Blog
whoisLAUNCH.com
I’m working with NORTHchurch.tv on a viral marketing campaign that will be announcing the addition of Saturday night services.
I apologize for the audio quality of Episode 1 in advance. It was a rush job in a bad room and even my good mic couldn’t overcome the environmental acoustics.
Intro
Episode 1
Episode 2
Needless update
How many people read this? Few if any, however I know if I never update it, nobody will ever read it.
I’ve been uber slammed lately. Between work to pay the bills, work for whoisLAUNCH.com, freelance video work and some other issues of a personal nature I’ve been worn down to a shadow of my former self.
I love the fact that I have my new camera. I love the fact that I actually get to use it. I love editing, directing and producing. It’s hard work but it’s ever so rewarding.
I sit here in Panera Bread right now waiting on a lunch meeting to discuss the new episodes of whoisLAUNCH.com and want to fall asleep so much. I hope I don’t before Scott and Rob get here.
Ok, now for the meat of it all.
Catalyst was stinking AWESOME. It was so AWESOME it was LEGENDARY. “air high five” Andy Stanley. Bravo. Speakers were absolutely amazing this year. Felt so challenged that I don’t even know where to start. The trip was a blast. Favorite speakers were Andy Stanley, Craig Groesche, Rick Warren
Unfortunately I had to work on my vacation since a server failed at work. So now I find myself more exhausted and worn out than before I went on vacation.
……
Well the meeting came and went. Found out I missed being involved in a fatality car accident by minutes. Pretty stoked about that blessing. Back at work now. I’m going to start lifecasting in the next few minutes if anybody comes across this and wants to watch. Check it out here.
I’m looking forward to NAB now; the other highlight of my year. I look forward to Catalyst and NAB more than I look forward to Christmas, Thanksgiving and my Birthday.
Consistency
I seem to update in spurts. I’m at work right now and I just couldn’t let another minute go by without telling everybody that keeps up with me (all 2 of you) that I’m alive. I have a lot to catch you up on and very little time so I will postpone the big update for this weekend most likely. Hope everybody is having a great week.
Leaving on a Jet Plane
All my bags are packed.
I’m ready to go.
I’m standing here beside my door.
I don’t have anybody to wake up to say goodbye.
But the dawn is breaking it’s early morn.
I’m too cheap for taxi so I’m driving a car that’s my own.
Already I’m so excited I could fly.
So peace out and smile with me
Tell me that you’re jealous you’re not with me
Be bummed out that you didn’t get to go
‘Cause I’m leavin’ on a jet plane
I do know when I’ll be back again
Oh Catalyst, I’ll be there soon.
That’s right folks. I’m going to probably the most awesome and legendary conference on the face of the planet with more cool stuff than you can shake a stick (or anything else for that matter) at. Check out this blog and Facebook and Flickr and Youtube and possibly Revver for blogs, vlogs and falogs (flipping amazing logs). If I don’t see you or talk to you before Wednesday I’ll be back Saturday and we can catch up.
Hasta luego
ATL Here I come
My reservations are set. My excitement is growing more and more every day. My list of “to dos” is growing instead of shrinking unfortunately. So much to do. 3 days left to get it accomplished. Catalyst is going to be amazing. I just wish I had a new camera to take with me. Oh well. The Canon will suffice. ROAD TRIP baby. Stick tight for updates. Hopefully I’ll get some stuff up here every day.
BIG NEWS!!!
It’s late. I’m keeping this short. Stay tuned for some very very exciting news. Waiting on the details to get ironed out.
New lifeCAST
Hola folks.
I have joined the ranks of Justin.tv. You can check out my on and off lifecast and chat with other that are amused at watching me be me.
NORTHchurch.tv – Revolution Youth Baptism
After two and a half years, Revolution had their first baptism at NORTHchurch.tv
NORTHchurch.tv – Revolution Youth Baptism
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NORTHchurch.tv – Revolution Youth Baptism
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Live Broadcast
It’s here folks. My life, or at least a portion of it, is viewable in live broadcast format. Click on “liveSTREAM” in the nav bar at the top of the page for chrisMARTIN.tv ….on TV … sort of.
WOOHOO!
2 out of 3 bookings completed for Catalyst. Now all I need is my rental car. A big “thank you” to Jesse at Injoy for being incredibly helpful with the reservation.
ATL here I come. I am looking forward to it more than Christmas.
One more thing…
…does anybody notice how I don’t do short blog posts? Except for this one, which is my shortest ever.
Feng shui
I don’t claim to be an expert at it. Actually I know nothing about it except it’s supposed to bring your existence closer to harmony by aligning the planets furniture in your universe domicile in such a way as to promote conducive frequency modulatioin or some such bru ha ha. Here’s the real definition.
I just spent the last hour rearranging my room. It’s still not perfect. My bed is covered in items that are either going in the trash, or being placed in a witness relocation program. I have a ton of stuff. I’m a bit of a packrat and every once and a while I overload on the claustrophobia that is my bedroom. My office is so much cleaner and more organized than my bedroom. Not exactly sure as to why that is.
On a completely separate but much more exciting note…I booked my Catalyst plane ticket yesterday. I’m stoked. I’ve been looking forward to it for a almost a year now. I had an absolute blast last year. I have to make the best of it since that’s the last of my vacation time for the year. I must use the time to relax, reflect and have a blast all at the same time.
The speaker list is mega huge too. The norms will be there like John Maxwell (Leadership Juggernaut) and Andy Stanley (too good for a nick name in my eyes). They have new comers this year like Craig Groeschel (Superpimp pastor of LifeChurch.tv), Dave Ramsey (I better not see you using a credit card), Patrick Lencioni (Team building guru), Erwin McManus (Into the future looking futurist), Rick Warren (You have 30 days to find your purpose…..or die) and Tim Sanders (Former Chief Solutions Officer for some company that was big in the Dot Com Bubble days called Yahoo!) to name a few.
Anyway, I’m stoked. Work sucks, but that’s part of life. Have to go through the desert times and struggles to grow. Doesn’t help that I really want to get behind a camera like NOW. Oh well.
That is all.
Multitasking
Blogging. Making some intro titles in Apple Motion. Catching up on “the Nine”. It’s such an interesting capability. Making a life out of multitasking seems almost required in today’s extremely tech infested proliferated society.
I stumbled across a blog today (for the 2nd time) by a lady named Justine who does just that. After glancing around her site, and the multiple other connecting sites, I’m pretty impressed and a little very jealous. She’s a freelance video editor, but also allows her life to be detailed on a nearly 24/7 basis via a wireless (cellular) webcam setup. She’s a gadget freak, which makes her even cuter. :-)
Anyway, she had a big hit on Gizmodo today detailing to the world how AT&T (which is what Cingular/SBC is called this week) sent her a 300 page bill for her first month of iPhone usage. MY WORD. How ridiculous is that? That’s a book folks. There’s a problem when your bill weighs more than the product you’re using.
So here I sit, without an iPhone since I’m still in contract with TMo, watching “the Nine”, blogging about another very popular blogger, while going back and forth to Apple Motion and I wonder, “How on earth, or what on earth do I have to do get a setup like that?” and secondly “Is my, or could I make my, life interesting enough to carry around a webcam all day long?”.
That is all.
The Beginning Part 2
I’m struggling with a foundational topic to blog about. I’m torn between filmmaking (I’m a noob) to tech (everybody has a tech blog) to something “Seinfeldish” (a blog about nothing). I think I’ll go with the filmmaking. That works out well since I’m working with a friend on developing a script for my first attempt at directing a featurette. Actually my first attempt at directing anything other than a 1.5 minute or less commercial for an upcoming sermon series or church related event.
I wish I could find the best way to get this blog out there. I need input, I need advice, I need discussion. So far a grand total of maybe 10 individuals have seen this site; 4 church peeps, 2 individuals named “Google Bot”, 3 people looking for the lead singer of Coldplay and 1 Jack Russell Terrier from Poughkeepsie named Skip. It’s time to network past the 10; time to spam my address book, facebook and myspace. Get the word out. If you visit this site, tell somebody about it…especially if they are a videographer/filmmaker/director/producer/enthusiast.
Discusssion begins…..now.
Long overdue…
Ok folks. A lot’s happened since I updated. Tons of revelation. A lot of which I won’t talk about here for multiple reasons. That being said, here’s what I will tell you. Work is crazy. Ridiculously crazy. I’m the only person holding down the fort in my department and hoping desperately for relief soon. I’ve stepped away from editing video at church for the time being.
I should start writing a book on change. The most important lesson I’ve received is that change is necessary and that good change is always painful. How you handle change is what develops your character. Taking a defensive nature when others that care about you are trying to help you improve only hinders your progress.
On a separate note, I’m writing this on a new computer. A very swanky new computer. A MacBook Pro. It cost me….nothing. Except frustration and time. I bought a PowerBook 2 years ago. Due to several hardware failures I was issued a CRU (Customer Replacement Unit) from Apple. So now I have a top of the line (for the most part) laptop. Best part…it has an iSight. So video blogging is going to be a lot more convenient. Hopefully I’ll get something up here in the next couple of days.
Until the next update, which will be sooner and more often than the past has been.
Dominican Republic – Day 2 & 3
Still no video updates. I can´t find a spot to hook in. I have to use preconnected computers that don´t have any of the software I need on them to upload stuff.
Anyway, it´s warm, muggy and rainy. Tolerable. I´m staying hydrated. Blood pressure is way low though which concerns me. Not sure why. I´m not getting any sleep either due to sleeping conditions but I´m tough and I´ll survive. It´s a good reminder of how good I have it back home.
The clinic workers treated 243 kids and adults yesterday which is insane. We´re finishing up this morning with the sponsor kids and will open up to the general public this afternoon and tomorrow.
I´m working on video updates but may not be able to upload anything until I get back to el Estados Unidos. Checking for an internet cafe after lunch. More later
Hasta la nacho
Dominican Republic – Day 1
I made it safely. It´s warm and humid and the bloody spanish keyboards are killing me. I don´t have an Internet connection at the hotel so I´m typing this on the church computadora. Due to my connectile dysfunction I´m not sure how much video blogging I´ll be doing this week. You may get 4 or 5 updates all at once.
I am uploading the NC podcast at this very moment so check it out at NORTHchurch.tv/dominican
Hasta luego
Dominican Republic – Day 0
The first episode of chrisMARTIN.tv. I should get 5 or 6 in total this week. We shall see just how fast and well I can edit. Enjoy. Touch base tomorrow for Episode 2.
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Episode #1 – DR Trip – Day 0
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Final Cut Studio 2
It’s amazing. I installed my copy this week.
Next goal to accomplish…get a spot on “On the Lot”. Two reasons.
- $1 million deal with Dreamworks and Spielberg is stinking hard to turn down even if that’s chump change by production cost standards.
- Adrianna Costa (the host) is smoking hot.
That is all.
Adding fuel to the fire
Experienced a first today. I took on the role of an extra in a movie being filmed (even though film is a misnomer since they were using digitized video on P2 cards courtesy of the Panasonic HVX200) at OCU. Being in that environment just pushed me that much more to get behind the camera in a short or feature length movie directorial capacity. As of this writing, the movie is called “Unsolved” (cue up theme music and Robert Stack in a trench coat). Not entirely sure what the plot entails. I was playing the part of “Random unnamed but sharp dressed law student #24″ or something like that.
On a completely unrelated note I stumbled across this piece of geeky hilarity and thought I would share.
Back to reality
I’ve been back from Vegas for a week and a half now. The excitement of the trip is starting to wear off and now the next year lies before me. New prospects for work, videos/movies, experiences and travels. My imagination is running wild with ideas, but unfortunately few of them are within budgetary means or my technical skill level.
My first step is to make a short film. In my opinion the short may be the single greatest demonstration of story telling and movie making capabilities known to mankind. If a director can’t get a point across in 20 minutes or less (less is preferable) they won’t be able to sufficiently get a point across in a clean manner in 2 hours. That’s why so many of Hollywood’s output requires special effects, “wow” factor and overpaid incapable actors to sell tickets. Truth be told…there is a lot to be said for acting talent, but I feel the actor’s abilities to emote on camera are directly related to a director’s ability to direct.
As ideas abound and come into a more refined focus I hope to be able to see the characters of my story come out of hiding from within the people in my life. I can’t imagine who better to work with than those I’ve known the longest. Some would say don’t mix friends/family and work… I completely agree with that assessment. If you enjoy your job you don’t have to work though. I know who these people are, what they capable of doing, or who they can be… I see more within them than they can see of themselves quite often.
Stick around for updates as I start to layout the movie plans. I won’t get too specific with the details during the development but I’ll be sure to let you see the finished product.
Stay tuned.
NAB 2007 Day 3 and 4
Well folks this is the last NAB 2007 update. We went, we conquered, we’re exhausted.
We hit the show first thing yesterday morning and had to wait in line for all of 30 seconds because the doors didn’t open up until 9 AM local and we arrived at 8:59:37 AM. Bogus. Anyway, I hit Panasonic first and talked to them about their AJ-HPX2000, AG-HPX500 and AG-HVX200 I covered the entirety of the lower south hall (Post Production and Display Systems) and some of the uppler South hall (Management & Systems and Acquisition & Production). Ended up with, and this is a rough estimate, between 20 and 1000 pounds of schwag and manufacturer propaganda. My shoulders and arms are tired from carrying that around all day yesterday. I met Stu Maschwitz from The Orphanage, who just happened to write the book I am currently reading: “The DV Rebel’s Guide: An All-Digital Approach to Making Killer Action Movies on the Cheap“. He presented some of the finer points of Adobe After effects and demoed how it was used to make the bank robbery and falling scene from “Superman Returns“.
By the end of the day I had visited Ross, Grass Valley, Analog Way, Adobe, Autodesk, AJA, Boris FX, Element Labs, Sony, Canon, Manfrotto, Porta Brace, Kino Lighting and so many more.
Scott was being a fellow information kleptomaniac by camping out in the Apple booth for all of their Final Cut 2 demos.
We ate lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe and dinner at dinner at Bahama Breeze. Souvenir shopping followed and then a run and gun illegal parking jaunt to watch the fountain show at the Bellagio.
Day 4 included a fast dash to the Apple booth for me to run through the whole set of FC Suite demo, lunch at Cozymel’s and surprisingly short wait in line to get our board pass at McCarran International Airport. Now here I sit, waiting on a flight, talking to a couple of guys I met that work at OETA who were out here for NAB as well. I’m ready to go home. Who knows if I’ll go to the office tomorrow. May work from home.
Until next time.
NAB 2007 Day 2
Well, we shifted our plans today. We didn’t make it to the convention until a 6 PM Apple Enterprise Clients networking shindig. Spent all day shooting video for tomorrow night’s Revolution service. Got some decent shots but as always not enough b-roll. Still trying to burn that into my head. It’s one of my single greatest downfalls as a director/producer/editor. Lessons learned.
Saw the Oakely corporate jet, the famous Las Vegas sign, a guitar that Jimi Hendrix burned on stage, gondolas on the second floor of the Venetian, and what I will assume is America’s closest attempt to paint a Sistine Chapel inspire ceiling. Hitting the show all day tomorrow, and hitting it hard.
NAB 2007 Day 1
NAB 2007 Day 1. WOW! That’s the best word I can come up with for what I experienced today. So much information, so many eye catching, awe inspiring, “How’d you do that?” technologies. My mind is spinning. My feet hurt, my shoulders are tired from carrying around my PowerBook all day long, and I have 2 more days of this. We met up with Evan from Integrated Fusion for lunch and then he followed up with connecting us with the Martin Lighting church rep for dinner. He’s been incredibly helpful with insight regarding the ins and outs of attending NAB. This is his 5th NAB trip so he’s well versed. Met up with our Apple rep and chit chatted about the new Compressor and podcasting and FC Studio 2 and 8 Core Mac Pros and Red 4k and ProRes 422 and….well, you can take it from there. More to come tomorrow.