sweeping petals

Contrast + The Jump Offs + GRLFRNDS + Shopping List =

2010-05-08T21:44:00.001-07:00

HOLY FOOTAGE!

This past Thursday, at the very awesome and convenient office of
Contrast Magazine,
we kids threw a video party with
3 bands,
a buncha people + alcohol + cops + dancefloor + whatelse?,
lights,
3 cameras,
aaaand finally, action.

It was fantastic, and the footage (all 37 gigs of it!) is converting and waiting
to be edited.
I'm stoked on this improv collaboration overload
that our group was able to pull off
so (almost) flawlessly.

Thank you everyone! Videos to come SOON.

Stop-Motion Title Card

2010-04-07T21:35:00.000-07:00

Title Card #1 from Sweeping Petals on Vimeo.

I am making two different title cards for my films and productions.
These will now appear at the end of my videos,
ya know,
pluggin' and chuggin' the name.
Jus' for a smidgen.

This is the first one, shot with my NEW BABY,
the Canon Rebel 550D
(who I am MAD about!)

The next one is not stop-motion,
but I am using my blue screen that is almost completely
covering one wall of the box I call my home.
Turning my studio into.. a studio.

I'm in love with stop-motion
more than I am in love with the process.
My back hurt so bad after leaning over a billion times
to change his position by a fraction of an centimeter
for almost an hour and a half.

Total Picture Count: 220.

Here's how big the guy is
(and I don't have big hands):

The macro on the Rebel is pretty amazing.
Happy, happy, happy!

Song of the Post: Crimson and Clover - Tommy James and the Shondells

Into Mousetrap

2010-03-21T18:07:00.000-07:00

Into Mousetrap from 3toad on Vimeo.

a Showdown in Chinatown First Place Film for March 2010

Theme: A Coincidence
Props: Pay Phone, Mousetrap
Line of Dialogue: Can I get that in a box?

Cast:
Shelby McCabe
Oliver Boe
Darieus Legg

Crew:
Fabio Cardoso
Blake Pedersen
Jonathan Brousseau
Luke Aguinaldo

this was SO MUCH FUN! lets do it again and again, boys.

SPEND MUNNY, HUNNY

2010-03-09T17:48:00.000-08:00

Getting this guy in the next couple of weeks/days/whenever I feel like
droppin' the billz.

SUPER EXCITED!!!!

I have about a million and one projects I'm going to do
once this guy arrives at my place,
mostly motion gfx stuff, a promo ad for Heyday Graphics,
and a poem Fabio has asked me to animate,
or do whatever I want with..

I have great friends. I have lossa ideas.
I'm stoked, you should be too.

DONT I LOOK STOKED?

Old and Knew it, Borrowed and Blew it

2010-02-22T23:59:00.000-08:00

Seriously, i havent been able to show this video forEVER.
I understand you, trms f agrmnt, and i will check your box,
but i do not KNOW you, ALWAYS.

Let me have this ONE, ganfunnnfuckiiindamnitt!!

UPDATE:
Tried to shoot something with my coworker/fauxbrother/greatfriend Fabio today,
and it was one of those shoots that you either a) didn't prepare for well enough,
or b) didn't.. prepare for.. well enough.. no other excuse!

Mehhhhhh, anyway,
the lovely and most (usually-un)likely chance for a reshoot is in motion,
so stayed tuned. next time will be way smooth.

and apologiez..
I don't think i can work on a video project for anyone else
until i complete at least one of the many that i have couped away on
post-it notes and overly washed hands and ever-dewrinkling brain cells pockets.

But really, knock one out
and the rest are OUTTATHEWATER! pwomise. Ganbatte ne, Sherubi-san, fakkk!

Song of the Post: 'Joey' - Concrete Blonde

FED !

2010-01-18T21:05:00.000-08:00

Gonna start doing more and more collage designs.
It's a great way to recycle photos I've taken but never used.
It's also a challenge to only use photos I've taken,
or possibly taken of me,
to do these collages. No googling 'paper texture' or.. 'chicken head'.

= D

ROBBED

2010-01-13T15:07:00.000-08:00

It's really strange how the world works. Being shit on again and again and again, only to find a quick breath of fresh human, right before being shit on again.

I'm not trying to be pessimistic.
I'm actually excited, because this always helps the creative process;
the spaces of empty, the times of hard, the wisdom to accept in the end.

I was going to write a blog a couple of weeks back on this whole concept of 'brain stimulation activities' that I have been trying to accomplish on a daily basis.

My nightly routine is sitting in front of my computer, writing, downloading music, reading blogs, looking at designs, watching innovative movie-making.. ya know.

But I started this game with my brothers (who I live with) called 'Blind Drawing'.

Basically my brothers would give me a caption, say 'Two Beers in a Boxing Match on the Moon', and I would draw it with my eyes closed. We ended up filling up this whole notebook of drawings, mostly from me but with a few guest artists, including my brothers, my friend Erin and this kid named Landon you might know of. The book was a HIT, causing tear-inducing laughter to whoever fingered through it (and a lot of people did; the book got around..) The drawings always came out very specific to the artist, and were always a complete mess of abstract I-forgot-where-my-pen-tip-was undeniable, incapable of being duplicated drawing MAGIC! I wanted to turn it into a real book, because of the attraction and success. I kept it in a big bag I had of books and a couple other art projects I had been working on for months. Projects I can never recreate.

Then on a nice, quiet Tuesday evening, my bag was stolen from the friendly and comfortable streets of Chinatown. Whoever found it was probably extremely disappointed because of the lack of 'value' the bag had to anyone else but myself and my close friends, and probably threw it away. I'm heartbroken and feel set back without it.

Lucky for me, and you, and whoever else cares, I took a couple of pictures of some of the drawings, including 'Two Beers in a Boxing Match on the Moon', which, coincidentally, was the pending title for the book.

This is a shot of the filled pages, all laid to rest together.

'Elton John Singing to a Dragon'

Lucky for me, I have amazing friends, none of who took this news lightheartedly.
Shout-out to my brothers, Steven and Adam, and my good friend Oliver, for inspiring and almost having to force me to start a new book. The results are just as satisfying, thank Goddess.

Lesson learned: no one cares about yer shit.

And so far, fuck you, 2010. Give me some sunshine before I think outside the Rock.

And if you, whoeverstolemybag, I know I had some flyers in there that had this website on it. I SEE YOU!

Song of the Post: 'Airplanes' by Local Natives

Contrast TV: 01 - Goons of Doom

2009-12-20T23:39:00.001-08:00

Contrast Magazine - 01: Goons of Doom Volcom Show from Sweeping Petals on Vimeo.

This was fun! Super cool dudes, super cool band-aids, super cool Honolulu homiez. Real excited to be working with Lance and everyone else at Contrast Magazine, too. Crap, man. My life is so much fun right now.

Vakayshun is ovah, back to werk. mreaaaow. love love love to everyone.

Song of the Post: Our House - Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young

Opacity and Prose

2009-12-05T13:36:00.001-08:00

I miss Photoshopping on a daily basis, so I'm going to try to keep doing stuff like this photo montage/poem whenever I get inspired on some random, uncalculated morning. Or whenever.

hi! I can't blame a busy month at work, or a busy month of freedom to my lack of updates, I have just been terminally chill, as the song goes.

Lots of exciting projects, collaborations, and blog updates, for the free-thinkers of the world, because this last month I've been having a ton of philosophical and psychological, possibly psycho-babble, but fuckit who cares, insights into my mind and maybe possibly hopefully the minds of others. If that makes sense. Lots of gates open in these times, that's all I'm saying.

Evolution happens, holy crap, who woulda thought.

Song of the Post: Hot Chip - We're Looking For a Lot of Love

REVIVAL - Casting Call & Trailer

2009-11-01T22:35:00.000-08:00

REVIVAL - Trailer from Sweeping Petals on Vimeo.

Here's the trailer for the short film I mentioned a couple of posts ago.

Casey and I are hoping to start production of the complete film late November/early December. We are looking to cast the roles of Tommy, Wade, Lydia and Ingrid. ALMOST any ages considered (over.. 18? under.. 50?)

Inquire about the roles, and get excited! Take a risk! Jump the gun! Revive yerself!

EXPERIMENTING..

2009-10-27T01:39:00.000-07:00

..with collage style design.

REVIVAL - THE TRAILER

2009-10-17T19:43:00.000-07:00

So Casey and I are collaborating on a 'zomedy' that he wrote and asked me to shoot & direct, and today we shot the trailer for it with our lovely zombie, Kala. We were super illegz and super hot and sweaty and improvising the whole time, but I prefer shoots like this, and I'm WAY stoked on the script and the opportunity. Now it's editing time..

This was also my first time shooting 'day for night', and, between all the things I had to watch out for and all of the tips I received, I think it looks pretty dang good. Looking forward to sharing the trailer with everyone.

THE JUMP OFFS CD RELEASE PARTY

2009-10-11T20:09:00.000-07:00

Contrast Magazine presents 3Deep from Sweeping Petals on Vimeo.

This is fun, because it HASN'T happened yet!

Another last-minute, super fun editing time with Landon -project. I used the footage I shot from a show they had in May. The party is at Next Door. And you should be there.

MANIFEST GRAND OPENING

2009-10-11T19:25:00.000-07:00

Manifest Opening Ad from Sweeping Petals on Vimeo.

WOO WOOOO! THIS NIGHT was how you spell party.

And I'm not a great promoter at all but, GO HERE! I love this place! (too much, some weeks)

This particular last-minute (my favorite, f'real) project was interesting because I knew exactly what I was going to do, down to the song choice and the split-screen style. I just had no idea how to convince Brandon that it would work. It just sounds kinda silly verbally; 'um, closeups and medium shots of just like.. shit around here. then like, uh, handheld, focus-y, umm.. '

So I told him to just trust me. Shot it in an hour, edited it in an hour, delivered it that night. He said he loved it, and put it online and shit, so I was very pleased to help out my friends' business. And my second home.

By the way, I love those things you can only describe visually. It's a satisfying thought.

I also really like promo ads. Making something that has yet to happen sound exciting is a triumph when successful.

METAMORPHOSIS

2009-10-11T18:59:00.000-07:00

Metamorphosis - Satellite Grey from Sweeping Petals on Vimeo.

What a PROJECT! This was a learning experience for me and 3 other people, among others, I'm sure. What can I say? The party was super duper fun, aaaand this was an amazing time in the editing room. AMAZING! srsly. Friends can be the funnest to work with. Some may disagree, but I totally dig it.

This was also one of my first projects working with someone elses vision. I guess I was always a selfish, if not, nervous, filmmaker before. Now I like trying to bring it to life. It's a task completely seperate from the tech side of production.

FILTERING

2009-10-11T18:42:00.000-07:00

Filtering from Sweeping Petals on Vimeo.

Written in July '09, when this video was made.

"I'm going to make it a point to make all my stop-motion projects out of good will finds. This is my second; I feel like it's a great way to recycle. I walked through the place for a while, thinking something would hit me. The pitcher would have not been such an obvious choice, had it not already had the fake lei inside it. Must've been misplaced, but I automatically knew I had to de-stem that lei and use both items, $3.60 total.

When I first started shooting it, I was topless, because, shit, it's hot and I live by myself for the next three weeks, so why not, right? That's when I noticed the reflection in the pitcher and automatically put a shirt on. I know there are computer nerds out there who can zoom in and enhance and spam my boobs all over the internet, because I can do that, too. No thanks. The reflection in the film now doesn't bother me. It's one of those creative choices I decided to leave in. Plus, it's like a mini-cameo!

I'm really happy with the way this project turned out, and learned a lot since my first one with the Rainbow Girl. This time, I used my video camera instead of my still camera and just rolled the whole time, so the background wouldn't move around again. 55 minutes of footage, down to about 45 seconds! Hilarious.

I didn't watch it until I cut all the clips together, and when I was done, I was nothing short of thrilled with the outcome.

The song came on while I was filming and I loved the beats, so I decided to go with it. Don't look too much into it at all. I'm not that deep or angry, I just enjoy these kinds of afternoons."

REDLIGHT SPECIAL

2009-10-11T18:37:00.001-07:00

Redlight, Go! - Wonderwall from Sweeping Petals on Vimeo.

This was a long time ago. I can't even make up a month, and it may have been last year.

What I like about live music shoots is that, especially if you don't know the songs (obviously not 'Wonderwall'), you have to improvise the movements and shots and sometimes you catch little lovely mistaken gems. Not sure if this clip has many, or any, but there were about 15 other songs I shot that night, and I do it hoping for those gems.

Also, I prefer handheld. Tripods are great and all, but.

WEDDING VIDEO DEMO

2009-10-11T18:28:00.000-07:00

Shelby's Wedding Video Demo from Sweeping Petals on Vimeo.

My daily 9-5(ish) is so entertaining and bizarre and.. shit, I dunno. It's hilarious.

I don't know what to write about my style of shooting with these weddings. It's a combination of my respected coworkers' styles, and a desire to make the event appear more affectionate than it was; you know, less formal and timed. It is sometimes very, very difficult.

..hot bridez, good timez.

SATELLITE GREY ACOUSTIC SET

2009-10-11T18:20:00.001-07:00

The Mission - Satellite Grey Acoustic Show from Sweeping Petals on Vimeo.

Shooting two 6-song sets handheld is a difficult task for anyone, I would think. Because of this, I decided to borrow a friends' smaller handheld camera, set it on a tripod, and sync up the two. There were definitely going to be parts of the song where I readjust, orrr, take a small arm-shake-break, so I wanted to have a second option.

The great part about this test was that, as I watched all twelve songs with the two singers in the band, there weren't too many parts we needed the second camera for. Definitely one part per song minimum, but very short clips. Everything else, in this intimate, snakelike movement, I do not have a problem with.