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.
Tag Archive: canon
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.
All the best,
Christine
Christine Vaughan
Communications Specialist
Office of Communications, University Advancement
California State University San Marcos”
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!
Ok, here it is, the “2011 wrap-up” post…
2011 is gone and 2012 is finally upon us. I don’t know if this will be the end or the beginning, but I would like to wish everyone a happy new year and also take a quick look back at the year that just passed.
In terms of moving forward and making progress, 2011 was definitely a good year for me. I completed all the required courses for my bachelor’s degree (Mass Media Production), so now I just have to concentrate on finishing up my minors. I almost can’t believe I’ll be done with school in a few short months; just one more semester to go before graduation.
Another major milestone for me in 2011 was completing a documentary film I worked on for a couple of years called Blood We Shed. It was an official selection at the G.I. Film Festival in Washington DC, which I am extremely proud of. It originally started out as a class project, with zero budget, however it turned into an amazing documentary. In case you have not seen it yet you can check it out below:
I also fell in love with digital photography in 2011; I made an 8-legged friend that kept coming back to pose for the camera. I am planning on purchasing a Canon 7D in the next couple of months so that I can continue taking all sorts of pictures as well as make some beautiful videos. I have a few projects that I would love to pursue this year, but only time will tell if I will be able to get to them.
2012 is looking to be another good year because as I’ve mentioned, I will finally be graduating. At the same time, I can’t help but feel a bit nervous about life after college, but it’s a good nervous, the kind you feel at the top of the rollercoaster ride. Once you are on that ride you just have to hold on. After all, I spent 4 years in the military, got out for two years, then went back in for another 3 years, got out again, and now that I am almost done with college I am looking forward to another awesome ride.
I hope 2012 will be a great year for all of you and let’s keep our fingers crossed that it won’t be our last.
I have probably taken more pictures in the last three months than I have in my entire life. As a person who has been involved mainly in video production, I must say that I have really fallen in love with photography. I will definitely continue to learn more about photography and will certainly incorporate it more into my video projects. In the meantime, take a look at some of my handy work below.
Have you ever wondered who your neighbors are?
Turns out I have some pretty nice people in my neighborhood.
Here’s a short video/slideshow about my neighbor Harry.
When I think about recycling, I tend to think about the side that I see. I don’t actually see the entire process of recycling, I just know that I put my plastics, cans, and paper in the correct bins they get picked up and taken away by waste management. I am glad we watched Manufactured Landscapes because I had no idea that so much of our “e-waste” ends right back up where it was manufactured: China; it only seems fitting. Seeing the blocks of waste stacked up reminded me of the Disney film WALL-E. I really liked how the film transitioned from scene to scene, especially from the hot iron factory to the landfill and back to the factory; I may incorporate a similar technique in my future projects.
Anyway, I would like to switch gears and think about recycling in a different sense. I thought back to what Aaron R. said in our class (at least I think it was him) about recycling ideas or themes and I began to think about recycling one of my ideas. I wanted to revisit the spiders at my house because I enjoyed taking the first round of pictures. Additionally, I am a person who loves nature, but also loves technology; I saw this as a chance to put them together.
In terms of recycling, I have noticed that the spiders that hang out by my front door re-use parts of their old webs; at least that is what it looks like. They do not re-use their entire webs because see them spin new webs each night, but the spots where they attach their silk threads remains the same for the most part. I have literally walked into what I thought was a single piece of thread, but when I followed it to the base it was more like 8 pieces of silk wound up together. I didn’t even break the thread after running into it; it was so strong that I could pluck it like a guitar string and it would not break (needless to say the spider was already gone before I started to play). So without further ado, check out more spider pictures from my personal nature reserve (A.K.A. my house). I have also added a few of my favorite “non-spider” pictures that I took over the last two weeks. Enjoy.
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 