Multimedia

Recent Video Work: Man Who Has Sex With Cars

Multimedia, My work, Published work, Video

 

I recently met Edward Smith, 63, of Yelm, Washington, a man who says he has had sex with 1,000 cars. On assignment for Barcroft Media, I spent some time interviewing him and meeting his main squeeze, Vanilla, a white Volkswagen Beetle. Below is the final video piece about him, filmed by me and edited by Barcroft, which was featured on TIME.com, among other outlets.

 

Hawaiki Color Plugin for FCPX Review

Gear, Multimedia, software, Tech stuff, Video

Hawaiki Color is a color grading plugin for Final Cut Pro X that is relatively powerful, easy to use, and costs a mere $50. (Tokyo Productions and Lawn Road provided me a copy for review.) In this Hawaiki Color review I’ll give you some pros and cons so that you can get a feel for the plugin before considering making a purchase.
 

(Above: Hawaiki Color’s own tutorial video)

 

First off, the layout is clean and easy to use. You’ll find three large color wheels and a series of sliders for color temperature, exposure, saturation, and hue/contrast/blur/sharpness. I love having quick access to these basic tools.

 

 

To use the Hawaiki Color plugin for Final Cut Pro X, first simply select which clip you’d like to adjust. Then in the effects tab at the lower right of your screen, double click on Hawaiki Color. It’s that easy. You can then begin to adjust the sliders and the color wheels.

 

 

Pros and Cons:

Cons:

  • The only feature I’m missing is selective color – the ability to selectively reduce or increase the saturation of single colors. It would be great to select cyan or yellow, for instance, and adjust the saturation of that specific color.

Pros:

  • Everything about Hawaiki Color is pretty quick, clean, and easy.
  • The quick sliders for contrast, sharpness, and exposure are very handy and either are better than the built in functions of Final Cut Pro X or do not even come standard with Final Cut Pro X.
  • The color wheels are standard and easy to use.
  • The sliders are accurate for fine tuning, especially when selecting specifically for lows, mids, or highs.

Thanks for looking and I hope this Hawaiki Color review is useful for you.

 

Recent work for UW Bothell

Education, Multimedia, My work, Published work, University, University of Washington, UW Bothell, Video

I recently produced the latest installment in the series of 12 videos I’m creating for the School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences at the University of Washington Bothell. This video highlights the American Studies major. Take a look in case you don’t know what American Studies is!

Video: UW Bothell Commencement

Education, Multimedia, My work, Published work, University of Washington, UW Bothell, Video

Recent video work for the University of Washington Bothell – Commencement 2013.

Commencement is always a big day full of emotion and excited students, and it was great to be able to be there to shoot it again this year. Have a look at the video below. Thanks to Daniel Berman, second shooter on this project.

Adorama Flashpoint Matte Box System II Review

Gear, Multimedia, Tech stuff, Video

Camera and electronics retailer Adorama has created its own line of pro and consumer video gear under the name Flashpoint, and recently invited me to do an Adorama Flashpoint Matte Box System II review. At a retail price of $250 (plus the current $60 instant rebate), the Flashpoint Matte Box is reasonably priced. It is best for DSLR’s, but can be used with other digital video cameras as well. As with all DSLR video accessories, this piece of kit is not cheap but it is relatively competitively priced, given the features.

 

So what does it do? Of course, first and foremost the Flashpoint Matte Box System II prevents lens flares by blocking glare/reflections. The three big blades are easily adjustable to block unwanted light from natural and artificial sources. The kit also comes with two filter trays so that you can use a neutral density filter or other filter to make your video look exactly how you want it to, so you can save time on post-production.

The filter trays are plastic, which is fine, as is the body of the matte box itself. The matte box is lightweight and does seem study, although I am left wondering how it would take a fall on a hard surface. The large blades are lightweight metal, which is very nice. The whole kit feels light, which is really important to someone like me who likes the run-and-gun approach. I also travel a lot and need something lightweight. The Flashpoint Matte Box System II can be disassembled in just a minute and folds pretty flat so that it can be packed for travel.

 

(Above: Adorama’s video for the Flashpoint Matte Box System II and other accessories)

 

The final accessory included is a set of three rubbery donuts that fit around the end of your lens (see below). You just select one that fits your lens and slide it on to help keep light out. You then attach your camera to whatever video rig you have, and lightly press the end of the donut to the back of your Flashpoint Matte Box System II. Reviews I’ve read haven’t mentioned how easy these little guys are to use, and although I will probably lose them in about three days … it is these simple little additions to kits that make life so much easier.

 

Anyways, thanks for checking out this Adorama Flashpoint Matte Box System II review and I hope it helps you out. If you are shopping and are ready to upgrade your DSLR video kit to a rig with a matte box and other accessories, I would recommend that you consider the Flashpoint Matte Box System II.

Recent work for UW Bothell

Multimedia, My work, Published work, Travel, University of Washington, UW Bothell, Video

Have a look at a short video I recently shot and produced for the University of Washington Bothell and learn about the School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences’ undergraduate major in Global Studies.
 

Recent Work for UW Bothell

Diversity, Education, Multimedia, My work, University of Washington, UW Bothell, Video

Last month I produced several short videos to be screened at the University of Washington Bothell commencement ceremony. Since I was also filming at commencement, it was fun to watch my work shown in front of a packed Alaska Airlines Arena. Have a look below to learn a little bit about this year’s commencement speaker and the outstanding students that UW Bothell has.

 

2013 President’s Medal winner Eleanor Marsh:

 

 

2013 Emerging Leader Award winner Ty Edwards:

 

 

Introduction of commencement speaker Dr. Oscar Arias, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former president of Costa Rica:

FxFactory Pro 4 Review

Gear, Multimedia, Tech stuff, Thoughts, Video

Noise Industries was kind enough to send me a copy of the new FxFactory Pro 4.0 for review, and it’s a great toolkit for the  video editor looking for relatively easy-to-use and affordable plugins that will make a video project stand out. In this brief FxFactory 4 Review, I’ll tell you a little bit about the platform, what it has to offer, and how to use it. It is a free update for current owners of previous versions of FxFactory Pro.

(FxFactory’s introduction video is below)

 

First off, it is packed full of features. FxFactory 4 contains a variety of plugins boasting more than 170 filters, transitions, and generators. New features with this update include support for Adobe Premiere, and of course it still works with Apple Final Cut Pro and Motion, as well as Adobe After Effects.

Using FxFactory Pro 4 is a breeze, as were previous versions, at least in my experience using Final Cut Pro X with FxFactory Pro. Once you install FxFactory Pro, simply open Final Cut Pro X and find the plugins automatically installed in the Effects Browser (Command + 5 will also open the Effects Browser). See below.

 

 

All of your new plugins will be categorized by the type of effect, so if you want to find a pattern or a sun flare image, just click the Generators icon in the Effects Browser and scroll through the multitude of options. Or if you want to experiment with some new transitions, just browse through the Transitions tab, etc.

Without going into detail about every single feature, I’ll highlight what’s new with this most recent update to FxFactory Pro 4.0. Photo Montage is a quick, slick way to animate photos for a slide show with various animation style choices. Motype 1.3 by Yanobox offers some cool title effects. Callouts 1.3 has a lot of nice animations for explaining ideas with text and clean line and dot animations. PHYX Cleaner 2.0 repairs footage to make it look crisp and clean. Split Animator 1.1 has several updates for its split screen features.

 

 

Overall, I think if you read this FxFactory 4 review you’ll know that I’m quite happy with the software. I think FxFactory is a great addition to Final Cut Pro X’s built-in features, and FxFactory 4 brings a lot of easy-to-use plugin features that will keep your projects looking sharp.

Thanks for reading and feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions.