Jesse Tarnoff Filmmaking

Hello Glass & Marker

2012-01-31T13:06:00.000-08:00

Big News!!! A lot of you may be wondering why my tweets have mentioned me working straight through the night pretty much every day of the week; and yet, there have been no new updates to the Sandbox Love blog or the Jesse Tarnoff blog. Well that's because I've been working on a new little project called Glass & Marker, Inc.

Introducing a new company that I have formed with two colleagues (friends) of mine. Glass & Marker is a video production company for creating web video for a huge range of clients. From small App companies like YAM to the big guys like Yahoo! The company grew organically from the demand for my freelance corporate video work, which has been on the rise.

You may recognize one of the founders of Glass & Marker, Nick Markham. He was my roommate in college, co-worker at Launchsquad, and a big part of the beginnings of Sandbox Love. He's joined Glass & Marker as the Executive Creative Director. The other founder is a friend of mine from way back in the day named Nick Raushenbush. He's a crazy smart guy and will be Glass & Marker's Chief Operating Officer. He brings a much needed analytical mind to Markham and I's dreamscape of creative optimism. He's also an advisor for Forrester Research specializing in Ad Agencies and New Media.

So here is the BIG question. What will happen to Sandbox Love???
We've built up a lot of fans over the last year and a half and I won't leave it behind for one second. While my attention to SBL has been temporarily diverted while getting Glass & Marker going, I will be refocusing on building that company as well. I have hired my brother, Dylan, as the new Sandbox Love manager. Sandbox Love will continue to shoot weddings with the same people we have been; myself, Nick, Vitalie, RJ, Shaun. And the films will continue to be edited by the people who made all of your favorite wedding films in the past; myself, Nick, and RJ. The two companies will interact by operating out of the same office, and by having the SBL editor as part of the Glass & Marker staff. So here is the bottom line: Your wedding films will continue to be great, and I am committed growing Sandbox Love as a company as well.

The process of starting this company has been very taxing; financially, emotionally, and with respect to sleep. But it's also been crazy exciting! Now that it's launched and we've built an engine for it to take off, we're anticipating a steady stream of growth. Thank you to all those who have supported me thus far. I promise to keep working away.

Ben and Betsy's Highlights

2012-01-10T19:51:00.001-08:00

Another super beautiful wedding film created for Sandbox Love. Not gonna lie, their vows get me teary eyed.

Ben + Betsy's Highlights from Sandbox Love on Vimeo.

This was shot by myself, big Vitalie, and smooth man Nicky. Major props to my man RJ for putting together a great first cut of this. I then went in and did a ton of polish, color, and editing to give it that Sandbox Love special something. Looks so good. So happy to hear that ben and Betsy love it.

Also, some press! The video and photos posted to Style Me Pretty!

Men's Health and J. Hilburn

2012-01-06T17:27:00.000-08:00

Here is a recent video I shot and directed for Men's Health. It was produced by LaunchSquad, and I have to say, it's a great piece.

Flew out to the Men's Health office in NYC and met up with Brian Boye and J. Hilburn's head of product, Jon Patrick. First, let me say that the Men's Health office is pretty rad. Yoga studio, lots of cool offices, and a pretty cool looking set of stairs right through the middle.

It was a fun shoot, despite my lack of sleep. One of the best outtakes I have ever witnessed occurred, and we all started roaring with laughter. I'm really happy with how the video came out and a lot of credit goes to the editor for compiling it into a great piece for Men's Health.

Client: J. Hilburn
Agency: Launchsquad
Creative Director: Brett Marty
Direction: Jesse Tarnoff
Writing: Brett Marty, Tessa Greenwood
Cinematography: Jesse Tarnoff, Joe Belack
Additional Footage: Jesse Tarnoff, Vitalie Ungureanu
Editing: Cory Leavitt

Lenses: 85mm 1.2, 24mm 1.4, 70-200 2.8, Sigma 105 2.8

Alia + Josh

2011-12-07T18:47:00.000-08:00

Masterpiece? They're all masterpieces these days. So proud of how well Sandbox Love is moving!

Editing this film was one of the hardest tasks I've ever had. I had footage from 4 days of shooting that all had to be packed into a 15 minute piece. Well, I just couldn't make it fit, so it's about 20 minutes. But it's a good 20 minutes. An amazing 20 minutes.

For SO long, I would bring up the project, look through the footage and decide that I wasn't in an inspired enough place to take on what I knew would be one of my best films yet. I had all the tools there, but it was the approach. There were SO many good stories that I wanted to tell. There are some amazing parts to Alia and Josh's story that didn't even make it into the video. Because of that, stay tuned for a little Part II action.

Me and Vitalie shot pretty much the whole thing, with Shaun helping out the first day. As you can see, everything about their wedding weekend was beautiful. I felt incredibly blessed to be part of such a wonderful experience and meet so many wonderful people.

Farewell LaunchSquad

2011-10-19T18:32:00.000-07:00

The only thing I can say to justify leaving a job I love is, "Well, it's finally got to that point."

I have worked at LaunchSquad since March of 2010, and I would have kept going had it not been for the immense amount of side work that has come my way. When I started my wedding film company, Sandbox Love, I didn't anticipate it growing so quickly. SBL has now grown into a legitimate brand, being featured on some of the top wedding blogs in the world. Of course, this means I am getting SO many amazing weddings booked, and because it is my dream and passion to tell personal stories, I must pursue it.

I have also taken on a large load of freelance corporate work, which has been awesome. Clients like Yahoo, Easton, WeVideo, Yam, and more have popped up. I've been finding the work I'm doing with them challenging and inspiring.

While there is risk, what it all comes down to is that my ambition has pushed me forward. I believe that with some more time put into Sandbox Love, it can become greater. I can develop the brand, become more responsive, and take on more wedding films. And with more free time, I can take on some corporate projects to keep my creative energy diverse and adaptive.

My time at LaunchSquad has been amazing. I have learned SO much, met so many wonderful and talented people, and been inspired by the businesses I have worked with. I have had so many fun experiences there, from unrestricted access to the top of the empire state building to staying up for a week making the holiday film... it's been nothing but goodness. I'll be writing a big ol' blog post sharing some of the awesome times. I consider myself so lucky to have been a part of the Squad. Take care friends.

3 Big Things (I learned):
- Story always goes first. My Creative Director, Brett Marty, would often guide me in the direction of storytelling. I believe it is an extremely valuable skill to have and an important lesson to learn. I am now a better storyteller... which makes me a better filmmaker.
- Relationships are everything; with the people you work with, the people you work for, and the clients you serve. LS built a relationship focused environment and taught me that co-workers are friends, bosses are mentors, and clients are partners. We are all working together to deliver results.
- Some rooftops have trampolines.

To see a bunch of the work I've done while at LaunchSquad, you can check it out here.

SlideRocket for iPad

2011-10-14T19:16:00.000-07:00

Here is a commercial we did for Sliderocket, a presentation creator and viewer that makes presentations look super polished. Definitely check them out!

We shot this in two days in a ton of different locations. It was a long shoot, but very worth it. The hardest part is getting those overhead shots, as it means setting up the large jib. Fortunately, by the end of the shoot we got pretty efficient and can now set that thing up in no time.

WeVideo

2011-09-19T20:08:00.000-07:00

Made this one, freelance style, for a company called WeVideo who offers a pretty baller product. They let you do all of your video editing in the cloud which means more collaboration, more flexibility, and the amazingness of being able to edit anywhere with a wifi signal. No hard drives to lug around. Just your footage in the ether, ready to go.

We also made an AWESOME behind the scenes video that shows our process of packing, filming, and then editing the commercial using WeVideo. Because we had such a tight turnaround with the video above, we had to be very clever with our coloring, uploading, and editing. I can't wait to show you how we made this, it's going to blow your world.

Lots more WeVideos to come!

Producers: Jesse Tarnoff, Ben Tuller, Pierce Templeton
Executive Producers: John Canning, Magnus Kristiansen
Director: Jesse Tarnoff
Director of Photography: Vitalie Ungureanu
Screenplay: Jesse Tarnoff
Sound Design: Matt Schwartz
1st Assistant Director: Pierce Templeton
1st Assistant Camera: Richard Paganini
Audio Recording: Nick Ainsworth
Editing/Color Grading: Jesse Tarnoff
Rotoscoping: Cameron Clark
Production Assistant: Shaun Goo
Freefall Cinematography: Iwan Van Der Schoor

Crime. Organized. With Yam!

2011-09-06T23:24:00.000-07:00

Life has been crazy busy! Weddings, Commercials, and Corporate. I promise I will get some sleep soon. I just need to hold off the heavy eyes for about another week!

I am VERY excited to show you this commercial I made for a product called Yam. They are an online meeting organization platform that literally allows everybody to be on the same page, while working remotely or locally. Basically, if you were having a phone meeting with someone in San Francisco, someone in Moscow, and someone in Timbuktu, this would allow you to have a common interface for collaboration. Like notepads, voting, cost benefit analysis, and a ton of other tools. Way powerful, and allows you to really accomplish a lot during a meeting.

So... what would happen if the Russian mob got their hands on such a valuable tool? Well, hit fill screen and watch :)

This shoot was so much fun. SO much fun. Cars, Bikini's, Guns, and some great locations. We did production over the course of two days, with a mid sized crew. The editing took a while to get all the fine tuning right, as there was a lot of stuff I wanted to include that we had to trim out for length's sake. But I am seriously siked with the end result!

Crew:
Producers: Ben Tuller, Jesse Tarnoff
Director: Jesse Tarnoff
Executive Producers: Bret Clement, Kyle Peterson
Director of Photography: Vitalie Ungureanu
Screenplay: Zack Keller
Sound Design: Matt Schwartz
Editing/Color Grading: Jesse Tarnoff
1st Assistant Director: Pierce Templeton
Gaffer: Sebastian Burke
Sound Recording: Shaun Goo, Ben Tuller
Production Assistant: Charloette Bueb

"Blonde Hair. Green Eyes."

Caitlin + Ben's "Fly Safe Please"

2011-08-26T00:54:00.000-07:00

Here is another film I created for Sandbox Love. When Caitlin emailed me about the opportunity to film this incredibly emotional moment, I think I did a backflip in my seat. I was like, OMG I HAVE to tell this story. Check it out, and you'll see why.

Shaun and I went out to Virginia Beach to shoot this one, and what a trip it was. The weather was perfect, the locations were impressive (fighter jets!), and Caitlin and Ben were just awesome to kick it with. You can check out the official SBL blog post here: Caitlin + Ben.

So proud of this one.

Sandbox Love Turns Uno!

2011-08-10T08:45:00.000-07:00

So happy to announce that my company, Sandbox Love, has turned 1 year old. It's still a baby, I know. But the more I learn as a business owner and the more experiences we have, the more mature we'll become. I can't wait for another year of amazing memories.

There are a lot of things I will be implementing in the business, such as hiring somebody to run the day to day operations as well as trying to find some more creative filmmakers to join the team. However, we will remain true to what we are... a boutique wedding filmmaking company. Which basically means you're going to see the same amount of attention to detail we've put into all of our films.

And to our fans, thank you so much for encouraging me. Seeing your comments, reading your emails, and seeing the "like" counter go up energizes me every time. So thank you from the bottom of my heart.

With Love,
Jesse

Inception Spoof - Launchsquad Holiday Video

2011-08-08T09:00:00.000-07:00

The hardest we ever work at Launchsquad is during the one week period we have to make a 30 minute holiday film involving everybody in the company. Imagine not sleeping for more than six hours in an entire week. Filming skit, after skit, after skit. It's a ton of fun, but I'm pretty sure we shaved off a couple years of our lives.

During one of those nights, Brett, Nick and I were up all night filming the Video Team's skit. Christine, our Producer and Project Manager has a kid, so she got to go home early :) But check what we did for the Video Team's segment. We rocked it, Inception Style.

This is one of those nights you like to look back on as a filmmaker. Brett, Nick and I were coming up with ideas left and right, figuring it out as we went along. Did we plan ahead of time how we were going to fake the antigravity? No way. And we kept plussing each other. Someone would come up with one thing, and then another person would add something to that, and it just got plussed and plussed until it was this beauty of an inside joke tied into inception.

I still feel sleep deprived from that week. But it was probably one of the best weeks of 2010. So down to do it again.

Dolphin! For Android and more!

2011-07-28T21:43:00.000-07:00

Love this quick little project we shot for Dolphin, Android's most popular browser. This project was really spurred on by the Evernote Peak video that we made at LaunchSquad. However this time, we really wanted to add a little style to our production design. Good choice...

My calves got such a workout shooting this. In order to shoot down on all of our mini sets, we had to get the camera pretty high up. And we definitely don't have a ladder laying around at "the pad". Some I was pretty much standing on the tallest chair we had, on my tippy toes, trying to get everything all set. Definitely made the case for getting an external monitor :)

Love the style. Love the look. And 220,000k views on this video ain't bad. And it's still climbing.

Kathryn and Ryan's Wedding FIlm

2011-07-25T08:18:00.000-07:00

Here is the Signature Film we made for Kathryn and Ryan's beautiful wedding! We shot this in San Francisco and had the whole Sandbox Love team out for it.

Kathryn, as many of you know, is the founder of a fantastic wedding blog called Snippet and Ink. A while back, she saw a video that we made and decided she wanted us to make a film for her wedding.

We got some awesome coverage with this film, including having our film featured on Martha Stewart! And of course, being the big time blogger that Kathryn is, we got some great exposure from Snippet and Ink.

And most importantly, we've made another beautiful film for a beautiful couple. We've captured an incredibly important moment in their lives, and we're so proud to have been a part of it.

Hindsight - 48 Hour Film

2011-07-20T17:49:00.000-07:00

Hey all. So in playing post catch up, I wanted to post a video we did a while back for a 48 Hour Film Project. It was the Go Green version, so we had to do something environmental. Did we? Well, watch and find out. Here are the elements we had to include:

Theme: Saving the Future

Line of Dialogue: When does she arrive?

Prop: Camera

Character: Professor Johnson

So, I'm fairly certain we were disqualified. I don't want to brag but our film looked amazing on the big screen. We loaded it with cool cinematography, awesome music, sound design, and some pretty cool costumes. However, despite being stellar (and arguably the best in these areas) we were awarded nothing except Audience Choice Award Runner Up. But then again, I don't think our film is very environmental.

Still, it was a ton of fun to make. Nick Markham and I did all of the Post Production, with Whitney Ferris helping as a Producer. Our cast also included Kye Mou and a talented Steve Mnich, who nobody knew could act.

While Nick and I were editing, we'd realize we needed to shoot another scene here or another scene there. So we'd get back into costume, head to the location, set up a camera on me and him, and run through the scene. That's why sometimes really amazing cinematography is cut right next to a scene that has zero cuts and runs for a while.

Oh, and if you don't know who the guy at the end of the film is, check out this link: The Nellius Saga.

J. Hilburn in Cancún!

2011-07-18T18:35:00.000-07:00

This was a pretty rad trip that Brett Marty and I got to take. J. Hilburn, a company you guys now know all about, rewards it's top sellers with an annual rewards trip. This year, they headed to The Ritz Carlton in Cancun!

You can see that everything about this trip was a beautiful experience. Lots of fun, beautiful weather, and a chance for the partners to take a break from their lives back home.

Shooting this project was right up my alley. With all of the wedding and event coverage I have done with Sandbox Love, this felt like something that came totally naturally. The goal was to try to capture the feeling of the trip. You know, how were did the partners feel being there? Relaxed, free, positive, and with a hint of reflection. I think that really comes across in the video.

Also, it was a great chance to hang out with some of the folks I have been getting to know who are involved in J. Hilburn. I am continually impressed by the caliber of people in that organization and honestly believe they will soon be a fashion powerhouse. It's just awesome that I've been able to see their business grow into what it is now, and I can't wait to see it progress.

J Hilburn - Experience

2011-07-12T19:02:00.000-07:00

Check out this video we made for one of my favorite clients eva. Since starting work with J. Hilburn, I've pretty much become an evangelist for their products and business. Love everything about my experience with them. Here is a video we made at Launchsquad to promote their custom clothing.

Obviously there is a lot of cool stuff that went into this video. Visual effects, sets, baller cameras, and lots and lots of practice. This was a pretty big production with months of pre-visualization. We had days of auditions to get the right guy, editing and pacing tests, visual effects tests. It's crazy how much pre-production and planning went into this thing.

Here is a video of the behind the scenes for The J. Hilburn Experience. It's mostly behind the scenes of production, rather than of pre-production and post. But it's still pretty cool.

If you want to take a look at one of the previous videos we made for J. Hilburn, check it out.

BACKtotheWOODS - The Society

2011-07-07T14:43:00.000-07:00

Well, this shoot certainly brought be back to where I got most of my filmmaking background. Before I hit film school, and before I even made my high school films, I was a skater. And I made skate videos.

I shot this with my buddy Zack Heffner, a wicked photographer turned into a wicked filmmaker. The shoot was so sick, we went up into the woods and basically built a little makeshift skatepark. The riders you see in the video are sponsored by The Society and so it was cool to do a skate shoot for an actual company, rather than the typical "for my friends" kinda deal.

While we were shooting, I was amazed by how resilient these skaters were. They were taking falls and hopping right back up to try the trick again. I guess I had forgot about the beating my body took 7 years ago.

I love the video. It's got style.

Evernote Peek

2011-07-05T07:43:00.000-07:00

This video is way rad. In the middle of all the crazyness that's been going on, we got word that we needed to make a video for Evernote's new product, Evernote Peak. We had something like 48 hours to put something together for their launch. Take a looksie at one of our most viral vids...

We did the shooting in about 5 hours and then I spent about 2 hours with it in editing. Came out so well. And here is a little secret: all of those hands are my co-workers at Launchsquad (except the kid).

The video took off, getting to about 140,000+ views within 24 hours. Looks like folks just needed a short and sweet, cute and fun, incie wincie little video. AND the product is pretty clever too. Definitely better than the flashcards I used to use back in the day :)

UPDATE: 200k Views! And it looks like the video is going to be a commercial you will be seeing on Hulu :)

Anyclip

2011-06-29T18:02:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, sorry it's been a while since I posted anything. Things have gotten crazy busy with Sandbox Love ramping up, Launchsquad Video ramping up, and a bunch of cool freelance corporate opportunities. But the good news is I have like 20 videos in the "to be blogged" queue.

First Up! Anyclip!

Here is a video Nick and I made at Launchsquad for a company that basically takes the idea of all of the Low Quality versions of real movies on Youtube and makes running across them a non issue. If you search for a scene in Anyclip, that scene actually comes up; in a high quality, fullscreen-able viewer.

As you can see, the video is motion graphics heavy. We've been dabbling more and more in motion graphics and I'm happy to say that we've made some huge progress in what we can achieve. Just wait til you see all the other good stuff coming up!

Jumio goes Viral

2011-03-24T11:32:00.000-07:00

Well it's happened again. Another video we have made at LaunchSquad has spun upward and out of control. And this time, it's something we were intending. We created a video for a company called Jumio who is still in stealth mode about what they actually do. So, the little bit that I know, I can't tell you. But what I can tell you is that Facebook Co-Founder Eduardo Saverin (Yup, the dude from The Social Network) invested a substantial amount in the start-up.

And Jumio being the cool and edgy client that they are wanted to do something that would stir up some conversation around their company. And so here is what we came up with.

The Path to Viral.
When the Huffington Post wrote an article on Jumio's funding from Saverin, they embedded our video into the article. The Huffington post of course gets a ton of reads, and a lot of those readers checked out the video. And what they saw was not what they were expecting from a company that changes the way we handle electronic payments. Most of them viewed the video as a horrific example of scare tactics and propaganda. They accused our expert Sebastian Cole of being a liar and a fear mongerer. The comments shot up on the article, and there was quite a bit of controversy around the video.

We wanted to take it as far as we could, to the point of being over the top. Very few people seemed to get this video was made to be tongue in cheek. When the video went viral, Wade Roush wrote this Xconomy article on the video itself. He even interviewed Nick Markham who played "Sebastian Cole". And Nick definitely held his own both in character and out.

Making It

When making this, I tried to shoot the dollar bills in as menacing a way as possible. That shot of Lincoln sitting there is way creepy. I mean, there's really nothing happy about the dollar bill. I also did a bunch of post grading on Nick's interview to give it that orange and blue look. It was really the first time I had played with that color spectrum. Editing it was pretty easy since the main force comes from the narrators voice and the creepy images. I kept bursting out laughing when I would roll playback.

I love how everything turned out. It's awesome that so many people, even doubters of the technology, know the name Jumio now. And honestly, I still laugh every time we see that baby and hear the thunder clap. "It could kill our children!" People took that seriously? Lawl.

Thrutu - An Awesome App

2011-03-08T14:42:00.000-08:00

I love this video. Nick and I recently made this for one of our clients at LaunchSquad: Thrutu. The application basically lets you use your phone to easily send information while talking on the phone. So if we were chatting and I wanted to send you a picture of where I was, I could easily snap a photo and send it through the phone call. Check it out:

When we brainstormed for the video, we tried to come up with some of the most meaningful and useful ways to use the application, but to also make it meaningful. We shot this over a few days around San Francisco. And if you watch the second half, you'll notice an adorable kitten. That's Clocks, my old roommate's kitten!

Really excited about how we're pushing the production quality higher and higher. More good things to come.

Clairmail Fraud Solution

2011-02-22T09:17:00.000-08:00

I recently had some fraudster put about $350 on my account. It sucked. I knew it wasn't me because I there were two charges at a place called "House of Chicken" which is definitely not me. As you know, I'm more of a cereal guy. So, coincidentally I was working on a video at LaunchSquad for one of their clients, Clairmail. Clairmail works by sending alerts to your phone when they detect fraudulent activity AKA someone tries to spend $100 at "House of Chicken" when you're a cereal kinda guy.

Here is the video:

Nick Markham and I shot and directed the video. It also stars an actor/filmmaker friend of mine, Ben Tuller. I'm really happy with how the video turned out. It's got great production value and is crystal clear about how their company saves folks from losing money to fraud.

A Whole Lotta Savings!

2011-02-03T18:32:00.000-08:00

Brett Marty, Nick Markham and I got to head to Chicago in early November to film a bunch of videos for Savings.com. They were having an event called the Save Up where they invite the most influential people in the "savings and deals" blogosphere and have a little conference. It was held at The James Hotel which was super nice. Like, really really nice.

It was cool getting to meet all of the people behind such a forward thinking company. They're really trying to build a community of money saving experts, and it's pretty cool to see all the backgrounds of their "DealPros." All in all I edited about 30 videos for them from the footage we shot while in Chicago. Wild right? Most of them were interviews with their DealPro's on how to save money during the holidays. But we also did a couple of other videos that were about the conference. Here are some vids for you to check out!

We also shot a bunch of awesome tilt shift footage while we were on the rooftops. Some day I'll edit that stuff together for ya :) And here is us goofing around on the trampoline that was on one of the rooftops while we were timelapsing!

Swanman Travels Live Show

2011-01-20T22:17:00.000-08:00

A while back, Vitalie and I went up to UC Davis for the Whole Earth Festival to film my brother's band, Swanman Travels. Unfortunately, the band isn't around anymore as a few of the band members moved away from home. It's a shame, cuz they have such a wonderful sound and energy. As you're about to seeeee...

It was hard to string together one piece out of their whole performance, since it spanned the entirety of the sun setting. Some shots it's bright out, some shots it's very dark. I tried to take some creative license in in giving the brighter stuff a more of a gold color tone, so that it didn't look like it was meant to be part of the performance, but rather, almost a flashback of the beginning of the show.

I'm hoping these guys get together again and make some more music. Love their album!

Jared and Christy's Wedding Film

2011-01-09T12:28:00.001-08:00

Check this. Seriously. The last part of it combines so many camera trinkets it's like a camera connoisseur's vision of heaven. I'm talking a modified 5D with an ultra-violet sensor, a digital harinezumi, car mounted GoPro hero, handheld time-lapse, tilt shift lens. And WHAT!? This is a wedding video? Damn straight.

This is of course the newest film made for my company, Sandbox Love. It was shot by myself and Vitalie Ungureanu and edited by me. The reason I got to go crazy with all of this camera gear is because Jared himself is a camera junkie. He is an amazing photographer and a great filmmaker. Check out his company, Redtail Media. It was fun to film with him; he kept asking us about our little film trinkets. Like my digital harinezumi, a toy video camera that makes footage look like 8mm film. He and Christy also totally played for the camera. Like doing cute little things when they knew we were shooting, so that we'd get great moments.

Such a fun wedding, and so excited for Jared and Christy who really are perfect for each other. Here is the official Sandbox Love blog post: http://sandboxlove.us/?p=204

MORE
Jared and Christy's Love Story!
Jeffrey Neal's Demo with Jared and Christy!

i365 Cloud Vs. On-Premise Episode 2

2010-12-16T13:07:00.000-08:00

Here is another video we shot for one of our client's at LaunchSquad. You may remember Episode one of Cloud vs. On-Premise.

Brett Marty and I had so much fun making this video. Something about having a giant Cloud costume in the streets of San Francisco makes the vibe of the shoots very low key and fun. We shot a bunch of other fun stuff that didn't make it into the video, but we're hoping to use it in the future.

Editing this film was a difficult, as there were a lot of considerations to make about what each scene said about the company's messaging. We wanted it all to work with the idea that a cloud storage solution mixed with an on-premise solution is the best option. A hybrid.

I'm happy with how it came out. I'm hoping we get a chance to up the ante even more in the next one. I see a lot of potential in putting our characters in some very dramatic situations and locations.

Here it is in action: http://blogs.i365.com/cloud-connected-recovery/backup-brothers-battle-video-part-ii-cloud-vs-on-premise/

Charlie + Morgan's Wedding

2010-11-08T21:54:00.000-08:00

Well, I've been meaning to blog this on my personal filmmaking blog for a while. It's been up on Sandbox Love for a few weeks. But I figured not all of my followers watch my wedding company. So here it is for anybody who hasn't seen it.

Here is the Sandbox Love post for Morgan and Charlie's Wedding. As people at my PR firm like to say, "to add some color to this," Morgan and Charlie's wedding was really a perfect wedding. I cannot tell you how many things about their wedding were right on. I'll try.

First, I LOVED the colors that they picked. That salmony-type pinkish orangish color of the bridesmaid's dresses and the groomsmen's ties was classic and stylish. When I look up at the notes I have pinned on my wall about their wedding, that's exactly what they said they wanted. Well, they got it with those colors.

Second, their families were an pleasure to work with. We showed up very early on the day of the wedding, and I helped Morgan's father set up the rows of benches for the ceremony. Everybody just welcomed us with such warmth, and I think it had something to do with us making the Save The Date video and Love Story for them. Our team had already been incorporated into their wedding, so it was no problem to chill with their families as well.

And third, because Morgan and Charlie are such a young couple, the party was rocking. Hard. Like, rocking REALLY hard. The outtakes that might be included on their DVD are hilarious. It was for sure a fun party.

Also, props to Nick for shooting the wedding with me. As always, killer footage.

Award: The Yesterage

2010-11-01T10:16:00.000-07:00

Well here is an unexpected bit of awesomeness. My film for the San Francisco 48 Hour Film Project, The Yesterage, was recently recognized as a Finalist in the 2010 Image Gazer Film Festival. Saweeet!

Also, I don't think I ever announced the awards that we won from the actual contest. I wish we had some photos from the awards screening. We pulled home 4 awards...

Best Directing
"The Yesterage" by 4QR98 Pass

Best Editing
"The Yesterage" by 4QR98 Pass

Best Choreography
"The Yesterage" by 4QR98 Pass

Best Film Runner-Up
"The Yesterage" by 4QR98 Pass

For us this is awesome. I want to thank my team of 3 other people for their work on this film. Alex Hersler, Ben Tuller, and Nick Markham. I still think that the film we accomplished, in the time that was given to us and with such a small crew, is pretty spectacular. So major props to team 4QR98 Pass! BEWARE: You will most likely be seeing another Nellius movie soon.

Watch The Yesterage Here.

On Top of New York: Towerstream

2010-10-22T11:06:00.000-07:00

Brett Marty and I got to go over to New York for a couple of days to film this for Towerstream, one of LaunchSquad's clients. I was pretty siked when I was told we had unrestricted access to the coolest and tallest buildings in New York. Here's what we came up with!

There are a lot of really cool shots in here of skylines, clouds, and giant towers. There was one night where we were chilling on the top of the LaunchSquad New York office with a six pack, timelapsing footage of the Empire State Building. At the same time, we were doing a "Dolly Timelapse" where at every interval, we pushed the camera forward on our Glidetrack. It was funny, because we were doing this every 30 seconds, and we would sit down in between the intervals. So Marty and I had a lot of short, 25 second conversations: which is perfect for our rapidly declining attentions spans.

Me on top of "The Hub".
Marty on top of the Empire State Building.

Timelapsing sunrise from the top of the Empire State Building might be one of the coolest things I've ever done. We got a ton of beautiful footage for this film. We're excited to go on top of Chicago and Miami next!

J Hilburn - Revolutionizing Men's Clothing

2010-09-29T14:32:00.000-07:00

About a month and a half ago I rolled to Dallas to film for an up and coming men's clothing brand called J. Hilburn. What they do is pretty awesome, and I had a blast getting to know the guys behind the idea. Check out the video, I think it does a good job of explaining how their business model works, and why they are able to offer top of the line custom clothing for less than half the cost.

I shot this with Vitalie Ungureanu, who's quickly becoming my go to shooter. Both days we shot were scorchers, luckily the 7 million dollar mansion we were shooting in was pumped with AC that felt almost as valuable. We used two 5DmkII's, an assortment of lenses, and the 'ol glidetrack. We got tons of good footage, some of which you might see more of. Every interview we shot was just packed with soundbites. It was a very successful shoot.

Going into filming, I knew that I wanted to include some elements that made the video look a little more "magazine-esk." I had a couple of different aesthetic choices in mind, and we ended up going with a merging of the different looks. Nick Markham did the visual effects in the beginning of the video, as pretty much his first dive into After Effects. So excited to see how far we're going to go with motion graphics and visual effects. We've just begun.

Editing this puppy took a while; lots of late nights, chipotle, and scotch. But I think that we definitely got a winner here. I'm very proud of it.

Danielle and Dan's Love Story

2010-09-18T17:32:00.001-07:00

I shot this with Nick Markham a few weeks before Danielle and Dan's wedding. You may remember them from their Engagement Shoot from a while back. Here is the Love Story that we played at their wedding reception.

Dan + Danielle "Later, San Francisco" from Sandbox Love on Vimeo.

This was made for my freshly launched company, Sandbox Love. We went down to San Jose to film with Dan and Danielle and we had a pretty fun time. When Danielle first mentioned that one of her favorite memories of Dan was when they were eating ice cream on the hood of his car, I just HAD to have images of that.

I also did a lot of vintage cinematography for this piece, using my Digital Harinezumi. It's a toy camera that produces an image that looks similar to 8mm film. I'm siked with the vintage effect that I got with it.

I also think it is worth mentioning that my approach to editing this piece was to use the small moments of when Danielle and Dan speak to each other. I love how they speak with little pauses and in a volume that is really just for them. Super cute.

Diapers.com

2010-08-22T22:42:00.001-07:00

Made this for LaunchSquad's client, Quidsi (parent company of Diapers.com and Soap.com) for the press event and launch of Soap.com.

I loved shooting this video. The coolest thing about working with LaunchSquad is that our clients are all so innovative. It wasn't hard to understand why Diapers.com was #34 on the fortune 500. I mean, they legitimately save moms tonsssss of time, which allows them to spend more time enjoying their kids. Diapers.com is brilliant.

Morgan + Charlie's Love Story

2010-08-13T19:03:00.000-07:00

We shot this with Morgan and Charlie two weeks before their wedding. All of their wedding guests attended the rehearsal dinner at The Lodge in Sonoma, and we had the chance to play this film for everybody there. After a very kind introduction by Charlie, I hit play.

When the lights came up, I looked around and saw so many teary eyes. The applause we received was pretty moving, and I didn't really know what to do. It was great though, it definitely set the mood for a touching and fun wedding the following day. Many thanks to Nick and Vitalie, who shot the Love Story with me for Sandbox Love. It's so inspiring to shoot with those guys, since we all see the world in different shots. When it's all added up, it always comes out well.

Defining The Difference

2010-08-10T08:12:00.000-07:00

As my company blog and my personal filmmaking blog start to head off in different directions, I want to define the difference a little bit. Sandbox Love is the company that I have been building for almost a year. On there you will find nothing but wedding related videos. However, on that site I will talk about the couples I get to work with, what I find inspiring about their story, and a little about how the films were made.

On my personal filmmaking blog you will find a lot of videos that aren't related to weddings. It will be videos for the PR firm I work for, films I make with my friends, and any solo cinematography projects I do. I will also post wedding films that I made with Sandbox Love, but in the text I will talk more about how I made those films. More of a behind the scenes if you will.

Allison + Craig Wedding Highlights

2010-08-03T00:32:00.000-07:00

Allison and Craig's wedding was such a fun event. Check it!

This was the video I wanted to launch my wedding film company with. The joy, playfulness, and cinematic opportunity at the wedding was exactly the feel I wanted to base Sandbox Love on. For more about the approach to my company, see below or click here.

Going into the day, Nick, Rob and I planned out how we wanted to do most of the shooting. I rolled around with the glidetrack and wide lenses mostly while Rob "rocked" the 85mm close ups. Nick (quickly earning the nickname "Iron Nick") was using the glidecam to get all of the great sweeping shots. The combination of all of this is a magic combo. We should give it a name.

While we were taking a break and restoring some of our brain's creativity, Cassie and Dan at Los Gatos DJ Company played that first song you heard in the video. I turned to the rest of the team and said, "we're using this."

A huge shout out to Ashley Maxwell and her husband Jason who are incredible photographers, super warm people, and quickly becoming friends. We've shot with them before and can't wait to shoot alongside them again.

Announcing: Sandbox Love!!!

2010-07-26T00:49:00.000-07:00

It's finally here! I've been building towards launching a wedding film company for the past year, and I've finally got everything up and running. Take a look!

I should say a few things about the company. When I first started working in the wedding video industry, I was a little ashamed of what I was doing. Coming from a top film school, I felt like I wasn't owning up to my full potential; that I should be in Hollywood somewhere making real movies. Then something changed. I had a realization that wedding filmmaking, when done my way, is exactly what I want to be doing.

I get to tell meaningful stories again and again. My films aren't just entertainment... they are memories. I make films that matter. It's inspiring to know that each little cut I make in a film will be there, playing on their screens, in twenty years. Sons and daughters of my clients will grow up seeing these movies, catching a glimpse of what their parents were like on the happiest day of their lives. That I get to use my creativity and passion for this purpose, is truly amazing.

Sandbox Love is a company that strives to hit two feelings. The first is Love. But we're not going for Enya style here, we're talkin the fun, playful side. The cute quirks that make couples unique. Weddings are fun, and we want to capture that energy. The second feeling is Nostalgia. We want there to be a degree of reflection in our films. An air of sweetness, and sensitivity. I believe that feeling to be often overlooked in wedding videos, and I want to see what happens if I can capture that emotion.

Above all else, this is what I want to do. I have found my purpose. Sandbox Love.

Soap.com Launches!!!

2010-07-14T16:55:00.000-07:00

It's crazy. Through LaunchSquad I have gotten to work with some amazing companies. Soap.com (Also Diapers.com) is #34 on the Fortune 500 list... and I'm shooting and editing the video for their company launch. I mean, this video is going to be at the front of a huge movement. The Soap.com launch is being dubbed the biggest launch in retail history, and I get to be a major part of it. How lucky am I? Here is the vid:

Soap.com is brilliant. You can bet I will be using their services for my toothpaste, floss, toilet paper, detergent; I mean, anything they HAVE that I NEED, I'll get from them. Wouldn't you?

I shot this with Brett Marty, mostly in New York and New Jersey. The warehouse footage is all from Reno and the kids stuff is from a shoot we did for Diapers.com a while ago. The major challenge in shooting the film was finding cinematic interview backdrops in the new Quidsi (parent company) office. And maybe dealing with the humidity of New York. I'm pretty happy with how this turned out. For a long time, I couldn't formulate a vision for how I wanted to edit the video. Then I found a pace and a vibe that I liked, and it worked out.

Very very very excited to see how this video does! It's been posted on some HUGE outlets, one of which is TechCrunch!

The Yesterage - 48 Hour Film Project

2010-06-29T10:09:00.000-07:00

My buddies and I have been doing this 48 Hour Film Racing thing for a little over a year now, and we love it. Going into it, I always dread the amount of work that is going to be required to meet my standards, because it often comes at the expense of sleep. But at the end of the 48 hours, when my body is numb and teeth are chattering from the absurd amount of caffeine in me, I feel an incredible sense of accomplishment. These weekends are by far the most productive weekends I'll ever have. In the words of Ben Tuller, who is on my team, "These are weekends I will actually remember." Troof.

Here was the assignment for this years SF race.
Genre: Fantasy (Awesome)
Character: GG Cook the Consultant
Prop: A Plate
Line: "You're not going to believe what happened."

So, ya...
I mean, our whole approach to these weekends is about having fun. We. Just. Want. To. Have. Fun. And we definitely do. But you're still probably asking "What in the world was that?" We'll leave that up for interpretation. Of course, one clue might be to watch the video that comes after this one, Nellius 5000 and Zupitron: Ultimate Battle Buddies.

The cool thing about this movie is that we made this entire thing in 48 Hours, WITH 4 PEOPLE! Our actors were our crew. That was it. We're extremely proud of our ability to make fun films look amazing, with the tiny crew that we have.

The only big difference between this online version and the version we turned in is the sound design. It's now properly mixed and I added a bunch of extra sound effects. We had all of the grading and editing done before hand, which is pretty incredible to think that we color graded in a 48 hour film. IMO, definitely worth it.

One question that was asked at the screening was, "How much of this did we prepare ahead of time?" The answer is, none of it. We fortunately had loads of props and locations from films we have made in the past. We shot this on a Canon EOS 7D with a very basic lens kit. Nothing too fancy... (we didn't get to utilize my macro lens). Hope you enjoyed it. I'm really hoping we're in the running for cinematography this year!

Swords, Power Tools, and Beer Definitely Mix

2010-06-29T09:29:00.000-07:00

You guys have no idea how busy things have gotten. Well, maybe you do because you've seen I haven't added any new content to my blog. Well, this week will certainly have content! What have I been working on?

The major thing I have been working on is developing my new Wedding Film brand. It's a project I've been working on for almost a year, and it's finally getting to the launch point. Expect big news within a month, and a bunch of awesome new wedding films!

I've also been doing some commercial work for a candy store at Universal Studios. Very excited to show you what we came up with for them... footage looks legit.

I also made two videos for a huge author you may have heard of, Geneen Roth, who has been on Oprah twice now and has been at the top of the New York Times best seller list for a few months now. I also had some of my footage on Oprah, and had the first credit of the show go to me and Vitalie Ungureanu, who shot the videos with me.

I've also been working hard at my full time gig, LaunchSquad. Brett Marty and I have really pushed the video department far in the last few months. I have a bunch of content I am waiting to release regarding that stuff, just waiting for our clients to release the videos. Marty and I have been to Las Vegas, New York, Washington DC, and almost got to hit up Chicago. We're producing some very solid work, and are gunning to push into the advertising realm with some of our clients!

But for nowwwwwwww. Here are two more short videos I did for Shmaltz Brewing Company! Basically, just introducing the folks who are on the label's of Shmaltz' Coney Island Lager. To see the last video I made for them, and to see the equipment used, check it out here.

SOOO much stuff coming out this week! Stay tuned for the new 4QR98 Pass 48 Hour Film!!!

Diapers.com Fulfillment Center

2010-06-04T13:20:00.000-07:00

This is pretty cool. I'm on a plane back from NYC where I was shooting for one of LaunchSquad's clients, Diapers.com. They just announced their new sister company, Soap.com. It's pretty sweet, it's basically an online store for everyday essentials and it delivers it to 70% of the country the next day, for free.

Here is one of the three videos we made for their launch presentation.

We shot this with Brett Marty up in Reno a few weeks ago. I actually had a lot of fun on that shoot. I got to hop onto one of those robots as it made it's way around the entire factory. At one point I actually got boxed in by 4 other robots loaded with stacks of Diapers boxes.

This video has got a lot of praise so far from media. It was posted to TechCrunch which was a nice outlet for exposure. Check it out here.

Also, major props to Nick Markham for doing a great edit. Stay tuned for the other videos. Very different content but solid films.

-Jesse Tarnoff

Cloud Vs. On Premise Storage

2010-04-27T12:13:00.000-07:00

Can two brothers reconcile their differences and work together in a state of hybrid bliss?

This film was a blast to make. Brett Marty and I produced this for i365, a data storage and protection company. After throwing around a few ideas about our approach, we settled on a fake movie trailer that plays up their relationship in a very dramatic way. Pretty hilarious stuff when combined with the cumbersome costumes. Here is a pic of Brett and I working hard:

To get the big movie feel we shot on a Canon 5DmkII and my Canon 7D with a 50mm 1.4 and a Sigma 10-20mm. I was very impressed with the 5DmkII combined with 50mm. We utilized the 1m Glidetrack both horizontally and vertically, putting as much subtle movement on our shots as we could. The next step was the editing. Lots of quick multishot sequences, fades, and sound design. I've always loved shooting and editing trailers, so editing this felt very natural once we figured out the feel of the piece.

I also wanna give a shout out to Henry Dombey, who recorded our sound and boom op'd. Stay tuned for additions to this video series! And if you like this, tweet it to your friends! Thanks.

-Jesse Tarnoff

Shooting in Las Vegas

2010-04-21T17:00:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I got to fly out to Las Vegas for my job at LaunchSquad. One of our clients is a big deal in the surveillance world, 3VR. What their technology does is wild stuff. Rather than having hours of streaming surveillance video, 3VR categorizes the video data and makes it searchable. For instance, If I wanted to find a green car, all of the segments where a green car pass the camera would come up. It gets crazier. Two words: Facial Recognition.

So here is the video that we made for them. It's not about their technology, but testimonials and their experience at ISC West (International Security Conference).

I shot this with Brett Marty, my partner at LaunchSquad. We were shooting my 7D with a 85mm 1.2, 50mm 1.8, and 10-20mm 4-5.6 Sigma. The interview footage turned out great with all the pretty bokeh in the background. We also shot the Canon Vixia and used that as a second camera and our audio recording device. Que interesante! I really wanted to show off the capability of the DSLR's vs. Camcorders and I believe my point came across quite strongly. We've been authorized to get a full Canon 5DmkII kit. You know my motto: Production Value, Production Value, Production Value.

We went out one night and shot a bunch of Vegas B-Roll. We weren't sure what we were going to use it for, but we wanted to mess with the low light capabilities of the 7D and the 85mm 1.2. The vegas strip was the perfect place.

The second night we were there we did Vegas right. We made a lot of really good decisions and no streaks were broken. Well, maybe.

Neda + Sati's Wedding WEEK Highlights

2010-04-03T12:09:00.000-07:00

You read that right folks. My team and I have been following a week-long wedding event for Neda Rahimian and Sati Hillyer. My, what a week it has been. Take a look, I don't think this could be more epic...

I shot this with Rob Bagot and Nick Markham, an old buddy of mine from my Chapman days. The week began with a Persian Wedding, thrown by the bride's family in Beverly Hills. We had a great time filming with the family and I was very impressed by the beauty of the Persian ceremony. Up there we got a chance to meet Augie Chang, who absolutely rocked a photo shoot on Rodeo Drive.

That night we got to experience the meeting of different cultures. The reception had many elements of a traditional western ceremony, but with the energy and enthusiasm of the Persian and Indian families.

We then headed down to San Diego where it was the Groom's turn to host an event. Most of the guests were booked at the Westin in downtown San Diego, where my team also had the pleasure of staying. Because everybody was staying in the same hotel, both families had a chance to hang out all the time and really open up to each other. I felt like I was the luckiest wedding filmmaker in the world... seeing this occur over the week. What a story to tell!

On the day of the elephant parade, we pretty much choreographed exactly where our cameras would be and when we would reposition. I happened to be grabbing a shot while hoisting my monopod to Sati's level when a photographer snapped this picture of me. It just so happened that the picture made it onto the front page of the San Diego Tribune.

I chose the song because it had a very energized, but also sentimental, mood to it. I felt like, at the end of this week long experience for these families, something of a bittersweet mood would be appropriate.

There is so much to tell you guys about this wedding. I'm stoked to be a part of it. Major props to Jason Dean, the event planner, who really took care of use film guys and made sure we were able to get our shots. Here is an awesome article about the wedding.

-Jesse Tarnoff

Neda + Sati's Love Story

2010-03-29T22:31:00.000-07:00

A few months ago, Robby Bagot and I were commissioned to shoot the ultimate wedding. I mean...the ULTIMATE wedding. Neda and Sati are having a week long event in Southern California where they are flying in a bunch of family from all over the world. The first piece of Neda and Sati's wedding saga was to make a Love Story Film to show at their first wedding reception (they're having two weddings). Here is that love story, we're very proud of it.

Neda and Sati are an amazing couple. I'm actually blogging this from a hotel room in San Diego where I am staying to shoot the rest of their wedding week. They really are as beautiful, happy, and friendly as this film makes them out to be. Even more so. As we continue to work on their wedding film, I will continue to share my experience.

For the Love Story there were three shooters. Myself, Robby Bagot, and Vitalie Ungureanu. We met Neda and Sati in Marin at around 7AM and shot until about 1pm. The weather was absolutely spectacular... perfect for the look that Robby and I were going for. He and I had met a few times prior to the shoot to figure out how we were going to tell their story, and we also did a location scout for all of our locations.

For the camera fanatics who follow my blog, we used a huge assortment of equipment:
2 EOS 5DmkII's (Pre-Firmware)
1 EOS 7D
Canon: 50mm f/1.4 (and 1.8), 85mm f/1.2, 20mm f/2.8, 24-70mm f/2.8, 70-200mm f/2.8
Sigma: 10-20mm f/4-5.6, 105mm f/2.8 macro
Glidetrack, Zacuto Z-Finder, Zacuto Quickdraw, Steadycam Merlin, 501 heads, and my favorite piece of equipment...the Manfratto 561BHDV Monopod.

I'm so excited to be a part of such a wonderful wedding. Above are some shots of our video playing on the screen for an audience of over 400 at the Beverly Hills Wilshire.

-Jesse Tarnoff

A Shmaltz Night Out

2010-03-05T08:43:00.000-08:00

A few nights ago I rolled around San Francisco and shot a video for Shmaltz Brewing Company. Read more about it here. As promised: let the wild rumpus start!

I first got to see Heather Holliday and Donny Vomit in action when we started off the night at Cafe Royale. It was a small crowd, but a very receptive one. We then went over to Church Key, a very small but cozy bar in North Beach. It was a harder space to work in, because of the tight quarters but the people there were very warm and were happy to be a part of the night.

Our third stop was at The Monk's Kettle. This place absolutely loved the performance. What made it even better was that because it was so packed, there was no place for Heather and Donny to perform. So they stood up on a stool behind the bar, drawing everybody's eyes. They even had people standing on the street watching the show through a window.

The last location was a very cool bar called Bender's Bar. This place is awesome. They have pool tables, music, and plenty of seating. The interior was very stylish and edgy, perfect for the video.

Because all of the shooting was done at night in dimly lit bars, it was very hard to get a proper exposure without getting grain. I was excited to see how the 5DmkII and 7D performed in low light, but some of these bars, were sooooooo dim.

Equipment Used:
Canon EOS 5DmkII
Canon EOS 7D
Canon 50mm f/1.8, 20mm f/2.8, 85mm f/1.2
Glidetrack Shooter
Zacuto Z-Finder
Zacuto Rapid Fire

Lessons Learned
1. Monopod FTW - Both Rob Bagot and I were shooting hand held the entire time. It worked for this style of video, but for anything with the "crazy factor" dialed back, better stabilization should be used. Monopods make perfect sense.

2. Need Faster Lenses - For any run and gun night shooting, fast lenses are essential. The f/2.8 wasn't cutting it, especially on the 7d. I had to add a little diffusion to cover up the grain. At some points I cranked that ISO up to 6400. Ouch.

3. Shmaltz Shmaltz Shmaltz - The whole Shmaltz crew is great. A bunch of chill folks who know how to have a good time. Sword Swallower is a fantastic beer. Can't wait to try Human Blockhead.

-Jesse Tarnoff

A Prelude to the Madness

2010-03-03T13:29:00.000-08:00

Last night was wild! I was shooting a promotional video for Shmaltz Brewing Company, the makers of the famous Jewish style beer lineup, He'Brew. They also have a line of beers called the Coney Island Craft Lagers AKA "The Freak Beers." Each beer is named after a performer in the Coney Island Circus Sideshow. So to promote the beer, Schmaltz wanted to go around to different bars in SF with two of the performers and put on a short show for the crowds. Heather Holliday rocked the sword swallowing and Donny Vomit busted out the Human Blockhead. Here are a few snaps I took from the night.

Many thanks to Rob Bagot for coming out and shooting with me on short notice. I'm excited to cut together a teaser for the video. Like I said, last night was wild!

-Jesse Tarnoff

Soaked and Stoked...

2010-03-02T12:21:00.000-08:00

Does anyone even use the word "stoked" anymore? Not that I ever really used it. But it rhymed and fit the feeling. Drenched and excited.

I'm starting to adjust my sleep cycle for my new job. Today is Day 1. And it just happened to coincide with a 7AM Location Scout / B-Roll shoot for a Love Story I am shooting this upcoming weekend. I got together with Robby Bagot, cameraman and advertising extraordinaire, and we headed out to the Marin Headlands to check the lay of the land.

It was pouring rain. Whatever, we didn't mind. We walked all over the place checking out viewpoints, trees, beaches, and old WWII bunkers (my favorite). As we scouted different locations and came up with possible shots, we also broke down the Love Story into three acts. This should be a really fun shoot and a fantastic piece. We have some very cool stuff planned.

Now, back to my sleep cycle. I have a shoot from 7PM to 11:30 tonight. Two shoots on the same day at opposite sides of the clock. Yowzah.

-Jesse Tarnoff

The Reward is in the Smiles.

2010-02-26T17:19:00.000-08:00

Well, today was officially my final day working for Metmedia. Jonathan and I went out for lunch and chilled on some beer as the rain poured outside. We reflected on the last two and a half years, and even talked about the days when I worked there for a summer job, long before that. I started out working at the company printing labels and scanning photos, and have come a long way since then.

I was trying to tally up all of the weddings I have edited while working there. My initial count when looking back at our spreadsheet was over 45, but I know I am missing a bunch from my early summer job years. I'm going to estimate that I edited over 60 weddings while working there. Wedding films never get old. The story of love is a story I don't mind telling again and again. Each couple brings so many different ideas and values to their love, and I find it way inspiring.

A few weeks ago I was approached by LaunchSquad, a PR Firm in San Francisco. After a few meetings and some dialogue, they offered me a position as a video producer, specifically creating video for the web. So I'll be making a switch from doing personal stories to corporate work, but I don't think it's a big switch. LaunchSquad hits PR from a different angle... the storytelling angle. I'm excited to see how I can adapt my experience with personal storytelling to their company.

Lessons Learned from Metmedia
1. The Reward is in the Smile. Sure, working at Metmedia I didn't earn a big paycheck. But I actually looked forward to sitting down at my editing station and putting together work that I was proud of. I regard this as so much more important than my income. The real reward comes in the tears of joy I see when we get to play the films for couples. If I'm smiling and they're smiling, I don't need much else in life.

2. Build your Friend List, Not your Client List. In wedding filmmaking, there is nothing more important than becoming friends with your clients. Jonathan showed me this when he developed great relationships with brides. Not only will it relax them when they are in front of the camera, but the added trust will gain you more creative leeway. And most importantly, it's more fun when we're all buddies, working together to make their wedding day and wedding film great.

3. Energetic Editing. A 4 pack of Redbull might not be enough when editing a Wedding Day Edit or SDE. However, all night editing on location is very very fun.

I just want to thank Jonathan for the years of good times working for Metmedia. I truly appreciate your generosity in allowing me to use your equipment and in helping me grow as a filmmaker and person. Thank you.

-Jesse Tarnoff

The Quality of Light

2010-02-18T00:12:00.001-08:00

A day off? Ha! No thanks... I think I'll spend my President's Day trekking through the beautiful valley's of Nicasio while putting my cine skills to the test. I mean, how could I resist? It was perhaps the most beautiful day of 2010 thus far.

I rolled out of Berkeley at around noon with my trusty 7D kit, my Glidetrack, and a backpack full of Powerbars and Gatorade. I anticipated this being a small day trip. Little did I know, I was in for a long night. But before I elaborate, please check out the video. The mood of the video is very pretty. The rest of my story is not. If your computer can, hit the full screen button on the video (little arrows).

I'm very happy with how the video turned out. I think there are some beautiful shots in there and some beautiful colors. I was a little disappointed with some of the Glidetrack shots because my track was sticking pretty badly. I guess that's what happens when you forget about the open can of Monster energy drink in your backpack pocket and decide to bend over to pick up the Glidetrack thus spilling the neon green fluid all over the rails. Run on sentence? Probably.

So, while shooting in Lucas Valley, I was attempting to shoot some shots for a logo I am working on for my film team. It involved a very ornate sword and a red silk sash. Somehow when I packed up all of my gear I left the beautiful sword on the ground, completely forgetting about it. I realized it was missing when I got to my next location. I figured it was in a remote enough location that I could go back when I finished shooting and recover the blade. Upon returning some hours later, the beautiful sword was gone. Alas, Arandir...thou blade now belongeth to another. Here is the last known image of thy sword, shot with my Digital Harinezumi.

It was dark when I went to go look for the sword, so I had to make a decision. Did I want to spend the next 2.5 hours hanging out in the pitch black wilderness so that I could do a star time-lapse? Of course I did. Well, after about 5 minutes I got pretty bored. Don't ask me where the time went. Exposing each frame for 30 seconds means a lot of sitting.

Weird things started to happen. I saw shadows of hawks/vultures flying 10 feet above me, deciding whether or not to attack such a bored fellow. A teenage couple came venturing out into the darkness to do what teenagers do. I started to hear wolves in the mountains, and other terrifying screaming noises (it wasn't the couple, don't worry.) My fear of lurking mountain lions pushed me back to my car where I grabbed a prop rifle to help me defend my time-lapsing camera. Oh and the only light source I had was my cell phone? And we're not talking about an iPhone here, as I'm sure there's an app for that.

Lessons Learned:
1. Polarizer + Stars = FAIL. I accidentally left my polarizing filter on my lens while shooting the night sky. This directly led to me needing to crank up the ISO more than I needed to, which is why those night shots are either grainy or underexposed.

2. Prepare for the unexpected. Bring a light source, good reading material, and a weapon when taking time lapse footage. Swords don't count.

3. Raptors do not exist in the Nicasio hills. Hyena's might...

-Jesse Tarnoff

What's Ahead

2010-02-16T10:44:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I updated this puppy. Sometimes in this industry you need to hunker down and do some planning. I wish I could be out there shooting all the time, but at some point there is the whole other side: lining up freelance work, writing scripts, drafting proposals, talking with clients, and of course... drooling over new equipment. Aside from freelance projects, which I wont get into right now, I have a couple other side projects.

The first is a nighttime low light test that I am shooting entirely at night with my 7D. It's going to have a few time lapses in it as well as some sweet city bokeh. I really wanna find the optimum settings for shooting in low light environments with my lens kit.

The second is a cinematography video of one of my favorite places on earth, Nicasio. A few years ago, I wrote a treatment and an outline for a feature set in the small town. I worked with a screenwriter/director on pre-production for a few months (I was going to be the DP/Executive Producer) before we decided to put the project on hold to do other things. So I've been building some footage of the small town and it's surroundings, playing with color, and doing a few timelapse shots.

And here is the really inspiring one. Ten. I recently found out about a film festival that is just for trailers of movies that you want to make but don't exist yet. Are you kidding me?! That's possibly my favorite thing to do ever! My high school feature film was made solely because of how much support I got for making a trailer of what it would look like.

I also had 3 trailers for my pre-AOTR film, The Third Stage and a trailer I made while at Chapman for AOTR 2. Ten is probably the best opportunity for me to hit the pinnacle of my love for filmmaking.

I plan to enter between 3 and 5 trailers to Ten. All of which I can assure you will be epic, cinematic, and incredibly fun to make.

-Jesse Tarnoff

Tick. Tock. Timelapse.

2010-02-01T20:28:00.000-08:00

I woke up early Saturday well rested, with no plans for the day. That quickly changed as I hoisted myself onto my elbows and peered through the window. Sun! And... Clouds! In that split second I figured out exactly how I would spend my day.

I hopped into some dirty jeans, checked my car for parking tickets, and set up my 7D for some time lapsing! Now... sitting alone all day could be fun if you're a monk and are 95% of the way to enlightenment, but I'm far from that. To pass the time I recruited some of my brilliant Berkeley housemates to hang out and pass the time.

Here is what I came up with. Oh, and make sure you stay tuned for the last shot. Even Aragorn says it's epic.

All of the timelapse footage was shot on my 7D at various intervals, depending on how fast the clouds were moving. All of the vintage film footage was shot on my Digital Harinezumi, essentially a toy video camera that produces 8mm looking images. I wanted to mix the clean images of the ramped up clouds with the gritty vintage to juxtapose the feel of each camera.

Lesson's Learned
1. IS ≠ :) - Image Stabilization should be disabled if shooting with an IS lens. I figured it would help with minor wind movement. Upon reviewing the footage, since each frame has IS compensation, each one is a little different than the next. This is why there is that weird pan on the campanile. Luckily I only shot with that lens for one shot.
2. Roll the D40 - I also have a Nikon D40 kit that seems to be generating dust. I need to figure out a solid intervalometer for that thing, and then I'll be able to shoot two angles at once.

-Jesse Tarnoff

Super Cute Couple

2010-01-23T17:46:00.000-08:00

I really couldn't resit posting this wedding highlights video. It's a piece I edited for Metmedia last week and it is just way cute. Oh and as a bonus, you get to hear the best pick up line ever used.

Ok say it with me... 1, 2, 3, "Awwwwww!" I know. Adorable. Meredith and John were married at Piedmont Community Church and their reception was at the Claremont Country Club. I picked a playful song because I wanted their sense of humor and easy going attitude to come through. I really enjoyed editing their full wedding and had some fun with time-shifting. 71HUGO!

-Jesse Tarnoff

Cine/Grading Test

2010-01-18T15:16:00.001-08:00

I guess I really am addicted to filmmaking. When I don't have the opportunity to film for a week or two, I feel this slowly building angst that eventually results in me finding an excuse to go out and take some shots. I guess it's because when I'm shooting, it's like a meditation. A chance to be outside of my head and channel all of my focus into one thing. It's very freeing.

Enough of this new age hippie talk! Time for some dark and brooding cinematography inspired by Apocalypse Now. One of my favorite scenes of Apocalypse Now is the scene in the jungle where the tiger jumps out. I love it because of it's color pallet. Notice how extremely GREEN the greens are, and how everything else is a shade of blue. It's got a very cool neonish look that I wanted to replicate.

In doing some preparation for the Staff Blaster Orgins film, I wanted to achieve this look for Jack Shrapnel's opening sequence. Here is my test footage in which I combine in camera color processing with digital color grading.

Now the cinematography style is very different, but looking at the color, I think I did a pretty good job of isolating those greens and making them pop. I'm curious to know about how Vittorio Storaro accomplished this look in Apocalypse Now. I can't imagine he JUST used tungsten film outdoors. As far as this being a test video, here is what I learned.

Lessons Learned
1. Don't Shoot the Sky - The sky is impossible to get colored right. If shooting a jungle scene, avoid shooting anything upwards.
2. Expose properly instead of trying to crush the blacks in camera. Also, do not use highlight bias setting when shooting in a darkened environment such as a forest.
3. Bring more than one Powerbar when carrying a tripod, glidetrack, and camera kit through a forest. All that lifting = hungry tummies.

-Jesse Tarnoff

2009 Ava Awards

2010-01-11T10:56:00.000-08:00

The results are back from the Ava Awards and apparently they like fusion! Metmedia submitted two projects that I edited to the judges. The first project was Laura and Scott's wedding which was a full length wedding film that was edited completely in fusion style. This film won the Ava Platinum Award, the highest honor in the Weddings and Events Category. I've always been very proud of my work on that film. The clips online show some of the quality, but the film in it's entirety is a very well produced piece. Here are some of the clips from that...

Earlier this year we also took home a Videographer Awards 2009 "Award of Distinction" for my fusion editing in Laura and Scott. I don't think I ever blogged about it.

We also received an Ava Gold award for the Yosemite Love Story I edited for Christy and Jared. While it's not a platinum, I am still proud of the achievement and speaks to the power of fusion style editing.

2010 should be a good year for some more awards. With the new DSLR setup, I think there are some very good projects on the horizon. It's about time I gunned for Weva Gold.

Morgan + Charlie Save the Date

2010-01-03T01:29:00.000-08:00

Morgan + Charlie from Jesse Tarnoff on Vimeo.

Morgan and Charlie's story is really quite amazing. The two of them first met in elementary school, and have grown up together. I'm talking elementary school, middle school, high school, and yes... college. When I talked to them about their relationship, they emphasized the idea that no matter what's going on, there is always something that is pulling them back together.

When we were shooting their Save the Date, we talked about TV shows that we both liked. I was happy to hear that they both really liked Friday Night Lights, a show with a style I love. When I started editing, my goal was to give it the same kind of vibe as the tv show.

We were also EXTREMELY lucky with the weather. The forecast was rain ALL week. On the drive up, I was absolutely astonished at how beautiful the day was. It was a sunny day with extremely defined patches of clouds; very crisp. It really could not have been better.

By request: here is the gear I used. Canon EOS 7d with a canon 50mm f/1.8, Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 with a polarizer. I'm pretty sure those are the only lenses I used. I also used my Glidetrack SD 1m and a 501 Fluid Head. For audio I used a Rode Videomic. In my opinion, the production value comes from the Glidetrack and the polarizer on my wide lens. Color grading was done in Magic Bullet, making good use of gradient exposures.

-Jesse Tarnoff

"Compass Rose" Sea Ranch, CA

2009-12-30T17:11:00.001-08:00

Compass Rose from Jesse Tarnoff on Vimeo.

Here is a video I shot and edited showing off one of the crown jewels of Sea Ranch architecture. I made this for Ramshead Realty, the main company that rents out vacation homes in the area.

The house was incredible. It had two guest bedrooms, a bathroom, and a cool loft/lounge area in the lower wing of the house. Then as you climb the stairs it opens up into a beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean. The main room is extremely spacious and is raised above the ground so that you can see the waves below the bluff. And where better to put a hot tub than on the deck overlooking the ocean? Oh and this wasn't a sketchy hot tub, it went up to 106!

Then as the house winds back to the ground, you cross through my favorite room of the house which I have named the "Inspiration Room." It's a room with one huge chair in the middle of it that faces a massive window. The room is surrounded by bookshelves; though, most of the shelves are empty. Below that is the master bedroom, which is essentially it's own wing of the house.

It was hard finding the feeling that I wanted to convey in this video. I decided on going for a relaxed and inspired tone; one that invokes some nostalgia within me and I am hoping in others. I wish I had been there on a sunny day, I think it would have added to the upbeat mood of the piece. Nonetheless, it was a pleasure filming in such a wonderful work of art, and taking night time hot tubs.

Celeste & Anwar Proposal

2009-12-29T14:17:00.000-08:00

Anwar Proposes to Celeste from MetMedia Video on Vimeo.

Here is a special piece I edited for Metmedia. We've been talking about doing proposals for a while now and this was the company's first opportunity to do it. We created this piece in collaboration with Vince Tarry Studios, a company whose photography I love. Jeff (remember the J's?) from VTP was there with Jonathan to capture this enormous moment in Celeste and Anwar's relationship.

Both Jonathan and Jeff sat at a table near where the proposal would be. They hid their camera's under jackets or peaking out of camera bags. Anwar was also mic'd with a wireless lav so that we could hear some of the most important words of his life. After the proposal the couple went around Union Square to shoot some engagement photos with Jeff. They will be getting married in Hawaii where Celeste is from.

In editing this fusion piece I was dying to edit a fast paced video. However, since I only had one camera worth of video, I didn't have enough footage to do fast cross cutting. The song is one that Anwar suggested we use, and since we really want this video to be about the moment he planned for months, I figured it was appropriate to use it. I did only a little bit of color grading to the video. I didn't want to over stylize the moment and I wanted to keep the footage close to the reality of the moment, since it is something they will likely be showing their children and grand children.

-Jesse Tarnoff

Sea Ranch Cinematography

2009-12-22T00:40:00.000-08:00

Sea Ranch, CA from Jesse Tarnoff on Vimeo.

Sea Ranch is a residential development on a bluff right above the ocean. However, it's not just an ordinary housing development. The houses here are architecturally designed in a beautiful and very peaceful way. Most houses seem to rise out of the ground like small hills; and, with their color requirements they are well camouflaged among the high grass and windswept trees.

I was expecting bad weather, but the sun broke through for a few hours on my first day there. I grabbed my camera and started shooting. I then noticed an Egret nearby and tried to sneak close to it. However, whenever I got close it would fly another fifty yards from me and wait for me to try to sneak up again. Stubborn bird... I could have made you a star. I guess that's why I need to invest in a telephoto.

Most of the other footage I shot in the daily Sea Ranch mist or in the gentle rain. Thanks to the 7D's incredible weatherproofing, I wasn't worried about having a camera malfunction. I did have to do a lot of lens cleaning, but it wasn't too much trouble.

The film is laid out to take the viewer from the sunlight, to the overcast skies, to the rainfall, and finally to shelter. "Gandalf's Hat" is a small non-denomination chapel on the bluff. It's always been a dream of mine to shoot it. Now I just need to shoot it in the sunlight and I will be very happy.

I really wanted to create a meditative mood for the film. Sea Ranch to me is a place where I can get away from my daily life, draw inspiration, and focus on my passions. I wrote my first 35 minute film The Third Stage while I was at Sea Ranch as well as my high school feature film The Age of the Ruash. For the video, I wanted it to really sooth the mind. I figured acoustic guitar is always a catalyst when it comes to chillin out.

Equipment Used:
Canon EOS 7D
Zacuto Z-Finder
Glidetrack SD 1m

I hope you enjoy the video! Check back soon for a video I created for Rams Head Reality, a Sea Ranch real estate company.

"Rain Delay" Tilt Shift

2009-12-17T00:26:00.000-08:00

Rain Delay from Jesse Tarnoff on Vimeo.

Nikon just closed it's online digital filmmaking contest and we got our film in a few hours before the deadline. The prompt was to make a film about "a day in the life." We had a few ideas, but decided we would take the opportunity to experiment with tilt shift photography. The idea behind video tilt shifting is to make objects appear like miniatures. This is done by immitating the depth of field of a macro shot on an object that is life size. When the brain accounts for the different depths, it assumes that what you are looking at is very small.

In order to get the look of a miniature, we also had to make the motion look more like stop motion footage. To give it this look I put a strobe on the footage and ramped it up pretty fast. This gives it the feel of it being animated, like someone playing with little toy people and cars.

The Waldo idea was to throw another element into the tilt shift mix. We know that the story isn't complex, or even a story at all. However, we took the chance to make more of an experimental type film that is more art than storytelling.

On this shoot I got to work with Nathan Visconti, a filmmaker from Berkeley, as well as a long time friend Cameron Clark who did the composting on the one shot of the book with the footage moving inside of it. I also made some other new friends in the Berkeley filmmaking crowd which is always, always, always a fun crew to shoot with.

You can see the submission to Nikon here.

First Impressions of the 7D!

2009-11-30T00:04:00.000-08:00

Well, I did it. I made the jump to DSLR's. It's about time. The first I even heard of DSLR's was probably just six months ago, which is way too late considering my good friend Sebastian Burke and I consider ourselves pretty up to date with current camera technology. Somehow we overlooked the whole DSLR wave; and boy were we missing out.

For those who read my blog and aren't involved in the filmmaking industry... A DSLR is essentially a camera. However, recently Canon, Nikon and Panasonic have added into some of their cameras the ability to shoot HD video through their still cameras. Now, the still images the camera produces are still vastly superior to a still from the HD video; but, with a DSLR I can now use beautiful 35mm film lenses. There were adapters for video cameras that existed before these particular DSLR's but they were expensive and when combined with lenses and a video camera, quite cumbersome.
I've been using video cameras/camcorders to shoot every moving image I have ever shot. I'm used to having motorized zoom, real time auto-focusing, and decent quality built in sound. Needless to say this is quite a switch. Here is the first test video I have shot with the 7d. My kit list is at the bottom.

Thanksgiving 7D Camera Test from Jesse Tarnoff on Vimeo.

Here are my first impressions.

The Good
35mm Lenses - I can now use lenses that give me beautiful bokeh without having to back up 10 miles away from my subject and zoom in. Plus, with the added bonus of my Macro lens, I am able to achieve close ups of incredible detail.

Low Light Shooting - By adding ISO to the function of my camera, I have one more variable that changes how my camera takes in light. ISO in reference to film is how sensitive the film stock is to light. A higher ISO means it's more sensitive to light. As far as how good the 7D is in low light, consider this. I would normally shoot an outdoor daylight scene at around 200 ISO. With the 7D I can go all the way up to 6400 ISO. Now this isn't night vision of course and there is plenty of film grain when dealing with 2000+ ISO. However, being able to shoot with very little light on my subject is going to be a major plus.

Weight - Being a DSLR, it is incredibly light, even with my heaviest lens mounted.

The Bad
Image Stabilization - coming from years and years of experience with built in optical stabilization, making this switch is hard. I only have one lens with stabilization and a problem with it is that I can hear the motor running in the lens. Not only that, the stabilizing isn't up to par with what I have seen on the Sony Z7U or HVX200. For the most part, hand held without any kind of support system is almost not usable. I will be looking into a Zacuto gunstock and a very good monopod when I can free up the funds.

Focus - Not having a follow focus is a problem. That is also on my list of upcoming investments. I was having trouble because I'm not usually an auto focus guy, especially with these DSLRs. But when I switch into manual, I had problems judging where the focus ring was on my lenses. Of course, with time this problem will go away as I will become more familiar with my equipment. The Zacuto Z-Finder that is on it's way should also help with my snap focusing because I will be able to tell what I have in focus and what isn't with a little more ease.

General Thoughts
I love it. I am so excited. I've recommended to both my friend Sebastian Burke and Ben Tuller to sell their HVX/HPX kits and invest in a DSLR. On the other hand, I think that the HVX teamed with a 7D or 5DmkII would be a great team. Feeding audio into the HVX using the XLR inputs while shooting a wide shot teamed with a 7d CU or medium really could be perfect.

My upcoming investments to my kit are going to be an intervalometer for the 7d, a monopod, a Glidecam 4000HD, and a 77mm polarizing filter. After that I'll be adding to my glass kit.

Here is what my new camera kit consists of:

Camera: Canon 7d
Lenses: Canon 24-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS
Sigma 105mm f/ Macro
Canon 52mm f/1.8
Sigma 10-20mm
Support: Bogen Tripod, 501 Fluid Head
1 meter Glidetrack SD (to be reviewed)
Misc: Zacuto Z-Finder (to be reviewed)

I also added in a few 32gb Compact Flash cards, extra batteries, and the AC adaptor (over priced).

Staff Blaster

2009-11-24T21:04:00.000-08:00

If you prefer to think of me as a classy guy, do not watch this video.
If you prefer to think of me as a wedding filmmaker, do not watch this video.
If you prefer to think of me as a normal human being, do not watch this video.

Still curious? If you would like to think of me as a crazy kid who loves making movies, then hit play...

Staff Blaster from Jesse Tarnoff on Vimeo.

So... what IS this? Well, it began as a 100 hour film race. We got the prompt on Thursday night at 5pm. Ben and Liza came over to do some brainstorming and we decided we'd take it easy and brainstorm Friday and write later that night. Well Friday night my good friend Terren was back in town and we had a night out at the bars.

At the bar we toyed around with doing an over the top action movie. The next day, we got together, hydrated, and decided that we'd just make a movie as we went along. We piled a bunch of guns, costumes, and camera equipment into the back of our cars and headed out to film.

Saturday night was a drag. After getting most of our shooting done, I imported the footage and took a look. You can't imagine how terrible and how bad this footage looked. Not only that, we didn't even have a story.

Then I brought the movie into the editing room. It started to pick up steam when I paced it out. It started to come together even more when I did some coloring samples. I spent hours cutting, tweaking, searching through footage, timing music, adding sound effects, and laughing at the ridiculous movie before me.

We showed the movie to the crew Monday night. We were all pleasantly surprised at the final product. I mean, if there has ever been a case of turning garbage into anything more, this is it. Don't get me wrong, I know this movie is still a piece of, well... whatever it is. But damn it's perfect.

Also, this was the most fun I've had filming a movie. Possibly ever.

Yosemite Love Story

2009-11-11T20:50:00.000-08:00

At last! After a week of exporting, compressing and uploading... Jared and Christy's Love Story is finally online. Take a look here...

Jared + Christy Love Story from MetMedia Video on Vimeo.

To edit it, I went for a very composed and thoughtful feel. To achieve this I tried to only use soundbites where Jared or Christy had a special conviction in their voice, aside from all the funny bits. I then put in a music track that also had a very cool and collected feel to it, with different movements that builds and builds into an explosion of feeling.

When I talked to Jared about the piece, he told me he wanted Christy to get the last word in all of their playful bantering. This speaks to Jared's character so well in that as cool as he is, he wants Christy to shine even brighter. I also used mostly video elements rather than pack it with photos because I wanted to have movement that progressed forward.

Again, I need to credit Jeffrey Neal from JNP Studios for his fantastic photo work. I'd also like to thank Jared and Christy for the fantastic opportunity to make a special piece that really hits the type of film I am most passionate about. Please leave any comments you have. Thanks!

Jeffrey Neal Photography Demo

2009-11-04T16:42:00.001-08:00

Well. The first video of the Yosemite engagement shoot is here! This is a video I made for Jeffrey Neal of JNP Studios. Enjoy it. My approach to editing it is below.

Jeffrey Neal Yosemite Shoot / Demo from MetMedia Video on Vimeo.

In editing the video, I asked Jeffrey what kind of vibe he wanted the viewer to leave with. I had two ideas in mind. The first mood would be an excited, upbeat, energetic call to action. The second treatment would be more inspiring, airy, and insightful, leaving the viewer with a pensive/hopeful mindset.

Of course, Jeffrey wanted to do a mix. I actually secretly wanted to do a mix also, so I was ready for it. To create the inspired mood I picked a song that felt "cool" with some electronic elements. I then paced it out so that the video builds momentum in an energetic way. Using fast cuts and flashy transitions, I wanted to give it a modern feel. Jeffrey is a very hip, modern guy so getting this across in the video was essential.

The video is about how he runs his shoots. How does Jeffrey act on location? How does he interact with his clients? As you can see, he does everything in a fun way which makes for better photographs.

Stay tuned for the cut I created for Jared and Christy!

The Creative Circle

2009-11-02T10:24:00.000-08:00

In the crazy intertwined world of wedding photographers and filmmakers, everybody knows everybody. For instance, Jonathan Metcalf of Metmedia went down to LA this last summer to shoot the union of Scott and Laura Holmes. Photographing this beautiful event was Jeffrey Neal of JNP Studios. Jonathan and Jeffrey (why do all the creative people I know have names that start with J?) developed a great relationship while on the shoot.

So, when Jeffrey said he was going to shoot an engagement session up in Yosemite, I urged Jonathan to accompany Jeffrey. A few days before the shoot, I found out that my friend Jared Cotton (again with the J's) is the groom in the engaged couple. I knew Jared from back at Chapman when we used to work on film sets together and hang in the same crowd. So when I found this out, I was amped. Time to edit a kickass piece for Jeffrey and a killer love story for Jared.

Another cool thing is that Jared himself is a stellar photographer. Back in college, I used to shake my head in amazement whenever I saw his work. He had an incredible ability to see interesting angles in ordinary things. There was one shot I remember vividly of an A shaped rooftop. I'll try to link it below.

And on top of that Jared runs a Redtail Media in LA that does video and photography. So as you can see, the world of creative professionals is wrapped around and around. I wouldn't have it any other way.

So here is a nostalgic shout out to the early days of college. Carl Lammi, Alex Rock, Brandon Ballard, Pierce Templeton, Adam Hein, Nick Markham and Jared Cotton. The dream team that never took full form; but kicked ass anyway.

ReFrame ReView

2009-10-25T21:38:00.000-07:00

Well, a couple days have gone by since the wedding filmmaking conference has ended. I'm still very much feeding off of the excitement that the week gave me. I met some fantastic people there who are all as energized as I am.

Let's just say I learned a massive amount about the wedding film industry. The most notable seminars besides Kevin Shahanian and Jasmine Star, who I blogged about previously, were those of Joe Simon, Jason Magbanua, David Robin, and Oleg Kalyan.

Joe Simon is a very inspirational filmmaker. He was kind enough to show us how he breaks down his shoots, down to the detail of using tape on the floor to set marks for the toasts. He's also quite young, and completely on top of his game. This really motivated me to start diving into the wedding film industry and get myself out there.

Jason Magbanua, a top end Philipino wedding film director, shared with us his strategies for his wedding films and same day edits. But more importantly, he showed us his passion for what he does. He shared a story with us in which a typhoon hit the Philippines and he and his crew still went out to the wedding. In fact, he then used the news footage from the typhoon as a way to frame the day. The resulting video was an amazing blend of a reminder of the destruction mixed with the dream of the couple's love. His passion is something I admire and I will continue to look to him for inspiration.

David Robin is probably one of the most respected pros in the industry. He has been making wedding films for over twenty five years as well as doing amazing 3D photo montages. He shared with us a list of twenty five things he has learned over the twenty five years. Every single one of them was insightful. They ranged from creative ideas to business management. It was a pleasure to learn from such an experienced pro.

And I thought I was a good editor... How about Oleg Kalyan, one of the most incredible wedding filmmakers I have ever met. The way he cuts his films together is a work of beauty. The Russian filmmaker showed one of the first weddings he ever edited. It was all in slow motion, over diffused, over saturated, and looked basically awful. Of course that was 10 years ago. He then showed us his recent work, and my mind was blown. His style is amazing. He uses a combination of fast cuts, ramped up footage, and sound design to create a monster of a video. Just today I was editing and referred to some of Oleg's work for inspiration. My goodness he is good.

My final thoughts on Re:Frame. The conference was incredible. The people I met, the videos I saw, the closeness of the community all inspired me so much. However, I was disappointed by one thing. As a local, I opted to not stay in the hotel and commute to the conference. Early in the week I realized that most of the bonding between the top pro's and some of the attendees was happening at night, at the hotel or on the streets of San Francisco. When I attend the next conference, I will absolutely book a hotel room, have a canon 5d Mk II, and spend more time mingling with those who I admire so greatly.

One more note: I need to thank my boss Jonathan Metcalf and MetMedia for giving me the opportunity to attend ReFrame. It was a pleasure to represent MetMedia.

Re:Frame Collective - Day 1

2009-10-19T19:20:00.000-07:00

Re:Frame San Francisco Day One Highlights from Scott Karlins on Vimeo.

Well seeing as how I only got about ten hours of sleep this last weekend, I'm a little bit tired coming out of the first day of Re:Frame. However, my fatigue has had no impact on how inspired I am.

Today I met so many great people who share the same passion as I do. Going into Re:Frame, I was a little worried about the atmosphere being a little competitive. I thought that people would be trying to top each other, bragging about their work, and concealing their struggles. This was not the case at all. I found that every single person I met was not only extremely humble, but also highly accessible.

The first seminar was by Kevin Shahinian and was centered on the idea of using filmmaking storytelling in weddings. Rather than the standard documentation of a wedding day, we need to approach it as if we are showing a story. When we look at it like that, we start to create a more inspired and moving piece. So the first lesson I learned is that from here on out we are making wedding films.

To make a wedding film, we need to make it look like we control in environment we are shooting in. It needs to look like our shots are pre-planned, and almost as if we have taken multiple takes. The difficulty is that we are shooting a wedding and we only get one chance at each moment.

Overall, Kevin really inspired me with his talk. He reminded me that I want to show a couples story. I want to show their love. It's not about capturing a moment forever, it's about capturing a feeling forever. I feel like I am very capable of doing this, as I was one of the only people in the room who has a film school background.

The next speaker was Jasmine Star, the blog master. She is probably the most accomplished blogger in the wedding industry. She told us about her approach to booking clients and how to create an online image that really sells "You."

I've known how important blogging is. I, of course, started mine a few months ago as a result of seeing the impact it has had on the industry. She had some very interesting ideas on how to best have an online presence. Also, as we were in the middle of the seminar, I signed up for my twitter account! I'm not a huge fan of the name and the whole "tweet" thing. But the truth is it's worth it. Anything us professionals can do to have more of an online presence is time well spent. My twitter is here! Help me get started!

The last part of the day was an elective. I chose the elective that centered on Wedding Concept Videos. The speaker was Lloyd Calomay, an accomplished wedding concept filmmaker. His idea was new to me. He does spoofs of real movies, re-enacted with the bride, groom, and their family and friends. Exciting! The films themselves looked a little under produced, but the writing was great. I feel like if I were to try the same thing, my films would have more production value but would probably lack in the writing. It looks like a fun idea and I would love to try it out soon.

Well, I am tired. I will be bringing my camera tomorrow so I can share with all of you what it looks like to hang out with the best. The first day was fantastic, and I am excited to meet more Re:Framers and learn more about our industry!

Re:Frame Collective

2009-10-19T13:34:00.000-07:00

I'm here in San Francisco at the Re:Frame Collective, a week long conference with the best wedding filmmakers in the world. We're gathering to collaborate with others and talk about Marketing, Production, Workflow and basically everything else regarding video.

Some of the top industry pros we are hearing from are Jasmine Star, Phillip Bloom, and Kevin Shaninian, people whose work I admire and whose strategies I admire more.

I will be blogging each night; reflecting on people I have met, what I've learned, and what my ideas are for what's to come. Stay tuned for photos, video, and all the other good stuff. What an exciting week!

48 Hour Film Awards!!!

2009-10-13T20:53:00.000-07:00

The film we submitted for the San Jose 48 Hour Film race has won 4 awards!!! Our film, Nellius 5000 & Zupitron: Ultimate Battle Buddies was shown to a large audience at the awards show. The awards we won were:

Producer's Award: Best Overacting
"Nellius 5000 and Zupitron: Ultimate Battle Buddies" by 4QR98 Pass

Best Writing
"Nellius 5000 and Zupitron: Ultimate Battle Buddies" by 4QR98 Pass

Best Choreography
"Nellius 5000 and Zupitron: Ultimate Battle Buddies" by 4QR98 Pass

Runner Up for Best Film
"Nellius 5000 and Zupitron: Ultimate Battle Buddies" by 4QR98 Pass

Here is the link to the 48HFP website where the awards are announced.

Congratulations to our team for the epic 48 hours of epic filmmaking mayhem.

More Fusion!

2009-09-30T15:44:00.000-07:00

Scott + Laura Romantics from MetMedia Video on Vimeo.

Here is another excerpt from Laura and Scott's wedding down in Southern California. The full wedding video has been completed and delivered, but Laura asked me to upload this section so that she could post it on her blog.

Here is what she wrote about her video.
"Thank you so much for all the obvious time, thought, and care you put into making our video so truly wonderful. It far exceeded any expectations we ever had. Your work is amazing!"

Laura and Scott's wedding was not only a beautiful occasion, but it brought together quite a few very talented professionals. Since the wedding, Metmedia and Jeffrey Neal from JNP Studios have been working together and are planning to do a fusion shoot in Yosemite later this month. Design Visage also did a fantastic job with Laura's makeup and hair. She truly looks stunning!

BAPVA Meeting with David Jay

2009-09-22T00:58:00.000-07:00

I just got back from a BAPVA (Bay Area Professional Videographers Association) meeting where we got to hear David Jay speak about the wedding industry and the integration of photography with video. I'd been anticipating this event for a few weeks.

David Jay's been credited as one of the top 15 wedding photographers in the world. Not only does he have a fantastic eye for photos, he's also one of the best industry pros when it comes to marketing his work. He spoke to us about how to use social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter to reach potential brides. I'm excited to see these new insights applied to MetMedia.

He also showed us some of the fusion pieces he made. Some of it was impressive, some of it was not. He outsources all of this video work to another company who shoots and edits it for him. I was glad to see that his fusion work wasn't the best that's out there because it means there is room at the top. I hope to shoot and edit some more fusion very soon, so as to get known in the big kids playground.

I also got a chance to network with some photographers who I am excited to work with. I haven't yet looked at their work but their personalities and openness speaks volumes about the kind of work they do. I could certainly see myself working with these people in the future.

Vince Tarry Fusion

2009-09-06T02:02:00.000-07:00

Kerri + Paul Fusion from MetMedia Video on Vimeo.

Here is a video I shot and edited for Vince Tarry Photography. They'll be using it as a marketing piece and selling a Fusion Video as an add-on to their photography business.

With the advent of the Canon 5d Mark II, Fusion seems to be the next big thing hitting the wedding industry. It allows photographers to collaborate with videographers to offer a sweet product that has a very polished feel to it. I'm very excited to be at the forefront of this movement. I'm also excited to work with so many different photographers. I love being on shoots where I can hang out with other professionals who have a fantastic eye for images. With Fusion, it's not a competition to see who can get the best shot. We're all working together to make the best possible product that we can.

New MetMedia Website!

2009-09-06T01:41:00.000-07:00

After months of work, we finally launched the new MetMedia website. We still have some minor tweaks we want to make to some of the text, but the layout and videos are pretty much all lined up.

We actually did a whole re-branding of the company. Along with the website, we have new business cards, demo kits, and a new confidence in the company. Now that our marketing is up to par, we're look forward to great things.

CHECK OUT THE SITE
www.metmediavideo.com

Wedding Reflections

2009-09-01T22:20:00.001-07:00

Laura + Scott Wedding Reflections from MetMedia Video on Vimeo.

This is the final segment for Laura and Scott's wedding. Laura and Scott came out of their reception to talk with us about the day which was a fantastic opportunity build some emotion for the end of the video. I inter-cut their interviews with highlight footage from the day, as well as photos, to turn it into a nostalgic piece that I'm sure they will remember for a long time.

When we talked to Laura and asked her about music she wanted to use in her wedding, one of the songs was Transatlanticism by Death Cab For Cutie. I've always liked that song, but had never through about putting it into a wedding video.

Laura and Scott's wedding was such a beautiful day. The happiness and love in their eyes was such an inspiration for me. The venue, Rancho Las Lomas,was absolutely stunning. Their photographer, Jeffrey Neal of JNP Studios, was a fantastic photographer to work with. Not only was his eye sharp and creative, but he helped us immensely when creating the Fusion piece by giving us his photos and feedback.

Nellius 5000 (48 Hour Film)

2009-08-31T17:23:00.000-07:00

Nellius from Jesse Tarnoff on Vimeo.

August 14th to 16th was the San Jose 48 Hour Film Race. Some friends and I have done a few of these film races before. Basically, we are given some required elements to put in our film and then have only a short period to make the film. The elements we received this time were:

Genre: Buddy Film
Prop: Piece from a board game
Character: Zack Alexander, Exterminator
Required Line: "Tell me again why this matters."

After stressing out for hours about our story, we decided that we should just have fun with the movie and make something totally over the top and ridiculous. After flushing out the gist of the story, Brian Schlotterbeck and Ben Tuller each wrote separate prologues and then we combined the best parts of both.

Our film was in the finals for the audience award, meaning we were in the top three films for the screening. We are still waiting to see if we will get nominated in other categories. We're hoping for nominations in Costumes, Sound Design, and Editing.

Stephanie + Matt Fusion

2009-08-15T11:01:00.000-07:00

I was in the studio yesterday and realized that I never posted this video. It is the first fusion love story we made at metmedia. I approached this one without a song in mind because I really wanted to get an idea of the couple before creating a look and feel for the piece. After spending some time with them, I got the feeling that they had a real sturdy kind of love. So I wanted to convey that through a timeless song and through light camera moves rather than an action packed 1.5 shot per second video.

Stephanie + Matt Engagement Session from MetMedia Video on Vimeo.

I shot most of the video in this piece. The photography was done by Curtis Myers of Perfect Circle Photography. It's always a pleasure to work with him and his images.

Laura + Scott First Sight

2009-08-13T23:14:00.000-07:00

Laura + Scott Fusion from MetMedia Video on Vimeo.

Here is the first Fusion test I edited with footage from Laura and Scott's wedding. Their wedding was at Rancho Las Lomas, an incredible venue with massive trees, rustic architecture and a stunning ceremony area. Capturing the expression's on their faces as they first saw each other was a priority for MetMedia. We had two camera's rolling on them; and with the editing, I incorporated the photos taken by Jeffrey Neal of JNP Studios.

This is a good example of what Video/Photo fusion can create. Video captures moments as they pass, but the viewer rarely gets to pause and look at a beautiful frame or priceless expression. When I edit photos into the video, the viewer can stop and take in the moment. He or she can look at the subtleties and not worry about missing something else.

In an interview Laura gave as she was getting ready, she revealed that she liked the "vintage" look. I took this and ran with it. I added various film effects to some of the footage to achieve an old, muted 16mm film like feel. I also did some bleach bi-pass processing to give it an old, found footage type feel.

The only negative feedback I have gotten is that the camera shutter sound effect is too loud. I agree, and have since altered it to be less obtrusive. I decided to keep this version up until I had some free time to compress the new version. Enjoy!

A Wedding Introduction

2009-08-03T20:09:00.000-07:00

Michelle + Kevin Preparation from MetMedia Video on Vimeo.

Here is a wedding I edited a few months ago. One thing I really liked about this couple was how energetic and excited they were. Michelle, especially, was glowing the entire day.

The approach I took for editing their wedding was to give them a very hip video with quick cuts, lots of motion, and a contemporary soundtrack. This is just an excerpt of their wedding; the whole video runs about 45 minutes.

Away (48 Hour Film)

2009-06-25T20:35:00.000-07:00

This was our first 48 Hour Film competition. This particular competition was based in San Francisco, where there were another 70 teams competing. We were given a few required elements and then 48 hours to write, shoot, and edit the film.

Required Elements
Genre: Drama
Character: Claude Green, Guitarist
Prop: A Hat
Required Line: "I believe anyone can change."

We had our idea very quickly; however, we spent so many hours grueling over the script that by the time we had to shoot, we had gotten very little sleep and our brains weren't working very quickly. We were also at an extreme disadvantage as we only had a crew of 2, and 2 actors. The thing is, that's all we need. I'm extremely confident in my teams ability to make films with a skeleton crew. In fact, I'd venture to say there aren't many teams that can do what we can with the resources we have.

The screening for our film went very well. It was at the Roxie theater in San Francisco.

A Coin for Courage (24 Hour Film)

2009-05-07T20:55:00.000-07:00

We submitted this film for the San Francisco Film Racing
event of 2009. We were up against something like 14 other films. The theme of our film had to be "Embarrassing" and we had to include a key in the film. We actually couldn't think of anything Friday night and just went to sleep. With 13 hours left we came up with our idea, and had the film done with 30 minutes to spare.

For some reason the judges absolutely hated our film. Perhaps it was the violence, perhaps it was the style. The judging was so unfair that we lost "Best Costumes" to a film where their actors were wearing T shirts and Jeans. Yea.

However, in all fairness, it was our first film race and we learned a couple things. First, we learned that making a pro-war/pro soldier film for a competition in San Francisco isn't the best idea. We were trying to do something different that what everybody else was going to do with the theme "embarrassing." We decided to take it the dramatic route, which nobody else did. We've since decided that we should play to the audiences expectations, and not try to stand out in THAT way.