Project

GreenScreen + After Effects from steve lahovich on Vimeo.

This project was a version of the popular ipod commercials but for a bottled water company. The commercial is thirty seconds and was shot in front of a green screen. The chromakey work was done in after effects, and the audio and video was edited in premier pro.

We had the advantage of a huge green indoor wall, but the floor needed to be taken out of the picture, so we taped a green sheet on the floor. We had to light the wall and talent, and make sure the shadows dont show on the wall, you can see this in the video. Shooting it included our two talent dancing in front of the wall.

Colors

My work

I have filmed and edited a snowboard video and edited a skate video when I was younger. The genre of movie is like MDP's and Standard Films. The quality of work lacks skill because of my knowledge at the time, so a recently updated piece of work in this genre would be very appropriate. The work I am going to be doing will be be much more relevant to their style of movies, and i plan on putting them into my portfolio at later dates as my main focus of what i like to do and what my work is all about.

My Audience

I grew up watching snowboard and skate videos with my brother. I can remember the first video I ever owned, it was called AMP and was produced by a company called MackDawg Productions, who have been around since 1988. I also have watched many videos produced by Standard Films, a company that also produces snowboard movies. They are two of the top production companies for snowboard video, traveling around the world following many different riders and capturing amazing and never before seen footage. I have seen 9 of MDP's videos so far, and can never wait for a new one to come out. After looking at their website, their facebook account, and blogs about the crew and company, I learned a lot of who these people really are, what the company is about, and the characteristics of the people who work for MDP and Standard Films.

MDP is located in reno, nevada. The crew is made up of filmer Ross Steffey, producer Lory Vincent, director Brad Kremer, co-director Jaakko Itaaho, and filmer Dominic Gauthier. Their second crew includes Directors Pierre Minhondo and Justin Eeles, filmer/motion graphic expert Gabe L'Heureux, and filmer Simon Turcotte.
Standard Films crew includes Mike Hatchett, Dave Hatchett, Waide Hoyt, Miike Bagnuolo, and Travis Robb. From reading their profiles, and looking at the websites I realized that the people working for these two companies were just like I was when I was growing up. They watched videos that inspired them to get into snowboarding and loved everything about it including traveling and visiting new spots. By looking at premier photos and events they dress casually, participate in activities I like doing such as traveling, watching movies, listening to their favorite music, reading books or magazines dealing with their work, snowboarding, and partying, when they get their work done.

The style of movies they produce and their website design is attractive to me and something I would love to be a part of. The employees are outgoing, friendly, and layed back...a style of work and way of life I would like to be a part of also. I can appeal to them by doing the work I like and have done previously.

MackDawg Productions
Standard Films

Self-assessment

1 certificate or associates degree
2 video, writing
3 video, writing
4 photoshop, video software
5 < 1 year
6 better than average
7 creative outlet, unemployed looking for job
8 i want to do specialized work in production and post production
9 not related
10 i like to work alone or in a team
11 i need a private space
12 i will take jobs from paying clients

Skills

My skills involve creative video editing to produce an entertaining visual product. Audio editing to create balanced music tracks, sfx, or audio in video. Unique videography included with post production skills to create an interesting finished product. I also can manipulate images with Adobe Photoshop and i have Adobe After Effects knowledge with my green screen commercial. My portfolio will be largly video based highlighting my production and post production skills including work I have done such as commercials, short videos, and my current short movie project.

Industry

By looking around and visiting tons of websites, portfolios, and looking at demo reels, i noticed that almost everyone has a demo reel to showcase their work in my industry. Other things i noticed is that along with demo reels that are posted on websites to showcase their work, they also have personal websites, blogs, and portfolios, with much more information and more of their work. Portfolios like this and this one and also this one are good examples of how people included their resumes, contact information, and many different forms of work such as graphics, videos, audio, and web design. Two websites i liked because they were easy to navigate were this one and this one. I noticed that a lot of people used flash when developing their web sites which i think makes the site look and feel much more professional. My favorite two that i found were creatif and joyjoydesign. These two i think were artistic and used creative colors and designs that made it fun to look at their work.

Overall i noticed that artistic and original work is essential to having an interesting website. Websites that use flash are more entertaining and professional.
Catchy colors, designs, and fonts are crucial in your website.