Ryan, What DO You Do?

Very often I get asked, “What exactly do you do at work?”

Many times, I find it difficult to succinctly answer that question verbally.

Instead, I thought the visual example below would best illustrate the answer.

As an Avid|DS artist (or more generically, an editor), part of my job is to “sweeten” or improve the visual elements that make up a finished commercial. Many times this involves removing and/or adding items such as poles, skies, etc. while correcting the overall colour of the image to create a specific mood or feeling.

The end-goal is always the same: Improve the product without making the effect look artificial.

This is a scene from a GMC commercial that I worked on in 2006.
Shot on-location in Denver, the talent is Colorado Avalanche coach Joel Quenneville.

Original This is the clean, untouched frame.The large, white box at the top is a 50-foot light, called a “silk,” suspended from the ceiling.

Colour-Corrected Contrast has been increased in the shadow and mid-range areas.A slight, blue cast has been introduced to create a cold mood.

Light Removal The large light and ventilation ducts have both been painted out.Far-right wall was been extended vertically.

Finished Composite Shading has been added to de-emphasize the background and create contrast between the frame’s top and bottom.

This next scene is a “beauty shot” of the GMC Acadia, also to be incorporated into the “Coach Q” spot.

Original Here is the original frame as shot. Notice the “warmness” of the shot as well as the distracting background.

Colour-Corrected Dialed-in some contrast in the shadows and highlights. Cooled the image down with a slight, blue colour-cast in the mid-range.

Final Composite Shaded the background slightly so the product is emphasized and stands out from the background.

Back In Touch

I’ll be the first to admit I’m not the best at remaining in contact with friends outside of the area I’m currently inhabiting.

But, I am aware of this trait, and I’ve entered a pledge with myself to work at maintaining relationships with friends and family who aren’t within my immediate contact.

One of these friends is Rachel, whom I used to work with at Jay Advertising back in 2006. At the time I write this, Rachel is living in Atlanta, GA going to a portfolio school – which is pretty cool! I didn’t know she had a blog too, and only found out yesterday as a result of a few back-and-forth messages over the last few weeks.

I’m going to add her blog to my Blogroll so you can enjoy it too!

A Productive Saturday

Coming off a well-rested Friday, I woke up at 9:30 this morning and ran off to a Home Owners Association board meeting. In keeping with my style (and genealogy) I arrived “promptly” 10 minutes late. 🙂

The meeting lasted for about 2 hours, which was fine with me; I had lots to talk about.

Afterward, it was home for me where my head decided it was time to brew up a little migraine. I wasn’t having any of that, and I popped 2 Excedrin to quickly squash it. I swear by that stuff in times where you haven’t time to play around or wait it out.

I was all about getting things done today. There are about 20 different projects and loose ends that I’d like to wrap up before I start classes next week. Holy cow, next week! 🙂

Very.
Exciting.

Anyway, I hunkered down in the office and I’m currently on a rush, multitasking between burning DVDs and printing disc labels.

Did I fail to mention that Excedrin contains caffeine? You start to feel it, once the good stuff really kicks in.

This post took me about 5.4 seconds to write – that should give you an idea of how hyper I am due to my little helper in a bottle. 😉

But, what really matters is that my headache is no more. And, food is on the way – don’t you just love delivery? You call a place, they will cook your food to order, then drive it to your house. And, with the cost of gas recently, it’s really not a bad deal once you factor in the cost of food and the time to go and get it. Much better off having it delivered to me. Plus, I don’t have to get out of my chair; well, just to answer the door, but I can suffer through that. 🙂

It’s 8:07pm, and my sustenance should be here in 20 minutes; I’m going to get back to work!!

I dug up this old photo from 1997. It’s me (check out my awesome hair) and my friend Jack Buffington at Eat ‘n’ Park in Erie, PA. A group of us film guys frequently hung out there on Friday nights. Jack moved to San Francisco shortly after to attend the Academy of Art College. Haven’t heard from him in a long, long, long time! Jack, if you’ve Googled yourself and found this page, send me an email and let me know you’re alive! 😉

Crashed

Exciting title, eh? Bet you thought I had been in an accident. Well, I’m ok. Thanks for asking. Truly, it means a lot.

Actually, there was no accident – but thanks for your well-wishes. 😉

As you recall from yesterday, I had to get up really early this morning and take Keziah to the airport for her business trip to Dubai. And, you’ll also recall how much of a morning person I am (not). Well, to make the most of things, I decided to make the best of things and have breakfast with a friend of mine, after saying goodbye to Keziah.

Breakfast was great – definitely something I enjoy doing with good friends, especially when there’s good conversation! Now, while I’m not a morning person by any means, I do see the value in being up early. You feel as if you’re more productive and, feeling productive is never a bad thing.

Ooo, Keziah just called (it’s about 12:20am or about 9:20am Dubai time) and said that she landed safely in Dubai! 🙂

That’s really why I am still up; I was waiting to hear from her to know that she arrived alright.

Now, where was I… Oh, breakfast. Afterward, it was on to work which wasn’t bad at all today, with respect to “Project Revolution.” Received more kudos from the client on the spot I cut yesterday; hopefully it will be further well-received without much tinkering. Later in the day things started to deteriorate, but I’ll digress. :p

Having been up for 13.5 hours by the time 6 o’clock rolled around, there was no wonder why I crashed when I got home! There really wasn’t much stopping me either. I came home, started a nice, warm fire, turned on some background television and that was pretty much all I needed. When you think about it, as people, we really don’t change that much from when we are toddlers. A warm, cozy environment, some ambient noise, and we’re pretty much out. That may explain why my thumb was all puckered…

Off to bed at 12:40am, with the intention of a productive morning tomorrow. 😉

Catching Up

Overall, today was good. 😀

The commercial that I edited was very-well received by the client and I’m satisfied with it as well – which isn’t easily done! Once I get the feeling it’d be ok to do, I’ll post it here.

I’m going to start posting some of my earlier videos as well and, I’d like to start that this weekend. So many things to accomplish with only so many hours in the day to accomplish them! Gotta start somewhere, right? 😉

Keziah leaves for Dubai Friday morning around 6am, so that necessitates me being up at 4:30 to drive her to the airport. Tomorrow should be an interesting day after that…

When I got home from work, I wanted to wrap up a few projects I’ve been meaning to get to. And, I made a lot of head-way too! I should be able to finish what I need to get done by Saturday evening. Who knows what I’ll do after that – maybe work on getting wedding pictures online for all to see! We’ll see what happens.

Ok – I’m off to bed, since I’m being forced up at o’ dark hundred.

Early night, in bed by 11:30pm? 🙂

A Busy Day

Finally.

As a treat to myself, I stopped at Dunkin’ Donuts this morning for a tasty breakfast sandwich. 🙂 My friend Tiffany gave me a gift card for helping her out during her “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire – Movie Edition” training. She’s going to be on an episode sometime in February. Thanks so much Tiff!

At work, something to break the boredom! I was kept busy on “Project Revolution” work for most of the day. I’m not joking, that’s what the super-secret project is being called – “Project Revolution.”

I couldn’t make this up if I tried. 😀

However, it wasn’t all that bad. Once I got started editing, it flowed naturally through me. In fact, I ended staying at work for an extra half-hour on my own free-will, since I was on a roll. 😉

Traffic was a complete mess tonight. Remember those really warm temperatures we’ve been experiencing? Well, that all came to an end – starting this morning at 7am with winds reaching 45mph! Weeeeeeeeee! 🙂 As I write this, it’s about 20 degrees Fahrenheit colder then when my day started! Yep, cold front swept through and with it a whole lotta wind knocking down trees and taking out power lines.

No power lines = no working traffic lights.
No working traffic lights = moronic people forgetting to treat a non-working traffic signal as a 4-way stop.

Long story short, backed up traffic everywhere. So, I stopped off at Starbucks to try out my online courses. I’m getting excited for school to start, and I’m really looking forward to these business classes. Without a doubt, they’ll lead to many new opportunities – maybe some new employment opportunities!!

Ok – My thoughts are a little scattered tonight.

Off to bed at 10:55pm. 😛

A Late Riser

Funny how life is. This morning I didn’t get to work until shortly before 10am – about an hour late. For the unaware, I suggest you go back and read some of my earlier posts – or, do a search for “late” or “tardy” and read the posts that are returned in the search results.

The ironic thing is, my mom posted a comment about why I am habitually late. So, for any current or future employers who might be reading this – it’s not my fault, I’m off the hook. 😉

We have a couple things to do today at work – which should make the day go by faster than yesterday. Though, I really shouldn’t complain. All this free-time has allowed me to straighten out a number of other projects and has afforded me the opportunity to write in this blog! 🙂

It’s a little past 6pm, and I’ve done an incredible amount of work on my web site today, plus my mom and Aunt Susan dropped by to post a few comments as well! Glad to see I’m starting to get some visitors! 🙂

My work today was mainly about SEO, or Search Engine Optimization. In other words, making it easier for search engines, like Google, to find my web site in searches that folks like you perform!

I also made a lot of headway on the photo gallery, so I’ll be able to transition that into the business side of my site very soon. That should make it easier for me to post photos of recent projects, and clients to view and purchase those photos directly. As I perfect the integration, I’ll apply it to my other web sites, including 143sobig.com.

I’m heading home now, and it’s 64ºF outside! Don’t believe me? I thought you would need some proof.

Temperature on Tuesday, January 8, 2008 in Fairport, NY

Dinner and a Movie

Well, after getting up around 1pm this afternoon – hey, before you judge, make sure you read yesterday’s post – Keziah and I puttered around the house for a few hours before reviewing some movie trailers to decide what movie to see tonight.

Tonight will be our first “date” since our wedding! And, since Keziah is leaving for Dubai this week, it was her last weekend in town.

So, we planned a dinner and a movie date. 🙂

We reviewed close to 10 movies, and finally selected “The Great Debaters.”

“Set against the backdrop of the Jim Crow South and inspired by a true story, THE GREAT DEBATERS chronicles the journey of a brilliant but volatile coach (Denzel Washington) who uses the power of words to shape a group of underdog students from a small, modest black college in East Texas into an elite debate team while challenging the social mores of the time, culminating with a groundbreaking invitation to debate Harvard’s championship team.”

We had the entire theatre to ourselves – apparently “I Am Legend” was the larger-draw movie.

It was like being in our own living room, but with 188 empty seats around us, and a much larger screen. Oh, and chewed gum stuck to the floor, with a light dusting of popcorn kernels.

Though the ending was predictable, overall the movie was enjoyable, poignant and moving at times. The second film directed, as well as starring Denzel Washington, proved this actor can continue to impress and provoke thought.

I’d recommend it to anyone, excluding resident Texans, or anyone with a confederate flag still flying over their doorstep.

In bed by 12am, and early night for me!