Written By: Patrick on January 31st, 2008
We’re in the final hours of work before the launch of a major new client’s website. Empty Street did the database and design, and we came in to create the web video and Flash elements.
Lately we’ve been trying to educate clients on how to embrace Flash without causing all sorts of usability and visibility problems. We’ve developed a pretty great workflow and design solution, which we’re using for the very first time on this web design project.
This particular project really pushed us, and I can’t wait until we get signoff from the client so I can tell you more about it. This project will probably end up as a whitepaper on the Genius Monkeys website at a later date.
Written By: Patrick on January 31st, 2008
Today we did some post production work on a PSA for the Jewish Film Festival in Los Angeles (May 11th, 2008) to help out a friend who worked on “Couch Cases”.
There wasn’t a lot of heavy lifting needed, as the spot centers around a live action puppet show. It should be up on YouTube soon, though, and it was a fun couple of hours.
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Written By: admin on January 27th, 2008
I saw my first rainbow of the year, arched in technicolor across Lankershim and Vineland. I love Los Angeles when it rains. Everyone looks and acts a bit more New York than LA, which is a great change. I wonder sometimes if my perception is because generally in LA we don’t need “weather clothes”. So, when it rains, everyone gets out the stuff they had to wear in the crappy weather from back east.
In other news, we’re in the middle of cutting “Couch Cases”. And it’s really f’n good. We posted some photos at “behindthescenes.couchcases.com“.
And I’m also in the middle of some new projects at work. It’s good to be busy.
Speaking of busy, I’m taking a new class at UCLA. Eventually, I’ll get that damn certificate! But for me, this class is about tuning up and making some better habits that’ll help me get some stuff done. I’ve somehow become a working pro, but I have a lot to learn about a lot. I forgot how much I enjoyed UCLA classes, and I’m glad to be back. Nothing like a forced external deadline to drive one, eh?
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Written By: Patrick on January 27th, 2008
Kathi, Brandon, and I have been editing the episodes for “Couch Cases”. It’s going extremely well, and we’re all surprised (in a good way) that our little low budget indie comedy is coming together as if it were a well-oiled show on a major network.
Today we worked on episode 2, which includes some really awesome flashbacks to a Mexican restaurant experience gone wrong. It was looking really good, but then we added our music track… brilliant!
How we got this music was a happy accident- while we were on set, a mariachi band came in to rehearse. I paid them $40 to record them rehearsing (once we were done with our shoot), and for the rights to use the recordings in our show. We had them play some traditional (royalty free) songs for us. They were awesome!
And the music adds a wonderful dimension to the storytelling.
Written By: Patrick on January 17th, 2008
We’ve added yet another Adobe CS3 suite to our company. Adobe’s tools- After Effects, Photoshop, Illustrator, and Flash help us create almost every project we do here at Genius Monkeys. Even on a high end film project, we generally do a lot of work in CS3.
In other news, we have a new blog format, courtesy of (more…)
Written By: Patrick on January 16th, 2008
I’m settled in a for a long night of rendering and writing.
What’s rendering are the final image sequences for my latest television commercial. The client’s really happy with just about all of the work, and that’s great. I’m sure there will be some changes before the spot airs, but it seems like we’re in the ballpark.
This was an interesting spot to create, the client only had a logo, 1 piece of product packaging (in Adobe Illustrator form), a concept, and 1 photograph. I turned that into a 30 second spot, making 3D elements where needed (such as for a product that doesn’t yet exist but which will be in stores this spring) and generally creating a world from almost nothing.
It was fun, if a bit frustrating at times.
We all feel that the CGI and voiceover/music parts of the spot are good enough to compete with spots that cost about 50 times as much. But, as always, there are things I’d have changed if we had the time or budget. That old saw about “Fast, Cheap, Good: Choose Two” really does hold true. Even with technological advances and really talented people involved, some things always just have to wait until next time.
At the same time, I’m pretty proud of the end product. And I can’t wait to get to work on the next one.
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Written By: admin on January 16th, 2008
I’m settled in a for a long night of rendering and writing.
What’s rendering are the final image sequences for my latest television commercial. The client’s really happy with just about all of the work, and that’s great. I’m sure there will be some changes before the spot airs, but it seems like we’re in the ballpark.
This was an interesting spot to create, the client only had a logo, 1 piece of product packaging (in Adobe Illustrator form), a concept, and 1 photograph. I turned that into a 30 second spot, making 3D elements where needed (such as for a product that doesn’t yet exist but which will be in stores this spring) and generally creating a world from almost nothing.
It was fun, if a bit frustrating at times.
We all feel that the CGI and voiceover/music parts of the spot are good enough to compete with spots that cost about 50 times as much. But, as always, there are things I’d have changed if we had the time or budget. That old saw about “Fast, Cheap, Good: Choose Two” really does hold true. Even with technological advances and really talented people involved, some things always just have to wait until next time.
At the same time, I’m pretty proud of the end product. And I can’t wait to get to work on the next one.
Filed Under: Uncategorized
