The year has started out pretty bumpy for Branch Out Media, lots of projects up in the air and lots of new ways to execute them. I'll be investing in Avid Media Composer in the next few weeks so I can offer editing on both major platforms.
I've also been launched into a couple of directing roles, which is really exciting. 'Scrum' is a TV doc following inner city kids from the US to Hong Kong, South Africa and New Zealand. I'll be filming in New Zealand (on a massive bus tour) and editing in the weeks following the shoot. The other project is following Auckland Dubstep musicians 'Mt Eden' (NZ's biggest band in terms of youtube hits - 80,000,000 - and yet relatively unknown in NZ). The boys have a big year ahead, we'll be filming and building a story around their transformation from bedroom virtual superstars to playing live original music alongside the biggest bands in the world at the Ultra and Coachella Music Festivals in the US.
While my main skillset is in editing, I see myself as an all round filmmaker, and it is refreshing to focus on something outside of the edit suite. Both projects are being shot on DSLRs which are my staple at present.
For updates and links visit:
BOM's Facebook PageUntil now Branch Out Media has been a one man band with occasional collaborating visits from other film makers. So in the spirit of "Branching Out" I decided to invite some of my collaborators to come on board and provide a profile for their skills on the site. I'm very excited to have David Green - Musician and Sound Recordist and Johanna Bridgman Camera Operator and lighting expert on board. Their profiles can be found on the people page.
In addition to new people I've invested in some gear for Branch Out Media, to provide a more comprehensive wrap around service. We now provide dual lapel recording which has been really helpful on my last couple of shoots with Ogilvy, not to mention with the arrival of David we can provide Boom recording and H4n multichannel XLR recording. But I'm most excited to now have 2 LED Arrays which are perfect for fast, safe and versatile lighting. Coupled with my trusty flexifill these are going to add a further level of production quality to every shoot.
After reaching the deadline for "a kind of love" I'm focusing on workflows between 3 different editing platforms, FCP7, FCPX and now Avid in order to future proof Branch Out Media. To get to grips with these new editing workflows I'm taking the opportunity to do some, until now, neglected low-pressure (fun) projects.
One project has been a gig video for my brother's band "Eb & Sparrow" a Americana blues band who I filmed a couple of months ago.
This was all edited in Avid Media Composer and after the initial stumbling blocks of the FCP - Avid transition I found Avid worked really well, and had everything I needed to cut quickly and efficiently, even working with AMA linking to Canon H.264 files!
For a basic grade I moved a prores export to FCPX, as I love the colour correction interface in FCPX then exported an H.264 mov straight out, ready for upload.
I've also been using FCPX for my most recent blogs, the second series of "The Creative Adventures of James Brown" which are due for release soon.
We're bearing down on a decent 1st cut of "a kind of love" with Thomas and Sumner Burstyn. Next I'll be switching roles to After Effects artist for a couple of weeks working on some graphic treatments for archive photographs and artworks.
And Branch Out Media has a Facebook Page!
"Maori Boy Genius" will screen on MAORI TELEVISION Saturday November 12 - 830pm and will be repeated Sunday 27 November - 6pm.
... follows Ngaa Rauuira, a teenager from Napier, who, at just 16, attends Yale.
Branch Out Media has been involved in editing and post-production transfers for Pietra Brettkelly's "Maori Boy Genius".
Henry Rollins is a contradiction, the Tough guy with a big heart. And watching this video this morning "Henry Rollins - Man Test" brought together for me a number of issues I've been facing in my recent documentary edits.
For the documentary editor, the way in which you reveal aspects of a subject's personality is instrumental to their character in terms of storytelling...
I believe to thrive in this industry you have to adapt to new and sometimes uncomfortable paradigms. The introduction of FCPX has shaken up the Final Cut community by completely remodelling an editing platform we have built careers upon over the last 10 years.
I'm making the transition as smoothly as possible. Quickly up-skilling myself, on what is essentially a completely new program and using it on short, low risk projects. This has meant I've been able to explore many of the new features that FCPX offers without risking a big project. On those projects I'm discovering that despite a lot of bad press in the beginning FCPX is an excellent editing platform with a bright future. I have become confident enough with it to begin offering it as an alternative platform for new clients, especially those looking for fast turn around, in-program finishing and effects. I have found FCPX really shines in these areas.
I can see a point too where FCPX's metadata management will make it ideal for larger documentary projects. But at present I will be recommending sticking with FCP7 until we see a couple more updates from FCPX and some key features that it's currently lacking.
Cutting a gig video for the Emma G Band
Been working on Thomas Burstyn's "Yolanda's Last Portrait" and Pietra Brettkelly's "Maori Boy Genius" over the last month. Been shooting some more for the Council with Oglivy too. Keeping busy.
Just finished my taxes... late and at 2.30am. Not my forte. But been having a good week shooting for Oglivy with Craig Sinclair and Kirk Torrence. Some good as blokes.
My exhibition is drawing to a close and so is my contract on Brother Number One, as we reach the conclusion of the edit. So what next? Well, this is what's next...
That's right, Branch Out Media has now joined the digital SLR HD video revolution... well, perhaps that's a little grandiose, but I am very excited about it. Coupled with my old Nikon Lenses from high school photography class and a Zoom audio recorder we're all set for on-the-spot primo image and sound.
I am now working full time as primary editor on Brother Number One, which has been full on, a great opportunity and I am learning a great deal from Director Annie Goldson. Meanwhile in another field altogether, my art has been taking some strides forward. Late last year Orex Gallery decided to represent me as a painter and I am having my debut painting exhibition...
... this Saturday 12-3pm. Not only that but early this year I was approached by the US Ambassador to NZ and Samoa about collaborating with a US artist Nathan Huff in curating a show for the Ambassador's residence in Wellington. This has involved working with Nathan, him visiting me here and touring the Auckland galleries and a couple of weeks ago I travelled to LA to check out galleries and art studios over there. It really has been a dream-start to the year.
Still working on Annie Goldson's Brother Number One project and have recently been working again with Oliver Kraft on a short video for essenze and cutting a video for...
... with Director Sinclair Lonsdale, continuing to cut clips for Batucada Sound Machine, and recently cut a promo for the...
It's been busy busy busy, and with Stag dos and Weddings and Barbeques and gigs and general summer bebauchery it's been a right mess, but a fun mess. I'm also trying to get some more paintings together for an exhibition next year March 22nd at Oedipus Rex Gallery. It's all on and hence the website is a little neglected of late.
Branch Out has recently completed its first completely motion graphics project; a promo video for the Random House Sales Conference which can be viewed...
It's ultra-cheesy but I can ultra-cheese with the best of them.. I have also been working with Annie Goldson on her documentary... This month I will be cutting together a video for the incredibly talented ensemble group...After passing the Level One exam, I thought I may as well increase my editing power level as high as possible attending a 3 day advanced editing course and sitting the Level 2 exam on Friday... 95%
Natalie and I returned from our big Europe trip just a few weeks ago. And I've just recently sat my apple certification exam for Final Cut Pro... a program I've been using for over 5 years. After reading almost the entire FCP user manual I passed. So you'll see I've plastered the Apple logo all over the website, just because I can. I will be sitting the advanced certification in about a month, geeking it up big time!
Film work has been on a little hiatus over the last couple of months as I was painting a two and a half metre tall man with a goat head wearing a loin cloth on an autopsy bench... for the Wallace Awards. I'm also filming a series of video blogs for The Learning Connexion following my experience preparing for an exhibition next year. These will be being released soon on The Learning Connexion's...
Half way through the year. Work with Moisture Detection has been ongoing throughout the year, and we have had good feedback from the first video which is proving a great marketting tool for the Step Up Group. For Myspace I have filmed performances and interviews with Die Die Die, Rhys Darby, Boh Runga and recently Smashproof. A highlight has been a project working with director Oliver Kraft and DOP Jan Steffen (who filmed the Human Rights Commission videos) for the South Auckland Poets' Collective. A couple of weeks ago we had the group screening which was really satisfying watching everyone laughing and clapping. I've also begun filming interviews for Random House and seminars for the Market Research Society of New Zealand. Plans for this quarter include working on the new Annie Goldson documentary "Brother Number One".
I am currently trying to upload and embed a new production logo clip (above) to the website frontpage, with some difficulty. Natalie has had some more success with her writing recently being published in Her Magazine, as well as having some really positive feedback from other publishers. Darwin, as anyone who has seen his videos will attest is taking a lot of my attention, and making my once lonely workplace fun. I've also managed, miraculously, to get some photo and extra work through Red Eleven, you can check out my photos on http://prefrontallobotomy.blogspot.com
I just received this in an email and thought it might be interesting. More interesting to me as I have recently bought a house...
This is Darwin - He has come to keep me company at work.
Yesterday we had the first screening for tutors and students at The Learning Connexion, with a good turn out and good response I'm really happy with the re-edit Matty has done with the film. This will now be the version I use to apply to festivals
Branch Out Media has completed editing and post-producing some short videos for The Human Rights Commission. The project was a great success, no mishaps with the HD footage, bring on the next Huge-Definition project!
Natalie and I are also working with a clothing company called Kow Tow on a proposal for a documentary about fair trade cotton
I am currently editing a short documentary about Equal Employment Opportunities with the Human Rights Commission. It's a really exciting project as, although it is a commericial project, it still deals with human rights issues (obviously). I am working with a friend Briar who I attended art school with. The project is Branch Out Media's first project in HD and I'm happy to announce that we are managing to work without any sign of technical difficulties.
I have also posted an ad on the big idea website which has had a great response and put me in contact with a number of talented potential collaborators. This is part of a "Branching Out" philosophy I am employing with Branch Out Media, each day introducing a new person or group to Branch Out Media in order to find untapped markets, collaborators, and other opportunities - so far it is working wonders.
The site is all up and running now, there are a couple of empty spaces on some of the "branches" to be filled but the styling is as of now satisfactory, and all the links work, still some IE bugs (borders and hover commands on 'services' page) A working site. Still more to come though.
Services page is now up and running, with some simple popup graphics, the images are place-markers only to be filled at a later date with production stills
Sorted out some position discrepancies with IE, not yet the "ugly borders" though. So far, pages that are up are Home, Msanii, Contact link, NEWs and videos, if this isn't what you're after look forward to some stylish "dead links" or some butt-ugly unstyled html. Working on the "people" page now.
So this is my first update. Just a test to see how my updates page is working
Later that day... Apologies to any Internet Explorer users, I've just been informed by my wife that the site looks "kinda strange" on her PC at work. Unfortunately I'm running Safari and Firefox on a Mac and this apparently leads to some conflicts, if anyone is seeing an ugly site please feel free to check it out in Firefox (for PC or Mac) to get the real flava. Ironically, this NEWs page is the only one that's not completely messed up for IE users, isn't that convenient?