Everything all at once!

Here I go again being a bad blogger...sorry folks.  It has been relly busy at work and it feels like I haven't done anything too exciting since I made that coffee video!  But seriously - things are going CRAZY.  My friend from high school is moving to Japan for a year, we upgraded the studio cameras at work to HD and I'm trying to get VERY familiar with them so that I feel comfortable using them, the old man and I are preparing for two very special house guests and yes, I heard the news about Cory Monteith.  Who didn't, right?!
I heard the news via Tumblr while I was uploading my coffee video.  It sounded like a Twitter death hoax for about 15 minutes and then, The Hollywood Reported confirmed the reports.  So tragic!  I think the Glee crew was supposed to start filming at the end of the month or something.  So crazy.  I've been trying to write a post about it since last Monday but I can't seem to find the words...

In other news - my sister is on the cover of the most recent Creative Loafing! You can read the cover story about +Fresh.i.Am+ here.



Oh - and because John is moving to Japan, he bestowed upon me the greatest collection to archive for us to enjoy forever:



Yep - there's WAY more than just those VHS tapes - there are quite a few mini DVs as well. I was hoping to have them all captured by the time our guests arrive so that I don't have to worry about capturing them in stages but sadly, I'll have to put this project on hold until I can get more free time.  Here's an Instagram video of one of the first tapes I was able to capture.  Too bad I can't figure out how to embed those things yet!  Oh well.  I'm hoping to at least get one more captured before my nieces get here!!!

That's right - our two very special guests are my nieces that live in New York!  They'll be staying with my Mom and my Aunt for about a week and then the old man and I get to take them for a few days.  I'm stressing because we've never had the kids stay with us and I'm a little freaked out.  If I wasn't freaked out, I'd be worried.  Ha!  But seriously - we're getting ready for them to stay with us and we are so excited!!  I bought them their own personal Smash books so they can journal while they're here and since I'll be able to go with my Mom to pick them up at the airport tomorrow, I'm hoping to snap the first photo for their books!  I'll try to stay updated but with the plans we have for them - like going to the pool, going to the mall (A's request), checking out the World of Coca-Cola (I haven't been since I was a kid...),  Amicalola Falls (I hope!) and a bunch of other stuff - I might not be able to.  Maybe I'll make a Tumblr for easy posting?  Or maybe I'll just keep the one I have ^__^

Now - I'm off to help out with moving some stuff.  Happy Monday!!

How about some coffee?

After our coffee adventure a few weeks ago, I was inspired to make a "Patterns"-related video to contribute to hitRECord and it's based on the everyday pattern most people experience: wake up, get coffee and go on about their day - but I added a bit extra with the footage of the beans roasting because it's such a neat process.  I have way more footage (of course) but I couldn't put it all in the clip below.  I want to make an much longer documentary where I can showcase more of Chandler and his amazing roasting and barista skills but I think I need to plan that one out a little more than this quick little one.  Once I get more done on the preproduction end, I'm hoping I'll be able to get that process going.

I had so much fun putting this video together!  While I was filming and editing, it reminded me why I want to keep doing what I do.  I felt really accomplished when I came up with this concept and was able to execute it rather quickly and it turned out exactly the way I wanted!  I'm feeling a bit of a creative boost and I'm hoping it doesn't stop!

I hope you all enjoy my video!




Happy Monday!

Putting it all out there...

I'm not one to sit in front of a camera and talk - that's not me.  I always joke around saying that I picked my career in post-production because I HATE being on-camera.  Well, I shed all of that stuff because I sat down in front of my little Nikon and talked about the latest hitRECord topic of "Woulda Coulda Shoulda".  I will not be posting the link here (or anywhere) because it's a bit of a semi-private matter but I think talking about it the way that I did is helping me let go of that time in my life and it might even be helping me to continue writing about it so that I can make my film about it and move on to bigger and better things.
Let me tell you - the experience was weird.  I don't know how vloggers do it!  I don't feel too comfortable sitting in front of a camera and talking for any amount of time but there was something quite liberating about it.  I almost forgot the camera was there and just talked as if I was sharing the story to another person (because talking in front of a crowd scares me more than being on camera).  And while I was playing it back for editing, I noticed a few things:
1 - My intros / outros are weird
2 - You can definitely tell when I start to feel more comfortable on camera
3 - The story I told is WAAAAAY more complicated than what I shared and it became extremely apparent that I HAVE to make this film soon
4 - I sound A LOT like my brother when I talk - which is something we've heard a lot but I never really noticed it until now

I'm glad I saw the request for this topic because it took me out of my comfort zone and by talking about it the way I did, I feel as though it's helping me shed that part of myself to make room for the better things!  See?  It's not so bad doing something a little different :D

Let's hope Regular Joe and the crew (if they see it...) take pity on me and enjoy the story for what it is and not by who's telling it!

My Show Reel Is LIVE!

Hey everyone!  I'm happy to announce that after months of combing through projects and clips and experiments with graphics, my show reel is now up!!

Check it!



How do you guys like it?


Follow my video adventures here:
Behance
Vimeo
YouTube
Hello Avid Tumblr
LinkedIn


Happy weekend!

Fantasy Friday with Ulyana Sergeenko

After spending parts of the week daydreaming about elegant times gone by and my dream home adventures, I was delighted to see WWD post about the Ulyana Sergeenko show at Paris Couture Week.  Those dresses!  Those tears!  I loved every single thing about it!  It reminded me of my dream home diversion when I ended up on a Google search about the Neuschwanstein Castle.
My love for the Neuschwanstein goes way back to when my family visited when I was a child.  Granted, I have no memories of it but something draws me to that place.  I feel like there's an energy there that I have to get back to.  I also feel like it's the main reason I love Disney's Sleeping Beauty.  Yes, specifically, the Disney version.  Why?  Because the Neuschwanstein was the model for the Sleeping Beauty castle - what's NOT to love!
So when I saw the lovely Maud Welzen in that pretty gold dress with tears streaming down her face on the WWD Tumblr, I was instantly in love.  After perusing through the collection pictured below, I had to look at her other collections and let me tell you - they're all magnificent.  I will say - I have to disagree with Style.com and this line from their review on her Fall 2012 Couture show:
"Sergeenko is a storyteller, but if she wants to break through to a wider audience, she'll eventually need to curb the fairy tale."

The fairy tale makes it.  Maybe I'm just a kid at heart who still longs for those fairy tale days but I think the fairy tale aspect makes her designs BETTER.  They're all relatable.  You can see certain looks and identify with them right away.  Some remind you of Little Red Riding Hood or those old European toy soldiers or old-world style Nutcrackers or Bavarians in lederhosen or intricate tapestries that were painstakingly crafted by hand by a hearth or any other kind of Russian / German Medieval fantasy world.  Maybe because I grew up with a little of that, I feel extremely connected to it on a spiritual level.  Yes, a spiritual level.  I mean, don't these looks take you to snowy trails in a horse drawn carriage to the Neuschwanstein or any other castle in the countryside?

 

I leave you with this imagery and photos from the Fall 2013 Ulyana Sergeenko Couture Show.  The last one is the designer herself.  Even she looks like a woodland sprite ready to guide you to your next fantasy realm.  Love her!  I can't wait to see more from her!

     
     
     


Photo source

Men of True Blood Appreciation Post

Because True Blood is back and because Lauren has started watching it (she's on season 4 already!), I decided to do a Men of True Blood Appreciation Post.  I mean, you already know how much I LOVE Alexander Skarsgård but I wanted to express my love for the other male residents of Bon Temps, LA.

JUST SO YOU KNOW - I'm leaving some major details out because Lauren is still pretty early in the show.  If you see something that's not correct, don't worry - WE know what's up and Lauren will get there soon!
The True Blood boys after the jump...

Fun with Fonts

Lauren was kind of enough to tell me about a little app that lets you design your own font!  WHAT?!?!?!?  We were talking about the photo app from the ladies at A Beautiful Mess when Lauren told me that she had seen an entry where one of the girls wrote about designing your own font.  WHAT WHAT!??!?!?!?!!  I immediately had to download it, right?!  Of course!  That means my exciting Friday night was spent designing my own fonts (while watching Pitch Perfect AND Fast 5 on HBO).

Here's what I did with the photo app on the first photo of a person I could find in my camera roll...



Yes, the first photo I could find was of Jeremy Renner. Why not?!
ANYWAYS - I had fun with other photos but this was the one I was most confident with to post on Tumblr.

So - with that fun going on, I took a cue from the ABM font post and made my own kinda-sorta versions of their fonts.  Kinda sorta



It's obvious that fonts 3 and 4 (Hollow and Stacked, respectively) need to be force-bolded in Photoshop but Photoshop kept reading the numbers and the apostrophe as Myriad Pro - even though I drew those (as you can see).
Font 1 was my experiment with my own handwriting in the app's default brush settings.  I might try another version of my own handwriting a little later because this one is clearly a "beginner" font
Font 2 was my take on ABM's font Tall 'n Skinny (but in my handwriting style, of course)
Font 3 was my take on ABM's font LoveLove
Font 4 was my version of hollowed out, slightly altered, "stacked" Helvetica.

I'm currently on the "hate" side of my Love/Hate relationship with Helvetica at the moment.  The producer (I guess you could call him...) I work with recently watched Helvetica and now he thinks he's some sort of Typographer.  That's okay.  What's not okay is having to redo all my keyframe properties so that I can change all my fonts from whatever they were before to Helvetica - even though Helvetica is my "base" font for my text-heavy graphics since it's the most generic but I've been told to not do that (by the "producer") because "that font is SO boring!" (those were HIS WORDS!!)
Then we had this exchange last week:
Him: "Why are we using such a formal font?  We need more fun fonts."
Me: "I'm using Helvetica, like you asked me to."
Him: "That's Helvetica?  OMG, it's so serious!  Okay, we can use it for this round but we need to find something more fun for next time."
MOOD SWINGS MUCH?!  Hence the "hate" side of my Love/Hate relationship with the font.  Even I haven't seen the documentary!  Oh well...

I hope you enjoy my fonts.  If I ever update my handwriting one and I like it enough to share, I can set it - or any of the others - up for download, that is, if you really want my weird handwriting...
I'm trying to get my old man to design one as well and I was getting some ideas looking at the Staff Favorites on the 2TTF homepage.  I'm definitely going to spend some of my downtime on Behance and on the 2TTF gallery for some more ideas (and downloads!)

How was your weekend?  I hope you've seen Man of Steel.  It was great!  I definitely recommend it in 3D.  The special effects are AMAZING!!