Working Again w/ Blackburst!

Had the pleasure of working another production again with Blackburst Entertainment. Today's shoot was a keynote speech on leadership given by Mark Michel, a former Naval intelligence officer. I helped set up by cleaning, organizing documents, setting up lighting, gaffing chords down, white balance, and help tear down after filming. Nonetheless, I really enjoyed listening to Mark's speech. He told us about his days on the frontline, to working directly with the President, to being an investment banker. Very inspiring and passionate person!

PA for Blackburst Entertainment

April 12-13th, I was hired on as a Production/Audio Assistant for the company Blackburst Entertainment. The production included gathering footage for a series of promotional and marketing videos for the latest Raymarine radar mapping systems. My responsibilities entailed assisting the Director of Photography with any audio, lighting, and camera (Canon C100), and camera equipment. The funnest part of this production was capturing a boat chase at high speeds. The most was difficult part was not taking dramamine the first day. :(! Nonetheless, the days had amazing weather and the production was a success!

Summer Photography

Summer is right around the corner and this week I'll be starting to freelance another year at a local photography studio. While I'm there part time, I'll be capturing scenic family photos, candid poolside, high action, and underwater photography. This is one of my photos from last year. One tip about action photography with water is to bump up your shutter speed so the water drops look like snow and not streaks for that high quality effect.

Headshots

For the past year I've been working at a photography studio as well as freelancing my own photography. Last week I was referred to take headshots and photos of a local inspiring Model and Actor. For this session I went with natural lighting over studio lighting because its perfect for actors wanting a more cinematic look. For headshots here are a few tips for actors/models and photographers.

-Have the model look at the camera
-Stay away from vanity shots like crazy poses or hand on head.
-Personality should reflect in the headshot. Ask what the actor/model is trying to focus on (film, comedies, high fashion modeling, commercials, etc). This will help you decide on lighting and how your face should look.
-DO NOT have crazy amounts of editing on the photos. If the model doesn't even look like them in real life that's bad!
-Try to keep the model in the middle of the frame.
- Use a shallow depth of field. I recommend staying at a 2.8 f-stop.

Here are a couple examples from the session.

Shot list and Storyboards continued...

I just finished up labeling the second short film's storyboards. This short is from the Scabby Monkies series of two and it's called Daredevil. The first short is Cliff Diver. Both short films are quite hilarious. Below are more images of my organizational skills from the second film. It's not exciting stuff, but being organized will prevent many headaches and will make the production run a lot smoother.

Shot List and Storyboards

I noticed that the short film I'm currently working on didn't have a shot list. I decided to make one for myself and the rest of the team as a guide. I remembered for the last layout work I did, I was always referring back to it and knew it would greatly benefit everyone and the production. I also am just a weirdo who is constantly creating lists and always needing things to be organized (I wish I could say the same thing about my laundry). Anyways, the team apparently loved it and they asked if I could create another shot list for a different short they are working on called Dare Devil. They also asked if I could label and organized both short film's storyboards. So when I'm not working on layout, I decided to help both films stay organized. It's been a while since I worked on a short film and even though I'm not in a studio working on the next Pixar film, it feels amazing to be working on just something. I love to be busy and I couldn't be happier to help out in anyway for these short films! Seeing the finished films will be extremely gratifying knowing how much work everyone is putting in.

Above is a screen shot of the how I like to organize my shot lists
Below are a few images of screen shots from the animatic I took and placed together in photoshop files and labeled them accordingly.

LEAD LAYOUT!

A few months ago I got asked to do layout work on an upcoming short for the Tea Time Animation Club. On their website Tea Time Animation states..

"Tea Time Animation is an all-things-animation community founded in San Francisco circa 2010, by a small group of animators who wanted to get more out of an education than their school was providing for them.

Now, our mission is dedicated to all those aspiring towards a career in animation. We are a safe space to ask questions about the industry, gain insight on helpful tips and tricks, and to post and receive feedback on your work. Finally, Tea Time takes pride in our Professional Outreach program, facilitating monthly lectures by Industry Professionals to help you take your work to the next level. With over 1200 students and professionals in our online communities, and two local chapters (San Francisco and Pittsburgh), Tea Time is an invaluable networking resource for the animation community."

Basically a team of artists from The Academy of Art University joined together to collaborate and create short animated films with other students, graduates, and professionals. I read more info on it here as well. I knew this would be a great opportunity to add to my reel and portfolio so I immediately jumped on the offer. I have been working hard and doing extra tasks to help the production move forward such as creating a shot list for the film and organizing and labeling all storyboards. I guess my work has been taken notice because a couple of days ago I was asked to be Lead Layout! I'm so happy!

#ilovelayout
#neversleep