TwentyFortyOne Blog

Check out the latest offering from RainBreak!

Big thanks to Channing for helping us out with the first (of what we hope to be many) episode of Sketch Pad. Before you ask, the “7 dollar item” was a can of nuts from the mini bar. What’s funny is that was his ACTUAL reaction to us opening them! Gotta love a multi-millionaire complaining about $7 nuts… There are an infinite amount of outtakes from this shoot, so stay tuned!

Hey, does that audio guy look familiar?…….

It’s rare that I post about my own work, but in this case it’s worth it!

As anyone who works in it will tell you, the creative industry doesn’t always get to be ‘creative’. A lot of the times you’ll be working on brochures for a kids camp, or editing a 3 hour lecture given by Intel’s CFO, or something really lame like that. But all of us in the industry got in because we have creative visions and a passion for creating art. Fast forward to present day…

A good group of friends and I have banded together and vowed to work on one creative video a month. It doesn’t matter what it’s about, it just has to be fun and new. Living up here in Portland, Oregon, it tends to rain A LOOOT in the fall and winter months, so we all agreed that “Rain Break” would be the most apropos name. So far we have two videos in the can and third in the works. Head over to www.rainbreak.com and check out some of our work!

Now, on to the main attraction! Our very first video happened to come by way of the underground internet sensation know as Con Bro Chill. The story of his fame can’t really be described in short, so I’ll leave it up to you to research him. He’s known mostly for his youtube music videos and lacrosse promotions. When we first got together to discuss Rain Break and ideas for videos, Con spoke up and said that he had this song he was working and we should shoot a music video for it. BANG, so was the genesis of “Respect Your Partner”.

Con and his brother SAMM have done quite a few videos and songs together, so we knew this one had to kill. There were jibs flying around, glide tracks all over the place, choreography, extras, sets…. You name it, we had it. Big thanks go out to everyone at Rain Break who helped work on the piece and be sure to check rainbreak.com for monthly videos as well as a smattering of all of our work.

Ummmmmmm, w0w……

This is a really cool, insightful piece about the complexity of an ant hill infrastructure. Now that I got that out of the way, how about these guys just rolling up with a cement truck and fuking these ants out of their ridiculously intricate city?!

As much as I love 3D animation, this piece proves that 2D isn’t even close to dead! I’m out.

Can the world please make more short films like this?! I mean, it took a microscopic fraction of the budget of a hollywood film, it’s easier to follow, and it’s 16 minutes long vs. 120 of a feature film!

I don’t even really know where to start with this short, but the word that comes to mind is powerful ( <- changed from "impactful" thanks to commenter below"). Movies and shorts like this always end up on my "movies to own" list, much like Elephant, Ray, and even Blow to some degree. It’s almost like the short version of Crash.

UPDATE: While we’re on the subject, check out the new video I just worked on with my buddies from RainBreak.com

Having a huge iMac for editing video and motion graphics is amazing! I know some industry purists might gawk at the fact that they’re not very upgradable or powerful, but I’ve had absolutely no problems editing 1080p video all the live long day. The display is HUGE, and they’re extremely space saving! However, there is one drawback… Accessing the ports on the back is an awkward, laughable experience.

^ Note the use of the free USB hub I got in a golf tournament gift bag…

The USB and other ports are all located inconveniently in the back bottom of the machine, making it a nightmare to plugin or swap plugs! You can go about it one of two ways: 1) spin the computer about 30 degrees to access the ports, but run the risk of accidentally unplugging some tightly stretched connections, or 2) reach over the top and hope that you can get far enough over it to see and reach what you are doing. Both methods usually result in the jumbling of chords or improper ejection of drives.

Enter the Macessity Lowkey Stand. I’ve been eyeballing these stands for a while now, but only recently pulled the trigger. It was one of those senarios where I left the tab open in chrome for a few months, occasionally going back to look and debate getting it. Eventually my buddy Cable got fed up with me consistently asking him about it and just about ordered it for me to shut me up. So I caved…

As you can see from the picture below, when you work with files and media as big as I do, you can quickly accumulate more external drives than you know what to do with. The works part is that the lack of USB support isn’t even entirely the hard drives’ fault!
1) Apple Slim Keyboard – the number pad is crucial in after effects so I rarely use the wireless.
2) Wacom Bamboo – This guy doesn’t get used much, but it’s still essential for roughing sketches and signing documents.
3) CF Card Reader – I would trade the built-in SD card slot for a CF slot in a New York minute!
4) iPhone
5) Hard Drive #1
6) Hard Drive #2
7) iPod
8) Hard Drive #3
9) Hard Drive #4
10) Hard Drive #5
11) Printer (not pictured) – Even though my printer is “wireless” it still takes forever to print over the network so I just plug the sucker in.

Installing the lowkey stand couldn’t have been easier! It comes with a power and USB chord that essentially adds 3, extremely accessible ports to your arsenal. The space under the stand is traditionally used to store your keyboard when not in use, but I’ve chosen to store a few hard drives, Wacom, and CF reader under there instead.

So far I love this stand! If there was one critical thing to mention about it, it’d be that the silvers don’t match exactly between my iMac leg and the stand. It’s ticky tack, but a critique none the less. If you’re running into the same problems I had with desktop clutter and USB port famine, This is a great option to look into!

I don’t believe I’ve ever been so driven to share a song with the world as I am with this one. First off, I’m truly in love with dubstep. Second, I’m even more in love with DJ’s making dubstep remixes from popular mainstream tracks.

Press play and turn your speakers + sub up to 11 for this one.

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I originally found this song on thissongissick.com, so go check out his site where you can find a link to download the mp3 of this song. Worth it!

I truly can’t think of anyone who hasn’t seen this timelapse by now, and if you haven’t, you better axk somebody.

It’s crazy to think that this video was made pretty much on a whim and has turned out to be the *second* most liked video in Vimeo’s history!

I love how evoking and well composed ever scene is. I think the added the element of the motorized track slider is what really draws people to like this piece (well that and the insane HDR color-grading). There are plenty of timelapses where people pan across (or zoom into) an image, but you don’t get the prospective change like you do when the camera is actually tracking.

It’s crazy to think about what the internet has done for so many careers… I’ve known for a long time that Sean was on the path to having a great career in film/photo, but before this volcano video came out he was just another DP in L.A. with a great reel without the clients. He deserves all the credit he gets because this guy can flat out shoot!

I’m still waiting for my break-out internet fame… I don’t think “Ping Pong Zombie Nation” has the legs to get me there either…

Here is an interview Sean did with CNN.

P.S. I was watching Pawn Stars (per usual) on the History Channel the other day when an add for the documentary “Gates of Hell” came on. And wouldn’t you know it they used one of the shots from this video. I called Sean up and he laughed because apparently History had JUST licensed some shots from him. I must say that’s pretty rad.

PROOOOPS! Animatorio is quickly becoming one of my favorite motion graphic/3D studios. I love their graphical approach and animation style. Mixing 3D with 2D motion graphics always revz me up… Wow, ok I’m done.