So what's happening..

Well, it's been a couple weeks, I think, that I haven't been updating the blog here. Lots and lots of things are going through my mind, and recently my wife has finally come down from the great white north. Canada. All sorts of personal issues are being addressed at the moment, moving into a new place, working hard on our second Chevrolet spot, and so forth. It's been tough, and there's only less time to do all the things I want to do!

Our first Impala spot aired a week or so ago, and I recently saw it on TV two days ago! It's called Arrival, and showcases the new Impala SS. We were responsible for creating the Impalas (the animals, not the car) and sky background replacements. Unfortunately they really stepped on the colors in post, so what you see in the commercial is actually not what we delivered colorwise! Ah well. This seems to happen on almost every spot or film that gets put out there. The spot is 30 seconds long, with about 14 to 20 visual effects shots in it. Everything goes by so quickly, even though you want to see more of the cool work that we did! Luckily I was recording a TV show at the time, so I have the spot eternally on my PVR. :) Our next several spots are less complex, but still quite fun and interesting. We are working at TV resolution for final output, which is indeed quite different (and faster!) than working for film. Come to think of it, I haven't worked on a film all year! Well, real film, not HD for film (like Sharkboy).

Our Milka commercial will air sometime in Europe starting this month. I have heard a date of September 15th, but again, I am not sure. If you've seen a new Milka commercial over in Europe, let me know! It's the one with the animated fuzzy creatures. We did two, and both are 30 second spots.

There's a small possibility that I will be doing some mentoring and/or lecturing over at the Academy of Art in San Francisco in the future. I'm still talking with one of the instructors there, so we will see how far that progresses. It's been a while since I gave my last lecture/luncheon, which was an impromptu gathering at the Library of Congress earlier this year during the summer months. The LoC has requested that I do another lecture/presentation, which they will be able to give more notice to the rest of the public. I find it extremely fun and gratifying to give some knowledge back to the community from which I came! Especially in front of students that want to know. I had spoken before in front of a group of students in Vancouver at the Bodwell Institute a couple years ago, which was nice, but it was definitely a different crowd. Not a lot of interested students it seemed, and only a couple of questions. It was also my first time speaking in front of a crowd, and was unsure as to their skill level, what exactly I would be talking about, and what I could show of my past work. Regardless, it was a learning experience, and I am eager to do it again. I've also begun the process to become a part of the ATAS Education Committee, where I'm put on a list of available people to be contacted for lecturing and mentoring throug the Academy. All I have to do is finish filling out the paperwork and sending it in, which has taken me the better part of a year to get around to doing!

The Title Design and Special Visual Effects Bake-Off is this Friday, down in LA. It is open to public (I am surprised by this as you are). Unfortunately I don't think I'll be down to vote for my peers this time. It's a bummer. Unlike the VES, which allows voting from around the globe via a secure website, the SVE group hasn't decided to do that. I'm not sure if they want to keep the votes local or what. It's very wierd, because I just finished voting on two separate sections for the Emmys, Outstanding Special and Outstanding Comedy Series.

Lots of things happening, and not a lot of time to document them! I'm planning on doing another Case Study over at VFXTalk for Constantine, so keep checking over there!