My 2011 Demo Reel (First Cut)

I plan to have much more to add to this in the next few months.

Feeling Better About It

Had a great Thanksgiving Dinner, and now with better perspective I was able to get the cut a little closer to what I wanted. Still much more work to be done though.








Looks like rain tomorrow, so re-scheduling shoot for another day next week. Hopefully I can get much more footage then. It really is looking like this will be a complete short film in early December.

Special thanks to Marcellus for once again being in my corner and helping me out with some Visual Effects work. Thanks for the help bud!

REDD Test Cut

First cut of some of the footage we've shot for REDD. Trying out some cuts, some color grading, and experimenting with the score. April Crum is our title character, our bad ass Red Riding Hood. Also features Richard Gaither, Amanda Elizabeth, and Ron Rice throws the knife. Nice shot Ron.



Canon T2i
Canon EFS 18-55mm Lens
Nikon 180mm Lens
Fotodiox Adapter
DIY Slider
Sony Vegas Pro 9
Pro Scores and Sony Acid

Much more footage to shoot. Finishing up April's stuff Monday. And as soon as we get the Werewolf finished we may have one more day with her. Still have the other leads and supporting cast to shoot, a Werewolf transformation, some Vampires, Zombies, and then some explosions to work out. This short should be done by December and will be about 8 minutes long. May do a 15 minute version for festivals, and I've worked out a script for a feature length version, if we somehow get the money for it.

The Redd Ghost

First official day of shooting on Redd with the star April Crum. Got behind schedule due to some issues with the sun going down entirely too fast, and me not being prepared for extra lighting while using new and more powerful lenses. But lessons learned, and we'll be back at it on Monday. I swear I'm so anxious to get these action shots of April in full costume. The photos below should show how bad ass she looks in full regalia.



If you're not aware, Redd is my short/mock trailer, about a post apocalyptic world and a village under attack by evil creatures and wild wolf beasts coming from the nearby dark forest. Our heroin appears to save the day and fight off the evil. My little spin on Little Red Riding Hood. A little more gothic, horror oriented, and definitely more action and adventure.

I'm hoping that this little 6 to 8 minute short/mock trailer will really display some cinematic power utilizing the Canon T2i and alot of our DIY Moviemaking resources.

Some of the props need touch up work, and I definitely need to repaint her giant gun at the end there. Oh yeah, and I should get the Werewolf costumes together shouldn't I.

I swear if I can get this done before December, that would be awesome.

Adapt, Improvise

Made a few moves to try to get back on track. Sort of made my own canvas, if you will.  Point is, my comp is still out for a few weeks, but I've found a way to edit on my wife's laptop. So, not a screeching halt, more of a slow burn, but at least I can move forward.

Good thing too, because I was anxious to test out the test shots from Tuesday.  Here's a few of those shots in a very short, quick edit. Using Sony Vegas, here's my run at the "Sin City" Effect.  The entire short won't be like this, but parts of it will. Amanda Elizabeth is standing in for April Crum. April will be down next Wednesday for her shots.

Leftovers

I've used the Canon T2i for a couple of commercials. The leftover footage has been a great opportunity to really try out HD quality in editing. Here are 3 videos featuring most of the footage that I did and did not use for the last few ads I shot. All shot on the Rebel in 720 / 60p, Post, Slow-Mo, and color grading in Sony Vegas Pro 9.

Basement Namaste

Features Sterling Bollinger. Music by Bond.

A Workout In The Park

Features Amanda Elizabeth. Music by Thomas Newman from Scent Of A Woman.

Slow Motion Light and Fog

Features Richard Gaither. Music by Brian Tyler and Klaus Badelt from Constantine.

Midway Wicked Woods 2010

2010 Ad for the Midway Wicked Woods Haunted Trail in Statesville, NC.

Shot on Canon T2i in 720 at 60. Post and grading in Sony Vegas Pro 9.

Use What You've Got

Finished up an Ad for Hoodie Buddies. It's a fairly neat little product. A Hoodie that you can plug your mp3 player into, and use the drawstrings as head phones. Got a few of them to use for the ad. I've been so busy I just haven't had time to give it my attention, but I at least wanted to submit a straightforward ad explaining how the product works.



Special thanks to Julie Keels for letting me use her as a model. She did a great job. Shot a few minutes worth of footage. As I was done with the ad, I decided to use the footage to test out some color correction, white balancing, and also some simulated depth of field, using cookie cutter as well as the masking tools. I actually found a few tools I didn't know Vegas had, it was like Christmas I was so happy.

Changed the aspect ratio, added defocus, softness, and rendered to 24p. Also played with rendering to different file formats, trying out quality. The following is the test, rendered to WMV, HD24p, uploaded to YouTube. I may try an alternate upload on Vimeo. Music is by Maktub featuring the amazing Reggie Watts. Feel free to watch it in HD over at YOUTUBE.



SCENE TESTS with the Leftover Footage

"Girl In The Hoodie"

You've Been LOST ROLL'D

I've been making birthday videos for my wife for a while now. Started a few years back when I realized I had no money and nothing else but editing skills and a random sense of humor. The videos always contained inside jokes and themes for whatever fandom, celebrity, or show me and my wife were into that year. One year me and some of our friends did our version of SNL's DIGITAL SHORT "Dick In A Box"

I hadn't done one in a couple of years we've been so busy. This year I knew she wouldn't be expecting it, so I put one together. This time it was LOST themed. Using Sony Vegas 9 and several stolen photos, I animated several LOST characters lip syncing to Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody. A few guest appearances from some of her fav celebs as well as some of our friends.

This won't mean much if you don't watch LOST. But you may find it mildly amusing if you like Star Trek, Conan O'Brien, The Office, or Rick Astley.

Enjoy the randomness. This is the edited version minus all the Bday greetings at the end from some of our friends.

Archangel, Reupload

I decided to add one small bit to the Archangel teaser. Just wanted to add a small explosion to give it a bigger feel. Once again, all done on Vegas.

Teaser trailer for a movie that doesn't exist. Fake trailer for a movie about a hit man battling other assassins. Just an excuse to try out some filters, visual fx, and editing techniques.

Shot on Panasonic GS320
Edited on Sony Vegas
Rendered to 24p in HD format

Features Chris Plouffe as the main hit man. Also features Brandon White, Richard Gaither, Sarah Vroom.

Music is "Grounds For Divorce" performed by ELBOW and the BBC ORCHESTRA

Archangel Teaser

Fake Trailer. An excuse to test out a few shots, editing techniques, filters, yadda, yadda. An assassin battling other assassins, the usual.

Shot with the Panasonic GS320. Edited on Sony Vegas.

Featuring Chris Plouffe, Brandon White, Sarah Vroom, and Richard Gaither. Much of it shot at Northwoods Stables.

Music borrowed from ELBOW and the BBC Orchestra "Grounds For Divorce" Such a great version, had to use it.