I am preparing to head up to Whistler, BC. next week and I'm really stoked. Shannon and I will be meeting up with friends and riding along the way. In preparation I haver been watching some of the awesome video coming out of Crankworx
Recently, my focus has turned from general experience in the commercial production field with my production company Adventure Refugee. I have decided that it's about time to dedicate my time to the outdoor industry. It's an obvious evolution of the work that I have done both in the bicycle industry and as a guide.
In my rencent travels I have been drawn back into the wild and found myself with a deep desire to remain in the mountains, on trails and cliffs, to shoot those who are pushing the limits and expanding what's possible for humans.
I have been asked by a new show Team Go4it to direct their episodes and step up their production. The team that they put together for this is rad. We plan to expand the concept to more sports and to include more professional athletes. It's an exciting time with all the changes happening and I hope to be able to post some great media soon.
It's been quite a ride creating videos and travelling around connecting with such inspiring people. The focus lately is how to push forward into that world that I respect so much. It seems everything is changing rapidly especially after my move from Truckee back to my long time home town, San Francisco. I find myself driving more and lusting after the mountains every waking hour. That desire has helped me shape my vision for what the future could look like if I bring the two major aspects of my life together, adventure and production.
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Sunday, July 29, 2012
It's been a while and somethings have changed.
It has been a very long time since I've written a blog here on my portfolio website. Partly because I have been focused on my video production company www.adventurerefugee.com Time has certainly slipped by and some changes have happened in my life. I've moved back to San Francisco from truckee and started to define ideas about production and how it applies to making a living in my life. As all freelancers will tell you, it's no easy task. I have been blessed with some free time the last two weeks and after riding and working-out till my arms and legs no longer work, I find myself entranced by the thought of writing a blog and catching up a bit.
I've had many great opportunities of late, including working as the DP on SMOSH.com I
shot several Commercials and worked on a few documentaries these last few months. I also shot a feature film with my friend Allison Ayer. It's been a great ride and I look forward to more.
Looking forward I'd like to be doing more work in the outdoor industry. The industry is really why I got into this work. Telling stories about people who are out there in the natural world. I find these place to be my sancutary away from the mind clouding race to gather material and maintain it.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
I have been working so much... So many videos!
I have had a crazy last few months working with my production company www.adventurerefugee.com We have produced several videos and here are a few of them. Visit our website if you want to see more. We have had the fortune of working with excellent people. THank you!
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Jumping with Jhonathan Florez
I am often approached about commercial concepts for products or people and I need to come up with a vision for the story, the script and the visuals that are going to convey the concept with the richest media we can create with our timeline and budget.
I use several tools to help flush out the vision from the client and from my mind on how best to capture the attention of our target audience. Recently, AR teamed up with Jhonathan Florez to create a promotional video and to tell his story as a skydiving wing-suit-flying maniac.
The first step was to figure out “who” we would be speaking to. Jhonathan is attempting to set three Guinness world records in the coming months and he is seeking sponsorship and promotion of the jumps he will be making from 32,000 ft. To capture that audience we need to express his passion for what he does, his drive and give him some credibility as he goes out and attempts something that has never been done before.
Find videos that work. Jhonathan sent me several videos that he thought captured the environment that we would be shooting in. Airplanes, parachutes and wingsuits, all these would be new to me as far as shooting and we needed to get a baseline for what we would be trying to accomplish.
Secondly, I always need to visualize how the story might play out when we deliver it. For this I use the classic storyboard method. This is nothing new but it works wonders for getting the ideas for shots down on paper and to show the client what you are thinking visually. Here is a basic time lapse of the storyboard that I did for JF.
As the production went on I created another storyboard to help organize the production into sections with bookends to help categorize our scenes and too create transitions. With this specific project we needed to shoot plenty of b-roll footage because the interviews of JF where not scripted so ultimately it would be told documentary style with the voice over leading the editing. Considering that we had three production days to complete the shooting we needed to be shooting any chance we had to get the quality of shots we were going for. Those shots included time lapses of the airstrip, the clouds and people, while at the same time capturing shots from the air on Go Pro cameras and with DSLR’s from the plane and on the ground.
We were fortunate to have Brian Drake, JF’s wingman, to shoot the footage of JF from the air. We used the new GoPro HD2 for this shooting and the shots turned out to have great color and resolution especially compared to the older Go Pro Hero HD camera.
While having access to the airstrip was great we had scripted a base jump into our storyboard and we needed to shoot that in very low light as to not attract attention. This was unique for the AR crew and we decided to bring Isaac Joslin in with an RC quad copter to fly up next to JF while he was on the tower. This provided an angle of view that helped tell the story of commitment and establish JF as a professional flyer.
While on the ground we used a 5ft Kessler CineSlider to give movement to the shots and help emphasize the environment while on the ground. We ended up using the slider inside of an old airplane in the “bone yard” with a great effect. Having a monitor for these shot was essential. We used a 7” Marshal that helped me frame shots and check focus which was important for the racking shots.
Overall, we had a great time and the last few days have been working on the editing process and creating a rhythm that will keep the audience engaged and connected to JF because he is, most definitely a worthy entertainer and athlete with great promise.
We had excellent help with our staff, Matthew Donaldson, Patrick Egan, Isaac Joslin, Ryan Hudson and all the other folks at the drop zone that made this thing happen. I can't wait to show off what we did.
Stay tuned for the release of our short on Adventure Refugee TV.
James
I use several tools to help flush out the vision from the client and from my mind on how best to capture the attention of our target audience. Recently, AR teamed up with Jhonathan Florez to create a promotional video and to tell his story as a skydiving wing-suit-flying maniac.
The first step was to figure out “who” we would be speaking to. Jhonathan is attempting to set three Guinness world records in the coming months and he is seeking sponsorship and promotion of the jumps he will be making from 32,000 ft. To capture that audience we need to express his passion for what he does, his drive and give him some credibility as he goes out and attempts something that has never been done before.
Find videos that work. Jhonathan sent me several videos that he thought captured the environment that we would be shooting in. Airplanes, parachutes and wingsuits, all these would be new to me as far as shooting and we needed to get a baseline for what we would be trying to accomplish.
Secondly, I always need to visualize how the story might play out when we deliver it. For this I use the classic storyboard method. This is nothing new but it works wonders for getting the ideas for shots down on paper and to show the client what you are thinking visually. Here is a basic time lapse of the storyboard that I did for JF.
As the production went on I created another storyboard to help organize the production into sections with bookends to help categorize our scenes and too create transitions. With this specific project we needed to shoot plenty of b-roll footage because the interviews of JF where not scripted so ultimately it would be told documentary style with the voice over leading the editing. Considering that we had three production days to complete the shooting we needed to be shooting any chance we had to get the quality of shots we were going for. Those shots included time lapses of the airstrip, the clouds and people, while at the same time capturing shots from the air on Go Pro cameras and with DSLR’s from the plane and on the ground.
We were fortunate to have Brian Drake, JF’s wingman, to shoot the footage of JF from the air. We used the new GoPro HD2 for this shooting and the shots turned out to have great color and resolution especially compared to the older Go Pro Hero HD camera.
While having access to the airstrip was great we had scripted a base jump into our storyboard and we needed to shoot that in very low light as to not attract attention. This was unique for the AR crew and we decided to bring Isaac Joslin in with an RC quad copter to fly up next to JF while he was on the tower. This provided an angle of view that helped tell the story of commitment and establish JF as a professional flyer.
While on the ground we used a 5ft Kessler CineSlider to give movement to the shots and help emphasize the environment while on the ground. We ended up using the slider inside of an old airplane in the “bone yard” with a great effect. Having a monitor for these shot was essential. We used a 7” Marshal that helped me frame shots and check focus which was important for the racking shots.
Overall, we had a great time and the last few days have been working on the editing process and creating a rhythm that will keep the audience engaged and connected to JF because he is, most definitely a worthy entertainer and athlete with great promise.
We had excellent help with our staff, Matthew Donaldson, Patrick Egan, Isaac Joslin, Ryan Hudson and all the other folks at the drop zone that made this thing happen. I can't wait to show off what we did.
Stay tuned for the release of our short on Adventure Refugee TV.
James
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Omma Video
This week I am working with Omma at their Mobile, Video and Social Conference. Once again I have been gifted to learn and work at the same time. Although, the learning curve about marketing techniques, ad spots and all the rest has been quite steep I have been able to adapt some of the social tools that where introduced to me by Paul Barron from DigitalCoco.com
Those social tools, illustrated by the trending Twitter feed displayed to the left of the stage with my logo and comments occasionally displayed along with those of major advertising firms form across the country allowed the idea of social networking on the corporate level to sink in and give a real life effect to the digital world.
It’s not often that I write about the conference gigs that I do to keep afloat but this seemed to stick out as an opportunity to grow the network in which I work. You can check out more at
www.mediapost.com/
From
http://www.adventurerefugee.com/2011/10/omma-video/
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
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