Seth Deming

The Digital Bolex: The 1st Affordable Digital Cinema Camera

With the traditional companies coming out with cameras like the JVC 4k camera, is this really that much of a bargain?

Yes. Yes. YES.

Take for instance: JVC’s GY-HMQ10 4K Camcorder hands-on (video) Vs The Digital Bolex

Why is the Bolex Better?

1. It’s the codec (the format which it records in) that kills that camera. The Digital Bolex shoots in RAW which basically means its the digital equivalent of film. It’s the Holy Grail of formats.

2. That JVC (and most cameras in it’s class) have a fixed lens. This camera you can put whatever lens you want on it. Hello shallow depth of field.

3. The sensor in that JVC is SMALL. Very small. The sensor in the Digital Bolex is 16mm which means it’ll have great low light capabilities.

4. Any camera that shoots RAW with interchangeable lenses is going to cost you around $15k to start. This is going to be around $3k.

Check out the specs via Planet 5d and try to giggle like a little school girl.

PLEASE GO SUPPORT THEM!

Check out Bloom’sPost AND interview!

Know Rhythm Be Free

“Groove” is the brain child of Ben Runkel.

Ben Runkel is the love child of the drum-gods.

Actually, Ben’s is the only human in the world with a heart rate that is in 6/8. He’s a musical genius and it’s awesome working with him. At the end of the video, the audio you’re hearing (with Ben actually playing) was ONE TAKE (I used various cuts of him, but the audio is all one take). He teaches percussion at a high school in Indiana that has an excellent music program. Every year they have a concert called ‘Groove’ (ala Ben).  So, before the show began, they showed ‘Know Rhythm Be Free‘ for which I wrote the script, shot, edited, etc for the opening.

I used a Canon 60D (loved the articulating screen-my 5D was being cleaned) for everything except the car shots which was done with a GoPro2. All of the ‘Foley’ came from freesound.org (best site ever). The idea came from those online games where you’re locked in a room and you’re looking to find a way out, specifically Crimson Room which is excellent. It was a gift from God that that cool old machine was at the location we shot at. Total a happy accident. I have no idea what it’s actually for, but it was fun animating the lights an needle in post ala After Effects.  It became a central part of the piece and I think made it awesome. That’s my voice you’re hearing (from the machine) that I messed with in Adobe Audition as a homage to Portal’s GlaDOS and Cave Johnson. The guitar and bass were recorded by me as well. As you can tell, I gently rock.

The Work You Do Inspires The Work You Do

For me this is a simple concept. As Merlin Mann would say, the idea is that I need to be creating cool and interesting content. Trey Ratcliff would say I need to be doing that consistently. Then, that content will inform my client/fans (more on this idea later) of my skills and gifting. It will give them an idea of what they can ask for, and informs them of what they can ask for. For instance, I wanted to do work in film and video, so I made some decisions:

1. I Stopped Doing Other Things. I used to be a musician, and played in a band, etc. The guitar was set aside, so I could focus entirely on learning film. I read books, I shot shorts, I studied other peoples work. I sacrificed one thing to be good at another. How much time do you spend playing video games? What if that time was invested in the work you want to do?

Until a man is twenty-five, he still thinks, every so often, that under the right circumstances he could be the baddest [motherf-er] in the world. If I moved to a martial-arts monastery in China and studied real hard for ten years. If my family was wiped out by Colombian drug dealers and I swore myself to revenge. If I got a fatal disease, had one year to live, and devoted it to wiping out street crime. If I just dropped out and devoted my life to being bad.
― Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash 

I’m twenty nine and I still think that. I think it’s just what you decide to do on one level.  Caveat: I know I couldn’t go and be a pro basketball player, because I’m 5’8” and I completely suck at basketball. Okay. Still, think about what you enjoy, what you’re naturally good at and then go for that thing. Yes, I’ll never be in the NBA, but I might shoot a film about a basketball. You get the idea.

2. I Started Doing. This I think can be the biggest hurdle. It’s a very very simple idea – Do what you want to do. But I’ve been around so many people that talk about doing what they want to do, or buy tons of gear to do what they want to do, but never actually do what they want to do. I’ve been on the forums and they are a great place to be, don’t get me wrong, but I grew tired of talking about creating and eventually stopped going on them as much because I was too busy making stuff. Again, nothing wrong with forums, I love them, and am still on them. Please don’t send me hate mail.

So, the kind of work you do inspires the work that you do. The best complement I get is people asking for something “Like that one video you did.” And it’s cyclical, the more I do that kind of work, the more of that kind of work I get to do.

Now, what if no one is willing to pay me or pay you to create this content? Say you’re a cake maker and you want to design wedding cakes but all you’ve done thus far is some really great kids birthday parties. Nothing wrong with the kids birthdays, but you’re looking to class-up your game. Well, then go home, and make five or six cakes, tell your fan/clients what you’re up to (maybe with a video…eh? eh?), and savy-Internet-surfing brides will find you, or will be recommended to you (again by your fan/clients).  If I want to make cutting edge videos, I can’t just put up testimonials on my demo reel. I need to be learning and applying that knowledge to create media that tells potential fan/clients what I do. And most importantly, I’ll be attracting a client that wants that kind of media.

Think about the work you do inspiring the work you do in light of your job. Even if you don’t have a ‘creative job’, you have to be creative in any market to truly succeed.

Creative

Be creative.  Gandhi said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.” I think that’s true, and applied to business, or creative goals, I think it’s fair to say ‘be the change you want to see in your industry.

If you have an idea for creating a way to be more efficient, or if there’s this change you know would make the company more money. Do it. Be the change. Let the work you do inspire the work that you do. If the boss doesn’t want to pay for it, or is scared to commit to it before they can see it work, than do it after hours. Be bold. Show them it works, and when they see it working, who do you think is going to benefit? You!

What if you hate your job? What if you know that no matter how good of an idea you come up with, it wont matter because the management is short sighted? Dave Ramesy says that the kind of books you read and the people you surround yourself with will determine where you’ll be in five years.  So get reading, and surround yourself with like-minded people. They’re around. If they’re not around physically, they’re on social networking sites, so start following.

I’m sharing this because this philosophy/ theory of the-work-you-do = the-work-you-do has helped me so much in the last three years. I’ve gone from working in insurance to being a full time DOP at a production studio. I write scripts, storyboard and shoot for a living for OC Imageworks. It is a gift from God, but it’s also a result of me getting up and doing.

So get up and do!

*EDIT

If you enjoyed this post, please read Why the Geese Did Not Fly by Michael Michalko. It’s a fantastic post on our fears and bias against creativity as it’s a fear of the unknown. Amazing. I’d like to thank John Campen for the link.

Baby Makes Four

And I’m going to be a Dad again. Both Chrissy and I are super excited – we just hope she stops feeling like death. Goodness. To tell people this time around, Chrissy had an idea to make a Kill Bill-trailer-style-video (one of our favorite movies ever).  I have the coolest wife.

Demo Reel

A special thanks to The Dear Hunter for allowing me to use their song ‘The Lake and the River’ for my reel.

Seth Deming Demo Reel-2011 from Seth Deming on Vimeo.

It’s Been a Crazy Couple of Months

So I’ve been working on a bunch of different projects recently. I’m really freaking tired. But, in a good way.

So first up is the second Gravel Metric which seems like it’s destine to become an annual thing (fingers crossed). But, I plan on doing a more in depth post about this one because I’ve already had some people ask about the technique. Also, the guy who wrote this is, well, brilliant.

The Gravel Metric — More Gravel from Seth Deming on Vimeo.

Next up is a promo I did for His Wheels International, which is a rad outreach that GIVES bikes to people who need them here and abroad. They also are literally changing peoples lives by creating job opportunities with their trikes. A bit of Heaven on Earth.

THEN I did for Resource Bank with OCImageworks about a family who banks with them. BTW this family has the best names for their two sons ever. “Justice” & “Sawyer”. Dang.

And Last, I did another spot for Resource via OCImageworks. This one is really meta because it’s about a client, OCImageworks, who banks with Resource. It was weird being on the other side of the lens, but not too bad. But do you see the way I point to the back of that camera like a PRO? I guess I can act.

We Are Rhythm

I was contacted by a good friend (Ben Runkel) to see if I could make a short, tight video about rhythm. This idea that rhythm is all around us, and we just miss it came up and that’s a cool idea.  I wanted it to be a narrative too, so I thought it’d be nice if there was a guy and girl character and the video followed them separately leading to a happy ending.  So, I set off to make this and Ben asked that I use a Linkin Park song  to hold everything together. Here check it out.

I should point out that Ben Runkel happens to be a musical genius. So I was a bit intimidated making something about music for him. Not that he’s hard to work for, I was in a band with Ben a few years ago called Keslinger, and he may be the most prolific drummer ever. If you google my name, videos that I made documenting our last album usually pop up. Actually, it was kind of a transitional moment for me, I’d done music all my life but was totally enamored with film making. So I bought a camera that could shoot in 24p and dove in.

So, thanks Ben for thinking of me and I can’t wait to collaborate again.

Quick Look with Roger Deakins

I just wanted to pass this interview along that I stumbled on today. Really one of the best cinematographers ever talking about his craft. Check it out.

Giant Oil Companies Need Our Help!

Quick, go get your wallet because BP needs your help!

Ok here’s what happened, my wife and I have a BP credit card which we got for buying gas a few years ago. It’s barely used anymore but BP still sent felt it necessary to send us a letter asking for -get this- donations for help in cleaning up the oil spill. *Ahem*, their oil spill.
After I checked my eyes, I promptly decided I would not be donating any of my hard earned money to an oil company which in 2009 it’s profited $14 Billion.

Pay to clean up your own mess BP.

Dimensional Letters

We did this video for the print side of OC, as a spot to show their customers the what’s-what about Dimensional Letters. Thankfully, this was shot in much less time than our previous video.

Dimensional Letters from OC Imageworks on Vimeo.