Video Production, Editing, Effects and the Internet...
Video Production is something I enjoy and often help others with when I can. Having a background in physical effects, makeup effects and computer generated effects I do still play around with it. You can find some of my stuff on Youtube - Vimeo, and I even have a place on some pro sites.
I really wish I had more time to study and work in this area - but it's time consuming to do a good job. Devoting less than 100% to it is difficult to do without turning out amatuer level work. Commitment, hardware and practice - and anyone can be a pro with video work. It's incredibly rewarding in that regard.
It's a personal belief of mine that what we call "Entertainment" will eventually be replaced by the internet. We see this already with HULU, Youtube and similar web sites. Eventually - this will be where people go for enterainment and I'm not the only one with this belief. In fact - pretty much everyone is in agreement on this. How it will happen - hasn't really firmed out yet but that is where things are going.
As video becomes more and more common the need for web designers and developers to learn to make their images move and become real - to use "video" and merge live footage with computer generated footage instead of static or flash based images will become a common job skill.
If you're not familiar with the basics of video effects, editing and animation - and you're in any part of the technology business related to the internet or networked social systems you're making a huge mistake with your career.
When the internet began, we all said "Pictures aren't needed. People want text, content." - we were wrong. When things like Flash and animations came a long "we" (Internet Professionals) all said, "Flash in the pan... not really what people like... people actually find it distracting and annoying...", we were wrong.
Now, the common assessment is that Internet Video and entertainment will replace television in the next 10 years. Most video games use highly advanced video compositing techniques. Capture motion is now available for even amatuer level designers. A person with a bit of time, a copy of Adobe After Effects, and the vision - can do effects as good or better than what you'd find on SyFy or Network Television.
Video skills I will predict - will become as necessary to the future of what we call "the web" or "the internet" [neither of which exist anymore but I won't argue that]. If you can't at least do titles, you will become the dinosaur of your office.
Study them. Learn them. Become at least familiar enough so that when you have work done - you know how difficult it is and how to get the look you want.
Some of my studies are below.
My Video Editing / Titles / Effects / Animation / Playground
Project:
Video Playground
It should not be considered a "portfolio" so much as it is a "give back" to people who ask questions or are interested in the very fascinating direction that online video is becoming a part of the cultural experience. Where once animations cost hundreds, and in many cases hundreds of thousands of dollars to do - they're now accessible at home.
All of the work I do is done in my spare time, usually between a half hour to two hours from start to finish. I'm by no means an expert, I plan on actually doing a full blown portfolio some time. You'll note I extend off of a lot of the works of Andrew Kramer and others - keep in mind this is often done so that when a friend or someone who is studying one of the tutorials out there asks "Hey - how do I make my 3D/2D text sign have animated lights" (see Coffee Sign Animation below) , I'll open up the tutorial and whip out something for them. So the work here isn't really professional quality and it's not meant to be.
People always ask me what my hobbies are - and I suppose this is probably the closeset thing to a hobby that I have.
Eventaully - I'll kick up the $$ to get a decent camera, and spend some time on creating a real portofolio which is professional quality. When I do have a portfolio up - it will be all original works.
Until then - here's my playground...