Boxcar Strainsun On 301 Studios Label

Will Philips got a promo with a label and digital distro for his Boxcar Strainsun album. Click Here to check it!!

Also, got a cool shoutout for the video we made over a year ago…

Gif Animation: Boxcar Strainsun Test Shot

Before Will (AKA Boxcar Strainsun [AKA Riley Guy]) and I started shooting his music video, we did a test animation which most of the music video was based on.

Click Here To Watch The Gif Animation Test!! (Better to Right Click, Save As)

Boxcar Strainsun – “Skeleton Key” Music Video

Artist: Boxcar Strainsun
Song: “Skeleton Key”
Album: Tribe Of The Lost Pigeon
Director: Jimmy Frick

Click here to watch it on youtube.

This project has been in the works since the middle of April. This is the first time I didn’t work on a video non-stop, from beginning to end. It was a lot of hours, but I have no idea why it’s here a whole 2 months later. After we shot it, I predicted it would only take a week to finish.

I took 1,844 images and almost used all of them for the video. To make the photos look better than what they came out to be, I began to individually photoshop the pictures halfway through. That sucked so much that eventually I was forced to learn how to use After Effects just enough to mask out some background stuff (like sheets, and wall shadows). I watched 2-and-a-half youtube tutorials that gave me enough info on how to clean up everything. By the end I wondered how I ever did any semi-complicated video stuff without After Effects, but I was also about to throw my laptop out the window because it could hardly process so many photos and effects.

Last night at 3 a.m., I thought I reached a victorious end,  but my version of After Effects wouldn’t let me export the video in a decent format. So this video was close to not even making it out of my computer. Eventually I figured it out, but we’ll save the details for a video-nerd forum.

Now I only need to know how to get this video in non-internet quality onto DVD…

Dreams And Music Videos

Tonight the moon is nearly burning my skin as its full moon-beams shine through my bedroom window.

My dreams have been wild lately. Not completely insane, just super real. I’m settling unresolved issues with people who I haven’t talked to for years. I’m facing imprisonment and capital punishment in foreign countries. I’m experiencing nuclear attacks. I’m living entire lifetimes in minutes.

I guess it works out, because I’m working on a music video for Will’s project, Riley Guy, and need a semi-schizo, moon-inspired neurosis to make this happen and finish already.

I’m running through thousands of photos. It’s not the most fun.

In other news, my production assistant job fell through. The movie isn’t going to be made. Somebody who had money chickened-out on the deal I guess.

“How can I help you finish your own movies,” you ask? Simply go buy stuff!

Riley Guy Video Shoot

Over the last five days, I’ve been using Dustin’s house to shoot a music video for Will’s solo electro project called Riley Guy.

Day 1 was simple because I only needed to take photos of a series of eyes and mouth positions at the park with Will and Allison.

Day 2 was by far the biggest headache. I hadn’t planned so much of what kind of props and set we would be using, only the visual tricks I wanted to pull off.

Day 3, we began to hit a little more of a stride.

Day 4, we got nothing done as Will’s body gave up while his liver was trying to process half a fifth of rum.

Day 5… I hope to St. Pete that we got enough footage.

So now editing begins. I haven’t looked yet, but I think it will involve going through 1,500-2,000 photographs (it’s a stop motion video), which actually isn’t too bad, considering that normally every video is between 24-30 frames per second; 1,800 frames/minute.

I’m also thinking I need to go to Coachella. Tickets are sold out, and they’re selling circa $700 on ebay right now. Where do these kids get the money? I hope to get mine for $150. Crossing proverbial fingers…