alexschwindt.blog

test your color skillz

So just how good is your ability to recognize colors? What about matching color sets? For anyone involved in the visual arts the ability to see and handle colors is a crucial skill set. Remember, professional don't really get paid for their abilities, they get paid for their taste, for knowing the difference between "perfect" and "almost".

Enter the "Color - Method of Action" game that's making the rounds on the internets right now. While it's a lot of fun to play, it can also help you understand your strengths and weakness as a colorist. In addition, it can help you begin to grasp some advanced color theory concepts. Check it out after the jump...

we do not know what we cannot do

I saw the music video for Coldplay's "Paradise" a few months ago (before it has 68 million views), and I specifically remember thinking two things:
#1 - "This video is really works" and
#2 - "This video was probably really easy to make".

Sometimes we get stuck thinking that making great videos and films takes tons money and a slew of talented people. And on some projects that's true. But a great idea and some ingenuity trump big bugets almost every time. As filmmakers it's important to unlearn our limits. We do not know what we cannot do.

To see what I'm talking about, let's take a closer look at the "Paradise" video...

"tom's story" short film

Porn addtiction is one of the most pervasive problems we face in our society, yet it's something no one really wants to talk about. It takes a lot of courage to be willing to stand up and share your story about your battles with pornography. And while Tom Ryan's story is more dramatic than most, it's far from being a unique problem.

Check out "Tom's Story" after the jump...

time lapse + motion effects = awesome

Someone turned me on to this amazing short film earlier today, and I knew a lot of you would definitely be able to appreciate what the filmmaker's up to with this piece. It's a incredible marriage of time lapse footage, motion graphics, visual effects, color grading and killer title work. The integration with the soundtrack is top-notch as well.

Douglas Koke is the visual artist, and you gotta respect the way he was able to find a compelling subject and then add several layers of awesome. Even better, the footage itself was shot with a sub-$1,000 Canon T3i.

Check out the short here...

documentary on the future of digital filmmaking

Yesterday Eastman Kodak announced that they are filing for Ch. 11 bankruptcy protection. I can't imagine a more profound illustration of the way digital imagery has reshaped the photography and filmmaking. While for some this may appear to be the end of an era, to many of us it's the beginning of an amazing new chapter.

Enter Side By Side, a new documentary from Company Films exploring the turbulent transition from celuloid-based filmmaking to digital. As if the subject isn't compelling enough, check out who they've interviewed for the project (trailer)...

chance (and Spielberg) favors the bold

Sometimes if you work your tail off, create something great, then put it out there, good things really can happen. Just ask James Curran. Last month Curran posted an unoffical opening title sequence for Steven Spielberg's Tintin movie, an effort so well-realized that it currently has over 600,000 views on Vimeo.

Turns out one of those viewers was Spielberg himself. Now Slashfilm is reporting that Curran has been invited to the world premiere of Tintin in London by the man himself. Even better, according to the co-writer of Tintin Spielberg has offered Curran a job! Talk about a dream coming true.

Check out the animation that launched it all after the jump...

creating websites with Adobe Muse

As a rule, people who like design do not like writing code. In my experience, people who like writing code do not like project management. But we all want websites that are powerful, functional and beautiful. Enter Adobe Muse.

Designed for with graphic artists in mind, Muse allows the user to design a website with simple interfaces and established design tools. Of course, Muse isn't the first software to attempt this trick. Many of use have invested copious amounts of time learning WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) web software over the years, only to be disappointed with weak, compormised, non-functioning end results.

Would Muse lead to the same let down..?

what defines a filmmaker?

Very few people shoot "films" on film anymore. Many of the greatest directors working today have gone digital, including award-winning Hollywood titans like Steven Soderbergh and David Fincher. So what do we mean when we use the phrase "filmmaker"?

With so many people having access to quality HD video cameras (inside their phones!), fast computers to edit with and distribution channels like YouTube, what exactly is it that moves someone from the category of hobbist or video producer and into "filmmaker" territory?

Given the whole professional/pro-sumer battle that Apple treated us to last summer I've had a chance to kick this question around some, and here are the defining characteristics I believe define what a filmmaker is...

film school in a box

As I've been in the process of learning and teaching filmmaking over the past several years one of the most important things I've discovered is that, if you're willing to seek out the information, you can learn an awful lot about filmmaking without going to film school.  I'm not bashing film schools here at all, but for many of us it's simply not an option, for a myriad of reasons.  Fortunately, it's possible to find much of what you need if you know where to look. 

This is not an empty promise or boast.  I went to school and eventually finished my degree in music.  Not a day of formalized training in filmmaking.  Ever.  Yet for the past three years I've been able to hold down a fulltime job as a filmmaker, while also picking up steady independant contract work.  And it's all possible because I continually go to the right sources to up my game as a visual artist. 

Check out this video to see what I'm talking about...

incredible deal on media software

When it comes to filmmaking and media production one of the most common questions I get is what software I create with.  That used to be a more complicated question, but thanks to some industry craziness I can now give a very simple answer: Adobe Production Premium CS5.5. 

Sometime soon I'm going to write a more comprehensive review of the Production Suite, but for now I'll just say that Adobe has proven the old adage that chance favors the prepared mind.  For the first time ever Adobe finally has all of their assets running at full steam, and their timing couldn't be better. 

Speaking of timing, you have approximately three weeks to take advantage of the best software deal I've ever seen from Adobe...