The Story Behind "(270) Seconds of Summer"

Summer goes by quickly in Washington. You're so busy enjoying it with friends & family, then all of a sudden the rain comes & you're left with memories... Screw that. This year I wanted to breathe some life onto those memories & make 'em last, so over the course of Summer 2011 I took my camera around & gathered nearly 100 GB worth of footage (Somewhere in the ballpark of 20 hours). I wanted the final video to be fast pace yet nostalgic, so I chose a song that reflected that: Stay Close by Delorean (RAC remix). After I-don't-know-how-many hours of editing in my spare time, this was the outcome...



(Watch in HD on Vimeo!)

Many of those editing hours were spent experimenting. For example, the tracking text on the animals took a day to learn & another day to implement. Creating the split-screen intro was like assembling a mind bending puzzle! All that's nothing compared to the amount of time spent organizing & cutting clips. Taking 20 hours of footage & squeezing it into 4 minutes & 30 seconds is an achievement in itself.

The film's supposed to make people feel something. The goal was goosebumps. Excitement. Dopamine in the bloodstream. The intro's meant to keep the viewer mildly interested while the music builds to the beat kicking at :58. That's the point at which I wanted them to be drawn in, and if they weren't, the introduction of real audio at 1:57 was meant to hook them. The tracking text on the animals was a set-up for a joke, the punchline for which is at 3:48. I wanted the cuts to be quick so viewer's left with a feeling that they missed so much they have to go back & watch it again, thus making the piece a little more interactive... and making the viewer feel a little more involved.

Inspiration: The title alone was inspired by Marc Webb's mind-bogglingly creative (500) Days of Summer (Written by Neustadter/Weber). Though the title was a bite, the content in (270) was unrelated. The use of real audio was inspired, in part, by Romain Gavras's Adidas, All In video, which gets me amped every time I watch it!

(270) blew up & went viral three days after I posted it on Vimeo. It's gotten a bit of press, being featured as a Curator's Choice on storyful.com and being featured on a nationally syndicated television show called Right This Minute (which I never even got to see). It's all very flattering, really, googling the title & seeing write-ups on hundreds of websites, in so many languages. It's nice to know that my work can transcend borders & cultures, and inspire & touch all of humanity... and for that I'm grateful.

Arbor Shoot

Back in November I was contacted by John of BLEACH, telling me about an opportunity to help with a shoot for Arbor. Arbor was putting on a show displaying the work of artists Blaine Fontana & Zach Johnsen, who do a lot of the work on Arbor snowboards & skate/longboards. So, producer Joel hired myself & my buddy Travis to document the event on camera & a week later, this is what Joel was able to put together to promote the exhibit.



Good times.

Ben Union's (Successful) Kickstarter Campaign

Last Fall, an awesome band called Ben Union, decided to finish making an album. In doing so, they started a Kickstarter campaign to help fund it. In doing so, they hired me to create a video promoting the campaign. It was a pretty simple task: Shoot a bit of footage at one of their live shows in Seattle, take their direct address & edit it together in a concise, straightforward & somewhat entertaining manor. This was the result...



(Watch in HD on Vimeo)

Turns out, this Kickstarter campaign ended up being pretty successful! They met their goal & then some. They were able to finish a rad album (which is now available on iTunes) & just recently had an epic album release concert. Things are looking up for the Union & if you haven't checked 'em out, you should!

Success!

BLEACH TACOMA (1 Minute Spot)

While part one was meant to portray a lifestyle or culture, Part two in the BLEACH series was meant to be more informative about how they connect with the community. I was able to take a couple hours to let the owners expound on that & this was the outcome. I made a point to keep this piece concise, so as to keep it at exactly a minute long. The third video will be a bit more lengthy.



(Watch in HD on Vimeo!)

As always, in hindsight, there are aspects of this piece that bother me & others that I'm proud of. However, I'm finding that these posts have ended up being mere critiques of my work & that's only one aspect of what this blog is supposed to be about. So this time, I'm just going to keep all that to myself & let the work speak for itself.

Changes are coming for this blog. I'm either going to change the format entirely or start a separate website & attach this blog to it. No matter what I decide to do, though, it will involve me updating it more often

Good day!

 

BLEACH TACOMA (30 Second Spot)

This summer provided me with an opportunity to produce some exciting content for one of the tightest clothing stores in the area, Bleach. It was a fun challenge & just the kind of project I needed.

This was the first in a series of videos for promoting Bleach. It was a real test capturing what the store's about & stuffing it into 30 seconds, but I'd say I passed... Not necessarily with flying colors, though...



(Watch in HD on Vimeo!)

Bleach goes by the slogan 'Clothing-Culture-Connect'. This video ended up being more about the 'culture' aspect, in that the clothing wasn't really on display & there wasn't much to show how Bleach connects with the community (which is addressed in the second video).

I'm happy with the results, but if I were to do it over again, I would have spent more time outfitting the on-screen talent to make sure everything they wear reflects well on Bleach. I also would have shot the longboarding footage in a less crowded area or earlier in the day. Lastly, I probably would have chosen a different song, as I can imagine the jarring repetitiveness of this track might be a real turn off for some. Other than that, I think I did a satisfactory job.

Cheers.