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:
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.
With graduation approaching (May 19th), I have to say that I am feeling a bit overwhelmed. In addition to the presentations and papers due for school, I am also working on 4 different video projects, two of which are for school, not to mention trying to look for a job in this economy. Anyway, this semester, I was one of three lucky students to be selected as paid video production interns by the Communication department at California State University San Marcos (CSUSM). The purpose of the internship is to produce four short videos for the school’s website that highlight various aspects of the school and hopefully attract more students. My two partners and I have chosen to swap roles for each video, however, since we have at least 2 cameras per shoot, we end up overlapping roles all the time (we have all shot video). The only job we don’t really overlap on is the actual editing because it is difficult for us all to do the editing and it is just not practical. I edited and worked camera for our first video, which focuses on a couple of the research opportunities offered by CSUSM. One of the reasons I was so excited about this internship (aside from getting paid) was that I knew I would have the chance to put my newly created dolly to good use. Check out the first two videos below.
Sebastian Maselli 