitely the case now.

4) Use, but don't abuse your social network.
This may be one of the trickiest parts of crowdfunding. Come to grips with the fact early on that most of the people on your Facebook friend list will not contribute to your project, so don't push them. When your project launches, ask your good friends personally to contribute & share. These are the people who genuinely want to see you succeed or the people who are enthusiastically into your work, not because they're your friends, but because they admire what you create.  From there, let them help create the bandwagon that will make others want to hop on. You should reach out seldomly & when you do, it should be calculated & different from the last time. Bring them new news about an article that was written about what you're doing, or how someone featured you on a podcast talking about your project. Once people on your social network see that there is some momentum behind your project, they too will want to come aboard.

5) Create momentum.
Bugging people on Facebook & Twitter to contribute is not creating momentum. It's just bugging them. A way to create momentum is to get influential people to talk about what you're doing. In my case, I got interviewed by RocketHub and was featured on a podcast. In addition, the band whose song I'm using agreed to spread the word on their social network, which definitely helped. Much of this work should take place before the launch of your project!

The harsh reality of all this is that if you have no past work that validates you as a creative, the likelihood of someone influential wanting to talk about your current project is slim. This goes back to points 1 & 2.

6) Timing is everything.
One of the big things I've been learning is that creating & capitalizing on hype is of the utmost importance. Striking while the iron's hot could be the difference between success & a lack thereof. If I had the foresight to capitalize on the buzz generated by my last film, I could have been able to raise more money for my next project or brought in so much business for my company. But the fact is, at the time, I did not have my next project lined up, nor did I even have a company, a website, or a personal brand built around myself in any way. In the show Entourage, super agent Ari Gold talks to his client about the importance of using the hype for your current project to help get you your next project. I didn't start to understand the importance of that concept until I'd been in this industry for a while. For myself, moving forward, I likely won't be releasing the film I'm working on now until I've started the fundraising process for my next project. You see? Foresight.

7) Don't sell yourself short.
In the interest of being 'realistic' I set my goal to a low figure that I believed was attainable: $2500. This number was a bare bones figure & I knew that if I only raised this amount, making the film would be a hassle, but possible nonetheless. I considered anything above this icing on the cake.  Within twenty-four hours of launching the campaign, I saw that hitting the goal was going to be easy, but getting beyond that goal will be a challenge. So in a way, I shot myself in the foot. I tried to push a second goal of $3500, so I can get some gear to make the production process a little easier. I found that reaching that second goal was a bit of a challenge, since the official goal for the project was still $2500 and cannot be changed. There was a large number of people who visited the project's page, quickly saw that the goal had been reached & assumed that there was nothing else to be done, so their motivation to contribute dwindled. I ended up hitting my 'second goal', but knowing what I know now, I would have set the official goal to $4500 to cover more gear & un-expected expenses. I'm confident we would have been able to reach that figure.

If you do all these things right, you'll be shocked at how your project will take off.

Now, get to work.

Arbor, Art & Sharks

Over the Summer, board sport company Arbor Collective teamed up with Pangea Seed to bring us The Great West Coast Migration, a series of art shows up & down the West Coast put on to raise awareness about shark finning & ocean conservation. Arbor had worked with me before & contacted me about capturing the first two events for a film they'll be producing. After a bit of discussion, he & I also decided to produce a teaser for the rest of the series.

Everyone involved was a delight to work with & we couldn't have asked for a smoother experience producing a piece like this. Shooting took place here in Seattle & Portland, which is an interesting town, to say the least. The art work was tight, The Pangea seed crew was a great group of passionate individuals & Arbor is company whose brand & culture I can get behind. Their aim to conduct business in the most sustainable way possible while producing a dope product is admirable. Definitely look forward to working with them again in the future.

CASE STUDY // Interactive Video.

I think this is the future of video advertising! I've seen it twice in recent months & I guarantee we'll be seeing more of it in the near future. I guarantee this is what many large & the mid-sized companies will start investing their advertising money into. And I guarantee that if you're in commercial video production & you don't have the foresight to hop on this train, you'll start getting passed up for others who did, if you haven't already.

Earlier this year, the Red Hot Chili Peppers teamed up with Therapy Studios &  Axis Studios to come out with an interactive music video for their song Look Around...

The video's story is pretty basic, really. It's just the band members dinking around in their own individual rooms. Big whoop... But the concept & format of the music video (which is a form of advertising) is groundbreaking. The audience is now involved in the viewing experience as oppose to merely being observers. They choose which scene to watch at any given point, and what's more, they'll watch it again to see what they missed and show their friends. You can have multiple stories progressing in one video, all intersecting at some point, and the viewer will immerse themselves in each one, multiple times. Think about how the viewing experience is changed for the consumer. And think about the boundaries you can push with this, creatively!

Another bunch of people pushing the envelope are those folks at Uncle Grey in Denmark, who made The Liberation for Only Jeans...

In this piece, the viewer's not just an observer who chooses what to watch, but they become a character who drives the story (unless you're watching it on a smartphone). In other words, the story does not progress without the viewer's participation. This has surely been done before, but it's brilliant. Despite the ridiculously juvenile & suggestive storyline, I gotta give it up for Uncle Grey for making something captivating, fun & effective! They're reaching their target audience with this & having a profound effect, no doubt. Stuff like this will be what drives commercial video into the next generation.

By no means am I saying that agencies will tank if they don't adapt & pick up on these new forms of video. I am saying that in the months & years to come, it would be a far cry to say they're on the cutting edge if they're not pushing the boundaries with projects like these, or coming up with something entirely new, whatever that might be.

I'm fortunate enough to be in a profession where ideas & creativity are major assets. My mind is consumed with ideas for what can be done with these concepts & I'm determined to meet others who are like-minded & driven to bring these projects to fruition. Where are you people?!

The Story Behind "(270) Seconds of Summer"

Summer goes by quickly in Washington. You're so busy enjoying it with friends & family, then all of a sudden the rain comes & you're left with memories... Screw that. This year I wanted to breathe some life onto those memories & make 'em last, so over the course of Summer 2011 I took my camera around & gathered nearly 100 GB worth of footage (Somewhere in the ballpark of 20 hours). I wanted the final video to be fast pace yet nostalgic, so I chose a song that reflected that: Stay Close by Delorean (RAC remix). After I-don't-know-how-many hours of editing in my spare time, this was the outcome...



(Watch in HD on Vimeo!)

Many of those editing hours were spent experimenting. For example, the tracking text on the animals took a day to learn & another day to implement. Creating the split-screen intro was like assembling a mind bending puzzle! All that's nothing compared to the amount of time spent organizing & cutting clips. Taking 20 hours of footage & squeezing it into 4 minutes & 30 seconds is an achievement in itself.

The film's supposed to make people feel something. The goal was goosebumps. Excitement. Dopamine in the bloodstream. The intro's meant to keep the viewer mildly interested while the music builds to the beat kicking at :58. That's the point at which I wanted them to be drawn in, and if they weren't, the introduction of real audio at 1:57 was meant to hook them. The tracking text on the animals was a set-up for a joke, the punchline for which is at 3:48. I wanted the cuts to be quick so viewer's left with a feeling that they missed so much they have to go back & watch it again, thus making the piece a little more interactive... and making the viewer feel a little more involved.

Inspiration: The title alone was inspired by Marc Webb's mind-bogglingly creative (500) Days of Summer (Written by Neustadter/Weber). Though the title was a bite, the content in (270) was unrelated. The use of real audio was inspired, in part, by Romain Gavras's Adidas, All In video, which gets me amped every time I watch it!

(270) blew up & went viral three days after I posted it on Vimeo. It's gotten a bit of press, being featured as a Curator's Choice on storyful.com and being featured on a nationally syndicated television show called Right This Minute (which I never even got to see). It's all very flattering, really, googling the title & seeing write-ups on hundreds of websites, in so many languages. It's nice to know that my work can transcend borders & cultures, and inspire & touch all of humanity... and for that I'm grateful.

Arbor Shoot

Back in November I was contacted by John of BLEACH, telling me about an opportunity to help with a shoot for Arbor. Arbor was putting on a show displaying the work of artists Blaine Fontana & Zach Johnsen, who do a lot of the work on Arbor snowboards & skate/longboards. So, producer Joel hired myself & my buddy Travis to document the event on camera & a week later, this is what Joel was able to put together to promote the exhibit.



Good times.

BLEACH TACOMA (1 Minute Spot)

While part one was meant to portray a lifestyle or culture, Part two in the BLEACH series was meant to be more informative about how they connect with the community. I was able to take a couple hours to let the owners expound on that & this was the outcome. I made a point to keep this piece concise, so as to keep it at exactly a minute long. The third video will be a bit more lengthy.



(Watch in HD on Vimeo!)

As always, in hindsight, there are aspects of this piece that bother me & others that I'm proud of. However, I'm finding that these posts have ended up being mere critiques of my work & that's only one aspect of what this blog is supposed to be about. So this time, I'm just going to keep all that to myself & let the work speak for itself.

Changes are coming for this blog. I'm either going to change the format entirely or start a separate website & attach this blog to it. No matter what I decide to do, though, it will involve me updating it more often

Good day!

 

BLEACH TACOMA (30 Second Spot)

This summer provided me with an opportunity to produce some exciting content for one of the tightest clothing stores in the area, Bleach. It was a fun challenge & just the kind of project I needed.

This was the first in a series of videos for promoting Bleach. It was a real test capturing what the store's about & stuffing it into 30 seconds, but I'd say I passed... Not necessarily with flying colors, though...



(Watch in HD on Vimeo!)

Bleach goes by the slogan 'Clothing-Culture-Connect'. This video ended up being more about the 'culture' aspect, in that the clothing wasn't really on display & there wasn't much to show how Bleach connects with the community (which is addressed in the second video).

I'm happy with the results, but if I were to do it over again, I would have spent more time outfitting the on-screen talent to make sure everything they wear reflects well on Bleach. I also would have shot the longboarding footage in a less crowded area or earlier in the day. Lastly, I probably would have chosen a different song, as I can imagine the jarring repetitiveness of this track might be a real turn off for some. Other than that, I think I did a satisfactory job.

Cheers.

Super Climactic Snowboarding Film

In early March, my buddies Mike, Josh & I went to Crystal Mountain for a nice little day of riding. I decided to bring my camera  & I asked Josh to bring his Flip camcorder to capture the on-mountain action, since there was no way I was gonna bring my new DSLR riding with us. That'd just be reckless, kids.

SUPER climactic SNOWBOARDING film (March 2011)

'Superclimactic' is a big-time oxymoron here. If you didn't put it together yourself from the ending, Josh's camera died like two minutes after we got off the lift, so we hardly got any riding footage. As such, the only thing for me to do was make a joke of the situation by making the most climactic part of the song the most disappointing moment of the video & somehow explaining the lack of riding shots. I thought my way of explaining it was kind of clever & I think the video is kind of a funny contradiction. Most probably don't catch the humor & likely see it as lame. Oh well, this video was just for kicks & giggles.

From a production standpoint, this was shot mostly on my Canon T3i with the kit 18-55mm lens. I saw the limitations of this lens in some of the darker shots in the car. The kit lens is just too slow & forces you to use ISO, which is the enemy. However, I was happy with some of the footage from the ride up, as well as most of the footage I got once we got out of the car. Once we left the car behind, we switched to Josh's Flip which held it's own in good lighting. It's just a bummer about the battery being shot. At least we were able to get enough footage for me to throw together a coherent story.

One last thing I'm not to thrilled about was the color-correcting job I did. I went a little overboard &  some of the footage favors browns a bit too much for my taste. I tried to use Final Cut Pro's 3-Way Color Corrector tool as a substitute for Apple Color, which I don't think I'm gonna do anymore. I just have to spend more time in Color learning how to color grade my footage.

Having said all that, I hope you enjoyed it.