Let’s talk about music. I’ve been thinking about this post for a while now but am finally getting down to writing it. Music is arguably one of the most powerful mediums we have; it can so strongly help to create a mood or emotion and can stay with you for hours or days (even when you don’t want it to). But film or video might even be more powerful a medium because it can benefit from having music AND visuals. I am a big fan of music and it has always played an important part of my life; prior to starting a career in video, I was working and heading in the direction of being a music engineer. (In fact, I met my wife through music production.) Read more…
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The New Addition
As many of you may know, my wife and I just had our first child, Owen, about 3 weeks ago. These early stages of parenthood have been amazing and magical. I looked back today at the video we shot on the day we found out that Owen was on his way, and it is unbelievable that here he finally is. I know that he will be my new focus in life, my new artistic inspiration, and hopefully someone to help carry my gear someday. Read more…
A Nice Set of Legs
I wasn’t planning to do a review of my new purchase, but some Twitter buddies were curious about my new tripod, so I thought I’d post a little overview. It just arrived yesterday and has not gone on a shoot yet, but I played with it a bit today and can go over some of the features. The tripod in question is the Manfrotto (Bogen) 535 Carbon Fiber legs with the new 504HD head. I wanted a second tripod and when I was at NAB, in April, that was one of the things I was looking for. Read more…
Expansion
So this week I added a new piece of gear to my arsenal. Unfortunately this piece of gear won’t make me much money, but it will get me from point A to point B. I bought a new car, a minivan, in fact. As anyone in production knows, having a good sized production vehicle can be essential. Even though our cameras and a lot of other gear have gotten smaller, there is still a ton to take on shoots. My previous (now second) car was a Mazda 3 wagon. A great, fun, zippy little car. I could pack A LOT of stuff in it. I used to joke that this car could JUST barely fit whatever was needed. Read more…
A Cautionary Tale
I think anyone who works for themselves long enough will run into a case of non-payment. It sucks. It makes you mad. It makes you feel betrayed. I have been fairly lucky, though, that in my three and a half years of working for myself there have only been two cases of this. The first time was in my first year as a freelancer and it was a half-day shoot for a company from Florida. Everything seemed legit, and it probably was. I imagine that nobody was setting out to screw me or scam me. But in the end, a few months after the shoot, after the tapes were sent to them, it seemed as if this company no longer existed. Read more…
My Most Used Camera
“The best camera is the one that’s with you.”
I believe that expression was coined by photographer Chase Jarvis. At least, he has a book with that title, which features photos taken with a mobile device and discusses the idea of creating art without getting hung up on the technical things like resolution, dynamic range, lens selection, etc. Read more…
My Archive and Storage Solution
Recently, several bloggers I follow have posted about different storage workflows and solutions, so I thought I would add my two cents. Hopefully this will help people tasked with storing a large amount of data. (I write this knowing full well that storage solutions are a HOT topic for many who feel strongly that THEIR solution is the best and other solutions are DEAD WRONG, so hopefully I will stay out of the line of fire.) Read more…
Hear me geek out on Planet5D
I was flattered when Mitch Aunger, the creator behind the successful website Planet5D.com (devoted to all things Canon HDSLR), asked to do a live web interview with me. We met at NAB last month at the All-In Film event, which I had invited him to, and he recently saw the latest 48 Hour Film I DPed, and asked if I wanted to do an interview. So tonight at 9pm EST I will be having a web video interview with Mitch. I imagine will talk about cameras and other fun toys, as well as some of my other work and my favorite breakfast cereals. Read more…
Another 48 Hours
So here’s how it went down:
At 7pm Friday night, my buddy Keith texted me: “Sci-fi”. I responded: “Ick”. He wrote back: “I’m sorta thinking ick also”.
I was about to embark on my sixth effort in a 48 Hour Film Project and Keith had pulled Sci-fi as our genre. I didn’t really want to make a Sci-fi film. Neither did he. We had the opportunity to throw it back and go for the “wild card” genre, but that could have been worse. Read more…
NAB Wrap-up
I just got back last night from my first trip to the NAB Show in Las Vegas, and after a good night’s sleep I am now beginning to feel human again. It was a short trip, only there for 2 full days, but I sacrificed sleep in order to pack each day with as much stuff as possible, and my head is still spinning a little from everything I saw and everyone I met. This trip also included what will hopefully be the first of many All-In Film Charity Poker Tournaments on Monday night. It went great, and was well received. I will go through my highlights of the whole trip for you all. Read more…