Mar 232011
 

I recently wrapped production of NorCal Strength & Conditioning’s latest marketing video.  Everyone, from the owners Robb Wolf and Nicki Violetti, to the coaches and clients were incredibly dedicated to making this video as powerful as it is.  Watching it will give you little sense of how much coordination and energy it took to schedule interviews and time away from the gym with busy professionals. But as Nicki, and particularly coach Natalie Taylor can attest, it was a real challenge.

We did the interviews during actual training time, so you’ll hear plenty of  clanking and grunting of workout activity in the background. But more importantly, I think the casual atmosphere allowed each interviewee to reveal their genuine feelings about their NorCal experience without the worry of trying to sound like an actor. Most of the interviewees either spoke just before or, in some cases, right in the middle of their workouts.  So yes, this is quite real.

To get some of the open and close video, we scheduled a Saturday morning when most of the people I interviewed could make it for a “camera” workout. Well, I think most will admit that it turned into a gruelingly real one. I later heard that my asking for just “one more time,” over and over resulted in me getting an honorary coach title (I imagine it was actually something far less flattering).

Thanks to everyone for contributing their time, expertise and unique voices to this project.

I edited two versions, an 8.5 and a 4.5 minute version. The  short version here will give you a taste.

Mar 192011
 

Just a few months after Robb Wolf debuted his best-selling book, The Paleo Solution, local strength and conditioning coach and cook, Sarah Fragoso, is poised to release her new book, Everyday Paleo.  We just finished putting together a very simple but effective video of her for use on Amazon, Borders and Barnes & Noble websites. We shot in my studio starting in the late morning and then went straight to editing. A little chromakey work, finding just the right background and a few emails back and forth and we had a finished product ready in less than 48 hours.

The book should be out in April and I’ve seen an advanced copy, and can see that there are really three books here; a background of the science behind Paleo nutrition, a Paleo cookbook with more than 100 recipes and a great introduction to workout programs for everyone from the beginner to the advanced athlete.

Feb 162011
 

While shooting a series of TV commercials for Ginno’s Appliances, the executive producer, Scott Whiting, grabbed this shot of the clients and me reviewing a take. There’s three of us standing there, but look closely at how many “faces” you actually see.

No, this didn’t touch Photoshop.

Two-faced_Brian_Scott

Two-faced_Brian_Scott

Some shoots are just stranger than others.

Feb 032011
 

How brave is Robb Wolf? Well, the author of the best-selling book, the Paleo Solution: the Original Human Diet, is brave enough to let me twist his character into that of a lovable serial killer. While developing the script for a marketing video I’m producing for his gym, Norcal Strength & Conditioning, it occurred to me that a mash-up between the Paleo lifestyle and the open to the hit show, Dexter, would be fun. Robb agreed and here’s the result. I shot all of the scenes with a Canon 5D mark II and the versatile Canon EF 100mm/2.8 macro USM lens.Most of the scenes are close to the actual open but I had to make small modifications to make it Paleo-Kosher; like coconut butter instead of regular and running shoes instead of boots. Thanks to Robb for being such a great sport and sharing my warped sense of humor!

Jan 102011
 

Over the past few years, I’ve had the pleasure of working with a good friend of mine, Chuck Lundgren of Iris Software, on the Freeport Regional Water Authority project.  As the end of the contract approached he asked me to create a 3D animation of the intake facility and adjoining pipeline segments.  Always glad to tackle a 3D challenge, I modeled and rendered the intake facility and the several twists and turns of  miles of pipeline that connects the Sacramento river to the Folsom South Canal .

The model of the building was provided to me in a CAD file which needed several days of “fixing” to make everything render correctly. I built everything else from scratch basing much of the layout on a simple Google satellite map. I used Lightwave 9.6 for both the modeling and rendering. Of course, there was the occasional trip to After Effects for integration with some of the 2D mapping elements.

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May 262009
 

During the past couple of weeks I had the pleasure to again work in news with ex-colleague and friend, Debbie Cobb from Action News here in Chico. I produced a short three part news series from the footage I’ve acquired during the past 18 months documenting solar installations here in Northern California, the main one, of which was the record-setting rooftop array installed at the Sierra Nevada Brewery by Chico Electric. The first part aired tonight and the following two nights will feature parts two and three.