Every year was a good experience, with me looking forward to the next year. For instance, last years video brought me so much work, it’s basically the reason I was able to quit insurance and be a ‘director of photography’ (a term I’m not too sure is accurate) for OC Imageworks. I have the best job ever.

This year was different though. It was the first time I was able to really hangout with the people within the cycling culture for more than a few hours here and there. And just like Tobie, they’re all really cool genuine people. People with tattoos that have real jobs. They’re like kids who (on the one hand) never grew up, but you’d feel totally safe leaving your kids with them. You know how in high school or maybe college you go to someplace outside of your stomping grounds and meet these really interesting, motivated, cool people? I had that type of experience with them.

-Be Safe-
Brendan Gecik (the main cyclists) was nearly badly hurt while and was the most generous guy on the planet. It was completely my fault, we were just going too fast, and people were pulling on his legs for the Through-the-Truck-Shot. Brendan went over the edge and hit his head under his helmet (right above his neck) on the bottom door frame of the truck.

It was a miracle he was okay, and didn’t have a concussion. We were planning on using a stunt guy for this shot, but I cancelled that last minute because I was worried about time. Obviously, it’s better to slow things down and be safe. Lesson learned. I still feel awful.

Anyway, I don’t shave my legs, and I own zero lycra, but I felt totally accepted by these people. To be honest, I do own a bike and I ride it to work nearly every day. BUT, my bike was picked out of a garbage pile and NCC made brought the Frankenstein back to life for me. That was until on set I made the mistake of riding one of the very very nice bikes from Trek, Surly and The Foundry. I realized why these guys like this so much and that my bike might as well have gone back in that trash pile. Then, while recording some additional dialogue with Tobie they surprised me with this:


Totally humbled, and I’ve already had to refill the tires twice from riding it so much. The gesture was unreal, and it was like they were saying ‘hey, come on in, you’re part of this too now.’ Such a welcoming group of people.

Photo by Chad Gregory
Photo by Chad Gregory

I plan on doing a VFX breakdown for this one soon. Soon!

One of the most important features of the camera is its super wide dynamic range of 13 stops, allowing feature film quality images. Commonly people focus on more pixels, however often this just creates a higher resolution, but still “video” looking images that suffer from highlight and black clipping that limits details. Blackmagic Cinema Camera’s wide dynamic range eliminates this problem and provides film quality with dramatically more detail retained in black and whites in the image. Once the shoot is complete, the included DaVinci Resolve color correction software can be used to adjust images and take advantage of this extra range in the images. The high quality EF and ZF lens compatibility also helps create sharp and cinematic images that look incredible.

Ryan Koo sum’s it up nicely here.

So in the past few months we’ve seen the Digital Bolex announced, Sony’s FS700, Canon’s 4k EOS camera as well as the new 4K C500. It’s an exciting time for anyone interested in the art of moving images. But don’t wait. Don’t wait for Black Magic or Canon or anyone else to go and film your video. Grab an HV20 and a cell phone and go to work. Good tech is great, but storytelling can be done with an iphone.

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!

So, this year, we’re trying to make it count. To do that we need help, and thank the Good Lord for Kickstarter, with 22 days to go, we’re nearly there. Thanks so much to all the blogs who threw this link up, friends and family who have shared on facebook. I think nearly all of the money has come from avid cyclists who want to support a free race and a cool way to promote it. We’re extremely humbled!

http://kck.st/yMFg7z

“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.

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.

Not only are you editing this project, your also coloring grading, finishing audio, doing graphics work and to top it off, you’re a PC guy so you need an IT solution just to read the drives they sent you!

Okay killer, take a breath.

So, it’s true, there is no cake…but you’re still having fun right? I mean, at the end of the day, you’re still doing things that you know how to do (and hopefully enjoy doing).  It’s just the original  job description of ‘editor’ accurately describes about 1/10th of what you’re actually doing to make this project see the light of day.

So what do you do when you’re an ‘editor’? Simply put: you solve problems.

Basically, the person coming to you has a problem. They’ve got all of this footage they paid a DP, AC’s actors, writers,  etc to create and they need someone to make it work.

You know when you’re watching an action movie and there’s a giant-death-bringing-monster just around the corner and the cowardly marine guy is like ‘I didn’t sign up for this man!’?  Well, aside from the fact that he almost always dies, he’s a coward! He doesn’t want to do something because it’s scary and it wasn’t in the job description. Don’t be that guy. Be the hero who attacks the Aliens with a freaking nuke.

Look, in any job (film related or not), your main goal should just be to solve problems for people. So are you hired as an editor? No, you’re hired as a problem solver. Your clients, bosses, whatever – just treat them with respect and courtesy and get it done. If you do that, I  guaran-frickin-tee you, you’ll have a client for life.  Stop whining that what they’re asking you to do isn’t “part of the deal” and just do it. And again, don’t just do what they’re asking, go the extra mile or two and make it amazing. Make it the best you can, because really and truely you have no idea who’s going to see what you’ve just made.

Every job is an opportunity, so take it.

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.

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

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.