The Martians are coming
The Martians are coming…
a use case project for my new moco rig
This is a use case project based on my SciFi Dallas photography project. I recently built a motion control camera rig, and this is one of the first projects I have done with it. Its a real world type “Systems Check “ to see what works and what breaks. Also working out the overall workflow of shooting with a setup like this. It’s a bit different but so far so good.
Help support my crazy endeavors and…
End of an era, and Yet the start of another, again!
It seems the economic impact of the Corona Pandemic finally made its presence known where I work. They had to layoff a fair portion of our workforce, after having kept us on through the pandemic, which they didn’t have to. They could have made the cuts a lot earlier, but they didn’t, which is considerate and impressive. While this kind of thing does happen regularly in our industry it is generally not due to a pandemic. Given this development, it is probably time to move on to other things. During the past few years I have had the opportunity to be the director of photography on a number of projects. In that time I have done several commercial and short film projects as well as music video projects. Many of them are listed here on my site under the Film / TV menu. I enjoyed working in this capacity on these projects, and given my past experiences and my penchant for photography I feel like this is the way to go. Below is my current work in progress director of photography reel.
Resume with more details is on this site as well.
More shorts and other work I have been involved in available on my Youtube channel.
I will still be available for on set VFX Supervision/Post Advisory services, as well as Lighting / Compositing and general CG gigs as well. Please feel free to contact me with any questions you might have.
MoCo Build
What a journey, during the Pandemic I decided to DIY a small Motion Control Camera Jib, after having some frustration with what was currently on the market, especially as I have and use a couple of these systems. How hard could it be ?! Well…… hard, but in hindsight it’s actually not that bad overall, it does take some patience and has a pretty steep learning curve. Additionally you can’t be afraid to start over again and again and refine, refine, refine. Below is a BTS of the design and execution of this build.
Help support my crazy endeavors and…
Skateboards and stickers...
I recently shot some a promo piece for ATKPLN to use in their social media and marketing efforts, which included a fun stop motion piece that they edited into multiple use cases, but I did want to share the entire piece that I shot. While short it is still a bit too long for some social media uses. The “Sticker characters” originally come from a custom Skateboard Deck that we give out as “client gifts”, which I also shot some stills for.
a few details of the last Skatedecks that we gave out as “Client Gifts”. A new deck and new designs are on the way now….
A Dresser, you know .... for my frilly things.
So I made a bookcase, you know, for books....
I wanted to replace my two old , cheap, saggy, bookshelves with something that one, I built, and two, would accommodate the books that used to fit in these two old , saggy bookshelves, and three, would fit nicely on a specific wall in my office, and four, would not sag. I went round and round on designs ranging from Greene&Greene style design, especially as I had seen a trick they used to span a long distance shelf with no sagging, and then on to some more contemporary efforts but ultimately my wife was the deciding factor, after having shown her some of the sketches she gravitated towards an open style set of shelves I had drawn up. This was what I needed to move forward on this project. Sometimes it’s just another pair of eyes, or some small validation that will nudge you into action. This short piece highlights the build.
Slit Scan Update - I just couldn't help myself.
In my previous post I outlined how I did a slit scan effect manually, just to work out how it was done, and how it works, and I just couldn’t leave it alone, so I automated it. In this video I outline how I added automation to the slit scan rig, there is also some updated footage shot with the new rig.
Help support my crazy endeavors and…
Slit Scan Effect
2001 A Space Odyssey - who doesn’t remember the mind bending “Stargate” effect from that movie, this movie plus many more fired up my imagination as a kid, I wanted to see if I could achieve this effect with little to no technology. This is a small example along with a quick behind the scenes explanation of how I did it. Enjoy.