Busy Like a Bee With a Vuvuzela

Been doing a lot of learning lately. Trying to step up my game so I can grow up and do this kind of stuff for a living, finally. Before I get started, I want to publicly convey congratulations to my bro, Ken Lowrie, for getting the gig as the Orlando Producer for the 2010 48 Hour Film Festival!!! It is well deserved and I KNOW he's going to do a kick ass job in the position. Ken, we've got to get together soon and have some celebratory grub and libations.

As far as what I've been learning. Well, last weekend we shot some night footage with the 7D. It is a lot of fun playing with that camera and learning the best way to get the shots we want. You have SO MANY options when you shoot stuff at night. Especially, when you're using Zeiss Primes! Viva la f/1.4! Anyway, I wanted to shoot myself driving, but it was easier to just shoot someone else doing it. I gave Enrique the keys and I took the 7D with the 50mm and we went for a ride around the block. Here's the result:


Ken shot some great footage while out at the beach a few weeks ago, but he had to stand in knee deep, very turbulent waters in order to get the shot. Oh, and he did it handheld, so the footage was kind of shaky. Thanks to one of Andrew Kramer's lessons, I was able to steady that footage and make it look kind of cool:


Here's a side-by-side so you can see what the original looked like compared to the final:


Finally, Ken and Brenda shot a bunch of nature related footage several months ago and I've just been sitting on it. I finally got around to putting together a demo reel with some of it. There was SO MUCH great stuff to choose from and I did the edit so it would flow from one shot to the next. You'd never think it was shot in three different locations in two different states:


Oh...and P.S. Check out this cool pic I took outside my house the other night of a spider making a BIG ASS web. Seriously, one of the anchor points was halfway up a 30 foot tall tree that's at least 20 feet away from the house:

I shot him/her with Ken's other Canon SLR with a 300mm telephoto lens, but I had it set to macro so the depth of field was probably less than half an inch. Look at the pic. His leg is out of focus. Crazy. Click here for the rest of them.

PEACE!!!

Trying to Get Caught Up

I took a week and a half off from my day job just so I can crank stuff out, and I've been doing just that. Unfortunately, I've neglected the blog in the process. Don't worry, I'm going to knock out a few posts here in the next few days, starting with this one.

A buddy of mine, Vadinne, sent a few cool things my way. One is this vid done by the same dude who did the Chrono Trigger: Short Action Scene, I blogged about a couple weeks ago (the vid had only 15,000 views when I posted my blog...now it's almost to 1.2 mil!). I would love to do a stop motion film sometime, but they're very time consuming. Still though, I love seeing stuff this good out there:


She also sent me this link which shows that Hollywood obviously like to use this particular prop.

And this link which shows what movie posters would look like if they went with their original casting.

And this pretty cool pic:

Jemara, being her father's daughter, wanted to show me something she caught on one of the vlogs her big brother shared with her. The vloggers got a new camera and it's a Canon 7D. The video is pretty long, so skip ahead to the 2:00 mark and watch some of the shots he got the first time he took the camera out (ends around the 8:20 point):

When Jemara watched it with me she said, "Dad, I know you guys can shoot better, but it is still pretty cool they got those shots." Yes it is baby girl, yes it is.

I used to be a pretty big fan of M. Night Shyamalan, until he started to put out crap. Hate him or not, he still gets to edit his films at Skywalker Ranch:


These two commercials entertain the hell out of me:



That's all I got for today. I've cleaned off some of the things I wanted to blog about. The next blog will cover some of the things I've been working on to help CLP get a bit more visibility.

2 Down. 13 To Go.

When I paid a visit to NJ to hang out with my sis and her hubby, she cooked for me. As unassuming as this may sound, take note this was the first time, in my near 40 years of existence, she's cooked a real meal for me. This blog isn't supposed to talk about my personal side, but let's just say it was the best roast chicken I've ever had in my life. That really was a great trip. Thanks again Angie and CMo for hosting me.

Trust me, there's something film making related to this blog.

My sister ordered me the cookbook with the roast chicken recipe in it. I kept raving about this chicken and finally, today, Jemara and I took our shot at it. I took some pictures of the event. I did all my post-production using Magic Bullet Looks. It's a GREAT easy-to-use utility for some really quick and effective looks/effects. I used it extensively in Cutty Lue's "Just a Thought" music video. I've only used it one other time for playing with pictures. If Photoshop got busay with Picnik, their spawn would be MB Looks. Check it out.

The new usual suspect:


The plan:


Prep. If you know me and my kids, you know this isn't the first time Jemara's been in the kitchen.






Frown if you must. A few years ago, Jemara asked me how to use the wine bottle opener, so I taught her.


See. Not all of it was for drinking.



Giving the bird it's last rites and final baptism.


I didn't really do much color correction on this pic. I just opened it up about half a stop. I wanted ya'll to see this for it's natural beauty.


Enjoying the fruits of her labor.


Order Jacques Pepin's More Fast Food My Way and try out some of his delicious recipes. Jemara said that this summer, while she's out of school, she wants to cook 15 dishes out of his book. We did two tonight and the house couldn't smell more delightfully yummy.

The light was really pretty on our back patio, so I took a pic of it.


And finally, to keep the fans happy. Here's a couple of sky pics. ;-)


No, I didn't put that rainbow there in post. Seriously, I didn't. It was in the sky, hence why I took a pic of it.

Keep smiling people.

The Power of Editing

When I edited my first project using a copy of Pinnacle Studio provided by Ken, those many years ago, I never thought it would lead me to where I am today. Anyway, through all of these years I've really learned the power behind a good edit. My buddy, Karen (a.k.a. Dusty Bibles, a.k.a Muselyn) sent me some clips and they prove that very point:





Speaking of the power of a good edit. Check out this AWESOME fan film done as a pitch from a production team to get Warner Bros to fund a full length feature based on the old school video game Mortal Kombat:


My guess is they're going to get the money.

Geeks Need Love Too

I spend a lot of my time on computers. Being a software engineer, by day, and a wanna-be-filmmaker, by night, my fingers are usually always on the keyboard and my face illuminated by that sweet comforting glow of a computer display. I had to do double duty (geek and CLP) on a Saturday, which means I spent damn near most of the day at a computer. Today, I took a break, from saving the world one keystroke at a time, and read Philip Bloom's post on DSLRs. As you probably already know, we've been playing with a 5Dmk2 and a 7D, just to see what the big deal is. Well, it isn't just a lot of hype. Those cameras kick ass when it comes to shooting film and they're changing the game for everyone in the business. No, I'm not going to stand on my soap box, again, and try to sell you one the miracle cures of doing film with a DSLR. I would like to point out some cool stuff I've learned, during this well deserved break. Thanks Philip!!!

First, here's a trailer for the Zacuto Great Camera Shootout 2010, where they did a whole bunch of various testing on both film and DLSR cameras. Watch the 3 webisodes because they are chock full of really good information for both the seasoned filmmaker and up-and-coming:


Here's a film Philip Bloom did on a 5Dmk2 and 7D while out at Skywalker Ranch. Yes, I'm super jealous:


This is a music video done by Carlos Lascano on a 7D. I really like the way he did this. It mixes both live action and stop motion:


While I was composing this blog, Saturday Night Live just came on and as I watched the opening titles, I said, "That HAD to be shot on a DSLR." Sure enough it was, and look who's short was the inspiration behind it:

The School Year is Ending

Oh to be in school again. Just to have summers off. My daughter doesn't really know how good she has it. Starting this coming week, she'll be out of school until August. No responsibilities, except for chillin and swimming in the pool. She does Chorus, and they just did the end-of-year concert. I decided to take a few pics while I was there.










Enjoy your summer you crazy kids.

We're Oscar Mike!

Happy Memorial Day folks! I certainly hope you all are enjoying your day off. Maybe you're BBQing or drinking (in my case, I'm doing both). Regardless, take a moment to reflect on the many who have given the ultimate sacrifice to ensure you enjoy your BBQ and beers. Maybe you can take the time and watch "Band of Brothers", which is one of the best mini-series EVAR! While you're at it, watch "Generation Kill" too. Since we're on the warfighter path, I've got my eye on:


I'm just going to pour through a couple more things for your viewing pleasures. First, I don't think I ever posted the pic of the actual award we won for the Orlando 24 Hour Film Fest. I know, you're probably tired of hearing about it by now, but dammit we won an award! Marinate, participate, salivate, but don't hate. Here's the award (thumb optional):


In my last blog, I talked about my bro-in-law Chris Moore (CMo) taking to photography like Pookie to that rock. He got himself a Nikon D90 and he's very happy with it. Check out what he's been doing with his new toy here and here. Yes, he got a shot of a bee on a flower and he's doing pretty good on the color correction. I think he is ready to leave the Shaolin Temple.

This past week, we've been really busy playing with the Canons. I really can't explain how very cool these cameras are and how much they change the game. I've shot the stuff of my imagination on the 5 and 7D. Spectacular tools for film making! I'll work on getting a demo reel pieced together over the next couple weeks. Just got a crapload of footage to go through and damn near all of it is good!

Here are a few embeds to send you on your way. I've got to get back to drinking beer and watching "Band of Brothers" on Spike (even though I do have the DVD set...the commercial breaks are a good time to get a fresh beer).

This was posted on Andrew Kramer's blog. Very cool what you can do with Action Essentials 2:


This time lapse was shot with a 5D.

Google Chrome is kinda fast:


Phillip Bloom is one of my new heroes. Santa, I want a Pocket Dolly for Christmas: