Whats New? Here an update and video.

Its like I can never find the time to blog about these things. So much to to tell, I'll try to keep things short and sweet. In the passed few months my DSLR rig has grown and turn in to a filmmaking beast. The rig now comes with shoulder mount, a new 17-85mm lens and 7'' inch HD screen. Its a bit getting use to but I was expecting that. I've done some test around Wynwood/ Art District and have recently shot some BTS (Behind the scene) of photographer Joseph Evans. The following video is a sample of the BTS I shot one early morning with Mr. Evans and a Model( who's name escapes me at this moment.)

I color correct the video using Lucas Visual FX's Lighting Kit and a bit of Apple Color. The full video will be out soon.
More videos coming soon.

Adobe CS5 and Logic Pro is now part of VPG editing gear

Whats up everyone, got some spectacular news to share with you. Vid Production Group LLC now has a copy of Adobe CS5 and Logic pro. For those of you who dont know what the hell that means, it means I got a new editing suit and music making software.
Adobe CS5 is the latest in media editing software that come with Premier, Encore,After Effects, Dream weaver , Photoshop, Flash and other incredible programs. Logic pro is a music producing software by Apple. I've mostly made my music using Soundtrack and garageband, so this will be a great addition to my edit suite. I'll be making a new advertisement video with After Effects some time this month. I'll keep you posted.

So what if Im sick? I can still cut...New T2i video

I've worked a lot these past few weeks. Theres been so many DSLR production happing in South Florida, I am thinking Florida has become "The Independent Film State". Small DSLR budget films, like "Chlorophyll" directed by Barry Jenkins and an 80s Horror Slasher music video by director Lucas Leyva, has inspired me to go out and shoot. I went with my friends, Alex and his cousin Eli, around Miami. We did some film test.I used two lenes, a 28mm and FD 50mm. Tried out the new DSLR rig as well. I tried make a music video out of it, I used the music by Dj SpyRock.

T2i Test: Miami/ music video 2011 from Felix Alvarez on Vimeo.

No lights, small crew, two DSLRs , and me on sound: (AKA) a weekend short film"Chlorophyll"

This pass weekend I helped my friend and colleague, Alex Alvarez, on a short film. Alex, who is a sound man for as long as i've know him, had recruited me from time to time as his boom operator( the dude with mic on the end of a stick) and wanted me to join along on this project. The short film, called "Chlorophyll" and it was a four day shoot. I had other gigs lined up so I could help out for two days. The first day of shooting was shot at night. Alex didn't need me for the evening, he just told me me to pick him up after the shoot. I met him later on around midnight at a studio near the Design District in downtown Miami. There I was introduced to Andrew Hevia, the producer of the short.Andrew, who was also Minister of Agriculture at Borscht Film Festival,had a interesting resume of short movie on his website. I immediately complemented him of his 16mm short "Spinning Off!" , which I really liked. I got a bit of the low down on what was going on tomorrow from Alex and Adrew.
The next day I met the director Barry Jenkins and Cinematographer David Bornfriend.They both came from San francisco but Barry was originally from Miami I later learned.He made a name for him self as a filmmaker and has directed 6 films.David Bornfriend was a photographer turned Cinematographer thanks to the DSLR revolution. We were shooting on two Canon 5d mark ii with tripod, a RedRock Rig and a Konova slider. The lights were...wait there was no lights!!..Expect for a china ball, everything was shot by natural lights. Not even reflectors or bounce boards were used. Was this madness?! Perhaps. It was certainly the first time I've seen a DSLR film production with out some lighting gear.This makes me eager to see what the final results of the picture will look like as Barry will be editing the movie. Another thing I saw for the first time on a production was the iPad Slate. I mention about this app on a previous blog and was ecstatic to finally see it being used on a set.
For sound, Alex was recording on H4 Zoom which he has gotten used to after several pervious shoot using the DSLR. Met a lot of great people on the production and hope to work with these guys again.

Fotodiox Adapter for the Vivitar 28mm lens

So the other day I received an adapter for 28mm len I bought from eBay. The Vivitar 28mm lens was an affordable lens, I only payed like $30 bucks for it. The adapter, which I found on amazon, was also $30.The look is amazing on video but I havent tried taking any still photos with the lens. I'll let you know when I have a video up.

OMG! it Been Like Forever

Hello, people who may or may not be reading this film makers dribble. Im back from a long time of writing nothing. I turn 26 yrs old this passed February and I've been keeping my self busy. Was close in geting a full time editing postion from one of Floridas best Production Studios but I didn't make the cut. Since that day I've been reading more books on the subject of video/ film editing. The books I grabbed and recommend to my readers are the following: How to cheat in Motion, Make the Cut and iMac portable genius.Really good books. Another thing is Im working on a side project that I was involved with about a year ago. I was working on a documentary about the life of the great boxing coach Angelo Dundee.. I've always like this story and I am glad to be back working on it. As for my DSLR progress, I currently get a new rig to mount my 550D/ T2i. I'll have video to show off the rig and share my thoughts about it.

Slow Motion in Motion:A new way to Slow down footage without outside plug- ins

I've touched on the subject on a pervious blog on how to get that cinematic slow motion by using Cinema Tools and Twixtor. Now here is a way to do slow mo with Apples Motion from Final Cut Studio. Its also pretty easy as explained by this video.Enjoy :)

Tutorial - Canon 60d 1000fps using Apple Motion instead of Twixtor from CrumplePop on Vimeo.

Thanks CrumplePop !!!