Fuji E Series Product Review

For a recent batch of commercials, I discovered my favorite lenses of all time, the Fuji E Series Zooms for 2/3" bayonet cameras.  For 11 spots, we carried only the 5-15mm zoom (HAe3x5)
and the 10-100mm zoom (HAe10x10).  With these two lenses, I was completely covered and was left wanting for nothing.  With these two zooms, I honestly don't see a need for primes aside from weight.

Production Update: A Foundling

I am pleased to announce that "A Foundling" will be having its Los Angeles premier at Dances with Films at the Sunset Laemmele 5 on Wednesday June 9th, 2010 at 2:45pm.  I am really proud of this little film and look forward to sharing it with an audience

A look back: Knight Rider Plates

In late 2008, EdgeCentric was tapped to shoot additional driving plates for NBC's Knight Rider by the visual effects team at Master Key VFX.  We were presented with a unique challenge, namely needing to shoot driving plates without the knowing ahead of time what angles the green screen unit would be shooting.  Also, we weren't shooting plates for just any car, these plates would be for KITT, they had to be special...

PoleCam Product Review

For a variety of upcoming projects I've been searching for a small unobtrusive jib that will allow Jimmy Jim or Cam-mate style shots without the size, weight, and setup time required by those systems, enter the PoleCam.  Owner operator John Gillan was kind enough to give John Matysiak and I a demo in his parking garage and within minutes, he'd won me over.  The PoleCam is a game changer in a number of ways, and I plan to incorporate it on a wide variety of projects.

The PoleCam is exactly what the name implies, a camera on a pole...

Let me grab my stones... on set for the Keystone Light Commercial

Recently, I was asked to shoot 7 commercials in 4 days featuring Keystone Light's new personality, Keith Stone.  The vibe is slightly over the top, broad comedy with just a touch of spice.  We're trying to dovetail into the existing campaign while still putting our stamp on the look.  Keith is halfway between Dos Equis's "Most Interesting Man" and McGruber (maybe a little more toward McGruber).  All of this translates into a guy who is always in control, always in charge, and always smooth.

Time to spin some plates.

After a successful meeting today with the VFX team at Encore Hollywood, I'm happy to report that we will be helping to shoot driving plates for this season of Showtime's hit show Weeds.

Production Update: Kiss The Abyss

Momentum is building around Kiss the Abyss, the suspense/horror flick I shot a while back.  Post is now complete and we are starting to see international sales pick up, and with a new trailer and festival premiers on the calendar, it looks like 2010 is going to be the year of the Abyss!

So many curiosities.... so little time...

Today, my head is filled with too many interests and creative pursuits to actually be productive.  It's been an insane month with more production than ever and at a higher level than normal.  Now that the majority of it is behind me, I have a brief moment for my mind to wander.  On my mind today, travel tripods for spherical panoramas in Italy, the best drafting pencil in the world (for me), techniques for casting acrylic, and how to make a Moleskine notebook magically open on cue.

_____UPDATE_____

Well, my endeavor to find a writing implement led me to three choices that I quite like.  First up is the venerable Fisher Space Pen.  Simple, classic, and has a great story.  As for the pencils, my new Retro51 Tornado pairs nicely with my Mini Moleskines.  I wish I'd seen the Stealth before going for the Black and Chrome, maybe sometime down the line I'll get one.  And finally for the full sized desk pencil, the Pentel Sharp Kerry won out.  I fear this could be the start of something bad.

Image Based 3d Modeling made easy...

I've been a fan of SketchUp since before they were aquired by The Google.  Now another inovative company has drastically increased SketchUp's potential as a quick previs tool. The guys over at Brain Storm LLC have a plug in called PhotoSketch that lets you quickly go from a few photos to a fully skinned lightweight model in under an hour.  Pretty amazing stuff and at $350, not a bank breaker.

Off the continent for a while...

It's time to kick off the international portion of the Car Crazy season, first destination... New Zealand!


Photo Gallery 1

Photo Gallery 2

SheetCaller is Live!

 I am proud to announce the launch of www.sheetcaller.com .  My free online resource for production coordinators or anyone who needs to make call sheets.  Give it a test drive or view the video tutorial.

Going "Crazy" again...

I am pleased to be returning to Car Crazy for my second season as we kick off the 15th season of the show.  Three days filming at the Grand National Roadster Show, under the direction of Andy Robinson, resulted in one of the most satisfying episodes to date.

The show will be taking on a global scope this season with half a dozen international destinations planned.  The astounding success of the the Costa Rica episode from last season highlighted how much car guys are interested in meeting their international brethren.

I'm looking forward to experiencing New Zealand in 2 weeks.

In the mean time, a taste of the Costa Rica Episode awaits you after the break...

Wrapped Chris Pureka, Wrecking Ball music video...

This weekend provided me with the honor and joy of meeting and collaborating with a remarkable young musician, Chris Pureka.  We just wrapped a 2 day shoot for her new song, Wrecking Ball under the direction of Melody Murray. The album and video are scheduled to debut in mid April.

Chris literally sent chills up my spine while filming, the last moment of the last shot of the first day will certainly be the final shot if the video, it is powerful, emotional, and intense... and all it is is Chris choosing the precise moment to make eye contact with my lens.  It was truly lightening in a bottle.  I'm very excited by the work we created and look forward to sharing the final product in the weeks to come.

UPDATE
Chris has posted some photos from the shoot to her MySpace Page.  All of them were shot by Andrea Alseri.

 

My Interview with Millimeter Magazine has been published...

The good folks over at Millimeter Magazine hit me and Stephan up for an interview about our latest project with Alina Szpak and Robert Fleet, Killers.  The interview turned into a 2 part QandA.  My portion was recently posted, you can view it here.

Using a digital camera to scan into Evernote over EyeFi

I've successfully implemented the automated workflow for getting documents scanned into Evernote using a digital camera.  It is not as straight forward as using a scanner, but it is much faster.

Evernote at the core.

I installed Evernote on my Android phone, netbook, and mac and have used it daily for about a month. Based on that experience, I feel confident that Evernote will be the software at the core of my paperless experiment.

The year of 3D. Killers gets some press.

My first 3d project as recieved some early attention from the fine folks over at Millimeter magazine. Stephan Fleet and I were interviewed by Millimeter for their online newsletter. They've decided to run our interviews as a two part series.

Stephan's interview is the first up and it can be seen here.

As soon as my interview is posted, you'll see it here first.

Paperless in 2010

It's 2010, it's the future. We don't have flying cars or jet packs, it turns out video phones aren't as cool as we thought they'd be. So what can I do to make my present into the future I thought it would be. I've decided to focus on "Jetson-ifying" my life. First up, going paperless in 2010.

Its time for a few confessions about some hard facts.