I was fortunate to be on the set for this television spot for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, in collaboration with Staples Marketing in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The staging of the accident came together unbelievably authentic due to the use of local police, fire and paramedic personnel and vehicles. Additionally, the vehicle used was purchased from a junkyard after being invovled in a similar head on collision. The flashing seat belt light was done in post, along with the ghosting of the actor by Paul Musselman using Adobe After Effects. Editing was done in Final Cut Pro. Directed by Billy Nahn, produced by Tom Kermgard, and filmed by Jerry Emmerich with a JVC HD 200.
This television commercial was one of the first projects I worked on as video editor after joining ProVideo & Film, Inc. after my move to Madison, Wisconsin. Editing was done on an Avid DS Nitris and graphics were done in Adobe After Effects. It was done for Norwich University, located in Northfield, Vermont, in collaboration with Stamats, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Directed by David Haznaw, filmed by Jerry Emmerich and produced by Tom Kermgard. It was shot on a JVC HD 200 with Redrock 35mm lens adapter.
This television commercial won a Gold Addy and the Best of Category in the 2009 Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Addy Awards.
The Bitter Cold Showdown is an annual rollerblading event that I founded in 2001. The event has grown to become the largest event of its kind with an attendance of over 1000 rollerbladers from all over the world in 2009. The 2008 DVD documents all of the highlights from the event, including interviews with the competitors and various attendees. The DVD is distributed internationally and is available at retailers specializing in rollerblading products. Below is the entire 2008 DVD.
Bitter Cold Showdown 2008 Part 1: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download Bitter Cold Showdown 2008 Part 2: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download Bitter Cold Showdown 2008 Part 3: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
This introduction was created for the University of Notre Dame Center for Social Concerns 25th anniversary video. The center’s rich history along with its wide geographic impact is portrayed using photos gathered throughout its history. The process to create the “3D” effect became more of a challenge than initially planned, due to the wide range of motion the photos have across the screen. Large portions of backgrounds had to be recreated in order to allow foreground elements to move across them seamlessly. This allowed for the “3D” effect to become drastic and much more noticeable to the viewer. This introduction was created with Adobe After Effects and Adobe Photoshop.
This television campaign for the South Bend Clinic was shot beautifully on a Panasonic DVX100 with a Redrock 35mm lens adapter giving it the look of film using digital video. I was not brought onto this project until after production was completed and post production began. One challenge in editing the spots was the lens adapter flipped the original footage, and everything had to be viewed upside down before rendering. After editing, color correction was used to enhance the film look and achieve a “big budget” look with a modest local budget. Editing was done in Adobe Premiere Pro.
This advertising campaign won an Award of Distinction in the 2008 international Videographer Awards.
“Blood, Pride & True” is a rollerblading DVD produced for Sixwonsix, Inc. The DVD was created to promote the brand by featuring rollerblading from 6 individuals sponsored by the company. It was filmed during weekends and three weeks of vacation touring with the team across the Midwest & Florida. The project was a dream come true in many ways as I have been rollerblading for 12 years and have admired the company for the majority of that time. Once the project was completed I was fortunate enough to premiere the DVD at a packed 400 seat theater in downtown Columbus, Ohio. The premiere occurred after the 2008 Bitter Cold Showdown. For more information on the process of creating “Blood, Pride & True” be sure to visit the production blog that was updated continually throughout its production. The DVD sold out within 6 months of its release and is now available in it’s entirety online.
The concept and storyboard for this spot was put together by the Notre Dame Media Group not only to promote the University of Notre Dame Softball team but the new stadium they would be playing in. After reviewing the storyboards I became excited about the challenge of mirroring the two images. I brought the project together quickly under a limited budget and time constraints. However, once the shots were pieced together it became clear the desired effect had been achieved. Editing was done in Adobe Premiere Pro.
This advertising campaign won an Honorable Mention in the 2008 international Videographer Awards.
St. Joseph Regional Medical Center needed a video to help get their employees excited about the launch of a new program dubbed “Genesis.” This program utilized a computerized records system that would eventually eliminate the need for paper records. The term “Indiana Joes” was given to me by the client along with the request that the CEO play the lead role. I was fortunate enough to have complete creative freedom in filling in the rest. Once the concepts were approved, steps were taken to transform a hallway into a mysterious and dangerous jungle. In addition, a soon to be outdated records room at the hospital was changed into a murky, paper infested, cave. The video was shown to a large group of SJRMC employees and ended with the CEO entering the room in full costume as “Indiana Joe.” Editing was done in Adobe Premiere Pro and graphics were created with Adobe After Effects.
This corporate video won a Silver Telly in the 28th annual Telly Awards.
Actors from the London Stage is an organization comprised of London actors offering week long courses on Shakespeare at universities across the country. Their mission is to not only make Shakespeare exciting, but also allow it to be available and affordable. My role was to build a graphic introduction for the piece to accompany the opening voice over explaining the organization. Still photos from performances and teaching sessions along with images of Shakespeare were utilized to visually enhance the explanation. This introduction was created with Adobe After Effects and Adobe Photoshop.
The majority of planning for this television campaign was already in place when Gibson Insurance Group came to PentaVision Communications, Inc. The scripts were already written, smaller models of the chair were in use to convey the company’s message to clients and a full scale model of the chair was under construction by an Amish craftsmen. I was immediately drawn to the project because of the special effects that would be required. The goal was to bring the image of insurance buyers losing the legs of their chair and staging a closing tag for each spot featuring the chair in the same position amid a variety of backgrounds. Producing the effect of the disappearing chair legs was deceivingly simple due to the fact that the chair was constructed with removable legs. This allowed the actors to reach under the chair and react to a missing leg while still safely sitting on three others. The disappearance of the remaining legs was accomplished by shooting an empty background plate without the chair once the initial reactions from the actors were obtained. Once both of these elements were shot, masks were used to cut out the legs of the chair and reveal the empty plate underneath. Editing was done in Adobe Premiere Pro and special effects were done with Adobe After Effects.
This advertising campaign won a Platinum Award in the 2007 international Ava Awards.
The Troyer Group, an architecture firm from Mishawaka, Indiana, came to PentaVision Communications, Inc. needing to create video for an interactive CD-ROM they were developing for distribution to prospective clients. I found the project interesting and was given the opportunity to produce the project from start to finish. I began the task of highlighting The Troyer Group’s wide variety of work by focusing on specific case studies within each area of expertise and supplemented this with testimonials from satisfied clients. Additionally, graphics and special effects were used to emphasize the different phases of planning, stages of construction and branding of the company. In the end, the project was successful in utilizing all available resources provided by the client to convey their message and most importantly, do it all on budget. Editing was done in Avid Media Composer and graphics were created with Adobe After Effects.
This corporate video won a Silver Communicator Award in the 14th annual Communicator Awards.
“Vile Affection” was in pretty much every way an experiment. It was created for an advanced Producing and Directing class at Ball State University entitled “Hands Across McKinley” in the summer of 2005. This class incorporated students from disciplines such as Acting, Writing, Video and Audio Production and brought them together to make numerous short films throughout the semester. This project was the only one of the semester shot entirely in HD as the reward for a previous project, “Goodwill,” receiving the highest grade in the class.
“Vile Affection” is based off of a brutally violent script entitled “Playing God” in which the protagonist has a “god-complex” leading him to stalk and in the end kill his victim by crucifying him to a wooden floor. I chose to work with this script because it was drastically different from any of the other selections and posed an entirely new set of challenges for the actors and myself.
The first challenge in the production of “Vile Affection” was to modify the script to make it more appealing to a college aged audience and allow for a greater connection with the main characters. The protagonist remained a confused, disturbed, schizophrenic whose actions eventually lead him to become violent and the “god-complex” was replaced with confusion over his sexual orientation. Whether or not this was all medically sound was irrelevant to the story because it gave the protagonist the needed internal struggle that leads him to become violent not only towards his initial victim but the victim’s girlfriend as well. This helped the story reach its intended audience but also became the next big challenge.
Although the script was modified, the violence was kept along with the addition of another violent scene ending with a sexual assault. We were warned early in the process by professors that film violence should not be taken lightly especially when it involves novice actors and directors. Thus, the proper steps were taken to choreograph the action with the help of a Ball State University professor, Darrel Rushton, who specialized in theater violence. Not only was the physical safety of the actors a high priority but also their mental well-being; especially surrounding the sexual assault. Both Sarah Haworth and Zack Florent were terrific in the planning, choreography and execution of this scene and even more importantly, understanding after the initial footage was taped over and the scene had to be re-shot. Which was completely my own fault.
The third major challenge was taking advantage of the technology that I was able to use for this project. Shooting the entire project in HD on a camera that no one was familiar with was a big challenge and would not have been possible without all of the help from my Director of Photography, Krystal Rizzo. She spent a lot of extra time acquainting herself with the camera so that we had one less thing to worry about while on set. Additionally, we were granted access to a Steadicam for two scenes of the film but no one was able to overcome the steep learning curve to proficiency. So our professor, Tim Pollard, stepped in to help us get exactly what I wanted.
The finished project was premiered to a large group of students along with other selections from the class at the newly constructed Sursa Hall on campus.
“Goodwill” was my first project that I believe still holds value today. It was created for an advanced Producing and Directing class at Ball State University entitled “Hands Across McKinley” in the spring of 2005. This class incorporated students from different disciplines such as Acting, Writing, Video and Audio Production and brought them together to make numerous short films throughout the semester. I was fortunate enough to participate in the first semester that this class was offered.
The majority of the project was shot early on a weekday at a Goodwill store in Muncie, Indiana while it was open to the public. It is amazing what you can get away with when you are producing a student film. Additional scenes were shot at the home of the lead actress (Lana Cook) and throughout the city of Muncie. The original script was meant to be a linear story and this remained the intention until after everything was shot and I began editing. I have always been fascinated with non-linear films and this was the perfect opportunity for such an experiment. In the end, it paid off because it received the highest grade in the class for that round of projects and, as a reward, allowed me to utilize additional resources for my next project; “Vile Affection”.
