13 Days, 5 Videos

It’s been an exhausting two weeks.  Chillipepper was this past weekend, so exhaustion was already in the cards, but this time around, we decided on doing a whopping FIVE major videos for the weekend, instead of the normal one or two.  To make things more peachy, this process started less than two weeks out, which is my normal minimum timespan for getting one significant video done.  Yippee!  

Thankfully, while this could have been an unmitigated disaster that sent me running from the world of motion design and video forever, it was actually pretty invigorating.  Though, I was working 12 hour days and some extra hours on the weekend, and was even editing in between shooting actual sessions of Chillipepper.  I would like to avoid doing that…well, ever again.  

I would like to thank the many, many of you who have shared kind words regarding these videos.  It’s been really encouraging.

Chillipepper Intro

This one was entirely overambitious.  It’s not that I didn’t think I could do it, or that I was short on ideas for it…I’m just not skilled enough yet to do this sort of video quickly.  Though, I don’t think that any sort of fully animated video is supposed to be done quickly.  All told, it took in between four and five very long days to get this one done, which was just way too long given the situation.  I don’t regret it, though, because it was fun, and I learned a lot, and more importantly, it gave me a better grasp on just how much I don’t know.  The inspiration came from this year’s Chillipepper T-Shirt, with its simplistic, geometric mountains.  

Seesalt 09: “Invasion”

The idea to do a movie trailer-style promo for this coming summer’s alien theme (the only way I know to describe it) was my Dad’s idea, though there was some seesawing back and forth regarding whether it should be an old 50’s B-movie style trailer or a contemporary dark and mysterious one.  The B-movie one couldn’t be done well quickly, so I ran with the contemporary idea, armed with some stock video footage and some sound effects.  I have to give major thanks to Video CoPilot/Andrew Kramer, whose Twitch plug-in made getting this look a lot easier.  Kramer’s tutorials are the reason I know anything at all about After Effects, so this one’s for you.  

SAM 09: “To the World”

This one was easy.  The look and vibe hit me the first time I heard this particular Garageband track, and it was in the can roughly five hours later.  Special thanks to the “Wiggle” expression in After Effects.  

Seesalt 09: “See”

“This is so cheesy.”  That’s all I could think about when making this, our primary Seesalt promo.  But I wanted something simple, something that communicated strongly, easily, and effectively.  I’m actually kind of surprised that we haven’t done more with the word “see” in the past.  This video also demonstrates my continued obsession with light as a primary effect.  It’s the new grungy.

Art to Heart

This one, admittedly, did not get the full treatment.  This video was made in between the Saturday morning sessions and Saturday evening sessions of Chillipepper.  It was definitely the shortest project from start to finish, and definitely the video for which I had the least ideas.  This video is almost sleepy in a way…a great mirror of my physical and mental state at the time.  This is actually the first promotional video I’ve ever made that used lived audio from the event itself.  That was the only way I could think of to convey the narrative of Art to Heart.  The audio is of terrible quality, coming straight from the rinky-dink built-in microphone on my camera, but it works.  I hope.  

So now, it is time for rest.  And when I say rest, I mean time for rebuilding the rest of the Concoxions website, preferably by Monday.  Yippee!

Video Double-Dip

A couple of videos that a few have requested.  Enjoy!

Whoa, I have a blog?

Hmmmm….so, yeah.  It’s been a while since I’ve posted on here.  It’s a pity, too, it was going so strongly through the summer.  Now that I’m starting to get settled in to “life” some more, I hope to continue the conversation some more.

So here’s a little bit of what has been going on and what I’ve been up to.

First…the thing I get asked about a lot…I’m being considered for a position with the North Point Community Church (Atlanta, well, Alpharetta actually) media team.  This is obviously a pretty big “life detail” that I would love to see figured out.  I have no real indication of my chances of getting the job, and I think they’re still interviewing people, so such information would probably be pretty inappropriate at this point anyways.  But it’s an exciting possibility.  I’ve met the team, and it has got to be one of the most insanely creative collection of people I’ve ever encountered.  You should see their stuff…which, if you’ve ever been to North Point, then you have.  The position I’m being considered for is a hybrid designer/motion designer/anything-else-that-could-conceivably-fall-into-the-category-of-”media” guy.  That was 10 hyphens, for those who were counting.  Anyways, this has been (and I anticipate it will continue to be) a long process.  The limbo of not knowing whether or not I’ll be shooting of to the ATL anytime soon has had me pretty stressed/unsettled.  But I thing I’m chilling a little bit more.  

In the meantime, it’s the busy season at Concoxions.  I’ve been squeezing every last ounce of creative juice in me to come up with some quickly, and there’s still a looooong way to go….web designs, some new ideas we have for promotional material, promo videos, the works.  So we’ll see how it goes.

First up, Chillipepper…

This is the foundational design for the final promotional theme (mainly the poster) for this coming winter.  The typeface has remained mainly the same, but the idea has continued to evolve ever since the Coldplay/iTunes commercial gave the promotional video a kick in the pants.  The resemblance is perhaps a bit stronger here…

Disappointed that I had to “fake” the volumetric lighting effect (light rays coming through the letters), curiosity got the best of me and I fired up my Cinema 4D demo just so I could see what this motif could look like with full 3D treatment…lovingly called the “erupting version” by Tiffany. (Click for full size version.)  

I really, really, really, really want to get into 3D modeling/animation.  There’s just so much you can do typographically (which is what I mainly do).  But it’s expensive, at least for someone in my position.

We’re wanting to get the Seesalt stuff at the same time as the Chillipepper stuff, so believe it or not, I’m already having to come up with some drafts, about half a year sooner than I’m used to.

There’s a lot that isn’t quite up to snuff with that particular design, but it’s something to run with.  And of course, I couldn’t resist…

I am apparently addicted to big, bright lights.

Finally, we needed a design for “Art to Heart,” a traveling special-effects chalk drawing production (which we’ve already thrown together once this season, in front of about 1,000 students at Gardner-Webb…that’s a fairly large test audience).  I’m actually pretty stoked about this design, and trust me, that is RARE.  This one may have some potential.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, it’s college football season.  I am a strange wound-up ball of happiness, stress, excitement, and tension during this blessed/cursed time.  But I tell you, this Furman team has the earmarks of something special.  We’ll know for sure this Saturday (home against #6 Delaware…HUGE game).  Meanwhile, I’ve been acting as the weekly “College Football Pick’em” guy over at amalgamblog, and (not to toot my own horn) I’ve been doing pretty well.  I may miss some games here or there, but I seemingly have a knack for guessing margins of victory pretty accurately.  But, we’re only three weeks in.  College football can be screwy.

Okay, I think I’ve made up for the lack of posting.  That’s enough for now.

SAM Highlight Video Screen Grabs

Link

Back to School (Design project)

I’m loving getting to do these little Freelance projects along the way.  This particular one is for North Point Community Church in Atlanta (the second time I’ve had the privilege of working with them) and a program they’re doing called “The Back to School Project.”  It’s a great outreach effort for low-income families who need school supplies for the upcoming school year.  Check it out here for more info as well as a short little video in which the design is used (I only was involved in the static design this time around, but I like what they did with it).  

To be perfectly fair, I thought I would show the part that I submitted, as well as the changes…I don’t want to take any credit for changes they made once I moved back into the frantic world of Seesalt.

 

(Original)

 

(Modified...taken from the flash navigation panel on their homepage)

Portfolio Works, Braves Don’t; Song of the day

The bad news: No early MobileMe update as anticipated.  

The good news: .Mac is back to its normal self, and thankfully, so is my portfolio.

 

In completely unrelated news, the Braves turned in an inspired, 4-error performance in another loss to the Brew crew.  Was I not strong enough in my wording yesterday?

Song of the Day: Ring Them Bells, Sufjan Stevens, I’m Not There Soundtrack (originally by Bob Dylan…obviously) –Sufjan meets Dylan…Yep, it’s as strange as it sounds, but it’s also a good one.

Viva La Vida Review and Other Thoughts

Quick review of Coldplay’s Viva La Vida:

It’s good.  Get it.

It’s mature, it shows restraint, it’s diverse and fresh instrumentally, and is surprisingly sing-alongable.  It doesn’t have the constant drive that X&Y had…but that may be what makes it better.  And there’s some serious spiritual struggling going on in these lyrics – very relatable.  

So lately I’ve been trying, out of necessity, to get my portfolio up to date for an impending job interview.  Let me take this chance to remind everyone out there that, while I generally love the software that Apple puts out there, do not touch iWeb unless you absolutely have to.  I’ve been learning real web design lately, but I need this up quickly, and trusted iWeb to do the job.  It, in turn, transformed my portfolio into word vomit.

Speaking of which, if you want to learn web design, or pretty much anything related to creative software (Photoshop, After Effects, Final Cut, almost everything), take a stroll over to Lynda.com.  For $25 a month, you can have access to an inexhaustible library of training videos…we’re talking hours and hours of really good stuff.  I bring this up because I’ve buried myself in the Dreamweaver training lately, and I’m amazed at how much I’ve learned in just a few days.

Where’s the Hooked On Phonics kid when you need him?

And finally…to the Braves….look, I know you’re hurting.  I know it’s hard to get by with the Richmond Braves plus a one-legged Chipper Jones.  But can you still just try and make a run at things?  Soon?  This whole “almost in the race” mediocrity is getting old.  Don’t you think you deserve better?

It’s done. Can I go home now?