I finished and uploaded Night Visions ‘Keep Moving’ Music Video on both Youtube and Vimeo. It was shot on a Canon 60D and edited using FCP 7. The band is quite happy with it and I am booked once again by them to shoot another one in the next few weeks.

Chainsaws, Slackers, and Spy Kids: Thirty Years of Filmmaking in Austin, Texas

I downloaded this book on my Kindle to read more about Austin Film History, and the area I went for film school back in the day. I wish this literature was available as a I was a film student, since I felt you ‘heard’ about cool things being created, local filmmakers getting established, but didn’t really know the background stories unless you found out through word of mouth.

What I like about the book is the inspirational stories of filmmakers that made a name for themselves through persistence and hard word. This sounds redundant, I know — but the internet makes some people overnight stars which only lasts as long until the funny one liner, or movie, gets stale.

Rick Linklater, Mike Judge, Robert Rodriguez being all different personalities had one character trait in common…Persistence. The constant drive to be themselves in a mainstream market, the drive to keep things true to their vision and to pursue cracking the code of how to get budgets to get their independent projects made.

Now here is my .02 cents.

I think this book is a necessary read for film students, because it shows the path of how movies by these indie directors got made, the good the bad and the ugly. People get discouraged to easily and this is a reference of how even throwing money at a problem won’t solve it. This text will make you want to become a better filmmaker if you think of it as words from advice from an older filmmaker to a fresh new face in the scene.

Reality being production is relatively easier now, but does it make it better?

I don’t think it makes the film world a better place. The words ‘produce, produce, produce’ I hear often when the discussion of quality vs quantity arise. I don’t want to put stuff out there that my heart is not 100% behind. I want to be like one of the old school Texas filmmakers in this book – I want to make something that breaks the norm, raises some eyebrows and opens up the doors to a new school of thought and production. It is not a revolution unless it has meaning.

Great idea. Really curious if this data is real time rendered or the small movies are previously rendered, or rendered only once for streaming. Curious minds want to know!!

http://techcrunch.com/2011/11/15/aerial-3d-amazing-system-shows-3d-objects-in-mid-air-with-no-screen-video/

Great blog to follow. Looking forward to the meetup this Thursday. Go to the wimlink meetup group to get more information.

Anyone want to hold a Spreecast video session next week?

I never thought of this until the ‘Hurricane’ was on its way to NYC only a few months ago. With many users using online streaming media we are disconnected from real time events occurring outside of our safe little havens.

Takeoffvideo is an online tool for reviewing cuts with clients. I look forward to using this with a music video I am starting to edit in three weeks. A short form project would be a perfect test for this application.

My goal is to eventually quick using Dropbox, Quicktime Files, DVD Screeners to deliver, and then get back a mass of emailed notes that have to go back and forth. I don’t mind excel sheets with adds/cuts — in fact, having worked as a project manager excel sheets work for me as a scratch pad of what needs to get done.

Before I even test the application, the concern about changing the way people work has come to mind. People are set in their ways – but only if a quicker way of doing a certain part of a process is introduced will they reconsider their paradigm.

With clear client communication in mind, I look forward to using this ‘Virtual Screening Room’ to accept notes and cut some time in the client feedback process. If that is achieved then it is a clear win for me.