The last few months have been a blur. Not only have I been editing like a madman, I also traveled cross-country from Oceanside, CA to Miami, FL (and back) during the holidays in an RV. My family and I had an AMAZING time! Not to mention my wife and I are expecting a new addition to the family, so we are excited for what the future will bring.
I have also been pretty busy in the work department, mainly editing various videos and working as a production assistant. Below is a video I edited for the CalState San Marcos Athletics department as part of their application for NCAA Division II membership. I was handed a hard drive with a bunch of footage (shot by interns, so please take it easy on them and me), then I was asked to make a short video to highlight the CSUSM Athletics department and its facilities. The good news was that there was a ton of footage and the bad news was that there was a ton of footage, LOL. I am confident that CSUSM Athletics is ready for the NCAA and I feel privileged to have had a helping hand in their quest for bigger and brighter future. According to the CSUSM Athletics website, the NCAA decision should come in mid-July. Fingers crossed.
This is a project I have been working on for several months, from planning to shooting, and of course editing and post production. I am extremely grateful to the students who shared their touching stories; they are humbling and inspiring.
I figured this is worth a post. A project that I worked on last year, North County Food Bank, has been nominated for an Emmy Award. Yes, it’s just a student category, but I still think it is awesome. I am not expecting to win, but it would be nice (LOL, fingers crossed). Anyway, if you have not seen the video yet check it out below:
This is a short promotion video I created a few months ago using After Effects for Mamith Productions (my video production company). I will admit that this is a template from bluefx, but it saved me tons of time from creating everything from scratch. The video contains a few clips of our projects and some testimonials from happy clients. Take a look:
Is it me or is this year just flying by? I must be getting old because that’s what my parents used to say when I was a kid (and now I’m the parent). To be honest, I was a bit nervous after graduation because it meant I would have to start looking for work (I am sure I am not alone in this). I was already working two different jobs on campus, but unfortunately I couldn’t keep them because the positions were for students only. Now, several months after graduation, I feel lucky that my internship and continuing relationship with CSUSM has flourished into several job opportunities. I have also been busy doing freelance editing for Strategic Operations down in San Diego, as well as shooting a commercial in Orange County. So all I can say is that I hope to keep staying busy. Below is the latest video I shot and edited for CSUSM’s annual convocation event. It was a daunting task because it ended up being twice as long as what CSUSM had originally planned (they wanted a ton of people in the video), but I must say that it flows nicely and feels shorter than it is. I did have a couple of hiccups with the audio in this one because of a bad microphone and some mischievous wind, but it was an excellent learning experience because I had to remove tons of static and background noises in both Premiere and Soundbooth. Many thanks go out to my partner Ryan Smith who helped out during the shoots as well as with the audio clean-up and coloring.
The last video I shot and edited was one of the most demanding videos I have ever created, but it was an absolute pleasure to work on because of the diversity of shoots and the emotion it delivered. The purpose of the video was to create a captivating and emotional video that would help California State University San Marcos raise money for scholarships during the annual Gala event. It definitely put my skills to the test because it involved multiple cameras, tons of “b-roll” footage, and a great deal of collaboration. Of course I cannot take all the credit, my partners Matt Unwin and Armand Gutierrez had vital roles in the making of this video, but I spent hours upon hours editing the project making adjustments and tweaks, so I feel a bit like it is my “baby.” All of the hard work definitely paid off because I just received an email praising the video; below is the text of that email as well as the video itself:
“Happy news to report…
On Saturday night at the University’s gala, we debuted your video (titled Empowering Tomorrow’s Leaders) and the response was incredible. As you may recall from our discussions, the video is played just before our “Raise the Paddle” where we ask our guests to raise their live auction bid cards and make a donation to support student scholarships. Last year, to give you a comparison, we raised $30,000 after the video. This year… drum roll please… we raised more than $70,000!!!! The video inspired our guests to more than double their gifts from last year, and in fact , it is the highest amount we’re ever raised for “Raise the Paddle” in the history of our fundraiser. And in so many ways that is because of you and your work. Nastassja and Temet were brought up following the video just before the bidding began… and because of the connection and heart that you captured in the video, they received a standing ovation! People were moved, some even to tears. Your video allowed our donors to connect with our students in a way that was powerful and purposeful. More students will have access to scholarships at CSUSM because of your ability to share the lives of our students in meaningful ways.
Each of you had a strong hand in making our video standout in exceptional and powerful ways. Your enthusiasm, expertise, creativity, skillful attention to detail and collaborative team approach produced a masterful video for us. You really listened and delivered what we needed. Communicating the lives and personal impact of scholarships for three of our students in just 5 minutes is a tall order, but you perfected it beautifully. From the interviews and diverse yet engaging broll shots, to the music that guided the story, to the hours (and hours) of editing that perfected our vision, the final product was spot-on. Thank you!
I encourage you include the fundraising dollar amount, as well as the increase, in your portfolio along with the video. It’s proof that your work can inspire action and deliver results in incredible ways. I’ll be sure to pass along additional feedback as I hear it. The video will be going up online (on the homepage, YouTube and NewsCenter this week). Kudos again, and I hope you have a great day, week and summer.
The moment finally came and went. I graduated, WOO-HOO! It feels amazing to finally accomplish this goal that I have been after for so long. I have to thank my family for their support, especially my wife, who has been there every step of the way.
My last semester was truly my most rewarding one because I was able to put my video production skills to work by working on 6 different video projects for Cal State University San Marcos (CSUSM). On top of that I earned “A’s” in all of my classes and finished up with a 3.3 GPA; not bad for being a dad/husband/student and having 2 (sometimes 3) jobs at the same time.
As usual, I am posting some of my projects as well as a graduation picture. I have to thank my partners Armand Gutierrez and Matt Unwin because they did an amazing job and they were awesome to work with. The first video asks students at CSUSM to summarize the last academic year with just one word and also use one word to describe what they hope for the following year. The second video (graduation) was shot and edited in less than 6 hours (nice job on the edit Matt). Enjoy!
As I mentioned in my previous post, I am currently involved in 4 video projects; 2 of which are finally done. This semester I was enrolled in a class called “Video in the Community” and I have been working with a group of people to create a video for the North County Food Bank (San Diego County). The objective of the video is to help the Food Bank attract more donors, suppliers, and volunteers. As usual, I am posting my handy work below, but I cannot take all the credit, my group was awesome and they made this project a breeze; thanks Kevin, Heli, Patrick, Heidy, and Stephen.
Last Monday night (Sept. 12) I noticed a huge spider web near the front door of my house; in fact I almost ran into it. After some careful observation I saw the tremendous spider right in the center of its web. I was immediately fascinated. I took out my DSLR and started taking some pictures.
The next morning the spider was gone and only small remnants of the amazing web it had spun were still visible. That evening I kept an eye out for the spider and to my surprise it was back. This time I had my DSLR and my video camera ready. I was able to record it spinning its web as well as get more pictures. So far, the spider has come back every night, spinning a new web each time (I believe it hides out in my rain gutter during the day).
Yesterday morning I noticed another one of these webs as I looked out of my kitchen window and I actually saw a bee fly into it. The spider quickly came out of hiding and wrapped the bee up; I felt like I had the Discovery channel in my own back yard, so I rushed for my cameras once again and luckily managed to get some shots.
If anyone reading this knows what kind of spider this is please leave a comment.
Below are some of my favorite pictures and you can see more on my Flickr slideshow:
Sebastian Maselli 