Lazy Sunday

Oh but the title does tell all! I started the day by finishing off the research for the interviews I have coming up this week. Did a little food shopping and then decided to relax. It was just so nice outside I decided to go hang by the pool. Then I thought...wait, bring the video camera. At first, I was going to video the dogs (seen in the background in some of the shots) but then decided to put a little something else together. The title is of course stolen from Chris Parnell and Andy Sandberg and, oh yea...I can't rap. Like it or not, here it is...

Finally!

Worked for hours on Friday on what will be my last greenscreen project for a while. When I went to post it on 12seconds.tv, their uploader was down. Kind of frustrating since the topic was focused on where my head was at that day. Anyway, it looks like the uploader is working so we'll see if I can get my latest work to "take".

I was going to tear down the greenscreen yesterday but didn't. I don't know what's stopping me!

Tell Me How You Really Feel

So, I've written before about how Julie thinks I'm nuts with all this video stuff. Well, today I convinced her to help me put my latest creation together. She as totally against it until she saw what the idea was. When you see it, you will understand WHY she agreed to participate!

Enjoy and please share with your friends!!!

Quick and Dirty

Shot some footage on the way to the lake yesterday. These guys (longhorn and buffalo) are sure to appear in a few 12 second movies! I stopped and Sams today with Julie and embarrassed her by bringing in the video camera to shoot the meat. She's convinced I need therapy (me too!). Anyway the video is in the "12 seconds of caracappa" window on the right or, can be seen at www.12seconds.tv/channel/caracappa

Enjoy! Please share with friends and comment...

Creative Block?

I'm stuck! I can't seem to be able to get the creative juices flowing. I've got an idea for a new 12 second film but, it won't come out of my head. I'm going to forget about it for now and see if that helps. Kind of frustrating....

Anyway, have a nice Memorial Day!

Not Easy!

Spent a lot of ours with this latest test. Downloaded demo compositing software and whipped the thing together so I could publish it. Have lots of issues that I need to figure out like why I lost alignment of the two videos when I did the composite. Going to take some time to dig into this further and decide if this inexpensive compositing package will do what I need (I think it will) and then run some further tests. Still need to decide what I'm going to do about a more powerful video editing package but, that will come next.

Oh yea, I still need to find a job! Latest vid is on http://www.12seconds.tv/channel/caracappa

Quick Update

Made a real quick trip to the North East over the weekend. Saw Dom off on his trip to Israel where he will be in a Kibbutz for the next 6 months. He was so excited and I am very happy for him.

I've been trying to get my head around a next project since I left on Friday. I got an idea and went to Toy Joy (what a freaking great toy store) to pick of a few odds and ends. I spent about 4 hours preparing and capturing what I consider a test sequence. I still have tons of clean up to do so I decided to call it quits for the day so I can go work out.

I'm learning just how complicated all of this can be. To realize my ideas, I need more software that I don't already own or even know how to use. Without going into details I'll just say that I may be biting off more than I can chew! We'll see. I'm trying to see if I can "borrow" some software and learn it quick enough to pull this most recent project off. If not, I'm going to have to scale back and rethink the complexity of these projects.

Anyway, it's still fun and it's keeping me out of trouble!

Another 101X Promo

I had this idea stuck in my head and it just had to come out! I took the video camera with me on my way to Krav Maga last night and got a quick shot of a panhandler on the corner of Ben White and Congress. I was able to work some magic and change the sign in the guys hands. I then went back to 101x.com and got the audio of a podcast from a few days ago. Couple of hours later, I was working on the stop motion. Anyway, it's out thankfully! Now I can leave for NY with an uncluttered mind. I'm taking the camera and will shoot some footage in the hopes of coming home with something usable!

www.12seconds.tv/channel/caracappa

Make sure you share with your friends!!!

MorningX promo

So based on a pod cast from the MorningX show I decided to put together a short (and stupid) stop motion promo for Jason and Deb. I'm going to send it off to them to see if they would like to do something a little more "cleaned up". With some audio from them and a few facial expression photos I think I can whip up something cool. I posted the promo on 12 seconds so please view it and comment.

Argh...

Frustrated myself today trying to salvage the last project I put together. Just couldn't get the audio to work right. On the upside, out of the frustration came a new cheeky (as my British friends would say) piece that sums up how I was feeling.

Hopefully I will sleep tonight and wake up refreshed and in a creative mood.

When Good Ideas Go Bad

I don't know. There was a time a few years ago when I'd wake up in the middle of the night with what I thought was a brilliant idea or, something so urgent I couldn't afford to forget it. I'd scramble out of bed to write it down and then struggle to go back to sleep. In the morning I'd wake to find the note I'd written the night before was much closer to stupid than brilliant or, was something completely meaningless.

Since I've started with the 12 Second Movies (or Films as I'm trying to get myself to call them), I have ideas come and go all day long. I try to write most of them down and then play them out in my head to see if they will work. Today, I spent 4 hours working on what seemed like a brilliant idea, until it was done. Being nice, I'd say it was pure crap. I was tempted to post it anyway but, decided against it after watching for the 10th time.

I'm guessing this is a normal part of the process but, wow...talk about frustration. I was going to jump right into another idea and try to knock it out today. I decided against it. There's always tomorrow.

I need to think of ways to promote the viewing of these videos. If anyone who reads this blog has an idea, let me know. I try to let people know to share them so they become viral but, I think I need a little more of a bump. All your thoughts are welcomed!

I also realized today just how limited I am by the software applications I am using. If I'm going to stick with this I will need to invest. I'm not sure if I will go Adobe Premiere Pro and stick with the PC or, go Final Cut Pro and buy a Mac.

Tarantula

This little fellow was meandering across my driveway last night when Julie and I walked outside with the dogs to check out the full moon. Me, being video obsessed, ran and grabbed the camera. Turns out this little guy does not like the paparazzi and must have thought I was from TMZ or something.

I'm going to try and incorporate him into a new stop motion piece today. Not sure how it will work out since the video is a little dark and slightly out of focus. We'll see...

That's it for today!

Phew! That's the last stop motion for today. Time to change gears and try something different. I've got some play-do, some plastic bugs, frogs and lizards and a box of Barnum's Animal Crackers. I'm likely to eat the crackers before the day is out so there's some sort of nature video in my future...

Anyway, hope you enjoy the latest.

Learning Lessons...

Stayed up way to late last night working on the latest stop motion project. Tried to go from the very simple Krav Maga spots I did to something much more complex. Work up this morning and was unhappy with the result. I did however learn many valuable lessons (like take the video camera off auto-focus and use a tripod at all times). I just finished adding some stupid audio that was not what was originally intended but, this is just a test. I'm going to post it shortly so PLEASE GIVE ME SOME FEEDBACK!

I've got some work to do on my green screen and lighting before I try this again. Julie is sure that I have lost my mind....

Stop Motion Update

I'm obsessed! I shot about 6 different stop motion pieces. I just posted a second on 12 Seconds of Caracappa. I want to shoot a lot more but, I have to stop for the day. It's time to go back to job hunting and then on to Krav Maga.

Tomorrow I'm going shopping for action figures, lots of props and a green or blue backdrop! My mind is running wild with ideas....

I wish I could make money with something that is this much fun...

Stop Motion

Spent the weekend completely thoughtless. It was wonderful. Yesterday I struggled to come up with a new idea for a 12 Second Movie. I decided not to stress. This morning, for some unknown reason I got the idea to try playing with stop motion. I've always liked stop motion and really enjoy Robot Chicken. I figured it would be way outside of the time frame I like to devote to these little projects but, what the hell. I had nothing else to do!

I downloaded a software application called Stop Motion Pro v6.5. Simple enough to figure out for the purposes of my testing. I ran up to the local art supply place and picked up a couple of wooden models that I could pose and some black poster board. For subject matter, I decided to use something I know, Krav Maga. I played out a simple defense for choke from the rear. I didn't want to get too detailed till I got a feel for what it was going to take to have it look remotely decent.

I just loaded to first test to 12 Seconds of Caracappa. Please leave comments and let me know what you think!!

Angry Armadillo

Many years ago, on a drunken night in Guadalajara, Mexico, Scott McGill and I purchased taxidermy (what is the past tense of taxidery? is it stuffed?) Armadillos. Anyway, Julie hated me keeping it in the house so it has spent many an hour in whatever office I happened to be working in. Now that I'm working (yea, right) out of my house the Armadillo is back. Today, for the first time since I've owned him (I know it's a he because the guy who did the taxidermy work left on his weenie) I put him to good use.

I spent about 45 minutes on a side street here in South Austin shooting footage for what turned out to be "Revenge of the Armadillo". It was quiet and there was no one around. About 30 minutes in, while I was tossing the Armadillo up in the air a guy of about 40 years old, walked up (scared the crap out of me of course) and asked, "What the hell is that?". He really didn't care what I was doing out in the middle of the street with a tripod and a camcorder, he was only interested in the Armadillo. He asked if he could touch it and at first, picked it up like it might have the swine (or armadillo) flu. After a moment he said, "This is cool!" and started holding it like a baby. I didn't think to shoot footage of him so no, he won't be part of the next installment of "12 Second Movies".

Anyway, it was a fun little experiment to shoot and edit. I'm sure I'll shoot another over the weekend so stay tuned!