NC Filmmaker Blog

The Elusive Creator Documentary Film

Sun, 5 Jun 2011 12:07:51 -0400

For twenty-five years, Enrique Vega made beautiful art out of hot forged metal. It was his passion. He was good at it, making a living as a professional artist. Then, the passion left him. He questioned himself. He wondered why, after all these years, would he suddenly have no desire to create. This simple introspection sent him on a journey to discover the illusive spark behind creativity. In his pursuit to connect with creation, Vega explored history, religion, and mythology to expose the driving force behind man’s innate desire to create. He lifts the veil on how creativity works and why we create, interviewing noted visual artists, writers, musicians, performers, scientists and scholars. Along the way he found why some people can’t experience their true identities as unique creators—no matter their field—and how we might remedy that situation, how we might reconnect with the source of creation. In the end, Vega found his passion. Not just storytelling through filmmaking. He’s also now inspired to share a simple but profound truth that many of us overlook—we are born to be creators. All of us. Whether we are “artists” or not.

Filmmaker Captures Community Creativity

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 02:50:38 -0400

Following puppeteers Jan & Donovan in the sultry North Carolina 100+ degree summer heat with a 20 lb. shoulder mounted video camera is a candidate for heat stroke! I've been following these two creative artists for a couple of weeks now capturing their creativity at work. These guys may go into La-La Land for inspiration, but they come back to this reality and work closely with the community of Saxapahaw, Chapel Hill, and surrounding area to bring life to their creations.

From Thought to Word to Reality - Documentary Film Begins

Fri, 11 Jun 2010 00:09:53 -0400

I have been pondering, planning, and talking to friends and coleagues about this documentary film that I have a desire to create. "Why We Create" comes from a place deep within my soul. I have been an artist for most of my life and have always questioned my motives and passionate drive which I have for creating art. I look back now to my carear as an artist and the question seems unanswered. This is the driving force behind this documentary film.

I will be posting short clips and teasers of some of the interviews as I complete them. I would love to here your views on the subject matter. If you have suggestions or experiences on the subject of why we create, please do contact me!

1st Live Broadcast on Ustream

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 18:12:42 -0400

For those of you interested in creating live broadcasts of your conferences or live events and having stream live while the event is going on, let me say that it can be done! Albeit not as easy as one would have you think, but it can be done, AND it can be done with good quality playback! That being said, here is an example of my first live broadcast via the Ustream live server. This recording was being recorded on the Ustream server while simultaneously displaying the live event. Please note that due to this event being my first, AND that the organizers of the event did not give adequate time for setup, you will need to skip the first 3 minutes due to audio complications.

I used a Mac laptop running OS X 10.5.6 that was connected to my JVC HD-110 via firewire and captured by CamTwist. This software allows me to have multiple cameras, add rss feeds as seen at the top of the screen, text inserts as seen on the bottom of the screen, and many other special effects. From here, I use Ustream Producer which is a desktop application that connects the CamTwist to their servers. Producer also encodes the video with an h264 codex by QuickTime that gives astonishingly good quality to the stream being sent before it is actually sent, making the file size/bandwidth as small as possible without loosing quality.

If you are considering having a live event broadcast on the Internet, contact me for scheduling and pricing information. Nothing like having a professional filmmaker set up and shoot your live event!

Note: The video below is one of two presenters and is the actual recorded video and not the live broadcast as you will see on Ustream. That being said, the higher definition video is great to store as an archive of the event.

FILMMAKER PRODUCES PROMOTIONAL FILM FOR LOVE AND ROBOTS

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 19:32:30 -0500

I just finished editing 120 minutes of high definition video for a puppet rock opera entitled "Love & Robots" that is being put on by the Paperhand Puppet Intervention at the Carrboro ArtsCenter. Donavan Zimmerman called me last Tuesday with a last minute request to film their first dress rehearsal so they would have a chance to see what they looked like from an audience perspective. I set up one of my HD cameras on a tripod in front of the stage, framed the complete stage, turned it on, and walked away. This setup allowed me to film with my other video camera, the JVC HD110, in various other locations.

I went back a second night to video some backstage footage. Since there were three smart shadow projection screens back stage, there was little light to shoot with. However, since this was a dress rehersal, I was able to use the Anton-Baur camera light to get some good backstage video footage. I was also able to film the Paperhand Band which normally is in a very dark area below the front stage. Lucky me that I shot during a dress rehersal!

Watch the 4 minute promotional video here!