Our 2012 1st Qtr. Ad - Making People Read Lots of Boring Stuff - Rehab Specialists

Just watch and enjoy...

Poptent.com contest for Wonderul Pistachios - #2

Yes, I submitted an entry for this as well.

Poptent.com contest for E-Trade - my submission

Poptent.com is one of those fun places where one can compete with real commercial productions on behalf of their clients. This client, E-Trade, basically is looking for new E-Baby scripts. Hence, they provided a ton of footage (raw) of the babies for use. Of course this was for visualization only and would never be perfect. More along the lines of  "story boarding" as opposed to a finished production. But it works and helps make a point. The assumption is that they would shoot the final version themselves once the winning script is announced. So of course, I just had to compete for several reasons.

1. It is always good to exercise the brain and write. Particularly when it comes to time restrictions in not only competition deadline time, but also production length time. This one is 25 seconds (30 seconds total is my guess for the final - but I followed the rules and gave them 25 including their logo goods.)

2. Hey, it's a competition! Who knows, I might win. (Big bucks on this one too!)

3. Doing any production for any purpose is always great practice and really helps in honing the skills.

4. Hey, I compete to win. And maybe, just maybe I have a chance.

5. Regardless of the outcome, it always feels good to have accomplished something.

6. Did I mention that there is a possibility of winning?

In any case, this was challenging to say the least. I worked my brain for a couple of weeks and well, could only say; "I got nothing". 25 seconds of nothing. A challenge that should be so "easy" and I got nothing. Frustrating to say the least.

Then on the last day of the competition... lo and behold.... I got something. Maybe it was all my wife's fault for putting up that sign in the bathroom. Figure it out. It was one of our inside jokes for a couple of weeks. And yes, she is the female voice for this entry. This is not a "public vote" type of competition. The client makes the winning choice. But that could also be a good thing in my favor. :)

My stuff in a newly released motion picture!

Sometimes, in the stock footage industry one gets real lucky. Let me explain. In the stock footage industry, us shooters simply provide so-called "b-roll" or "second unit" footage. The way it works is fairly simple. We shoot whatever suits us at any given time. And what I mean here is literally what suits us! We go out and about not really knowing if it will ever sell or if it has a use. We only take our best guess and "shut up and shoot!" Of course, we try to find or shoot things that make some sense. Or perhaps they might have subject matters to do with current events. Sometimes we just shoot because we want to see how far we can push the limits. I do this every year as the monsoons roll in. I shoot lots of storm footage, lightning, cloud formations and whatever else that might just be really exciting to look at. Having done so, it sometimes feels like a crap shoot. :) Pun intended.

Through the various agencies, these clips get sold at random. We usually never know who is buying what. But what makes this somewhat interesting is that every once in a while we actually get to see our stuff on TV, or in a motion picture. Very cool. I have been fortunate enough to spot some of my stuff (as well as fellow artists' stuff) on various shows. For example, over the last year having watched the Weather Channel, The Discovery Channel, The Science Channel, The History Channel and even the local news, I have been fortunate enough to actually recognize some of my stuff. (As well as other fellow artists' stuff.) I suppose there is a really proud feeling when this happens. Bragging rights of course! But most of all, it helps build credibility. Think about it. We "stock shooters" are constantly behind the camera and every time we shoot something, we learn new tactics, techniques and concepts. I call this "camera wrangling". We learn or stumble upon our own little "secrets" of how to get a shot. Chances are, we, as a collaborative have more experience, knowledge and hours behind a camera than most of the cinematographers in Hollywood. Okay, maybe not but totally debateable. But we are all damn good at what we do. And the proof of this is when someone actually buys your stuff. Even better proof is when someone buys your stuff and makes it a point to let you know they bought your stuff. Very cool.

Well, this has now happened. And to say the least, it is a very cool feeling to not only hear from them, that they bought your stuff. But for them to actually tell you what they will use it for, the scene it should be in etc... This is a real ego booster to say the least. But more importantly, it inspires one to keep on shooting, no matter what!  So to make a long story short - about a year ago this clip was purchased by an independent production company (in the UK):


Important Note: You too can own this clip. No, actually, since you are reading this, you have to buy this clip. Otherwise you won't be able to prove to your friends what is listed below. Purchase it here. :)

Now fast forward to today, and yes, they gave me a "heads up" that the movie has been released in Europe, but is also available on Amazon already for the US. So, here is what I recommend to all that read this:

1. Purchase the movie ASAP!
2. Purchase a second copy for your friends, again ASAP!
3. In case your movie gets damaged, purchase a backup copy for yourself, also ASAP!
4. Watch the movie, admire the most elaborate cinematography you have ever seen and take note that you can tell your friends that you read the guy's blog about how this all came to be and how you know exactly where in the movie his clip is. (Hint: over the cruise ship in the Bermuda Triangle) - And you know this because you left comments at this guy's blog, and you are now really close friends with this guy and you have bragging rights for even knowing this guy and ... and.... and NO, I won't verify your claims to anyone! :)
5. Purchase the stock footage clip above as evidence that you know me. Maybe then I will back you on your claims of knowing me. NO, not really. But buy the clip anyway. :)

But just click on the box cover below and buy the damn movie. It's going to be one of those smash hits soon anyway, so why not have it before it's all sold out?

Available on Blue-Ray and DVD! Buy now! Really, buy this masterpiece now!

03/12/10 - UPDATE:

Finally got the movie in. Did a quick preview. Actually from the looks of it, it is quite a twisted story and done very well. The title "Triangle" (a.k.a. The Bermuda Triangle) implies "another one of those" - but it definitely is not another "one of those". Actually a very well thought out twisted story line. - I did recognize my footage and it is at one of the highlights of the storyline. (3 times even at about 1 to 2 seconds each.) I am always amazed how the compositors make use of footage. If I didn't know what I was looking for, I would have missed it. :)

Lie to Me? - Not just a TV show...

Perhaps you have seen that television show called Lie to Me (opens a new window) with Dr. Cal Lightman (Tim Roth)? Amazingly enough, there is a real science behind this whole thingamabob. Actually, it is very accurate as well. You see, your face, your eyes, your lips and even your forehead all talk very clearly even when you are not. You could just simply be sitting there, not uttering a word and yet, you like everyone else is an open book.

So why am I writing about this? Well... as I am always on the quest for new challenges in regards to shooting b-roll or stock footage, I made this exact science my new challenge. Sort of. I actually had been doing this for quite a while, but never really thought about it this way. The challenge; take a face, and get that face in umpteen various moods, emotions, feelings, reactions and every other Human Emotional Verb (HEV - a new acronym that I just made up.) you can think of. I like that acronym - don't knock it! It actually has real meaning. Now to get those meanings on film... hmmm..
Challenging, but not unrealistic. See for yourself:



Or simply click here and look at the entire collection of this specific and cool concept.

Rules? What rules?

Every once in a while I get a challenge from a client. Many times as in this case, it was a fairly new client. Hence, there was not much to work with. So what does one do in such a case? You have to step "out of the box" so to speak and break just about every rule. Of course, I love breaking rules anyway. As a matter of fact, I couldn't even tell you the rules to be followed if my life depended on it. But having spoken to many producers, production houses, directors, actors and, well you get the point... they always seem to talk about rules. Yet, I never get a clear answer about what these rules should be, look like, or even remotely resemble.

Advertising has rules. I think. But again, I am not so sure. Having paid much attention to all walks of advertising, I see quite plainly that there are no rules except for one. No. Make that two. And even these are not always really clearly used or implemented. But, they are probably the best I have been able to come up with.

1. Get the message out of what you are trying to say, and keep it short.
2. Finish up with a "call to action".

Wow. It's really that simple? I suppose so. I would imagine that the difficult part is to squeeze things of this nature into that short little 30 or 60 second thingy you watch on TV, the web, your phone or whatever other Steam Punk device you can think of. So what do you do when you just are getting started and don't really have a lot to work with... you cheat. But heck, if it gets the point across, then do it.

I thought, not bad considering I only used one picture and simply created a finishing logo to help make the point. It's simply "twisted".



The point: Even with very little, very big things can be created. If you see yourself in this predicament, and need a new "flavor" or approach, drop me a line and I will put on my creative cap for you.

Or, if you produce stuff, show me what you have. You know - the comment section here. Who knows, maybe we can even bounce some ideas off of each other.

By the way, the last two paragraphs were an actual "call to action".