I’ve spent the past month or so working mostly on updating my church’s website. It’s been a learning experience to say the least. Another “trade” for my “jack”? Probably not, but I’m pleased with how it turned out. Check it out.
[tired but satisfied sigh]
The past few weeks have seen a decent amount of work. I wrapped up the America Speaks Now commercial, taped a friend’s wedding (Congrats, Josh and Liz!), started filming a music video for a song my brother recorded…
The new IDM business cards arrived last night. Thanks MOO!
Some people have expressed interest in purchasing photos that I’ve displayed on the IDM website gallery. I’ve already had the idea to auction off some prints from Africa as a way to raise funds for next year’s New Sight trip to Kenya, so check back in periodically for announcements about when that will all go down. I’ll be looking into starting up an online store so anybody and everybody can have a chance to enjoy the simple pleasures of owning a Dave original. The only store service I can think of off the top of my head is Cafe Press. Does anybody know of anything else/better?
In the meantime, I will accept orders via email.
“dave@invisibledinosaur.com” has been active ever since I bought the domain, but none on my email clients have been able to work properly with the network I’m currently on. Gmail works though, and so today I spent some time setting up my IDM email to be accessed through Google Apps. The awesomeness of Gmail + the awesomeness of my own domain name = double awesomeness.
And now clients can get in touch with me (and I with them) by way of the more official business email. Speaking of which, this morning I was contacted by a potential client for the first time through the IDM website. Granted, the potential client is my girlfriend’s boss, but nevertheless, another tiny victory for the day.
The America Speaks Now project has been coming along swimmingly.
While filming on Sunday afternoon, I tried to do some nice camera moves, pushing in on the subject and the like, going for a more “dynamic” look (as per the client’s wishes). Of course, having freehanded the shot, I got a bit more shake than I would’ve liked. Final Cut to the rescue! Now, I’ve tried out the SmoothCam filter before on some video I shot on my Nikon D90 (may she rest in pieces), and the results were pretty cool, but nothing mind blowing. Well, I tried it out again on yesterday’s footage, and my mind is now blown. It worked so well. I know I’m not the first person to sing SmoothCam’s praises, but indulge me. It gave me such a thrill to watch my work play out like it was filmed by a seasoned crew with Steadicams and dolly rigs. And once again, how amateur do I sound? Whatever, it was cool. It took me a while to fall asleep. It felt like Christmas.
This picture doesn’t exactly do it justice.
I posted a before and after SmoothCam demonstration with a sample from the ASN piece.
The IDM "fer real" website is finally up
Yesterday morning in the shower, I came up with an “Interrupting Kanye” knock-knock joke. A few minutes later, some light web surfing revealed that several thousand people already beat me to the punch. So much for being cutting edge.
Speaking of Internet-based disappointment, the wireless network I’m on is giving me troubles. The IDM website is already to go (albeit not as sleek as I’d like just yet), but I haven’t been able to upload it to the server. Hopefully I’ll be able to work something out by tomorrow evening, at the latest.
In the meantime, I’ve had some positive feedback about the mock-up of the commercial I’m putting together for America Speaks Now. The client more or less wants a recreation of an AdCouncil piece that aired shortly after 9/11 - people of different ages and races simply stating, “I’m an American”. When I took the job, I was working down in High View, West Virginia. Not exactly a melting pot. I headed back to Philadelphia and grabbed a few friends and family to shoot a short version of the commercial. I was pleased with how well it turned out, and it was fun to see people I know in a real looking thing. How amateur did that sound?
I’m starting up a small freelance video production business. I named it “Invisible Dinosaur Media”, an homage to my imaginary pet triceratops I used to travel through time with as a kid.
The website is still in the works. I only have a basic page up for now, but you can visit it at invisibledinosaur.com. That’s right, a real deal domain name. I hope to spruce it up before too long, but first I needed something to actually put on it. And I’m pleased to announce that I finally got a demo reel together. It should be available in the previous post, or you can watch a slightly better quality version on YouTube (and eventually the main site). It was a pain to make, but it’s pretty cool to watch it now and look back at all the places I’ve been and all the crazy stuff I’ve seen: Jordan, Ecuador, the DR, Camp.
…..Aaaand I just remembered that I didn’t include any wedding footage in the demo. Gah! There are a few other things I can improve on, but I’m mostly pleased with it. I’ll leave it be for now.
I don’t know how often I’ll update this blog. I’ll try to keep it semi-regular. The whole point of this thing is more or less to keep myself accountable and productive. If I’m broadcasting my day-in/day-out activities to the masses, I better do something during my day-in/day-out activities so the masses don’t think I’m a turd on a log. I mean, I am a turd on a log, but maybe I can fool people by writing things. We’ll see how well this works.
[video]