Unexpected Award

         I found out, just earlier today, that a video I shot back in college -- at the college, in fact -- has just won first place in an international multimedia competition. I was never even aware that the video had been submitted into a competition, so it was a great surprise to find out that it was awarded 1st place! The college wrote a small little spotlight article on their main page, which I attached below for those of you interested in reading it:

Stay tuned for two related videos after the jump!

DevOcean Music Video

             I just got back from a trip in Maui and have been diligently working away at the footage I shot while I was over there. It's a photographers' paradise! While I was over there, I met a "blues" man who has some interesting old Super 8 footage of the island from back in the early 1970's that he had shot and we're in early talks of getting a documentary off the ground in time for submittal in the 2012 Maui Film Festival!

             While I was off in Maui (keep an eye out for an upcoming post with video from my trip!), my friend and editor, Scott Freund, was hard at work piecing together the remainder of the DevOcean music video that I mentioned in the previous post. He ended up getting some live footage of them at one of their shows, as well as adding some b-roll clips that he shot around San Diego. As promised in my last post, I've embedded the video below, but if you'd like, you can check it out over at Scott's vimeo page by clicking the link on the video. For best results, watch full screen in HD. (unless you have a low-performance computer; standard definition will suffice over laggy buffering for those individual.) Check it out below and let me know what you think:



This video was edited by Scott Freund.
You can check out more songs by DevOcean at their Myspace.
Keep an eye out and two ears open for DevOcean's upcoming LP, as well!

Special thanks to Danny Chau for lending a hand and taking some great behind the scenes photos for us!

[Eric Sever]

I met & filmed Ben Stein today

Today I met and filmed Ben Stein & Ray Lucia speak at a forum as they spoke on their expertise and the current climate regarding business, industry, and the economy. The following video was a follow-up interview after the forum:


BEN STEIN & RAY LUCIA @ North County Business & Industry Forum 2011 from Eric Sever on Vimeo.

Union Tribune Article

Here's the movie clip that first introduced me to Ben Stein from Ferris Bueller's Day Off:


But he also had his own show titled Win Ben Stein's Money:



I intend to post the entire forum in a video post when I get the chance. Stay tuned!
[E.]

'The Jerk' Homage

     Last week, a friend of mine asked Danny Chau and I for a hand in producing a short, campy remake of Steve Martin's  fireside ukulele scene from 'The Jerk,' as somewhat of a video-card for his grandma's 80th birthday.

The Original:




Grandma's Version:

DevOcean Video Shoot

A coworker and buddy of mine, Scott Freund, asked me to help him with a music video for his friends' band, DevOcean, which we shot last Saturday, April 2nd.

I invited friend, fellow shooter and music enthusiast, Danny Chau, to join me to help out with set-up, as well as to meet the band. Lucky for me, Danny came equipped with his camera and lighting set-up and was able to shoot some BTS (Behind The Scenes) photography of the shoot, as well as some fun staged photos of the band!

You can find Danny Chau's images from on set of the shoot here.

Stay tuned for an additional post containing the completed music video!

Meanwhile, check out the Reggae/Ska/Punk band DevOcean on myspace music. If you're diggin' their music, come on down to their show in Pacific Beach this Saturday and see them in action!

[Eric Sever]

'Get Reel' Project

           I've worked within the broadcast industry for several years now, mostly in educational television, as well as on my own personal projects, but I still do not have enough of what I consider impressive footage for an all-out-spectacular reel! So, I have proposed a project for myself, for the year of 2011, to document my technique experimentation and progress in building an eye-catching reel to promote myself in attempts to land a job with a travelogue production crew (e.g. Globe Trekker (Lonely Planet/Pilot Guides), The Travel Channel, Discovery Channel, National Geographic, and the like...).

            Over the next year, I will be testing and reviewing new gear and techniques as well as documenting my adventures and keeping a production blog of other gigs and projects I become involved with. It is through my efforts throughout this next year that I expect to enter 2012 with an impressive, eye-catching reel that will put me ahead of the game and help me land my dream job. I affectionately deem this my 'Get Reel' Project. I welcome you all to follow along, suggest projects, and review my progress over the next year and, what I hope will continue on to be a career of learning and growing within the field. Stay tuned!

[Eric Sever]

La Jolla Summer-to-Winter Beach comparison

I've been working on an Oceanography telecourse; in the clip below the instructor describes how the tides change the terrain of the beach depending on the season. I lined up a summer shot back in 2009 where I had to take extra precaution to write down & photograph my tripods exact location, the exact extension of each tripod leg and the exact tilt of the tripod head in order to get as close to matching as I could 6 months after I filmed the original summer shot in order to get the second half of this visual demonstration. Check out how it turned out:


La Jolla Beach Time-Lapse (Summer-to-Winter comparison; 2010) from Eric Sever on Vimeo.

Camera techniques aside, I thought the lesson was quite interesting. I've been going to this beach in La Jolla (California) for most of my life, but I never realized that the sand is carried away with the tide in the winter, only to return by the time it's warm enough for me to go back in the water in the summer. It seems like I receded  from the beach in the winter, just as the sand did throughout most of my life.

Working on the Oceanography telecourse was an awesome experience as a camera operator. I spent a great deal of my summer at the beach & diving in the ocean for work; it doesn't get much better than that! Here is the opening sequence to the Oceanography telecourse series:


OCEANOGRAPHY 100 (Telecourse) Introduction from Eric Sever on Vimeo.

[E.]

EDCO Recycling PSA

Here is a recycling PSA I worked on for EDCO of San Marcos, California back in 2010:


EDCO DISPOSAL: Recycling P.S.A. from Eric Sever on Vimeo.

The video can also be found on the EDCO website:
http://www.edcodisposal.com/san-marcos/

[E.]