Saving Creativity

Hope you have gotten the MMS update for your iPhone, if not, just update iTunes, plug in ye’ iPhone, update your phone and then restart your iPhone.  Once it restarts you should have a nifty little option under your text messaging icon that will give you the ability to MMS pictures or video to anyone in your contacts!

Saw this on the front page of Digg.com.  Awesome creative use of two forms of art: skateboarding (actually long boarding to be exact) and technology to power the colored tubes.  Even the tubes beat to the music, so there must have been some cool sync.

A blog that I follow (murphy24p) had a great post on the connections with people in our lives.  I loved this line form his post:

I guess it really struck me how far I have moved, in such a short amount of time, to a wholly electronic connection with people.  I mean, it has only been 4 months since I couldn’t check email, scan tweetdeck or check who commented on my wall with my phone.  Before that I actually had to sit down and check it on my desktop at home (Trinity blocked Facebook and Twitter…maybe that was a bigger benefit than a curse!)  Can I confess something:  I really want to start over, I mean get away from everything being on a screen, or via my phone.  How about instead of shooting off an email or iChat session, I should be picking up the phone or meeting someone, as Murphy suggests, over my beloved coffee.

Here is a piece that really inspired me this morning, hope I haven’t posted this yet, but Dan Stevers is a great motionographer and does some amazing work!

Dan Stevers’ 07 Reel from Dan Stevers on Vimeo.

Creativity often strikes at the most inopportune times…like at 3am, or at 4:23pm.  I follow this blog as much as I can but Josh posted a video with a single take music video.  That led me to the behind the scenes video for the music video.  I want to try this so badly, just for my own selfishness, to try to pull something like this off would be awesome…

Music video:

Behind the scenes:

So I thought I published yesterday’s post, alas it didn’t go and my beautiful wife told me about it last night.  So here is the Monday Afternoon Fun or as I shall apply rename: Tuesday Morning….fun (man I need to take a creative writing class…):

So this blew my mind, thanks to Bryan Clark’s blog who is the lead designer over at LifeChurch.tv:

These types of video make me want to have about another 100 hours in my week so I can start to accomplish some creative ideas that have been brewing in my head for some time.  But alas God only gave one extra hour one time in all of history so I think that my request for 100 hours per week might be a bit…well to much!

Here is the making of for the electrabel, which took them 5 days to shoot (FYI, the video is only 30sec. long).  If you can speak German or can at least ignore the German speaking and just watch how they set up and burn all those candles, it is will amaze you!  Be inspired!

I have been listening non-stop to the HillSong: This is Our God album, uber good tracks, along with mixing in DJ Danger Mouse’s new mashup album via the NPR streaming radio station.  He is sticking it to EMI because they are fighting him over his use of a Beatle’s Album mashed up with Jay-z’s Black Album (affectionately called the “Grey Album.)  Good stuff if you like some mashups.

As for my Monday afternoon, lots of exporting to vimeo some green screen footage, some interview footage and lots of other fun little bits of video for different ministries.  We have been utilizing our green screen a ton lately, so my Keylight chops have been built back!  I began working on a video that I am really excited about.  Let’s just say we are going to have a swearing Devil on Milton’s shoulder, and an angel on the other.  Frames to come when we start shooting the piece!

So you need to go here… right now, not later but right…now.  Download ColdPlay’s new live album: leftrightleftrighleft.  For those of you who are a wooter’s they are having another woot off with some really great stuff.  I have nabbled myself 2x 2m HDMI cables for future use for $3 a piece and a couple of SD cards as well.  Great for those HMC-150’s a few people like Coastline Studios and Trevor are going to be soon shooting with.

Someday I should do a side by side comparision and ranking of a couple of different cameras.  I have now shot on 4 different cameras with 3 different acquisition formats.  By far, the fastest, easiest and simplest workflow has come through the P2 based DVCProHD HVX200.  With the multiple frame rates and shooting standards, the HVX200 really does outshine a lot of other cameras in it’s price range.

And as an added bonus…how about a massive Etch-A-Sketch made from a busted DLP projection TV and they hope to drive it via an IRC chat program, thank you Hackaday.com for the wonderful DIY electronics…

I work at a church and own a side business.  They both have ups and downs to them, but one thing that I know for both of them is: you never have a large enough budget.  I always seem to have these grandeous grandiose (guess I should spell check more often!) ideas and want to pull them off for peanuts.  So I am going to share a secret with you……you can get lots of free stuff from some really great sites.  So here is my list of daily and weekly websites that I surf to to get this some great pieces for my video or graphics pieces.

In very particular order:

• istockphoto.com:  They have a weekly pictures, monthly videos, monthly sound fx, and monthy vector art that you can get for free.  You should get an account here anyways since they have some of the cheapest and best stock photog and vector art on the web…
• bittbox.com:  A friend of mine who runs a website dedicated to all things graphics.  He always has free Texture Tuesday and often gives away a lot of other stuff if you comment on his site.  Really good guy, helped me on this design via a chat session.  Does really, really good work as well…
• revostock.com: One of the best all around video and mograph stock houses out there.  They give away a free monthly video.  I often go here to get some inspiration for future mograph or to just see what other people are doing for video work.
• Churchmediadesign.tv Brad runs a great website and has a weekly video podcast that helps to really cement what a lot of church’s need…good media.  Go there to get tips, tricks, and how-to’s.  Also the bobble head Jesus, Brad, Dwight Screwt and Colonel Sanders are a nice touch!
• PShero.com:  These guys crank out some amazing Photoshop stuff.  I go there to figure out how to do an effect, find a brush or even just get inspired for some new ideas or designs…

I want to know where you go to get free stuff.  Are there websites you surf to in order to get those great PS brushes, or how about a website that shares free video in good quality.  Please make them legal, no ripping videos off of vimeo.com or youtube.com.  Let me know if you are giving away free stuff so I can write about it and share it with others!

Ahh junk almost forgot the vimeo.com video…

Digital Slaves [Modern] from Digital Slaves on Vimeo.

Digital Slaves does intense projection via HD projection and sonic matieral, all in real time and can react to the beats of audio.  While I am not into the clubbing scene at all, what they are doing for projection and effects kind of makes me think we might be able to do a little more with thinking outside the box of using projection and experimenting with different types of materials for the surfaces…

Just to get your Tuesday morning started on the right foot.  Every man needs one of these…

Oh for those geeks out there, one of these too…

Ok now for some Tuesday morning inspiration…

• Look at the designs and patterns in these rice patties…
• The most remotest place on the planet…
• Digital Art here, here, here and here.
• A Video from: Domingo Gamonoso’s Portfolio.

As a creative type guy at my church, I constantly try to evaluate whether or not I am communicating something powerful enough to move people from their seats.  I often try to push the envelope in my pieces.  Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t (it will backfire sometimes and I get those lovely little comment cards from the weekend services, but that’s a whole other post…).

All that to say, I often wonder what the church should be doing with creativity and technology.  There is a marriage there that strikes a chord with most of us living in the modernized world.  People want to be moved by powerful media and with the people watching and being captivated by beautiful TV shows and amazing websites, why wouldn’t they want it in their church services?  I think there is something seriously wrong with people who want to be entertained during a service.  If you are the type of people who go to a service, just to see the latest piece of gear or great video, we welcome you, but remember that the people who structured created for that service did it for God and for others to be drawn to him!

Often people interpret what they want in a service, without ever being involved in the process.  That means when we role a video, or use lighting to accentuate a part of our service, it is often seen as a “production”, or as showy.  But doesn’t that come down to the motives or the person creating that video or cue’ing in those lights or pressing play on that video deck?  Which is why I have to often check my motives at the door, leaving my human nature outside my office walls.  Motives are a touchy subject, but if we can give those over to God, then maybe we can actually create something that honors Him, and pushes people to choose…to choose to stay in their seats or to get up and move closer to God.  Here are 5 questions on how I evaluate my motives…

1. Why am I doing this?

2. What do I want to communicate?

3. How do I want people to be changed?

4. If someone is offended by this, why?

5. Do I have a particular person in mind who might be changed by this media.

So I ask those 5 questions of myself almost every time.  If any of my answers are of a selfish nature, then shame on me, and I am the one in need of change.  But if I can honestly answer them in a way that honors God then often the piece that is created is spiritually moving, transforming and helping to motivate people to change toward the better (read toward a deeper relationship with Jesus).

So I sit here today, with one thought…I need a manifesto!  I never really needed one until I got into this job and five years without one might be to much.  Maybe it should be something like this:

Create in a way that changes only me, and if it challenges others to change, then all honor goes to God.  But if I am the only one moved toward change, then well, that’s between me and God!

What is your manifesto?  What rules do you live by so that you can serve Jesus?  I am in the process of reading two books now: Flickering Pixels by Shane Hipps and Courageous Leadership by Bill Hybels.  More to come on those later!