Archive for the ‘Live Action’ Category

Outside the Box

Sunday, June 12th, 2011

Outside The Box
(click to play)

Something a little different–a live-action comedy sketch created with Nicole Stamp, starring Hayley Hudson, Ben Hudson, and Danielle Ayow.

format: DV video
software: Final Cut
Toronto, 2008.

Trip Down Market (annotated)

Monday, May 2nd, 2011

The Lawyer and the Dead Man
(click to play)

A realtime recording made with GPS data and popcorn.js, based on the classic “actuality film” shot by Harry Miles in San Francisco, April 1906. Here’s the code used to create this.

format: website
software: popcorn.js, After Effects
Toronto, 2011.

Neighbourhood Watch

Saturday, October 23rd, 2010

Neighbourhood Watch
(click to play)

It’s very rude to stare! Experimenting with my new Canon video DSLR…

format: HD video
software: After Effects, Flash
Toronto, 2010.

Disarmed

Saturday, January 28th, 2006

Disarmed
(click to play)

My cousins used to play this odd little game; they were about five and three years old at the time. The older one would pick up the remote control to the TV, point it at her sister, and say “Turn you off”–she’d obligingly fall to the ground and play dead. Then the remote changed hands, they’d change places, and the game would begin all over again. It was carried out with the solemn gravity of an execution by firing squad.

This short is a grown-up version of the same game, played with a grown-up weapon…

format: DV video
software: Commotion, AfterEffects, Painter, Final Cut, Audition
Pittsburgh, 2002.

Broadcast on CBC TV 2002.

Mother of All Bombs

Wednesday, January 11th, 2006

Mother of All Bombs
(click to play)

I’d seen pictures of it before, but an especially dramatic photograph caught my eye on a magazine cover in the grocery store. It almost looked like another vegetable: a brilliant marigold-orange “fuel-air” bomb, the most powerful non-nuclear weapon on the market.

format: DV video
software: Commotion, AfterEffects, Painter, Final Cut, Audition
Los Angeles, 2003.

Bird’s Eye Bull’s Eye

Wednesday, January 4th, 2006

Bird's Eye Bull's Eye
(click to play)

The painter in this short may think she’s only painting circles on the ground. But from our privileged vantage point, we can see well enough where it’s all going to lead….

format: DV video
software: Commotion, AfterEffects, Painter, Final Cut, Audition
Los Angeles, 2003.

Techniques for Managing Anger

Friday, December 30th, 2005

Techniques for Managing Anger
(click to play)

“Remember, you never need to solve the problem right now.” Apparently, no problem could possibly arise that this handy video self-help pamphlet is unprepared to deal with.

This short, a dance for camera, was created at the Point Park Conservatory in Pittsburgh, choreographed by Doug Bentz.

format: DV video
software: AfterEffects, Final Cut, Audition
Pittsburgh, 2002.

Elegy

Saturday, December 24th, 2005

Elegy
(click to play)

I was in my car, parked, and it was raining. I was under a giant neon sign, a grocery store sign that hadn’t had all its letters lit since I was a kid. The battery in my camera was still good, so I pointed it out the windshield and began taping. It lasted long enough to catch the sky turning dark, and the sign turning to gibberish as its un-lit letters faded away, and a most unusual song playing on the radio. The whole thing felt like a funeral.

format: DV video
software: AfterEffects, Final Cut, Audition, Photoshop
Huntington, West Virginia, 2001.

One New Message

Wednesday, December 21st, 2005

One New Message
(click to play)

The message consisted of nothing but the distant ringing of church bells and a voice that said only “Hello?” before hanging up. It arrived in my voice mail on July 8, 2000. How did it get there?

It must have been entrusted to a tiny electronic messenger, a wayward soul who somehow got lost in the phone system. It’s a short journey, but a very dangerous one, and maybe she didn’t reach her destination in time…

format: DV video
software: AfterEffects, Premiere, Audition, Photoshop
Pittsburgh, 2000.

Manipulations

Monday, December 19th, 2005

Manipulations
(click to play)

If you search for a needle in a haystack for too long, you start to get bored, then tired, then angry. If you get angry enough, you might even throw the whole haystack away, but then you’ve lost the needle forever…

format: DV video
software: AfterEffects, Premiere, Photoshop
Pittsburgh, 1999.