Moving from Final Cut – Progress or Perils? SXSW Panel

I’ve briefly mentioned on Twitter and other social media channels that I’d be participating in a SXSW panel. Now is the time I actually get to share about that panel! Quite frankly the fact that it is a “panel” is why I was interested to participate. I don’t think it would be quite that interesting with me up there, alone. I’ll be participating on behalf of Dell and NVIDIA.

Dell is providing myself and several other filmmakers with new, top of the line workstations built with the Adobe Creative Suite in mind. Full disclosure – Dell is providing this workstation for free. Editors and creatives who are moving from a primarily Final Cut Pro 7 workflow to one based around Adobe Premiere is what they had in mind here. I was already planning on doing this, and was quite touched Dell thought I was important enough to have me on board. I’ll be testing and using the Dell Precision workstation over the next 12 weeks and sharing my thoughts on a variety of platforms. I’ll be going into more detail about this social media initiative Dell has embarked on, and my role in it. Another blog post will be out tomorrow going into more detail on how I got involved, and why.

Here are some more specific details about my SXSW panel:

Moving From Final Cut – Progress or Perils?
Monday, March 12
3:30PM – 4:30 PM CT
Austin Convention Center, Room 2

I hope to see you there! I’ve got a few friends in the Austin area and can’t wait to meet new people there. If you have any questions or comments – be they positive or negative, feel free to comment here or email: tom@theredowl.com.

Cheers!

For Your Consideration

No, this isn’t my post letting you know about those oh so obscure films that should have been nominated, my displeasure with the Academy, or anything like that. However, now that I have your attention with a misleading title, I suppose I should mention this IS about films. Films deserving of your attention that I have seen in the past six months or so. My standards for this post don’t go beyond the fact that I enjoyed them very much, and they weren’t huge Hollywood blockbusters. Here is a list with a brief explanation for you below.

1. Hell And Back Again

So my previous Oscar-related statement goes out the window a bit here, but not entirely. A documentary by Danfung Dennis, this powerful film would be worth your money, Oscar nomination or not. This film first caught my eye because it was filmed on the Canon 5DMKII, a revolutionary full-frame camera that was initially just meant for web clips shot by photographers. People like Danfung, Shane Hurlbut, and many more have gotten much more out of the camera than Canon ever anticipated. On a whim I ordered the Blu-Ray, confident it would be a great film. This was of course after reading many reviews, so it wasn’t totally random. I watched it today and it was gripping in a way that no other documentary has ever been. I’ve seen plenty of fictional war films, and what you feel when you see real soldiers being injured and killed, that close and that real, is unlike anything that’s ever been shot before. This isn’t a political film – others have come and gone before already. Hell And Back Again, is as it is marketed – the true cost of war.

It focuses on Sergeant Nathan Harris of the U.S. Marine Corps, a young man who was injured in the line of duty. The story focuses on him during his time in Afghanistan, his wounds he sustained, and the process of recovery when he comes home. The 5DMKII was the perfect camera to capture this story but make no mistake – the story is first and foremost what will grip you throughout the 88 minute film. You won’t be wondering what lenses he used or marveling at the filmmaking of it – Hell And Back Again sucks you in quickly and never lets go.

Trailer

Buy: iTunes | Blu-Ray

2. The Art of Flight

Snowboarding films are not particularly the first thing I would put in my Blu-Ray player, but this one transcends many of them to reach audiences like myself who haven’t seen many, or any snowboarding films. Director Curt Morgan makes excellent use of the large budget of the film, which is truly an experience to behold. Travis Rice and many other talented snowboarders go around the world to the back country to bring you some of the most insane snowboarding you have ever seen. The entire team at Brain Farm Digital Cinema should be very proud of their work. The special features on the Blu-Ray warrant buying it in nothing less than that.

Trailer
Buy: iTunes | Blu-Ray

3. All.I.Can

All.I.Can by Sherpas Cinema first showed up on my radar after Tom Guilmette posted about it. The trailer was unique and intrigued me enough to buy it on iTunes. One mistake I made going into it was thinking this was skiing’s version of Art of Flight – it is most certainly NOT that. Everything about this film bears little similarity to The Art of Flight. The budget was most certainly lower, and the cinematography choices were very different. Hats off to the D.P. and everyone involved who poured their time and effort into this film. The visual language alone is worth the price of admission. One disappointment was the quality on iTunes HD – it was not that great. I’ll be getting the Blu-Ray too.

Trailer
Buy: iTunes | Blu-Ray

4. The Underground World of Sequoia National Park

Steven Bumgardner may be better known in Twitter circles as @YosemiteSteve, and he is the filmmaker behind this documentary. Most of what I enjoy watching on Netflix is National Geographic type content, if you are into nature and such then this film is definitely for you. The Los Angeles Times called this film “A 60 Minute Gem.” The underground caves of Sequioa National Park hold many mysteries, and hold your full attention for the hour long film. A gem made back in 2004, this one is definitely worth your time and money.

Buy: Amazon

Bonus: Watch all the “Yosemite Nature Notes.”

Critical Focus and the SmallHD DP4

I just got this bad boy in time for MLG Raleigh, and decided to share my thoughts on this new addition to my kit. If you’re unfamiliar with Major League Gaming, MLG is the governing body for eSports in North America. Now that isn’t to say there isn’t competition from smaller leagues, but I would consider them to be the NFL of competitive video games. I’ve been doing contract work at their events for about 5 years. The games on the Pro Circuit are Halo: Reach, StarCraft 2, and Call of Duty: Black Ops. This event also saw a sneak peek at Gears of War 3, as well as the addition of League of Legends.

I wasn’t planning on buying the DP4 just yet, but I caught a great deal on eBay and I’m very glad I bought it. It’s changed my quality of work in several ways. I’ll be discussing those first, and then getting into the strong points of the DP4 and the ways it falls short. It’s a great piece of gear, but definitely not perfect. I leave it to you to make your own decision.

That being said, it was a dream to work with this past weekend in Raleigh, North Carolina. MLG events take up a huge convention hall, and things move pretty fast. There’s no opportunity to get the important shots more than once – getting critical focus, how you frame your shot are usually split second decisions when they really count. I shoot a variety of footage there, but it all revolves around StarCraft 2, one of the biggest games in the world for eSports. I shot on the Canon 7D, so thankfully there was no down-rezzing when I would hit record. The 5DMKII and T2i both downrez to 480p and it looks horrid. Even with the problem of down-rezzing with my T2i, I found doing some quick testing that right out of the box it was much easier for me to get critical focus. I know some people swear by the LCD and have never touched an external monitor. My vision is not 20/20 so this monitor has been a huge help to me.

I’m constantly analyzing things throughout an MLG event, how I’m doing, what I could be doing better, and what would enable me to get better shots in the future. The DP4 was absolutely invaluable when getting critical focus. We also rented different lenses this event – the Canon 24-70L and 70-200L IS II. MLG events are not brightly lit so having f/2.8 available helped me stay at lower ISO’s when in the past I’ve had to resort to as much as 3200 ISO(yuck). The lenses and the addition of the SmallHD DP4 enabled me to get my shots in a much more effective manner. At the end of the match, I’m tasked with getting reaction shots of the winner, and anything he might do after. For example, Korean pro player Nada won a very tough StarCraft match on the main stage during Raleigh. Nada’s reaction was great, and then he came out of his soundproof booth and celebrated a bit on the main stage. These type of moments are fast moving and I can’t afford to not get those shots – they happen only once. These moments tend to be extremely fast moving and I also make my best effort to stay out of our broadcast cameraman’s way. Without the DP4 I do not think I could have maintained focus as much as I did. It can look quite amateurish to have shots go in and out of focus.

One thing I was surprised at was how little I used the extra features of the DP4. The false colour, peaking, focus assist – I used none of them. The DP4 did what I needed it to do – help me maintain focus, or grab it very quickly. Another surprise for me was how heavy the DP4′s EVF loupe was – the thing was not light. Eventually it proved to be more an annoyance to me than a help. The optics were not bad, it just didn’t fit in with the environment I was tasked to shoot. The quality of the loupe was not an issue, however when I needed to do higher shots the loupe tended to fall down back onto the monitor and block my view of the shot. Honestly I don’t see myself using the EVF loupe much, if at all. Perhaps it’s because I’ve grown accustomed to the back of an LCD, but I just prefer seeing the DP4 without looking through an eyepiece.

The screen protector was great to have, and I did an unintentional drop test. The included hotshoe mount for the DP4 that I had was terrible. It felt like unless I tightened everything with all my might, the hotshoe mount would be loose. At one point, thankfully not at a critical moment, everything I had mounted on the hotshoe fell off and hit the ground. The DP4 was unaffected, as was the Rode Videomic Pro and LitePanels MicroPro I was using. I don’t recommend mounting that much stuff on a DSLR hotshoe. The build quality of the DP4 didn’t have me worried before, and after that little mishap I was even more confident in it. Battery life was good, I had 2 LP-E6 knockoff batteries from Opteka on it at all times. I got hours of use out of it, but never timed it precisely so I’m not sure exactly how much I got out of it.

Maybe if I had a shoulder rig or wanted it in a more ENG style configuration the EVF loupe would come in more handy for me – but it doesn’t. There are many different kinds of shooters, whose lenses all capture different types of stories. The types of stories I capture through my lens will not need the EVF loupe for the most part. As I said before, the build quality of it wasn’t flimsy, or bad – just not right for me. I will say the 2 second delay between shooting and reviewing shots on the DP4 is quite annoying. However, SmallHD has said that a fix is coming via firmware updates. I haven’t used Marshall or any competing monitors, so I can’t really tell you if this one is better. One thing I have heard about the DP4 is that it runs a bit hot, and I can confirm that is true. However, it was never a real issue for me. I would be more annoyed if it impeded the operation of the monitor, but it doesn’t, and therefore isn’t too much of a concern in my book.

What you see on your DP4′s screen matches what you will see on your computer pretty closely. I didn’t modify many settings on the DP4, just some slight tweaks to contrast and brightness. My need with this piece of gear was the ability to grab focus quickly and have a larger viewing screen. The SmallHD DP4 has more than met that need for me, so why not check out the SmallHD DP4 and see if it meets your needs?

No Second Take Required

If you’ve had the chance to get your hands on a KesslerCrane Pocket Dolly, you probably already know how this review is going to turn out. I thought I would share my thoughts on this new and profoundly smooth tool. If the Pocket Dolly were transformed into a human, it would probably turn into Frank Sinatra. Not exactly a scientific fact, but you may be called upon to excuse my hyperbole throughout this post.

Full disclosure: I was able to acquire the KesslerCrane Pocket Dolly from them due to the fact I’m doing a video for their fantastic Kessler University website. I was offered payment in whatever manner I wished, but I thought it better to get gear for my work. So while I definitely am not getting it for free, I thought this something I should disclose right off the bat. I don’t have a “statement of ethics” or anything like that, but I’d like to think I behave in an honorable manner in any of my dealings, on or offline.

I must say, Eric Kessler, Chris Beller, and KesslerCrane’s reputation for good customer service is not undeserved. I knew I could probably use the Pocket Dolly for an upcoming shoot, and let them know. That shoot was a few weeks ago for MLG’s “Dr. Pepper Ultimate Gaming House.” The basic idea of the web series is to pick from user-submitted videos, and remodel the winner’s room into a gaming den of epic proportions. Eric and Chris graciously hooked me up early and sent the Pocket Dolly and needed accessories to the hotel we would be arriving at in Illinois. To say I was ecstatic to finally get my hands on this would be a bit of an understatement. My frequent collaborator Joseph Pollock and I filmed a short test film of sorts called “Firm” later that night.

The temptation to go on a slider fetish run was great, I won’t lie. If that makes you scratch your head and wonder what I mean, I mean abuse of a slider, doing moves with one “just because you can” and for no other reason than that. Thankfully my duties on the shoot prevented me from letting my mind wander to my new piece of gear. We ended up only using it for one part of the shoot, for b-roll in an old arcade. This was one area my DSLR was an absolute nightmare, trying to tweak the shutter speeds to match the refresh rates on the different arcade screens. However I was able to get some great shots regardless.

One thing that surprised me immediately was how much I disliked the hand crank. It felt very unnatural to me to use the crank, so I opted for a more hands on approach. If you choose to go the Pocket Dolly route, know that any errors on slider moves are probably your fault. The Pocket Dolly is seriously as smooth as butter. You may not be perfect at it immediately, but keep using it and practicing with it so you can use it perfectly when it does count. Joe and I’s short film “Firm” was more or less an interesting way to practice using the Pocket Dolly. The only slider I’d used before was a Glidetrack SD. I won’t say much about it other than I was not impressed with it. I’m sure I could have gotten better with it over time, but having it seize up mid-move drove me nuts. The high quality craftsmanship behind the Pocket Dolly shows. Any minute errors with the different moves you can achieve with the Pocket Dolly were definitely my fault. I had to even learn to control my breathing so as to achieve perfectly smooth motion. There are a host of different moves you can achieve with the Pocket Dolly, you are not limited to just horizontal moves.

The next gig I used it at recently was MLG Anaheim, in Anaheim, California. Major League Gaming is the governing body for eSports in North America. Our events attract thousands of spectators, competitors, and millions of viewers online. Our most recent event, in Anaheim, attracted over 20,000 spectators, over 120K in prizes, and 35 million views online. MLG’s broadcasts employ a sports type model for broadcasting on the internet. The production values are quite good – we have 4 channels on our website, one for each game and one “best of” type of channel that broadcasts all 3 games. MLG currently has Halo: Reach, StarCraft 2, and Call of Duty: Black Ops on the Pro Circuit.

This was my first experience traveling with the Pocket Dolly. I got no trouble from TSA or airlines carrying on the Pocket Dolly and a Pelican 1510 case. The Pocket Dolly fits quite nicely in an overhead for travel. The Anaheim event was 3 days long – Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Friday I used the Pocket Dolly for strictly vertical moves. This configuration is easy and requires only one tripod with the quick release plate mounted in the middle. I used a Giotto ball head so that I could point the camera perpendicular from the vertical Pocket Dolly. This enabled me to do vertical moves with the camera pointing at whatever I was shooting. Most of my camera work on Friday was crowd shots, and shots of our players. I refrained from using the Pocket Dolly on Saturday, and used it in a horizontal configuration on Championship Sunday. In order to have it properly balanced, I used 2 tripods on either end. If you get the Philip Bloom Pocket Dolly or Pocket Dolly Traveler, you do not need to do this(or so I’m told). The PD Travel or Philip Bloom Pocket Dolly only require one tripod.

Carrying around the two tripods and Pocket Dolly rig was a bit of a workout but more than worth the trouble. It enabled me to do various moves I hadn’t been able to do before. More dramatic crowd shots, and on one occasion to do a pull-out move on a pro StarCraft player. Moving away from him with my camera accentuated the fact he had just lost and worked quite nicely. On one occasion I used the Pocket Dolly in a slightly unorthodox manner. One player had just beat his mentor on the main stage, and he immediately left his area to talk to his mentor who had just lost. It was a fast moving moment, could have been easily messed up, especially on a DSLR where a stabilized shot is key. In my current configuration I had the Pocket Dolly mounted parallel to the main stage – and I had the camera mounted to the quick release plate attached to my Giotto ball head. I slid very fast with it in a pseudo-handheld type of shot that worked well. It allowed me to follow him across the stage in a much smoother manner than just pure handheld.

If you’re looking for a “score” at the end of this to rate the Pocket Dolly you’re out of luck. I can tell you it’s a solid addition to anyone’s kit. If you’ve gotten to the end of this and are envious, you’ve missed the point. Writing this is not some elaborate ad for KesslerCrane – purely my own thoughts on how it’s already helping my own creativity. The thing about creativity is, it’s all well and good but you can’t do a jib move without a jib, or a slider shot without a slider. There are certain moves you cannot achieve without certain pieces of gear. There are so many sliders out there, I can’t tell you if KesslerCrane’s Pocket Dolly is the best one out there. All I can tell you is it’s a solid product with fantastic customer service to back it up. Would I have bought the Pocket Dolly if I wasn’t doing a video for KesslerU? The answer is most definitely yes – while I am prepared to accept some compromises on quality & price in some areas of gear purchase, this was not one of them. I’ve heard too many horror stories about a slider seizing up mid-move during an event where there are no second takes.

If you’re interested in a product that requires no second take, check out the KesslerCrane Pocket Dolly.

Shifting Focus

Well to anyone who reads this even on a weekly basis I must apologize. I’ve been neglecting this blog for a long time, but it’s simply because I’ve been “shifting my focus” as the title of this post would imply. To be honest, I don’t dig the idea of baring your soul on the internet in extremely heartfelt blog posts, not that I’ve ever written one. Most of my blogs have centered on my work. However, I’ve felt the format of this blog to be a bit lacking.

Facebook pages and Tumblr have filled the void I felt was there for my type of blogging style. Facebook has been a great place to share behind the scenes sort of material, among other things. I’m still feeling things out in terms of what belongs on Tumblr and what belongs on Facebook. However any short blogs I do write tend to end up on one or the other. So, I invite you to check out my Facebook Page and my Tumblr! You should find something of value in both places.

This post doesn’t mean I’m not going to write another post here – it just means most of my blogging is very “short-form” and this blog is going to be kept for longer posts that are not suited to Tumblr or Facebook. Cheers!

Welcome!

Greetings. Welcome. Bienvenidos.

Thanks for visiting. This is my new and improved website. I’m always looking to improve my online presences and I took a pretty hard look at my site, the purposes it serves, and how to make the user experience better. The conclusion I came to was that it needed a drastic overhaul. My old WordPress template, Manilla, was alright for my first webfolio but it had a lot of weaknesses.

The first and most glaring one was the slow load times. For a theme it was a bit “bulky” to say the least. In order to get it to serve my purposes I had to modify a lot of of php files, and I mean A LOT. I prefer to modify as little code as possible, personally – I can usually figure out what code I need to modify to get it to perform as I desire. Still, I am not a web designer and my knowledge of php is minimal. That and the addition of way too many plugins was slowing my site down. I wonder how many people didn’t view my work simply because they got tired of waiting?

The theme was not as simple and clean as I believe a webfolio should be which made me wonder why I chose it in the first place. Hindsight is always 20/20, I guess. I chose my new theme very carefully. I looked again to the marketplace of ThemeForest. ThemeForest is one of Envato’s great marketplaces for the selling of digital wares. I found a great theme, Anthology, by Pexeto. Something interesting I’ve noticed is how the selection of themes has improved over the past year.

To say that Anthology is flexible is an understatement. The custom interface tabs Pexeto added to Anthology made it very easy for me to tweak it to my liking. One of my favorite things about this theme is the portfolio aspect. It displays 4 portfolio items, but instead of loading a new page for the next “page” of portfolio items it loads it similar to a jQuery slider that you see on a lot of websites these days. Very handy and makes it easier on whomever may be trying to view my work. My philosophy with my web portfolio has always been to make it easy on the visitor. Hence, why my contact info, and social media sharing options are littered throughout the new site. Anthology has also allowed me to cut down from using 20 WP plugins to 5. The site loads a lot faster and is much cleaner. A cleaner site is going to be much easier for visitors to find their way around, I think.

That being said I hope all these changes improve your visits here. The internet has a short attention span as it is and I’d rather not waste people’s time because they can’t figure out how to get around the place. Thanks to all of you who visit my corner of the internet. Cheers!

My Favorite 10 Photos of 2010

#1: Expose The Train

This photo is my favorite of 2010 for a few reasons. The main one being how incredible it is that there is no shake evident in the photo. At the time, I had a terrible tripod. When I say terrible I mean TERRIBLE, like got it for $20 terrible. At the time I was excited to try out my new intervalometer on some long exposure photography. This shot was a happy accident. I set the exposure time for 45 seconds and the train happened to end up like this.

#2: Tax Dollars

If there’s one thing I enjoy about a photo, it’s when symmetry plays a large role in what makes it visually pleasing. This photo was shot at Gail’s Harley Davidson. Every year they do a motorcycle ride in honor of those who died on 9/11. In order to keep things running smoothly, the police help direct traffic and lead the ride. I couldn’t resist snapping a picture of all their motorcycles lined up.

#3: Mullets

This one’s probably one of my favorite photos shot on my iPhone. The camera itself is not very high resolution, but apps like Cross Process allow you to play with the colors and processing in very interesting ways.

#4: Starry Night

This one was one of my first shots while on vacation in the Black Hills of South Dakota. I’ve been in the country plenty of times, far from the city life. However the view of the stars there was incomparable. The view made me painfully aware that I need faster glass. However I think this shot definitely gets the point across.

#5: Love & Hate

This one was another adventure in long exposure photography. The results of combining sparklers with long exposures has never let me down. Thankfully I had a few friends on hand who drew these shapes with a good guess!

#6: Antelope

One of my favorite trips this year was to South Dakota’s Black Hills. I was lucky enough to see an antelope near the road, which I’m told doesn’t happen very often. This one was not very jumpy – I didn’t have anything beyond a focal length of 55mm, combined with the crop factor of 1.6 on my T2i.

#7: Motorcycle Madness

This shot was also taken on the day of the 9/11 motorcycle ride at Gail’s Harley Davidson. There were so many great bikes there I could, and did, shoot photos all day. I picked this one mainly because of how I processed it in Photoshop, and the beauty of the bike. If there’s one area I’ve advanced much this year, it’s how to properly process photos taken in RAW.

#8: The best thing one can have…

I’m a bit biased here as I know the photo subject and she is wearing my favourite sunglasses…but I still think this is one of my better photos. Taken in Custer State Park. In particular, I liked the lighting of this shot.

#9: For Good Measure

This one was also taken at the 9/11 ride that started at Gail’s Harley Davidson. The military landed an Apache helicopter there, which was what attracted me to it in the first place as I was driving by. This gun is attached to one of the most amazing cameras I have ever seen. The camera is helmet-mounted and responds to the gunners head movement. This gun follows suit. While I am anti-war, one can’t help but admire the engineering effort that went into such a system.

#10: Dead Hills

This moment was one of the more surreal and reflective moments of my trip to South Dakota. This was taken from the top of Mount Moriah. On one side, there’s these hills. Lifeless and barren trees – which I found quite interesting as a new sight I had never seen. On the other side directly behind the direction I took this picture is the famous town of Deadwood. The view from the top of Mount Moriah is nothing short of majestic.

A Touch of Beauty #1

The premise of this featurette is quite simple: I combed through some of my recent “Likes” on Vimeo to round up a few of the more inspiring videos I’ve seen lately. For me personally, the types of videos I’m embedding below are the ones I enjoy the most – the Earth’s beauty on display in various forms. Not all of this is expressed in timelapse, but I think you will get the idea. These are in no particular order.

Timelapse Montage by Mike Flores

November Mist from Paramotor by David Perry

Sacred Lands – Eastern California – Mindrelic Timelapse by Mindrelic

Yellowstone National Park by Sylvain Dardenne

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The Blue Ocean in RED by Howard Hall

TimeScapes: Rapture by Tom Lowe

Jonsi: Concert Timelapse at the Wiltern Theatre by Henry Jun Wah Lee

IRIDIUM by Murray Fredericks

Landscapes: Volume One by Dustin Farrell

Hope you enjoyed this! I wouldn’t expect this featurette on the blog to happen more than a few times a year. However, that depends on how many awesome videos come out, so who knows.

Cheers!

New Video: The Black Hills

The Black Hills from Tom Baurain on Vimeo.

So, I finally got around to editing the footage I shot while on vacation in South Dakota. The Black Hills are an incredible region of the United States, you owe it to yourself to make it out there sometime in your life.

I haven’t posted this before now due to my contributions to “Love The Earth,” the film by Imogen Heap and Thomas Ermacora I blogged about right below this post. I wasn’t sure what they were going to use and didn’t have time to edit this until now. Sadly, they didn’t use any footage from South Dakota. I hope you enjoyed it! I particularly loved the shots of the buffalo itching himself against that wooden post. One of the weirder shots I’ve ever lensed.

Cheers!

Love The Earth

For those in the dark, “Love The Earth” is a film collaboration between musical artist Imogen Heap and filmmaker Thomas Ermacora. The video below explains the project in Imogen’s own words.

I first heard of Imogen Heap in Zach Braff’s first film, Garden State. At that time she was recording as Frou Frou. She’s continued to make incredible music and continues this with her latest record, “Ellipse.” As she stated in the video, she’ll be performing at the Royal Albert Hall tomorrow, November 5th. She’ll be conducting the orchestra live to accompany a nature film, “Love The Earth.” This project was “crowdsourced.” Thomas Ermacora and Imogen put out a call for footage. Submit footage of why you love the earth, and then the best footage will be edited into a half hour film. Imogen will provide the score for the film. The call for footage ran until September 26th.

The funny thing about this whole affair is my friend Joe Pollock and myself did not discover the project until the last day of submissions. Joe and I freelance together a lot so I told him about the project and suggested we submit footage. It was sort of on a lark. We’re still very “new” to the art of timelapse, but we still submitted our best timelapse clips we had on our hard drives. For me it was almost a joke, I had no time to prepare or shoot anything I thought worth submitting. Perhaps that is just the self-critic in me but that is how I felt.

As you may guess it was something of a shock to me when I got the e-mail from Patrick, the project coordinator, notifying me that my footage had been selected and the instructions on the next phase in the project. To my delight, Joe’s footage had been selected as well. Since we had been selected we were allowed to submit more footage. I had just got back from a trip to South Dakota’s Black Hills visiting a friend. While I was there I shot a lot, to say the least. So if you do see any footage resembling the Black Hills it’s probably mine. I am not sure what clips they chose, so I’ll probably update this blog when I watch the broadcast tomorrow.

For me it was an honor just to be selected. I thought, oh, I’ve been shortlisted but my footage will probably not make the final cut of the film. I got an email a few days ago letting me know my footage is in the final film and I’ll be credited. They are paying for my footage, too, so it’s not like they are using filmmakers. Many, including myself, tend to think of “crowdsourcing” as a dirty word. A fancy term for using the talented and not-so-talented. In this case, that is not true.

I’ve been a fan of Imogen and her music for a long time so making the final cut of the film is quite an honor. If you’d like to watch the live broadcast, it happens tomorrow, November 5th, at 7PM GMT. There is a 5 hour time difference so 7PM GMT is 2PM CST. I’ll be credited as “Thomas Baurain.” You can watch it on resounde.com. I highly recommend checking it out. Imogen will be conducting while the film plays behind her on a large projector. The other footage I’ve seen from the project is leaps and bounds better than mine. Many talented people have contributed to this film. I do hope you tune in for this global event.

Cheers!

UPDATE:
Just watched the final film, and to say it’s humbling to be included in “Love The Earth” is an understatement. It also gave me a sense of pride to see my buddy Joseph Pollock’s clips in there as well. We freelance together a lot, and have similar shooting styles. I loved so many clips in the film I can’t even list them all. Congratulations to the team that edited and made the film. There was definitely a story being told and a coherence throughout, not just a string of random nature clips in there. Watching it I actually recalled clips I should have submitted. Oh well, hindsight is 20/20 as usual.

Imogen’s score was as breathtaking and beautiful as I thought it would be. I would love to see her compose more classical music. Love The Earth 2, perhaps? It would definitely be a good idea. I can’t even put into words how much I enjoyed her score. She’s always been one of my favorite artists but this definitely lets me appreciate her in a new and amazing way. I truly hope there’s going to be an archived broadcast for people to watch it again. I’ll post it if such a rebroadcast or archive does come online.

UPDATE 2:

Imogen tweeted this out just a short time ago: “There is a DVD in the making of @loveearthfilm with footage from the night, backstage, interviews etc + official soundtrack + film. xx” I am definitely thrilled not just because my own work will be on the DVD, but I am always a hound for behind the scenes type stuff. I’d also love to learn more about the making of the film from interviews and such. Yay!

New Video: Denoise

Denoise from Tom Baurain on Vimeo.

Music: “In Motion” by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross Amazon MP3 | iTunes

If you’ve been following my blog or Twitter you’ve probably seen me tweet a few times about Magic Bullet Denoiser, a great new product from the folks at Red Giant Software. The post below this one gets into the basics of the program. This video is a better example of what Denoiser can do.

It’s not all gumdrops and lollipops, unfortunately. Denoiser is a great product, but it is not perfect. One should never expect that of a product but Denoiser certainly does a fine job. Those with a trained eye may notice some compression artifacts in the video. By this point my patience was completely gone and it does what I set out for it to do. It’s not what I wanted it to be, but it comes close.

Now we get down to the nitty gritty of the flaws of Denoiser. I can tell you right now that “Cannot Sample Frame” is an error you will curse many times. In Final Cut Pro I found Denoiser almost unusable. I came up with a few workarounds but Denoiser definitely has room to improve. Perhaps it is just FCP showing it’s age. I’m honestly not sure and would love to be corrected in the comments if anyone knows for sure. These are my best guesses. I am running the latest version of Final Cut Pro.

There would always be a certain point in the timeline where I would run into the infamous “Out of Memory” error and Denoiser would refuse to render. I tried several common workarounds for the “Out of Memory” error and closed all other projects, timelines, and even made FCP the only program I was running. At 8GB of RAM my user experience was hardly what I would call good. One thing I should mention is that the “Cannot Sample Frame” error will completely kill your job in Compressor, while this same error in After Effects won’t wreck your render and completes the job just fine.

To alleviate my woes I set After Effects CS4 to the task of “denoising” my footage. AE proved to be much more reliable in this task. For a workflow that involved an actual project with deadlines I would most certainly rely on After Effects over Final Cut Pro. I would also denoise the clips in need first, as this task should be performed before color correction. Another thing worth mentioning is how RAM intensive the plugin is itself – it’s not what I’d call fast.

Don’t take my words as all doom and gloom – FCP did handle around half my clips with Denoiser applied just fine. The render times were pretty bad, but at least it worked. My timeline ended up being 3:31, so you have an idea of what I was working with. Denoiser’s fine tuning options are definitely well thought out, kudos to Red Giant Software. The options I found myself coming back to again and again were “Enhance, Shadow Offset,” and the actual effect itself. Shadow Offset really saved me on a timelapse recently – it was long exposure so there were variable amounts of light in each frame, which resulted in the shadows for part of the timelapse being very “blocky.” Adjusting the Shadow Offset property saved me on that.

Chroma Smoothing was a bit tricky, at least for me – I usually left it alone. Most of the time it made the footage I shot look worse. Honestly I was surprised at what Denoiser could do with the footage I shot at ISO’s 3200 and 6400. It wasn’t perfect, especially at ISO 6400, but it was better than I was expecting. Now I’m not saying my EOS Rebel T2i is as good as a 1DMKIV, but footage shot at 1600 and 3200 is definitely usable depending on what lighting conditions you are shooting in.

Another thing I noticed was the “smoothing” in general it did. Like I said in my previous blog, there is such a thing as too much, but the more I looked at my footage there is a definite “smoothing” of things. How much is too much is definitely up to you. The most noticeable common area for me was on skin. It was almost like skin being smoothed in Photoshop, though definitely not as over the top as some fashion magazines that get dissected on the internet. It’s not a negative, in my opinion, but definitely something worth noting.

Again let me reiterate that color correction should be done after Denoiser has been applied. I did no color correction on this particular project. I made that choice so that the viewer could get a better idea of what things are like with just Denoiser applied. Hopefully you enjoyed the video! I wanted to use “In Motion” from The Social Network soundtrack and it fit this little side project. If you were wondering, all clips were shot at f2.8 on a Tokina 11-16mm lens. I love the way that lens flares, especially at ISO 3200.

Cheers!

First Impressions: Magic Bullet Denoiser

Last night I made the best purchase I’ve made this year: Magic Bullet Denoiser. One thing you should note right off the bat is I’ve never used Neat Video, another popular solution for reducing noise in your footage. No posts on this blog will be about comparing the two, just focused on Magic Bullet Denoiser. A new entry from Red Giant Software, Magic Bullet Denoiser is, as Red Giant puts it, “state of the art video noise reduction, right out of the box.”

Red Giant Software needs no introduction – they’ve made, and I’ve purchased, many of their quality products for filmmakers and motion designers. Their new entry into the market, Magic Bullet Denoiser, does not disappoint and is par for the course for them as a company.

Before buying, I downloaded the free 30 day trial. As I already have many of Red Giant’s plugins for After Effects, it only made sense to get it for AE. Red Giant also offers Denoiser for Final Cut Pro, as with many of its plugins. Quick thanks to Aharon Rabinowitz of Red Giant – he read my post and pointed out that when you buy Denoiser, you buy it for both platforms, not just one. Definitely makes more sense than having to buy it twice for FCP and AE. Thanks for the tip Aharon! The plugin itself is fantastic – my first go-round with this software was quite fun, to say the least.

There’s not much technical insight I can give you into the plugin, just yet – why not go read Scott Simmons insightful blog over at Pro Video Coalition? Next, I’ll take you on through the process of reducing noise on a recent clip I shot while at an event in Washington, D.C.

This clip was a recent timelapse I shot at MLG DC. It was towards the end of the event. My camera was set up on top of the main stage area, pointing towards the rest of the venue. It appears to be so empty because the most of the crowd is actually is watching the MLG Halo 3 Championships, or World of Warcraft off to the right of the frame. I only had my 18-55mm kit lens available at the time. The timelapse itself was meant to capture people leaving the event.

First we have a frame grab from the clip itself. Not bad, but a little dark due to the large differentiations in lighting around the event venue. The lens itself is not particularly suited to this environment either at f3.5.

I brightened it a little with a simple adjustment layer using Curves.

When the image is brightened up a bit you can really start to see the image fall apart, especially at the edges and darker areas. The kit lens itself is not good, but that’s not exactly news.

As you can see, not pretty at all. Horrid, one might say – definitely in need of Denoiser. Once applied, Denoiser gives you an array of options. The ones displayed below are what Denoiser applies by default.

Many of these options are self-explanatory, and I can’t wait to try some of the other options for fine-tuning. The picture below is the same frame from before, only with Denoiser applied with a Noise Reduction setting of 200. The flexibility of this setting is impressive – but as I suspected, there is a certain point where too much noise reduction will blur your clip beyond acceptable limits. What those limits are depend entirely upon your clip, and what you define “acceptable limits” as, of course. Motion Estimation is another setting you should pay close attention to, and set depending on how much movement there is in your shot.

Just for good measure, here is a comparison screenshot of what we started with and what we ended up with, thanks to Denoiser.

This was a very quick test, but based off of first impressions with this software, this is the best $99 dollars I’ve spent on postproduction software this year. I’m excited to try these on more clips I’ve shot to test out the plugin. In particular, the fine tuning on this software looks fantastic. Do yourself a favor and download the free trial right now. It puts a nasty red X through the full frame of your footage, but you’ll definitely get the idea. My next post will be a reel of sorts showing off the capabilities of Denoiser in action. So be on the lookout for that.

Magic Bullet Denoiser is a powerful tool to have in your postproduction toolbox.

UPDATE:

Here is the video I promised showing Denoiser in action:

Denoise from Tom Baurain on Vimeo.

Photo of the Day: Tax Dollars

The story behind this photo is simple, but interesting. A friend and I were on our way to see Machete. While driving down the highway, passing Gail’s Harley Davidson, we saw an Apache helicopter landing. I used to be a huge nut for planes and helicopters, so naturally I was pretty excited. We had our cameras with us, too, as we were planning on shooting a timelapse after the movie. We immediately pulled over. This particular photo is the police escort part of the ride. A lot of bikers showed up for the 9/11 ride, in memoriam of the tragedy. These cops, and their beautiful motorcycles, helped keep things orderly.

Photo of the Day: Burros

Sorry I’ve been pretty mum on this blog for some time! Things have been pretty hectic. This picture comes from a trip I recently came back from, taken in the Black Hills of South Dakota. A friend of mine took me through Custer State Park. There, wild burros will literally come up to your car and beg for food. By beg, I of course mean stick their face inside your car, try to eat your camera, and lick the windows if all else fails. Pretty funny, honestly – this particular burro thought my lens was some sort of tasty treat.

Selling Digital Wares on VideoHive

Envato is an Australian company I’ve been watching with interest for some time. I first heard of them back when PSDTUTS was the only website they had open. Now they are a large family of websites, some of which I’ve learned a great deal about design. They have a great marketplace for folk to sell their digital wares – VideoHive. Now, keep in mind this is coming from someone who’s never sold stock footage before, nor has any knowledge about what potential profit there is in it.

I recently made the decision to start selling stock footage on VideoHive for a few reasons. One, for me, was the aesthetically pleasing design. Envato websites are always laid out well and look good. The second was the commission rates. Their tiered system only rewards those who keep uploading and sell more clips. They also just don’t accept anyone with a camera and an internet connection – they review your submission and may reject it if it’s not up to their standards. Another HUGE selling point for me is that though they reward you for being an exclusive author, it’s not TOTAL exclusivity. You can upload and sell footage anywhere you want, just don’t try and sell the same clip on VideoHive. Very cool in my opinion, as it allows you to sell your footage elsewhere if you’d like.

That being said, I’m basically saying you can buy some of my timelapses on VideoHive. Some of you have already chosen to do so, and I thank you for that. Won’t you head on over and have a look?

Lift Your Eyes

So, I’ve been pretty mum on blogging, and even doing daily photos. This little side project is the reason for that. I would entitle this “a vast learning experience” if I was trying to be more truthful than clever. The art of timelapse is something I have yet to master, but love learning more and more about. Newcomers to timelapse should definitely head over to the timescapes forum. You can check out my first timelapse video below.

Lift Your Eyes from Tom Baurain on Vimeo.

All of these locations were in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The only recognizable locations are the ones shot downtown. I didn’t set out with a certain “goal” or subject in mind- I just wanted to capture interesting scenery in timelapse form. When was the last time you sat out and just watched the sunset? Yeah, I’m with you there. A big part of my love of timelapse is it makes me feel productive while I’m watching a sunset, or just watching interesting clouds.

I’d say one of the biggest learning curves for me was just setting the right settings on Manual mode. A few of my first ones were complete throwaways. One huge eye-opener for me was how much of a difference using great glass really makes. Granted, I’ve heard and believed many much more experienced than me on this, but it’s not until you do it yourself that you truly have that “a-ha” moment.

I used a variety of lenses on this, including the infamous 18-55 kit lens, 24-105L, and Tokina 11-16. It’s painfully obvious to me which is which.

I rented the 24-105L and 11-16 from LensRentals.com, an online camera/lens rental service that I’ve been recommended on Twitter before. I had a commercial shoot this weekend I needed gear for, so I decided to try out LensRentals. I must say it was exactly as advertised. The gear arrived fast, and cost of rental was less than local camera rental shops here in Kansas City. I’m all for supporting local business, but if an online service gives me everything I’m looking to rent, plus great customer service, then I’m not going to support mediocrity and higher prices. If you read this and you’re a local camera rental shop in Kansas City, please, don’t be offended – you’re just not advertising in the right places because I haven’t found you.

That being said, I hope you enjoyed the video. Please comment even if you did not- if you’re seeing a newbie error or have good constructive criticism, chime in! Cheers.

Photo of the Day: Timelapse Emergency

Ever have a “timelapse emergency?” I had one when I looked outside and saw an opportunity going to waste. Tonight’s sunset was quite beautiful. I should get an iPhone 4-this doesn’t do it justice by a long shot.

Photo of the Day: My Office

Now you might be a little confused, but don’t be-I’ve been spending a lot of my evenings here. I’m putting together my first timelapse video, so most of what you see this week on my blog will probably be related to that. Hope you enjoy the picture!

Photo of the Day: Surprise!

Sunsets like this one really remind me why I love summer so much. The sky in this sunset was already very beautiful, but just before it went too dark the sun lit up the clouds burnt orange in this picture. I shot this one with my iPhone 3G and Camera+. If you haven’t noticed, I use Camera+ a lot on my iPhone 3G.

Photo of the Day: Sunlapse

Today’s photo comes from my iPhone 3G, taken with the lovely app Camera+. Camera+ is a well-rounded photography app designed by Lisa Bettany. This shot was taken during a timelapse I was shooting with my Canon EOS Rebel T2i while out in the country. It turned out pretty good, and is apart of an upcoming timelapse project I’m working on in my spare time. Cheers!

Painting with Light: The Basics

Lately, if you haven’t noticed, I’ve developed a new obsession: long-exposure photography. I love it for a lot of reasons, mostly due to how many forms it can take. It’s a really fun thing to get into, and if you’re like me and own a DSLR, there’s really no reason not to. This post is mainly targeted at beginners, and helping people not make the same initial mistakes I made.

The Essentials

The basics of long-exposure photography you hopefully already have, but here they are:

• DSLR
• Tripod
• Remote Timer
• Flashlight or any light source

I’ve been using my Canon EOS Rebel T2i for my adventures in long exposures. This will definitely work for you as long as you have a DSLR, though it doesn’t have to be Canon. I love my T2i because even though it produces great images and video, it cost only $900.

The night I got pictures of this train, I almost learned a hard lesson about getting a quality tripod. Right now my tripod is pretty cheap and chinsy. I make do with it but its a miracle I get good shots with it at all. The first exposure of the train I did that night was set a bit too close to the tracks. The wind from the train knocked my T2i over and I almost died inside as I thought the sum of my tax return was about to be sucked under the tracks because of the tripod legs. Bottom line, I’m saving up for a quality tripod and you should too. Quality brands I personally trust are Manfrotto, Vinten, and Miller. The Manfrotto 501 HDV head in particular has been good to me in the past, and happens to be the one I’m saving for.

As far as remote timers go, I personally use the Opteka MC-36b. Funny story- Opteka technical support says this remote timer does not work with the T2i. They are of course wrong, and I bought it anyways as it was one of the few things Philip Bloom recommends that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. If you have something else, I’ve heard good things about the Canon TC-80N3.

Let’s Get Started

So you own all that stuff, eh? Good for you- we can begin. Let me first say that I’ll be addressing common mistakes towards the end so that you don’t repeat my stupidities.

What I love the most about this is how you get started largely depends on you. Your imagination is your limit. What you create with this can take on any form and personally I can’t wait to try stopmotion with this.

The very basics of getting started is setting your DSLR to an extremely low shutter speed. I usually set mine to BULB. If I have it set on anything higher on my T2i it tends to get a little wonky when I set it to exposures longer than 30 seconds.

Take a test photo with a short 15 second exposure. If you’ve got your f-stop set to something low, in the single digits, and an ISO over 200 the first thing you’ll notice is how blown out everything is. This is due to the shutter speed being extremely low.

Personally I think the most interesting photos utilizing long exposures are taken at night. Most often with the low shutter speed involved the camera will let in more light than your visible eye can see. Experiment with your ISO and f-stop, see what works for you! I love it when the camera lets in so much light that night almost turns to day, but your tastes may be different.

Lighting Conditions

As with any photo, lighting is the key. How much or how little you let in can give it a whole new look. Even though I am writing this, I still consider myself a beginner. Generally you can’t mess up too bad with how much light you let in, and as with all photos I highly advise shooting in RAW. Practice makes perfect, if you learn from your mistakes and keep it up there’s no way you can’t get better.

One thing to keep in mind with light and long exposures is that it isn’t necessary for it to be completely dark when doing this. Sunset and near dark are definitely ok for doing this. If you’re doing light graffiti the main thing to keep in mind is the light source you are using to make whatever you’re setting out to make MUST be bright enough to stand out in the photo. If it’s high noon and the sun is blazingly bright then obviously your flashlight isn’t going to stand out much. Make sure your light source stands out.

While we’re talking about light sources, let’s discuss what to use to “paint with light.” A lot of the time, I just use a standard flashlight. My friends and I have also had some great results with sparklers. Sparklers are great, but just as a safety warning take great care with them so you don’t burn your subject, if you are outlining their body. Have fun with this- experiment! Use different colored lights, and different types of lights. I plan on experimenting with LED’s, rope lights, and other light sources soon. As I’ve said before, your limit with this is your imagination.

What traffic lights and lights from all modes of transportation can do for your photos is amazing. Headlights and taillights in particular from cars can change night to day, as seen here. Trains are even more interesting to me when it comes to light.

Here is an example of a 45 second exposure where the exposure stops so that the lights coming off the train stop.

This one is the longest exposure I’ve ever done, coming in at 3 and a half minutes. It’s literally an entire train passing by.

Lens Choices

Nothing that holds true for choosing a lens is any different with light painting. Wide angle lenses will get you the most room to play with, and telephoto will get you the least. Higher quality lenses as usual will get you better quality pictures. My personal preference is wide angle, so I have the most room to play with. See what works best for you!

Essential Tips

• GET A GOOD TRIPOD. Bottom line, use what you have, but make getting a good tripod a priority. The last 2 photos I posted? Can you see the difference in camera shake? The vibration from the train shook my tripod quite a bit more because of a few things. The first is how long the exposure was- a lot more of a chance to have vibration from the train distort the photo. The second is how cheap my tripod is-the low weight of it meant less stability.
• Don’t rely on what others have done. I’m not against looking on the web at cool photos others have done for inspiration, but the best weapon you have in any form of long-exposure photography is your imagination, not imitating cool things that others have done.
• Experiment, experiment, experiment. Use different light sources, and get your friends involved! You can create more complex shapes and images with different colors and more than one light painter.
• Use a remote timer. You can do long exposures without it, but if you want blur-free images a remote timer is absolutely necessary.
• You have more room than you think.When trying to draw anything in light graffiti, whether it’s your name or some kind of creature, you usually have more room in the frame than you think. One of my early mistakes was not utilizing all the space I really had.
• Do it with a group of friends! In the past, I’ve done light graffiti with 2-5 friends. Having friends help you definitely ups the possibilities on what you can accomplish. You can help each other have a better idea of how much space you really have in the frame. It’s also good depending on who you invite because 5 people with ideas are usually better than 1.

I initially got my DSLR to do video, but this convergence has had other effects. I hadn’t really considered doing light graffiti or any of that when I first bought my T2i but it’s great fun! I hope you try it out for yourself. The possibilities are endless.

Photo of the Day: Expose The Train

In keeping with what I said, today’s photo is another adventure in long-exposure photography. This was the first time a train came by that night, and my exposure comes in at about 45 seconds. It was pure planning sheer luck that it stopped when my timer did to get the look of this photo. A lucky guess that happened to turn out well.

Also, for those interested-a blog post is on the way about how to get into light painting, graffiti, and all manner of long-exposure photography. The post will be primarily targeted at beginners. Look for it early next week.

Absolute Coolness: Flamethrower vs Fire Extinguisher at 1000fps

Insanely cool video done with the Phantom HD Camera at 1000fps. The song is “Ritalin” by Dancing Pigeons. Found at PetaPixel.

Dancing Pigeons – Ritalin from Blink on Vimeo.

Photo of the Day: Golden Sunset

Ever have instances where you wish you had your DSLR with you? For me, this was one. However my iPhone 3G and Camera+ do a pretty good job of capturing how beautiful the sunset was.

I was riding in a friend’s car to go hang out with some friends when I noticed just how insanely beautiful the sunset was, so I pulled out my iPhone. The best camera is the one you have with you, right?

Photo of the Day: OWL

One of the things I’ve been meaning to get into since I bought a DSLR is long-exposure photography. It’s much easier now that I own a remote timer. I’ll be sharing my own personal findings via a video blog very soon.

This picture is one of my favorite applications of long-exposure photography: light streaks. You can use them in any way your imagination sees fit. I’ll be experimenting with this more over the coming months. Hope you do enjoy this photo!

Inception

I just got out of a midnight showing of Christopher Nolan’s new film “Inception.” If you’ve been hiding under a rock, Nolan has been responsible for the last 2 Batman films, as well as “The Prestige.” All I can say is if you haven’t seen Inception you need to go see it right now. It may be the most original film I have ever seen in my entire 24 year life.

Nolan has crafted a masterpiece that is both intensely complex but still very accessible to most audiences. It’s a film in which the effects only complement the story being told, and never take over the film. We’ll see if my enthusiasm tempers with multiple viewings- I plan on seeing it two more times. Get to a good cinema and see this motion picture!

Photo of the Day: Vibrant Sky

I was reading the tweets of one of my favorite blogs, PetaPixel. They had a tip I haven’t heard before, which boils down to repetition. Do it often if you want to get better at it, basically. Even though I titled this “Picture of the Day” knowing myself I’ll probably not do one every day(job hunting kind of takes the highest priority right now). Hopefully you enjoy this picture! Don’t hesitate to leave a comment, I’m open to criticism.

Scene Analysis: Return of the Jedi

Last semester, Madison Media Institute had me take a Film & TV History class. It was one of my favorite. Our final paper for the class was to pick a scene from a movie, and write a paper on it. Being a Star Wars fan most of my life, the original movies came to mind immediately. Also having just watched Return of the Jedi, I immediately thought of the final scene where Luke rejects the Dark Side, is force lightninged by the Emperor, and saved by his father.

Fair warning: it’s 7 pages, double spaced. I was the only one in my class to receive a 100 on my paper. Here it is in PDF format. Let me know what you think, and please excuse my blasphemy in not picking a scene from Empire Strikes Back.

Review: Crush It! by Gary Vaynerchuk

Though this book has been out for some time, and probably read by a good many of you, I still felt this merited a blog post of my own. I’m not the type of person to jump on a bandwagon immediately until I see it’s merits. I never would have bought this audiobook if it hadn’t been for the plethora of good reviews. Business type books are not my first choice, but I must say this one was right up my alley. Read on for the full review.

My visit to Daily Planet ltd.

(Or, meeting someone off of Twitter for the first time and it being awesome)

For my Career Development class, we were assigned an “Informational Interview” in which we were supposed to interview a working professional in our field. The first name that popped into my head was motion designer Brad Chmielewski, or @beerad as he’s known in the Twittersphere. Read up on it after the jump!

MMI Bonus Session: Neil Feldman

A few months ago, MMI had a bonus session with Neil Feldman, CEO of In-Three. If you’re unaware of In-Three or Neil, Neil is the guy who invented 2D-3D conversion for film. He runs the company, which is currently working on Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland.” I took notes during his talk- you can read them in an organized fashion after the jump.

MMI Bonus Session: ILM Artist C. Andrew Nelson

I’ve been dabbling in visual effects for some time now, mostly in After Effects. I love what can be achieved by them. Listening to Industrial Light and Magic artist C.Andrew Nelson last year was a real treat. This is a post imported from my old blog, read the full article after the jump!

12 Reasons Why I Won’t Follow You Back(On Twitter)

I felt like writing this so people have a good idea why I don’t “follow” you back on Twitter. I think these simple reasons, some more applied to the general Twitter populace, will help newbies to Twitter. Some reasons are purely self-centered, more about myself. Read the full list after the jump.