The Agnes Kain clip is finished!  I’m very happy with the end result. There are no effects in post, everything was shot in camera… which is probably obvious right up until the end. You can check out my previous posts to see how it was made from conception to birth.  Big thanks to Chanelle and Stef and ultra-mega-big thanks to Ryan for wearing ridiculous things,  standing in uncomfortable poses for extended periods of time and just being generally rad.

winter’s the best but the weather’s been holding back shooting on the agnes kain clip again. i’ve been working on everything that can be done inside out of the way of the falling sky water which luckily includes experimenting with projected backgrounds – parallels are cropping up between the agnes clip and the cuba is japan clip again. planning a big rear projection shoot this week. should be a sort of scaled up, person size version of what’s going on down there. i’ll be sure to post something about it. for the moment i’m setting up the mini version…

if you follow my twitter you’ve probably noticed the robot binge. it’s had it’s effect… behold the homunculus!

more soon.

shot some aerial video over hallett cove’s seaside cliffs for the agnes kain clip two days ago. it’s the best weather i’ve taken the camera up in and also the first time i’ve flown it over the water. on the first flight there was a bit of a scary moment where the radio dropped out and the plane headed out, uncontrolled towards the open sea with my camera onboard. luckily control was returned and my camera avoided a bath which it probably wouldn’t have enjoyed. ended up with a lot of good footage which might make it’s way into other projects as well. more filming to be done over the weekend.

photo by J.F. Sebastian

the last year or so i’ve been fooling around with getting a video camera to fly. you might think that’s about as likely as getting a pig to fly… but, if you think that, the variable you’re not taking into account is weight. pigs are heavier than cameras and thus requires more lift to get them airborne. and even if you do get pig airborne, what good’s it going to do? i suppose a whole lot of people who’ve carelessly used the phrase “when pigs might fly” may be forced to commit to verbal contracts they thought at the time they’d be able to disregard as they continue to wallow in their own crapulence. but pigs have already been flown around in planes so their wallowing must have been spoiled years ago! ok, back on track…

i’ve been using a radio controlled foam glider to carry a little HD video camera into the air and so far have had some moderate success. the plane flies well enough but to get usably stable footage is a challenge. the glider gets thrown around easily by the wind and also needs a good deal of space to get up and flying. on top of that, there are shot’s you just can’t get with a plane. from months of scouring forums about aerial photography (or AP as it’s abbreviated by people who’ve got nothing better to do [like me]) i’ve come to the conclusion a much better way to get a camera up into the air is a helicopter. further, an even better way to get a camera up is a tricopter. a tricopter is basically a tricycle with propellers instead of wheels. actually it’s nothing like that but the word “tricopter” is pretty self explanatory. sheesh. i’ve ordered parts to make something like this:

as a cool little demo of why flying cameras are so awesome i was going to embed blur’s clip for beetlebum but EMI in their omnipotence have disabled embedding. just one of the many signs that record companies have lost touch and are crumbling into the void. hooray for the internet. ok, no embeded beetlebum (that sounds like it requires surgery), here’s something else… people get really fancy and beam the video back down to the ground so they can fly from a first person view…

the technology’s just getting smaller and smaller, cheaper and cheaper. won’t be long ’til hovering cameras are the norm and they’ll be used on idol. maybe then they’ll give me a job and i can ‘accidently’ maim the competitors.

another new clip in the works. this one will involve aerial video and possibly toy cars…
i’ll post a less foggy explanation soon, along with news on all the other stuff that’s in the pipeline: new album! midi guitar hero application! fun new merch! weeeee!

greetings and welcome to the year 2009.  incase you were unaware, the year actually begins on the first of febuary.  don’t worry,   it’s a common mistake.  i don’t think any less of you.  recording’s continuing and the scaffolding of an album is well and truly in place.  progress was halted briefly by a crippling heat wave and while i would of liked to have been recording i was too busy curled up on the comparitively cool bathroom floor in a sweaty heap… not really… but it was too hot to think… or even exist.

anyway, more has been happening too.  i think i left off talking about the guitar hero drums and my attempts to MIDIfi them.  well, my success was limited.  but i did put together a little video for youtube world to explain my guitar hero rig and some of things other people are doing with these awesome little plastic axes.

it’s quite likely you don’t care but i do get asked about it and sharing is caring.  more has been happening too.  i’ve started on a new clip for the new album and this particular clip is being filmed from the air! with this thing!

i’ll report back as things happen.  and things are happening so i’ll report back soon.  i think i’ve got some gigs coming up in march so i’ll have to tell you about that… it’ll involve banjo!

farewell for now as we launch recklessly into the future,
bob.