Explosion!!! My first dynamics project!

This is my very first 3d visual effects project and I’m so excited to share it with you guys!

I have to say that I have been looking forward to this moment since the day I started school a couple of years ago. One of the main things that come to mind when anyone mentions “Visual Effects” is of course: explosions!! We see them in movies all the time and they are the coolest things! Although in some cases (especially in productions with big budgets) the studios get to actually blow things up on set, I hate to break it to you, but a lot of the explosions that you see out there are fake. Visual effects artists get to create this illusion and it’s quite a bit of fun!

I used dynamics in Maya (rigid bodies and particles) to create this animation. And although it was A LOT of work and at times I felt like my brain was the thing that was going to explode, I feel really proud to have finished it! We’ve been working on these projects for 8 weeks now so I’m excited to be done. I cant wait to get more experience in 3d visual effects! Looking forward to what comes next…

Modeling, texturing, lighting and dynamics done in Autodesk Maya

Compositing done in Adobe After Effects

Roto & Paint

These are a couple of fun little projects I did for my Rotoscoping and Paint class last quarter. Rotoscoping to me is like the video equivalent of using photoshop to alter a photograph. The process is very similar (cutting, pasting and masking) but of course since you are dealing with video instead of stills, things get a little bit more complicated than that. There is a lot of detailed and tedious work involved because in many cases you have to do work in almost every single frame of the video, but you can definitely have some fun with it too! Also, if you have a good technique and you make your work look seamless, your efforts will definitely be appreciated by other people in the industry. Rotoscoping and Paint can be used for so many different things in the film industry, from removing wires, rigs and tracker markers from a set or green screen, removing a person or object from a background, for 2d to 3d conversions, creating clean plates or you can find some other fun and creative uses for it in both visual effects and motion graphics. Take a look!

Lighsabers!

I found this clip on youtube and replaced the girls swords with lightsabers:

Thriller fun!

In this final project, I decided to remove one of the dancers from the background of this video so I could use her silhouette in a fun way and create some motion graphics.

Here is the original video showing the process:

Here is the final output:

Created in Adobe After Effects

Sources videos found on youtube.

Josh & Paige’s Wedding

I’m so honored to have been a part of Josh and Paige’s wedding. Josh is the brother of my really good friend Zack [you may remember him and his wife Jessica from one of my previews posts "Congratulations Zack & Jess".. I did their engagement photos a couple of years ago]. So through Zack, I got the chance to meet Josh and Paige. They are both such chill and genuinely nice people so I was very excited that they asked me to take pictures at their wedding! I have to say that everything was truly magical on their special day and it was a REAL intimate event. They got married at a beautiful bluff in Encinitas, CA, overlooking the ocean. The weather was awesome that day, it was sunny, breezy and just perfect to be outside! Only close family members were there to share this moment with them and I thought that made everything so much more special. Josh and Paige looked radiant and really happy. You could definitely feel the love between them!

Congratulations Josh and Paige! My best wishes go to you both!

 

Music • Music • Music • Music

Music plays a huge role in the film industry, it can help set the mood and pacing of a story, reinforce a feeling or style and simply gives the last touch to a video that makes everything come together. Choosing the right music is key and I usually spend quite some time searching for the right tune for each project; one that will evoke the right emotion and in some cases show a little bit of my personality.

Music videos are so much fun to make! So far I’ve only made a couple (check them out in my Motion Graphics post) and I had a blast choosing the songs and coming up with concepts for the videos. Working in motion graphics (so far) I’ve gotten very used to editing to the music and creating content that goes with the lyrics of a song. So this time we had to do something different – we had to choose a song that had different beats (almost like different patterns) and we had to choose clips that their content represented the different speeds/rhythms of the song but not exactly have a connection with the lyrics of the song. Also, The most important thing we had to do for this project was to make sure that if the video was played without sound, the editing would still stand alone… Good transitions from clip to clip are very important to achieve this!

PS: I LOVE this song and there is no better feeling than giving visual life to the music you love!

Created in Adobe Premier

Please note that except for a couple of clips, the source videos used to make this project were found in youtube and I do not own the rights to these videos.

Forrest Gump gone bad!

Here’s a fun project I had to do for my Editing Techniques class. The assignment was to choose a movie and shift its tone; meaning that if we chose a comedy or romance we had to make a trailer of it making it look like it was an action, suspense or horror movie and vice versa.

I decided to pick Forrest Gump for this. I think Forrest Gump is a movie and character that everyone knows well and loves; so if I could make him look like a crazy psycho instead of the innocent/nice person he is, then my task would be accomplished This was definitely a challenge because there was not much material to work with. I had to carefully look through each scene in the movie and cut out only the parts that may work as creepy and suspenseful. Also, you pretty much have to come up with a new plot and “sell it.” The way of editing it and the music play a huge part in making this project work. Hope you like it!

Motion Graphics – Designing & Creating!

When I enrolled in school, I was looking forward to learning all about the Visual Effects field, but I didn’t really know much about the Motion Graphics part of the program. I had never thought of working in the Motion Graphics industry before, but I was excited to try something new and push myself out of my comfort zone: Designing. During the earlier stages of the program, I had to take classes on design techniques, typography, color, image manipulation and digital illustration. All of those classes paid off, once I took my first motion graphics class. It was then when I understood how important all those things are to create great compositions and therefore successful motion graphics pieces. Besides that of course, I had to learn the program After Effects. I had never even opened it before so it was all a little bit intimidating at the beginning, but now I have to say, it is one of my favorite program to work with!

These first two videos are from my first motion graphics class. We were just getting used to the program, animating graphics and to the whole timing thing.

Here is a title sequence for one of my favorite movies: The Motorcycle Diaries

This is a little promo video I put together for one of my Favorite Bands: Langhorne Slim

These two are a couple of short product ads we created during my Intermediate Motion Graphics class. We were learning more techniques – like how to use displacement maps and expressions.

And then, here are my Midterm and Final projects for the Intermediate Motion Graphics class. We had to create music videos using all the things we learned through out the quarter.

It’s always exciting to work on Motion Graphics projects. I’ve never really thought of myself as a highly creative person or a designer, so it’s kind of cool to brainstorm and put together pieces like this! I had a lot of fun working on these so I hope you enjoy them too! I can’t wait to take the Advanced class next!!

PS – Please note that youtube plays them a little jumpy and also the quality is poor because of the web compression

[Photography] + [Visual Effects & Motion Graphics] = ["New" Blogiddy Blog!]

As most of you know, I started this blog a few years ago to share my work and experiences as a photographer; but in October of 2009 I decided to go back to school full time to explore a new industry: the exciting world of Visual Effects and Motion Graphics. Ever since then, life has been extremely chaotic [but really awesome] and unfortunately I haven’t had much time to work on photography projects. I was lying in bed the other night trying to get my thoughts in order when it suddenly dawned on me that I have not posted ANYTHING on this blog all year long!!! That’s crazy! I felt sad because I didn’t mean to abandon my blog but the further I get into my school program, the harder and more time consuming things get for me. Even though I haven’t had time for photo shoots in months, I have been doing SO many other things at school that are worth writing about. Why in the world have I not shared them through here before?? I’m learning so much, constantly working on new projects, and I absolutely love what I’m doing. This is the industry in which I see myself working for the rest of my life. That’s why I’ve decided that from now on, this blog will not be just about photography, but also about my new works in Visual Effects & Motion Graphics.

In the upcoming weeks, I’m going to be posting about the classes I’ve already taken and sharing the projects I’ve already completed. This includes projects in Motion Graphics, 3D modeling, Animation, Compositing, and more. Once I get caught up with all that fun stuff, I’ll start sharing about the classes I’m currently in and any challenges I come across/things I learn. I’m really excited to make you all a part of my school journey!

For now, I’ll leave you with a fun little video I created in my Intermediate Motion Graphics class. Enjoy!

{created in Adobe After Effects}

The Barlows!

I love, love, love Family photo shoots! And here is one of my favorites so far!

Last Tuesday I ventured off to Leo Carrillo Ranch with the Barlow Family. None of us had ever been there so it was a whole new adventure for everyone. It was a beautiful day and we found many great backgrounds for pictures. It was an awesome place for an awesome photo shoot Julie and Andrew have the most adorable girls! I enjoyed watching them play and capturing all the love of their family. Here are a few of my favorite shots but if you’d like to see more feel free to visit my Photography Facebook Page.

Big Thanks to Julie, Andrew, Scarlett and Annabel for allowing me to spend the day with them!

Becky, Angelo & Ella!

After quite a few weeks of school craziness, I was very excited to make some time for my photography and do this wonderful engagement/family session with Becky, Angelo & Ella!

I had been in contact with Becky for a few weeks planning for this day and it was great to finally meet her and her lovely family. It was such a beautiful day and we walked around the cozy Village of Carlsbad for a while. We were able to capture some beautiful moments of a beautiful family.

My best wishes go to you all!! Keep on loving

Visiting the Rogers

Ryan and I spent a lovely afternoon with Robin, Shawn, Camden and Sparky a couple of Saturdays ago. It was a nice relaxing time filled with good conversations! Robin and Shawn have such a lovely home and made us feel so welcome. Not to mention their adorable son Camden! He is so happy and full of energy all the time, running around the backyard and playing. Of course I couldn’t resist myself and had to snap some photos of him and Sparky (their awesome dog). I had a blast with them! Check them out