Adventures of Devin and other short stories

Epic Rope Swing!!!

2012-02-15T22:33:00.000-08:00

Here's the latest!!! One of the funnest film shoots we have done yet!! And I have a behind the scenes video on it as well!

Behind The Scenes

Behind the Scene Videos!!! Finally! :)

2012-01-20T13:39:00.001-08:00

I'm going to start releasing new behind the scene videos every other week!! Sometimes they will even be weekly! :) Here is one I made last week, the next one will be coming out early next week! :)

Puppy Christmas

2011-12-24T12:59:00.000-08:00

Here's my latest video! I released it 5 days ago, and in that time it has gotten 1.5 million views, and it's been on what seems like every national television network, including CNN, NBC, and ABC! :) Here it is!

As far as the making of this video goes....

I really wanted to make a Christmas video for my youtube channel, and I was having a hard time coming up with an idea. While I jumped onto facebook, one of my friends, Xan, had posted pictures of her 4 little puppies she was trying to sell... Then I started thinking about how it seemed like a perfect fit for Christmas.

With my youtube videos, I generally try, not always, but generally try to come up with ideas that the majority of people will share, which makes them "go viral", and with puppies/animals, they are always something that people share.

So I jumped onto youtube and googled "puppies", and every video that came up had several million hits, so after I did my research/homework on the youtube puppy market, it seemed like if I threw in Christmas, it would help that much more.

As I was trying to think of how I could have them a part of Christmas, the whole idea of the story came in, with them in a Christmas present. Right after that I contacted my friend Xan, who said she would love to help me with letting me borrow her puppies.

I then would need a house that I could film in, that would feel like Christmas, so I posted on facebook that I needed a certain kind of house (I posted examples of other houses). Several people volunteered their house. I checked out several of them, but the one that fit perfect was donated by the Dyer family.

So I went to their house to scout it out that very day. I had only met the Dyer family briefly at a restaurant one day, so just by hardly knowing them, they were super helpful and willing to help in any way they could.

That night I went to Walmart and spent 75 dollars on Christmas things, like wrapping paper, stockings, and ornaments. The great thing about the house we were using though, is it was already decorated perfectly.

The next evening I got a couple of my friends to come help with the shoot. We wrapped up a bunch of fake presents, and Xan came with her puppies. We then filmed for a couple hours, and called it good. The puppies ran out of energy in the first 45 minutes, so then we had to improvise a little after that to help them have energy. They say that the 2 hardest things to work with, with movies is children and animals, and yes, that was definitely the case.

I then spent a couple days editing the puppy video. I then sent it to one of my composers, Elton Luz. He then had two days to compose the music. I gave him full creative freedom with the music, so he came up with his own original Christmas song.

We then released it the following day, and that's the story of how the "Puppy Christmas" youtube video came out :)

Massive Toilet Papering Prank

2011-12-07T16:45:00.001-08:00

Here's our latest youtube video, with a couple statistics on it :)

We used 504 rolls of toilet paper!
It took 1 hour to make the mess.
8 hours to clean up the mess :( That's with 5 of us total.
We had two cop cars come and try and stop us, one while filming, and the other while we were trying to clean up (They thought we were tp'ing the house in broad daylight... yeah....

Youtube Partner Epidemic

2011-12-02T11:56:00.000-08:00

I'm not gonna lie, I'm really worried about the new youtube design/layout. In fact, perhaps a little terrified :( I really do believe it has the potential to wipe out several youtube partners who have made youtube there career, perhaps including mine.

Now my life isn't based on youtube at all, well... I kinda take that back a little, haha, but the truth of the matter is, just recently I decided to focus full time on youtube.... However, this may soon change..... (Dramatic music kicks in)....

Yesterday afternoon, Youtube released their new layout, which in turn, has begun the beginning of perhaps the youtuber partners death (for some, and the rise for others).

Instead of me tell you how it has effected people who have made youtuber there careers, let me show you. All the graphs I have, I got this morning off of vidstatsx.com which is a way to follow any youtube channel, hour by hour to see how fast they are rising, or in this case..... following....

Let's take a look at one of the biggest youtubers, MysteryGuitarMan. He on average gets 1,100 people subscribing to his youtube channel a day, that's an average of the last 30 days. However, as of yesterday, here is what happened at 4pm when youtube changed the way youtube runs.

Before Youtube layout (average subscribers a day): 1,100
After Youtube layout (last 24 hours): -722

Never in this youtubers career has he gone in the negative, not only is he in the negatives.... but a pretty substantial drop.

Here's a graph to show what happened!

Let's take a look at another huge youtuber, ShayCarl, here is his stats!

Before Youtube layout (average subscribers a day): 1000
After Youtube layout (last 24 hours): -1,357

RhettandLink who are also another huge youtuber, it once again is the same story :(

Now, I really believe Youtube wouldn't make these changes to kill all of there youtube partners, in fact, I would say it would be quite the opposite. Youtube is awesome with helping there content creators grow.. Show lets look at how some youtubers who have been effected positively.

Machinima, who is the number 3 most subscribed to youtube channel, having almost 3.8 million subscribers, here is what happened to them when youtube made the change.

Before Youtube layout (average subscribers a day): 5,500
After Youtube layout (last 24 hours): 24,069

As we can see with this youtube partner, there stats are off the hook!

As I have looked into why this is, when most other youtubers are on the worst decline of all time, I have come up with this....

The new youtube layout, it acts a lot like facebook, as far as news feeds go, so people who put out a lot of content, show up a ton in peoples news feeds, and people who put out vids once a week, don't have a great chance of showing up at all.

People like Machinima, who put out 5-10 videos a day sometimes, (its all video gameplay content), push out of the news feed all the other youtubers.

This is what I have gathers just from my own observation, I don't know if it's the only reason but I really do believe it is a huge part of it.

Which is sad, for youtubers that we looked at earlier, because the content is very time intensive to make, it makes it impossible to put out videos on a super regular basis. So it almost takes away all chance of them being seen.

In my own personal case as well, it's the same story. I put several weeks into my films for youtube, several days shooting, working with music composers, editing, sound design, and everything else that goes into it. It now takes away any chance of me being able to compete with any company/top dogs that have a huge crew/team.

Here is what has happened to my youtube channel within the last 24 hours.

Before Youtube layout (average subscribers a day): 352
After Youtube layout (last 24 hours): -72

And it's not just the people the subscribers that are changing, even how many hits the videos are getting.

Within the last two months, every video that I have released, because of the 130,000 subscribers that I have, I would always get at least 50,000 hits on the first day, even if the video didn't do amazing overall, I was always guaranteed 50,000 hits on the video on the first day.

The youtube video I released two days ago, it got only 10,000 hits in the first 24 hours. Youtube had already started re-ramping it's system, so it already had a huge effect on my video.

Once again though, several youtubers have been effected greatly by the changes, here's a look at a couple others.

RayWilliamJohnson, who is the most subscribed to channel on youtube, here is his stats!

Before Youtube layout (average subscribers a day): 5,998
After Youtube layout (last 24 hours): 18,526

Once again notice that with every change that happens for these youtubers, regardless if they rise or fall, it all happens right around 4pm when youtube started using the "New Youtube".

And lets take a look at another huge youtuber, EpicMealTime.

Before Youtube layout (average subscribers a day): 4,608
After Youtube layout (last 24 hours): 17,373

Here's another graph looking at there subscriber growth within the last two weeks.

I also have compiled down below a list of the top youtubers, and how they have been effected. I'm still trying to figure out why some youtubers skyrocket off the hook, while others totally drop.

Negatively Effected:
MysteryGuitarMan
ShayCarl
RhettandLink
iJustine
daneboe
WinterSpringPro
charlestrippy
devinsupertramp

Positively Effected:
EpicMealTime
RayWilliamJohnson
Machinima
freddiew
collegehumor
realannoyingorange
CorridorDigital

I'm having a super hard time drawing parallels with why some of these youtubers channels are going off like crazy, while the others are totally falling apart, I would love to hear any of your thoughts on why this is, so I can change what I'm doing wrong, so I can get back in the game, otherwise I really don't think I'll be able to keep up with the whole youtube thing :(

But, one last final statement. I know youtube has been constantly trying to better everything, for everyone. And change is always hard regardless, and I really do believe google/youtube will figure things out with this, even if it does take time, I just hope that it is something that can happen sooner then later :)

As far as this "New Youtub" goes, it's just a matter of figuring out the new system, and for those that figure out how to run the new system first, they are the ones that will prosper, grow the fastest, I just have to figure that out :)

-Devin

My youtube friend "Kalebnation" just informed me that the reason why those youtubers above are getting the boost, is because they are apearing on one of the main pages, because they are being promoted, otherwise they would be on a downfall as well :(

Here's the link to that, and a screenshot of that page.

http://www.youtube.com/channels?feature=foot

Zelda Medley

2011-11-17T14:26:00.000-08:00

Here is our latest youtube video! It's for all the Nintendo fan boys/fan girls out there!! :)

First off, I'm a HUGE Nintendo/Zelda fan! :) Second off, with the youtube videos that I do, as often as I can, I try and pick "hot topics", and make videos on them, just so I can get the most exposure as possible :). In this case, the Nintendo video game Zelda: “Skyward Sword” is coming out this week, so it seemed like a perfect fit to make a video just to build off the hype that the game would already be getting. This was all considered months in advance.

So I got my violin friend Lindsey Stirling involved from the beginning. She had never actually played a Zelda video game before, but she did a ton of research on the game itself, and the music, and then she arranged her own composition based off of the Zelda world.

We did this whole process several months in advance before we were going to release the video. We then contacted my friend Dan who owns a recording studio here in Provo Utah, and he recorded the music for us. From there, we then went to my friend Stephen Anderson, who composed the backtrack that plays in the background.

I then contacted my friend Ben who I went to film school with. Ben is an awesome makeup designer, and he made the elf ears for Lindsey that appeared in the video.

If you love the music, you can download the song off of iTunes in the link below.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/zelda-medley-single/id481386691

My friend Melia Harris custom made the whole costume just for the video. In the video game itself, Link (the character who the game is based off of, not Zelda), wears a green costume. In the video Lindsey wears the same costume, but it's blue. The reason behind this, was I didn't want her to be compared to Link. I wanted people to know right away that she was a part of that same world, and in the video game Link does wear a blue outfit for a section of it, so we tried to put the best of both worlds in there, that was the logic for that.

As far as filming locations go, we shot this all in Utah, in a couple different locations. The first location, the Dungeon Castle, we filmed here in Provo Utah, where I am now living. All the mountain scenes were filmed on the Alpine Loop, when all the leaves were changing colors. The green forest was near the same location. For the snow scenes, we filmed those by Brighton Ski Resort. We filmed this video over a course of a month, just to make sure we could hit every "climate".

For the horse scenes, our friend Emily hooked us up with her friends horse, which we filmed those scenes in Spanish Fork Canyon.

As far as the technical side of the video, we shot this on our company's Red Epic camera, which shoots at 5K resolution. Sadly though, youtube has a hard time with all that information, so when we uploaded even in a low resolution version, youtube encoding made it significantly not as clear as it was shot :( But you work with what you got. But what I learned is that youtube can handle Canon footage significantly better than the Red Epic camera footage.

The reason the camera looks like it is floating, is because I do most of my filming with a Glidecam. I usually just use a small glidecam, a glidecam 2000 HD to be specific. But because this camera is significantly heavier, we just recently purchased a full glidecam with a vest, and an arm.

A couple other key players that helped make this happen was my friend Jacob Schwarz, he spent the first day of filming with me, just to make sure we didn't have any surprises with shooting with our Red Epic camera.

You can also check out our company's website in the link below. We started our production company together once we finished film school.

Mysterybox

All in all, most of the youtube videos I do, consist of just me, and usually the person being filmed. In this case though, it would not have happened without a full team behind me/side by side with me. Without the costume designer, makeup artist, sound recorder, helpers, background music, Lindsey, color correctors, and my other friends that helped with all the torces we had to make, this wouldn't have happened! So yes, make sure to check out Lindsey's youtube channel if you haven't already!!

Lindsey's Youtube Channel.
A couple other key players that helped make this happen was my friend Jacob Schwarz, he spent the first day of filming with me, just to make sure we didn't have any surprises with shooting with our Red Epic camera.

You can also check out our company's website in the link below. We started our production company together once we finished film school.

Mysterybox

Also, in regards to this video, and several other videos I have done lately. A decent amount of people have complained that they just want to see videos like the human slingshot video... My response to that is... Yes, those videos always do the best on my youtube channel, however it is almost impossible to come up with new videos like that each week. They always take several weeks of preparation, a ton of people, and a lot of other logistics. Also, my being a film maker, I don't want to be branded as just the guy that does "fun" things. I want to show that I can take on everything from fast and adventurous, to slow and thought provoking.

So for those who have asked, I want my youtube channel to show what I can do in every area, so I don't get branded as a one trick pony, so yeah, there you have it, feel free to complain about it if ya want, haha :) And your feedback is always helpful, but I do have to stay true to trying new things, and pushing myself in other directions just so I can move forward, and progress as a film maker.

-Devin

Halloween Youtube Video!

2011-11-01T13:09:00.000-07:00

I released this youtube video 3 days before Halloween, and it's gotten 260,000 hits in those couple days leading up to the Holiday :) It got featured on CBSnews.com, cnn, the huffingtonpost, devour.com, and it even got featured on red.com's official blog :) When videos are released, there's a lot of factors that go into the success of them, and timing is a huge part of it! Here is the video without any further ado, simple, but with a Halloween theme.

And my friend Stephen Andersen wrote the sweet music for this one, he had 24 hours to write it. And the creepy voice you hear in it, that's acutually not a childs voice, it's his, haha, he super manipulated it though to give it the creepy feel.

We also used our companies Red Epic camera to shoot this video, in 300 frames per second. Most of my youtube videos I shoot on my Canon 5D Mark II, but this content seemed to fit the epic camera just perfect.

Check out our company website here.

mysterybox.us

Also a super shout out to my friends who helped film/make this possible. Jacob Schwarz, Katie Crapo, and Lindsey Stirling. They helped on every aspect of this as well, including cleanup, ha.

No brakes, down hill, 55 mph!

2011-09-15T14:16:00.000-07:00

Here's our latest YouTube video! I'll be doing a blog post about it in the next of couple days, but until then, enjoy the new video. If you read the description, I go over a lot of the making of the video there so you can get you’re fill from there for now. Hope you enjoy! :)

My Tripod - Film Equipment

2011-09-06T10:03:00.000-07:00

I'm going to keep this blog post pretty simple. Here are the exact tripod "sticks" and head that I use for filming my videos and even for still photographs. Whenever you buy a professional tripod, you should always purchase the sticks and head separately (this is why they are not together). The tripod itself is a little heavy; fortunately, the pro to this is that it isn't shaky when taking night pictures at long exposures and it doesn't move when you’re filming. The other great pro about both of these items is that they are probably the most inexpensive tripod and head you will find for the awesome quality that they are. So, below I have provided links to the same place I bought them. :) Also, just as a heads up, I am never paid for any recommendation I will ever make on my blog; these are all things that I use and have chosen after hours, if not days, of research. I hope you can benefit from the fruits of my labor!  Here's the tripod "sticks" that I use.

Manfrotto 055XPROB Pro Tripod Legs (Black)

And the tripod "head" that I use.

Manfrotto 501HDV Video Head

So there you have it, these are what I would suggest you buy if you’re shooting/filming with a DSLR camera.

Human Slingshot Slip and Slide - Vooray

2011-08-30T16:33:00.000-07:00

Our latest YouTube video involves a human sling shot. Now I know you’re interested :)

Honestly, this was one of the most fun YouTube videos we have made thus far! I worked together with the awesome clothing company "Vooray" to make it possible. We had talked about working together for the longest time, with the problem being that I was based in Hawaii and they were based in Utah...however, last month I moved to Utah so it finally became a reality.   

We filmed this video on Saturday, August 27th and after some marathon editing, I released it 3 days later on Monday, August 30th! I was just really stoked to get it out to you guys, haha!

  My friend Jace LeRoy was a huge part of the filming of this video. He and I both ran cameras; I ran my Canon 5D Mark II and he ran his Canon T2i.  

For the actual slip and slide, the 8 foot tall jump itself was built by Vooray. They originally used a regular bungie to sling people out, but a week before we filmed it snapped during testing. It ended up whiplashing a couple people, so for safety’s sake, they bought a 250 dollar bungie online to make sure no one got hurt when we filmed.  

The pond itself was on private property in Paradise, Utah. From the jump to the opposite end, the water was 150 feet long. Several people were launched 120 feet from the jump...not to bad, right? :) In fact, the first person that flew the 120 feet actually got knocked out once he hit the water! Fortunately, everyone ran in to help him right away. This actually happened to 3 people...but even then it still didn't stop them!  Everyone wore helmets and life jackets, trying to make sure we were as safe as possible. Just for the record though, I didn't do it; I'm not that brave (or stupid), depending on how you look at it. :)  

Last October, we filmed a similar video to this, but it was about a bike jump into a lake. You can check that video out below.    Once again, this Slingshot Slip and Slide video would have never happened had it not been for Vooray putting it on! So make sure to check out their website and if you use the following promo code, it will give you 15 percent off.  Promo Code: devinsuperslide 

Vooray.com

The Haka

2011-08-24T02:44:00.000-07:00

Just as a heads up, I took down this video right after I released it to make a couple of changes to it; it will be released in a once I’m satisfied with its quality. Sorry for the delay.

  Until then, here’s all the info that went into the making of it.

As far as the individuals in the video, half of them were Maori people (New Zealand natives) and the other half were Hawaiians. The performers are part of a team that competes in Haka competitions; their team name is ‘Te Kohao!’.

My Hawaiian mom, Nikki Mozo, hooked me up with team ‘Te Kohao!’; the members that appear in the video are: Mauri Ora, Shannon, Tama, Alex, Ricky, Moko, Tema, Ahe, James, and Hailama.  Additionally, I had a lot of help from my friends to film this video: Melinda Kendall, James Choi, Jase LeRoy, Aaron Nelsen, Kuuleipualani Akina, and me :)

In the video, the Haka was performed. According to Wikipedia, Haka is “…a traditional dance form of the South Pacific islander mostly known from the Māori of New Zealand through their rugby team display. It is a posture dance performed by a group, with vigorous movements and stamping of the feet with rhythmically shouted accompaniment.” For more info on the Haka, feel free to check Wikipedia!

As far as the location of this video, we filmed it at Kualoa, which is also one of my favorite places in Hawaii. Here is a link to their website. http://www.kualoa.com/

The Haka performers also perform at the Polynesian Cultural Center which is the number one tourist attraction in Hawaii. It's like Disneyland, but Hawaii style, where guests learn and experience the full Polynesian culture. If you want more info on this place where you can see the Haka performed live, check out the link below (p.s. no one is paying me to say these things, I just think they’re awesome). :) http://www.polynesia.com/ 

The Haka that was performed in this video is called "Te Oranga o te Matauranga". The words were written by the other male leader of the group, Iraia Bailey. He now lives in Hong Kong with his family doing fireknife for Disney's Lion King show. The actions and rhythm of the Haka were choreographed by Tama who was the man leading the chant.

 As far as the English translation of the chant, here it is:

The call is sent out to all the land What is happening to the miro (education) that the birds of Tāne (children) are starving for? That will provide sustenance in this world. And where are the strong branches (teachers) that provide support for my nest Please extend your help for you are the safe haven (for our children) However the great Totara (Government) stands bare for Tāwhirimātea has stripped all her leaves (funding) and carried them beyond the horizon and there is no more protection for our children there is no miro (education) for them to feed. The branches are weak and flimsy there is no hope at this moment for the body is putrid (referring to the furlough Fridays and options taken to save money) Soon you will see. Soon you will hear Of the weakness of the Tōtara (the government) By what means shall miro (Education) be obtained to fill the belly of our malnourished children What paths will our youth take to fill the void of education? They will turn to other pathways. They will seek other food Food that will destroy the spirit because of the frail and feeble actions of our government. Give us the power. Give us the strength So our minds will be invigorated. So our bodies will be strong. So our hearts may be uplifted Why? So that we can think of what is best for our children who are getting beaten by the lack of an education, lack of miro, alas the hopeless educational system of Hawaii. Let us provide support for our teachers and help teach our children for that is where we will find our solution.

As far as the making of this video, it was shot on a Canon 5D Mark II, two Canon 7D's, and two Canon T3i's. We used a Canon 16-35mm F/2.8 L series lens for all the wide angle shots and a Canon 70-200mm F/2.8 L series lens for all of the tight shots; additional lenses were used for accompanying shots.

As far as making the camera look like it was "flying", I used a Glidecam 2000 HD for all those shots. You can check out the exact model on their official website below. Once again, I don't get paid to suggest any equipment, I just try and let you know what works well for me! :)  

http://www.glidecam.com/

Filming for Nike :)

2011-08-17T13:34:00.000-07:00

After the company Nike saw my youtube video on my youtube channel, that I made with a bunch of my friends, "The Dirty Dash", they contacted me to shoot a similar style of video for them.

They were doing a promotional video with one of there Nike athletes who was gonna compete in the event. So Nike flew me down from Hawaii to Billings Montana to shoot the video for them. The video I shot for them is right below. Just as a reminder, I only shot the video, I had nothing to do with the editing, music, or anything else, so here it is :) Here it is.

Filming in Iceland!

2011-08-11T14:26:00.000-07:00

I had an opportunity of a life time all last week filming a cell phone commercial in Iceland! Once again, this opportunity came about ONLY because of my youtube channel. My Youtube channel has really opened up SO many doors for me, it has made me go from a local filmmaker, to an international film maker, in the 9 months that I have been pursuing youtube, it has given me the awesome opportunity to travel all around the world to shoot for other companies, of all kinds of projects from Jetpacks in Miami, to dogsledding at the top of glaciers in Iceland. I have loved every minute of this, and there is nothing better being able to travel the world to awesome locations at other peoples expense, and to get paid for it as well :)

Jumping back to the Iceland commercial, and how it all came about…. One of the biggest production companies in Israel called Ronit Mulla Production ran across my Youtube channel, and they loved my Glidecam shots that I often do in most of my videos.. that is when they contacted me by email saying they would love to work with me. They gave me a call, and they asked if I really got those shots without any other device, but myself, they asked if I could get the same shots in any kind of difficult terrain. Gil, the guy that called me, told me then that they were doing a television commercial for a cell phone company in Israel and that they would love to have me involved. They would be shooting it in Iceland for a week. I accepted… and that's kinda how it all went down.

The great thing about the whole experience is I was able to bid it out and get what I wanted, travel to a part of the world I would have never gotten to see, and I got the opportunity to work with some other amazing filmmakers from around the world. The film crew was around 25 total, consisting of crew members from Israel, Iceland, England, and me being the only one from the US. It was my first time working with people from a completely different culture as well, and that learning experience on its own was worth it.

The commercial itself was being shot on 35mm film, which the main DP shot on, and then I was shooting.covering all the Glidecam shots with my Canon 5D Mark II.

We had three solid days of shooting in Iceland, where we started filming on there black sandy beaches, and then on the 3rd day we ended up filming on one of there biggest glaciers.

As far as my initial impression of Iceland….. It is unlike anything I could have ever dreamed about, There is only 300,000 people on the island… and with an island as big as it is, that is hardly anyone. The whole place almost looked desolate, and the whole island looked like something from "Lord of the Rings". Everyone there speaks Icelandic, however most people also can speak English if you start speaking it to them. They are also super friendly people. And the country itself is probably the cleanest I have ever seen. They burn no oil in the country for energy, unlike anywhere else in the world. They have found away, since the island is built on a volcano essentially, to use that energy and convert it into electricity.

Also, Iceland itself has no enemies with any country, and because of that it is super safe where it seems like they don't have to take any safety precautions, unlike the US. For example, one of the days we were there, we had to film at the opposite side of the island, so we had to jump on an airplane to fly to the other side, since it was gonna be a 6 hour drive. When we flew on that airplane, we paid for the ticket.. just like you would pay for a bus ticket, and then we just jumped on the airplane with our luggage… this without ANY kind of screening of us or the bags, they didn't even need to see our I.D. We just jumped on like it was a bus, walking up to it without any security whatsoever.

Also, my stereotype of Iceland was that it was going to be totally freezing…. not the case, yes, it was cold, but not to bad… When the Vikings originally discovered Iceland, they also discovered Greenland as well… but they loved Iceland, and didn't want it to become populated… so they gave Iceland it's name to turn people off from it to make them think it was cold, when in reality it is Greenland that is the freezing island. There's your fun fact for the day :)

So my final conclusion is this… I LOVED Iceland, I would love to go back there and film some youtube videos one of these days :) And I would love to film a feature film there as well :) The area is totally diverse, and the whole time it felt like something from Lord of the Rings, all the way to the little villages, to the houses built into the grass as they were in Lord of the Rings with the hobbits homes.

Also, they flew me First class to Iceland, both ways, which was the first time I have ever been treated like a celebrity :)

I'll be posting the final commercial here once it goes up online :)

-Devin

Here's a music video I just ran across that was entirely shot in Iceland, I think it gives an awesome perspective of what Iceland looks like for those who have never been. Many of the locations used in the video were the same ones we used as well.

Modern Warfare - Epic Tower Jump

2011-08-10T14:33:00.000-07:00

Here's the latest youtube video :) I'm starting to explore different generes of videos on my youtube channel, it first started with the special effects with the firework video, and now this one, which is caterored more to the "video game" audience. So we will see how it does, but I would love to do a lot more videos like this.

I did break a lot of my rules though, as far as generally when I film I try and keep the camera as smooth as possible, that was the opposite of this video though, the whole purpose to make the audience feel like they were a part of it, that we were "breaking and entering" with the person in the video... It gave it a more"documentary style", so it was shot all handheld until we get to the tower. So without any further ado, here it is.

Also, for those who have asked, I bought the ghillie suit off of amazon, here is a link to the exact model I bought.

Epic Violin Girl - Lindsey Stirling

2011-08-05T09:01:00.000-07:00

The ideas for my youtube videos always come from the strangest of places, and in this videos case, it actually came straight from the source, YouTube :)

I saw Lindsey Stirling originally a year or so ago when my friend was showing me cool youtube videos. The video was on a hip hop violinist who was a finalist on America's Got Talent. I had never seen anything like this girl, she was amazing :) I have the original video that I saw Lindsey on right below.

I had never seen anything like Lindsey's talent, so I tried to contact her shortly after that video to see if we could make a youtube video together. The funny thing about it all, is Lindsey also just so happened to be going to the exact same college that I was attending, BYU Utah. I was in the film program, and she was studying Therapeutic Recreation.

I contacted Lindsey on facebook, and told her I would love to do a video with her... At that time though, it was right after her success with Americas Got Talent, so she was getting offers all around the world for other projects, so she was actually to busy for me at that time :) And she hadn't written any music of her own yet either which was a setback as well.

Four or five months after that, Lindsey contacted me back via facebook and told me she had put together some original songs. The only problem though was I was now living in Hawaii (Oahu), and she was in Utah... However, I had just gotten hired to film another video for another company that exact same time in Utah,... so when I flew to Utah we made the video happen together. We had crazy schedules that whole shoot as well. My main priority was the other video which I was getting paid for, so we made Lindsey's video on the side. The first time we filmed together was early sunset, and I had been filming all night and day prioir to that on the other video.. with no sleep... So yeah, I was kinda out of it, ha. The outcome of that video can be found here though.

From working with Lindsey on that project, we ended up keeping in touch super well, and we have become best of friends... and that's all because of youtube! Actually the best deal out of the whole project is that Lindsey and I are now dating, haha, and just for the record that was never the intention of making a video with Lindsey, but I'm TOTALLY glad it worked out :) It's kinda like a Hollywood story, right? :)

My initial impressions of working with Lindsey, on a professional level are these.. Lindsey is honestly one of the hardest workers that I have ever met, super fun, kind, and also with that one of the most talented people I have ever worked with as well. I had an awesome experience with her, and are goals and passions are very similar, so I think that was one of the many reasons why we clicked so well.

With my background as a "youtuber"Lindsey also got her big start from youtube as well a couple years back when one of her youtube videos went "viral". I will post that video right below. It was through that video, and several others on her youtube channel that America's Got Talent contacted her, because of her success online.

Lindsey just released an awesome new music video for one of her songs as well right below, so make sure to check that out, and her rocking youtube channel :)

So what's the moral of this story/blogpost? Perhaps it's the idea that Youtube isn't just for putting out videos, perhaps it's much deeper then that... That youtube is the new online dating website ;)

Also make sure to check out Lindsey's Facebook fan page in this link below.
Lindsey's Facebook Fan Page

And here is here awesome original music on iTunes :)
Lindsey Stirling's iTunes music

p.s. If you couldn't tell, I really like this girl, and I think she has an amazing future ahead of her with her career! You heard it from me first :)

Getting dirty :)

2011-07-29T12:44:00.001-07:00

Here's our latest youtube video :) We actually filmed it a couple months back, didn't release it right away cause I've been swamped, but here it is finally :)

Kualoa Adventure!

2011-07-12T08:11:00.001-07:00

I'll be doing a proper blog post on the making of this video soon, in the meantime, here is my latest youtube video. Pulled an all nighter to make sure it got done ;) I made it on one of my favorite places in the world, Kualoa Oahu.

Homemade FIreworks! SOUND DESGIN!

2011-07-01T05:34:00.000-07:00

Here's our latest youtube video :) It's my first time using visual effects in one actually :) Thanks to my friend Aaron Sorensen who was the one who added them/made it happen.

The point of this blog entry is to go over SOUND DESGIN!

Out of all the youtube videos that I have done this far in my "youtube career", this one has been the most intensive when it comes to sound design. I had to recreate every single sound that is heard in the video. There were NO SOUNDS used from in camera. A lot of times in the video I used sounds that you would think normally wouldn't work, such as a horse trotting, etc. Just to give you an idea of how complicated the sound design was on this video, here is a screen grab from my timeline of the firework video, the focus is on the sound effects that were all added.

There was actually 24 layers of sound effects just in one video clip alone. I had to recreate "pops, snaps, and explosions" throughout the video, and then also recreate sound effects of balls being hit from golf balls, soccer balls, and frisbee throws. Some of these sounds I took out of a sound library, and others I had to recreate on my own.

As far as when I do my own sound effects, to record them I use a Zoom H4N sound recorder, and a Sennheiser MKH-416 shot gun mic. Both of which you can find on B@H website. The setup works great, and they actually use the same mic I use on a lot of independent films as well.

It took me a huge amount of time to decide on buying this mic/sound set up, but after a month of research I found it to be the best for the money. So I would highly recommend it :)

While I am doing the sound design on a video like this, I have already emailed it to my friend Stephen Anderson who composes most of my youtube videos. He is at the same time writing the score for it. Usually when I send these videos off, he only has a day to a week to pull off the music, in this videos case, he had only one day, ha, which I'm always amazed at what he pulls off in such a short time.

He then sends me the track, and then I do the final tweaks to the sound effects based on what he gave me, because all the sounds have already been added, it's mostly just a matter of tweaking levels a little bit.

But as far as hours go into the sound design on a video like this... I would say easily 12-15 hours were spent on recreating the sound effects and tweaking them. Which it's always sad to think so much time went into that for the fact that no one ever knows how much time really goes into it... however if the sounds were not there, people would then notice... so it actually is the biggest payoff when people don't notice the sound design, because then that means it blended in just fine to the movie, and added to it, rather then take away :)

So, there you have it, my two cents on sound design, and why it' important to take the time to get it right, or at least try to get it right :)

I also just discovered a really in depth video on sound design that just came out recently, it was all in regards to the film Transformers 3, and there sound design... which if you haven't seen/heard the movie yet, the sound design is amazing, check out the video right below.

Underdog Stories

2011-06-13T19:18:00.000-07:00

I LOVE underdog stories!! And I just came across this one!! Totally worth watching all the way through! Makes you love people who pursue there dreams despite all opposition!! Make sure to watch it all the way through, I promise it's worth it!

From Tahiti with Love

2011-06-12T23:55:00.000-07:00

As I start writing this blog, I feel completely inadequate to even begin to convey/share what this trip meant to me... With that in mind, here is an attempt at it.

To start off this entry, here is the video I made on the experience, hopefully it will help paint a better picture of the experience, even though I really don't believe it still does the people of Tahiti justice.

In just the two weeks I was in Tahiti, my entire perception of people changed. COMPLETELY! I will always look at those two weeks as a very strong turning point in my life/career when "the bigger picture" came much more into play.

I think generally when people think of Tahiti, or any island for that matter, they assume that it is just a vacation on the beach... HOWEVER, if this is what you go there for, you have completely missed something SO MUCH STRONGER of an experience, and that is the people!

The people of Tahiti, I will forever love. They have left a permanent imprint on my heart, and knowing what I know now about the love they had towards me... my life will never be the same. And of coarse, for the better!

As we were leaving Tahiti, one of the people I was with, Nikki Mozo, we were talking about the whole experience, and she said something to me that I had never had someone put into words. And as simple as it sounds... It is 100 percent TRUE!!!

As we were talking about what made the people of Tahiti different then anyone else we had met, it kept on coming up about how genuine these people were. Nikki shared the idea that the only true way that someone shows love is when they do things out of complete inconvenience, and with no motivation but to help the person in which they drop everything for. It doesn't sound very profound the way I wrote it, but the way Nikki worded it, it was for sure one of the most profound things I've ever heard :)

For me this summed up completely the love I had personally felt by the people in Tahiti.

For example, when we were leaving at the airport, the family we had stayed with the first week, the Tautu family.. they lived on the complete opposite side of the island... And not only did they not have a car, but they didn't have access to borrow a car to wave us goodbye. So what they did was use the little money that they did have, and get a rental car. They did all of this just to wave goodbye to us at the airport, and hug us goodbye.

PLEASE keep in mind that neither of us spoke a common language, we spoke English and they spoke French and Tahitian. So everything we did was based off of body language.

At the end of every day staying with the Tautu family, the father would come sit next to me as I uploaded all my photos/videos to my laptop. He would just sit there with the biggest smile on his face, and observe me. Even though we didn't speak once again a universal language, by his body language alone I could sense something much great. A sincere love, a love that I really have never felt by just meeting someone for a couple days.

I'll never forget the gentle smile of the father, of there family, whenever I saw them.

I think we as humans generally want to be loved, and with the people of Tahiti, that is something I felt by everyone I came in contact with... Out of all the places in the world I have been, I HAVE NEVER FELT/SENSED that sincere love before. Almost to the point that it even brings you to tears.

There is much more I can say about my experience in Tahiti... I could actually go on and on... but for now, I just wanted to do a blog on the people of Tahiti, and the love I felt from them! They will forever be in my heart! And they will always be considered my Utuafare (family).

The Dirty Dash! Muddiest youtube vid yet!

2011-06-12T02:31:00.000-07:00

Here's our latest youtube video I shot with my friends last week.

For the filming of this, I actually had 12 other friends/camera people help film with there DSLR/GoPro HD cameras.

We shot this all with Canon DSLR cameras, using Canon 5D Mark II's, Canon 7D's, Canon T2i's, and a couple GoPro HD cameras.

We filmed the video June 4th, and we then released it June 8th. I wanted to release the video ASAP because the race itself was fresh on everyones mind, and by doing that, it makes the video itself get much more exposure. So that was the thought process with the quick turn around. Generally speaking, a video like this takes about a month of editing.

So right after we were done filming, I had my computer process the video footage all day, changing it to a format that we could edit it in, and then we spent the next three days editing non stop.

And when I say "non stop", I mean waking up at 7am every morning, and stopping at 3am, only to do it again the next day. Where I was editing the video as well, made sure there were no distractions, so I could pump through the video edit.

Another one of my friends, Jordan, helped a great deal as well, going through a bunch of the footage, to make sure we could reach our deadline.

With 12 cameras, we had a ton of footage to search through, in very little time.

If you want to find out more info on the race itself that the video features, check the link right below.

http://www.thedirtydash.com/

Exporting out to YouTube!

2011-05-24T16:03:00.000-07:00

A common question I get asked in regards to my YouTube videos is this.. "What settings do you use to compress them when you upload them to YouTube?"

So here is my answer :)

First off, I edit on a mac, with Final Cut Pro. When I am done editing my video, I.....

1. Export it out as an MOV. file.
2. Open it with the computer program "compressor".
3. I then use a custom presetting that I made and apply it to the video. I have this setting saved in my compressor custom setting box so I can always grab and drop it onto the video, then export it out. Here are the settings that I use to export out for youtube, at 1080p.

Export Custom Settings:
Audio Encoder
AAC, Stereo (L R), 44.100 kHz
Video Encoder
Format: QT
Width: 1920
Height: 1080
Pixel aspect ratio: Square
Crop: None
Padding: None
Frame rate: (100% of source)
Selected: 23.976
Frame Controls On:
Retiming: (Fast) Nearest Frame
Resize Filter: Linear Filter
Deinterlace Filter: Better (Motion Adaptive)

Codec Type: H.264
Multi-pass: On, frame reorder: On
Pixel depth: 24
Spatial quality: 75
Min. Spatial quality: 25
Key frame interval: 30
Temporal quality: 50
Min. temporal quality: 25
Average data rate: 5.12 (Mbps)

So there you have it! That's how I export out to YouTube. I even use these settings when I shoot a video at 720p, and what it does is it up scales it to 1080p, so it will look better for those who want to view it at 1080p :)

I've done a bunch of testing and research with these settings and this has worked the best for me, if you have any other tips with exporting out videos, of things that have worked for you, feel free to leave them in the comments below :)

The bottom line is the most important thing to do is shoot the video right in the camera, because exporting it out in a high quality wont save it at all. However if you did shoot it right to begin with, it makes it look all that much better :)

My weapons of Choice: Camera lenses

2011-05-06T22:56:00.000-07:00

Here's a list of the camera lenses I use and why. Also right below the images of the lens I have in here, I will post a couple still pictures that I took with that lens to give you an idea of what the image looks like.

Also, just a little tip about Canon lenses, if the lenses are white (only telephoto lenses), or if the lens has a red ring near the front of that, that means they are an L series lens. That means they are the best "glass" that Canon makes in that series/line up of lens. So if you are looking to compete with the top dogs, having a L series lens always helps.

However on the opposite side of that, what's most important in getting the best picture/image, it's based not on the lens as much as it is on the person taking the picture, there artistic ability, and how they know how to push that lens to it's maximum potential, just thought I would mention that.

Canon 16-35mm F/2.8 L series Lens

This is by far my favorite lens. I use it 90 percent of the time. A big part of film making/photography for me is about the location you use. So for me, a wide angle lens captures that better then anything else. Any other lens smaller then 16mm distorts the image and makes it become a "Fish Eye" lens. I like things to feel "real", so that's why I generally don't shoot with anything smaller then that.

Also, I am constantly shooting on a glidecam/steadycam, wide angle lenses like this lens are the only really options with a glidecam, otherwise the image will get to shaky.

Another reason is with wide angle lenses, the wider the lens, the more that is in focus. So with a lens like this, it makes it very easy to have everything in focus.

Canon 70-200mm F/2.8 L series Lens

I love this lens for capturing people. You will need a tripod for sure if your shooting video, or it will get way to shaky. Before I shot video with Canon DSLR's I used this lens for every picture I took, in regards to taking pictures of people. I love the shallow depth of field, and it gives it a really "professional" look. Whenever I can use this lens for people, it is always my first choice :)

Canon 2X III Extender

This isn't a lens, all it does is double the lens focal lengths. It only works on my Canon 70-200mm, so when I attach it to that lens, it makes it a 140-400mm lens. So this is perfect for taking pictures of wild life, and surfers from a far distance. Adding an attachment to a lens makes it not as sharp, but with video, from what I have personally noticed I have hardly noticed anything.

Canon 50mm 1.4mm

This lens awesome for low light, and generally now that is only when I pull it out.

The Canon 50mm 1.8mm is the BEST lens out there that ANYONE can buy for the money/payoff. It's awesome for taking pictures and filming people! It was the first lens I ever bought beside the kit lens, when I first got into photography.

Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM

A macro lens allows you to get super close shots where you normally wouldn't be able to go with any other lens. In all reality though, I haven't used this lens for any of my youtube videos, and outside of that I've only used it for a couple product shots where I had to take pictures for commercial companies where they wanted super close shots to show details in there product. It's a good option to have for showing super close detail, but generally one I very rarely use.

So that's it! Those are the lenses I use and why :)

On my wish list, I have these on it.
Canon 85mm F/1.2
Canon 15mm F/2.8

The last thing I will cover is filters, since I get asked a lot what I use. I do not use any ND filters at all, I do however use a Circular Polarizer.

This makes a HUGE DIFFERENCE on the outcome of your pictures. It brings out the blues and greens SIGNIFICANTLY! Especially the sky and water! Not all circular polarizers are created equally though... I did a TON of research on my own to find out the best brand, and after my own personal research I found the best brand was B&W, it had the highest quality and brought out the colors the most.. It also happens to be the most expensive though as well, imagine that, haha. But really it is worth it. There is no reason to go cheap on your filters if your gonna be shooting with a nice camera and lenses. Here is a link to the one I own. I own two, one that fits my 70-200 mm lens, and one that fits my 16-35mm lens.

Circular Polarizer

Sorry in advance for any spelling errors that were in this, I'm not a writer in any shape or form :)

Jon Mozo Documentary Movie Title Search

2011-03-04T17:19:00.000-08:00

For those who don't know, I have been living on the island of Oahu since October filming a documentary on a professional wave/surf photographer. He was also an amazing surfer in his own right.

The documentary has taken me to Tahiti as well, given me the chance to meet so many wonderful people, professional surfers, and given me an opportunity of a lifetime to be a part of the Polynesian culture, not just experience it from the sidelines.

With all of that we are at a current stumbling block. The movie is greatly underway, and the movie trailer is done... EXECPT for the fact that the movie doesn't have a title yet, haha. So if ANYONE has any title ideas, even if they are lame, they would be greatly appreciated :)

Here's a couple central themes in the movie in case you want to help think of a name for the movie.

The movie is about Jon Mozo, who was one of the first water photographers of Hawaii. His whole life consisted of being on the water, and he was super passionate about not only the water but capturing the shot that no one else could capture. He was a thrill seeker.

For Jon he was willing to risk his life for the shot to give people a much stronger appreciation for the ocean and all that it offers.

At the same time he was greatly loved and respected by all that knew him, or heard word of him. Anyone who I have met who knew Jon has been greatly influenced by him for the better. He was a family man first, but the ocean was definitely his second love.

One of my favorite quotes from Jon is this, "waves to me are what diamonds are to most people of the world. I value and respect the waves I'm given".

Here's a link to more about Jon Mozo, and the photographs he risked his life for.

http://www.jonmozogallery.com/about.html

Please, please, please let me know by a comment, or facebook comment if you have any name or title ideas :)

Here's the basic info of what the movie is about.
1. The risk and rewards associated with surf photography/surfing,thrill seekers, and how we take major risk sometimes to do what we love for a greater reward.
2. About Jon Mozo's life, and how it effected people.
3. About following our own personal dreams, and the legacy we can leave behind.

Of coarse the movie is about a lot of other things, and much more in depth, but that is a simplified version :)

Here's two movie title ideas, but I know we can still come up with something better.
1. Risk and Reward
2. Eye of the hurricane

And if you give us the title that you suggest, I'll give you a dvd for free :) Respect!

Canon DLR's - My 2 Cents :)

2011-02-27T17:39:00.000-08:00

This is in response to the most common question I've been getting recently, "I would like to buy a DSLR camera but I don't know which one choose for a medium budget". Here is my opinion on the matter, from a video and photography standpoint :) I have used EVERYONE of these cameras in my youtube videos (except of the Canon T3i/which isn't out yet), so my opinion is based off of using them several times, and in several different arenas.

First off, these are all great cameras, and you can't go wrong with any of them :) I went to film school and was accustomed to using big heavy super expensive cameras. When these cameras were released with prices much lower than the "professional grade" cameras that were available, I was hesitant and avoided them at all cost. But then, when I started getting hired to shoot commercials for television with these DSLRs, I realized that perhaps they were like a transformer, "more then meets the eye." :)

In every sense, they are allowing us independent filmmakers, with little to no budget,have the chance to compete with Hollywood. At the very least, these DSLRS give us the chance to have our voices heard :) So with that in mind, here's my opinion on the leading Canon DSLRs that do video and still photography.

Canon 5D Mark II. Retail = $2600.00 US
This is my weapon of choice NS the only camera I actually own out of all of them.
There are three main reasons for my preference of this camera.

1. THE HOLLYWOOD LOOK/FULL SENSOR: Part of what makes Hollywood films look so great, is the fact that the background is "blurry", and the subject is in "focus". Out of all the Canon cameras, the ones that can achieve this look the best is this camera, because it has a "FULL SENSOR".

What that means is that if you were to take a picture of someone with each Canon camera, with the exact same lens, the Canon 5D Mark II would be the camera that would make the background the most blurry, making it look "more like a Hollywood movie". There's a lot more we can talk about with this, but I want to keep it simple for now, here's a link of an article where someone talks about the full sensor, if you would like to learn more about it.

FULL SENSOR INFO LINK

2. WIDER SHOTS: For much of the photos and videos I take, the location is crucial. In order to capture as much of the scenery as possible, the full sensor is key. Because the 5D is equipped with a full sensor, it is able to capture a much WIDER shot than if you were to use the Canon 7D or Canon T2i. It allows for nearly twice as wide of a shot. For example, if I were to get a Canon 5D and a Canon 7D, set them on the exact same tripod with the EXACT same lens, the Canon 5D would be able to cover almost twice as wide of an area. The actual difference if you want to get technical is .6 :)
3. SKIN TONES and LOWLIGHT: Because of the full sensor, the 5D Mark II is able to capture a fuller spectrum of colors, which produces a more natural look. Another crucial product of the full sensor is the ability to capture quality footage at low light.

Here's a link to a video I shot entirely on the Canon 5D Mark II. If I were to have used any other Canon Camera I'm talking about, we would have only been able to see half of what was actually captured (with the same lens)

Canon 7D. Retail = $1600.00 US
1. SLOWMOTION: My weapon of choice to shoot in slow motion is the 7D. Technically, it can shoot at 60 fps(frames per second) whereas the 5D Mark II shoots at 30 fps.

The image quality is very similar in both the 7D and the 5D Mark II. A person would have a difficult time to compare images side by side and be able to distinguish one from the other. Below is a link for a video I shot with the 5D Mark II and the 7D. The Slow motion sequence was shot with the 7D.

2. 8 PICTURES PER SECOND: From an action photographer's standpoint, this camera is one of the best choices because of how fast it can take still pictures. The 7D can take them almost twice as fast as the Canon 5D. For taking pictures of moving athletes, surfers, snowboarders, or anything that happens fast that needs to be captured, this feature is definitely an advantage.

3. CROPPED SENSOR/CLOSER SHOTS: Because this camera is not a full sensor, the footage you take from it will be a lot closer than if you were taking it from the 5D Mark II (with the same lens). Of course, if you have a 5D Mark II, you can always get close to the subject as well, but it does mean you will need to buy a more telephoto lens.

Here's a music video I was one of the main cinematographers for. It was directed by Julian Acosta, for the band "Passion Pit". It was shot almost entirely with the 7D.

Canon T2i/T3i/Canon 550D. Retail = $900.00 US
(I'm putting all three of these camera's in the same bracket because they are super similar)
1. The biggest selling factor for this camera is it's price. It does almost everything the 7D does with very similar features, but just not "as good".

Here's a video we made that was shot almost entirely with the Canon T2i at 60 fps.

For the main bike jump video, we used a couple Canon 5D Mark II's, and a bunch of Canon T2i's. I feel that it is a testament to the quality of the T2i that a viewer watching the movie would not be distracted by differing image quality. Here's a link to the video. The opening shot was captured with the Canon 5D Mark II.

GOPRO HD CAMERA:
The last camera I'm going to mention is not a DSLR. It is the GoPro HD Cameras and i have utilized these with great success for my videos on my youtube channel.

The reason I use this camera is because it's super small, and it can shoot slowmotion/ 60fps. It allows me to put the camera in places I would never have a chance to put it otherwise.

For example, we used the GoPros for some of the footage in the iSoccer youtube video. For two of the shots, we duck taped the GoPro camera to the soccer ball itself to give the viewer the perspective of the soccer ball. That could have never been achieved through the Canon cameras. Here's the video where we hooked the GoPro to the soccer ball.

So, my closing comments are these...... In the end, all these cameras work great, but depending on what you plan on doing with the camera, certain ones are better for certain things, just like tools in a tool box :) And yes, often time our budgets are a big factor in the decision we make with the camera we get, but we all start somewhere, for me I started with the lowest of DSLR's, back in the day when the Canon Rebel came out, the original one, and i've slowly worked my way up :)

Tarp Surfing Xtreme - Creating a Youtube viral video

2011-02-04T03:50:00.000-08:00

This coming Tuesday(February 8th) I'll be releasing my tarp surfing video. It's the second video I've made thus far for Youtube where the sole purpose of creating it was with the idea that it would go viral. The first video I did this with was the bike video,.. which just reached 1 million hits not that long ago :) in less then four months :)

When I say that it was made to go viral.. what I mean is this... I looked up videos on youtube that were doing extremely well, and thought of ways to take that idea, make it my own, and show it in a new way that has not been done before. That's what was done with the bike video, and I know it will have the same effect with the tarp video.

There's also a certain formula that I followed to "guarantee" that the video would go viral. This is a formula I have learned over time, and through studying other viral media. I guess we will find out in a month from now if I was right, haha, but without a doubt I have full confidence in the formula :) (And I will discuss this formula that has worked for me in an upcoming blog for those interested)

Also, with this video, out of all the youtube movies I have made thus far, it's the one I have without question invested the most time and energy into. Just to give an idea of what it takes to make a video like this...

FACTS ON MAKING THE VIDEO
1. It took 6 different half days of filming tarp surfing with riders.
2. It took 1 evening/sunset to film the intro.
3. It took 3 different FULL days of filming surfers and waves, 1 of those was with me in the water filming.
4. It took 120 hours easy of endless nights of editing. (most of which I did during Christmas break).
5. It took two more separate days (not full days), to film people just having fun, dancing, etc. This footage was used to make the video more fast pace with variety.

On top of all that, the music composers for this, "Wentworth & Mordemere", also created the song specifically for the tarp surfing video. They wrote the lyrics and beat with the mindset of the video.

Also, my friend had just started his own long boarding company called Jase Boards. When I moved to Hawaii I met him, saw the quality of his boards, and thought it would be awesome to see what happened if we were to team up together, use his product, and for me to make the video. He also was a huge help in getting people to come to the events that we held.

So, if you could, once you see the video, if you really do like it, please feel free to post it on your facebook wall, and your friends as well that are into that kind of stuff, the more people that share it, the better chance it has to be seen by the world. I want the video to have a huge release, and that's a team effort :) And sadly I'm not going to be around to help that happen, so I'm curious how it all goes down.

Thanks SO MUCH EVERYONE for the support!!!

I'm just updating this blog. The tarp surfing video went live yesterday night, here it is, make sure to watch it off my youtube channel in HD if you can :)

Youtube and my Future Goals.

2011-02-04T03:46:00.000-08:00

Lately I've been getting a great deal of emails in regards to what's my future plans with youtube... well... Here's my response... :)

My ultimate end goal with my work is to direct/dp feature films and commercials. HOWEVER, I am stoked about viral media and want to continue to explore that world as well as direct more traditional commercials and films.

I'm using youtube as a means to break in, instead of using the conventional Hollywood system, and so far it has been great.

I'm also using youtube as a way to brand myself, to build credibility, to show I know how to connect with a massive audience, and meet the demands that go with it. I know that's not a traditional way for people to end up doing feature films/commercials, but I really believe it will work due to what has already been happening with the offers that have come through.

So yes, feature films is the end goal, but also, I always plan on sticking with youtube, I have loved the experience so far, every minute of it :)

iSoccer - The foreign market

2011-02-04T03:09:00.000-08:00

While I was at film school one of the greatest lessons I learned was this...

The foreign market on movies is CRUCIAL often to the films success.
Even if the film bombed in America, it can often, if done right, make it's money back and much more.

For example the film "Saints and Soilders", directed by Ryan Little, when he spoke to us he said that it's when the film went foreign that it was able to make its money, not state side.

So with this idea in mind, I feel it transfers straight across even to the internet, and how youtube movies can be made, in a way not to just connect with people that speak English, but to every other language.

I feel that's one of the greatest advantages I have on my youtube channel, it's the fact that the people watching don't need to speak English to understand what is going on.

With all the big youtube celebrities out there, they hit it huge with the people that speak there language, however,.. and I don't know the exact statistics on this... but there's a HUGE potential audience that they could hit, if every language could understand them.

That's where my youtube channel steps in, and that's where I think there is a huge potential demand :) (Or at least that's the hope/plan).

Since I've been releasing youtube videos these last couple months, I have been receiving about 5-10 messages a day, from people who write to me in a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT LANGUAGE. Haha. So what do I do? I had no idea at first, but then I found out that google has a website called translate.google.com. What this website does is it lets you copy and paste what someone has said to you, it then not only detects what language it is, but then it translates it to your current language.

So when I get these messages from people who don't speak English, I am now given the opportunity to respond back to them, and answer there questions, etc. And now for the first time ever, I can communicate with someone across the world in a language I know nothing about. It's awesome, and one of the most gratifying things yet :)

What does this proves then, it shows the importance this foreign audience really does have. That there is an audience out there where two different people of different cultures can connect. As my channel has been expanding, a great deal of my viewership is actually outside of America.

Even the guy who created my youtube homepage, Tim Czarnetzki, he is based in Schwäbisch Gmünd, on the other side of the world. We have never met in person, and it's youtube that brought us together to network. Once again, it's the foreign market that did this.

I want my youtube channel to connect with every audience in the world, that will cause me to grow much faster then just hitting the "English audience", in order for me to catch up to the top, I must hit every audience out there, ESPECIALLY the audiences no one else can hit. One way I'm trying to do that is by trying to hit new audiences every time.

With this last youtube video I released, iSoccer, this was one of the goals, to connect with the world outside of the English speaking people. Because soccer is the most popular sport in the world, it was the perfect opportunity. I have read several blogs within the last couple days online from Argentina, Brazil, and that whole area, where they have posted the soccer video on there blog, and of coarse it isn't posted in English, but I know exactly what they are saying, thanks to translate.google.com :) And I'm able to post my own comments back in there native language.

So going back to where we all started, just like the film industry works, they use the forign market to there advantage by taking the time to translate all there movies into every language they can that is profitable, I to want to apply that idea and make sure most of my videos hit the mass audience, and through that, I will rise to the top much faster then focusing on just an American audience, that is really just a very SMALL percentage of where my video hit counts come from.

So we will see what happens with this all this year, but it is something I feel very strong about, catering to the masses :)

Bike Video Reaches 1 MILLION HITS TODAY!

2011-02-02T04:49:00.000-08:00

So less then 4 months ago from the original release date, the bike video hits 1 million hits today :) It's the first video on my channel to reach such a feat :)

So, things have been going CRAZY on youtube for me these last couple of days! It all started with the slip and slide video I did getting featured on several huge websites, collegehumor.com, gawker.tv, gizmodo.com, smosh.com, gadling.com, bestofyoutube.com, front page of aol.com and even entertainment weekly :)

With all of these major websites posting my video, it has had a crazy impact on my youtube channel in general, not just the slip and slide video.

As a direct result of the success of the video I have been contacted by two ad agencies in LA, been hired by two different people who offered to buy the slip and slide video from me (I said no though because I want it to be exclusive to my youtube channel), and I've been contacted by a major record label in regards to my cinematograhy and shooting projects for them. And I've been hired as a cinematographer here in Hawaii for a project that will play on TV. So yeah.. All this is a direct result of youtube, and the effect that viral media exposes people to the world, and gives them a chance to compete with Hollywood/the big dogs.

With all this publicity, it's also sky rocketed my subscribers on my youtube channel.. before I was averaging around 75-100 a day, it has now gone up to 550 subscribers for the last two days consistently :) Of coarse I know it wont stay like that, but it's a good reminder that it can be done :)

Here's a graph of a website that keeps track of my youtube stats to show how things are growing on my channel.

Also with other good news of what happened this week...

Yesterday I reached 10,000 subscribers on my youtube channel :)
And also reached 100,000 views just on my youtube channel homepage.
Just looking at yesterday alone, I gained 10,000 views just on my homepage.

Great things are happening! And I'm so excited for next Tuesday when I release our tarp surfing video! I have great plans with what that video will do on the "viral circuit". Time will tell :)

Thanks again so much everyone for helping me have the chance to live my dreams! I have loved every minute of it.... well.. almost every minute of it... minus the endles nights of editing, ha ;)

Also, just in case you haven't seen the bike video yet, you can check it out right below :)

Also, Entertainment Weekly did a cool article on the slip and slide/bike video, and they mention me as a director, which I thought was really sweet, you can check that out in the link below.

Entertainment Weekly Link

DevinSuperTramp - If the name fits, use it :)

2011-02-01T02:07:00.000-08:00

A lot of people have been asking where my youtube name comes from! Well, here's my answer! :)

The name comes from one of my favorite books of ALL TIME. "Into The Wild". They also made a movie on it as well. It's a true story of a guy named Christopher Mccandless, who decides to leave everything he was stuck in, to live, to pursue his dreams. Even though his story didn't have a happy ending, everything leading up to it did. When Christopher decides to pursuse this new life of pursuing his passion, he even changes his name, to Alexander Supertramp.

And that's where I got my Supertramp name from :)

With that in mind I want the same thing, to live my dreams, to go out, and achieve all these dreams. To live the dream :)

I've ran into so many people, even friends who talk about what they really want to do with there lives... but they never take that step... I think so many people have the potential to do what they want in life.. however they for whatever reason, never use that power within them.

With my youtube channel, I try to make the same kind of connections, the idea of being free, doing what you love, exploring the world, using your talents to inspire, and perhaps even change the world for a better place, to show the world in a way no one has ever seen before.

For those who haven't read the book, or watched the movie, check out the movie trailer right below.

I want my youtube channel to be the place people can go "to live", and to be reminded that they to can pursue and live there dreams :)

"If you want something in life, reach out and grab it".

Going Viral - The Game Changer

2011-01-29T03:50:00.000-08:00

The main purpose or idea behind the kind of videos that I create for my youtube channel, it's the hope that they will be shared, or passed along. In the internet world, we call this "going viral".

BIKE VIDEO GOES VIRAL:

The first real youtube video that we made, "Huge Bike Jump Into A Pond 35 Feet Into The Air", we made it with the idea that it would go "viral"... The first day it got around 1000 hits, within the next couple following days, it was getting around 80,000 hits a day :) It ended up on the front page of collegehumor.com and todaysbigthing.com, and gawker.com, which are all huge in the internet world, for those who are not familiar with those websites :) Since then it has been passed on facebook 40,846 times... but who's counting? :) 3 months later the video is almost at a million hits. We reached the 800,000 hit mark though within almost 3 weeks, and since then it dropped. I have below the graph of how the bike video went viral because of it being posted on these major sites.

HUGE BIKE JUMP HITS STATISTICS:

After the bike video went viral, it dropped pretty gradually, as you can see in the graph... However since that time, for the last two months it has consistently been hitting 2000 hits a day since that time, on its own because of the number of people that got exposed to it originally.

BREAKDANCING VIDEO GOES VIRAL:

After that video, the next "viral" video that I made was the "breakdancing to classical music". I put that one up... and it did alright... It slowly grew... however it then ended up on huffingtonpost.com, which is one of the biggest blogs/news internet sites in the world. Here is a graph I got off of youtube where you can see exactly one the video went viral, and how after that it dropped.

BREAKDANCING VIDEO:

WORLD's WIDEST SLIP AND SLIDE:

Just recently my youtube video, "Worlds widest slip and slide" went viral. It had been online for a month and a half, and it had gained around 9000 hits.. however, the day smosh.com posted it on there website, which was yesterday, it went from 9000 hits to 58,000 hits over night. I have no problem waking up to that :)

Smosh.com posted it on their website, on their facebook, and they twittered it as well, and they have over 100,000 followers, so it was huge for me.

Here's a graph below of how fast the hits rose on the video itself.

SLIP AND SLIDE VIDEO AFTER SMOSH.COM POSTED IT:

Now when a video goes viral on your youtube channel.. It doesn't effect just that video, it effects every video on your channel... significantly.

First off, on the slip and slide video.. Youtube has allowed people who upload videos to put "annotations" at the end of them. These annotations are buttons, that people can push to go to other links, or videos. At the end of the slip and slide video, I had 3 other videos pop up with links/annotations, to other videos on my channel, to the HUGE BIKE JUMP VIDEO, the WASHINGTON ENCHANTMENT video, and THE RABBITS FOOT video.... Because of this, these 3 videos get the next most hits on my channel. To show you an example of just how many hits, this is the effect it had in one day, because my slip and slide video went viral.

WASHINGTON ENCHANTMENT VIDEO:

RABBITS FOOT VIDEO:

HUGE BIKE JUMP:

So those videos above were the videos that were linked with the SLIP AND SLIDE video that was on smosh.com. So they had the most hits out of my channel, however, that didn't stop people from wanting to see more on the channel.. Now looking at other videos.. that had no connection at all to the SLIP AND SLIDE video, except for the fact that they were on my channel... Here's the graphs for those that I got off youtube.

WAIMEA CLIFF JUMP video:

CANADA INCEPTION video:

FLYING IN SLOW MOTION:

So once again there is a HUGE effect in play because of one video going "viral".
This also has a different reflection on my subscribers, and my main channel views.

SUBSCRIBERS OVER THE LAST 14 DAYS:

MAIN CHANNEL HITS OVER LAST 14 DAYS:

CONCLUSION:
So, what's the conclusion? Well,.. have more videos go viral :)

Just looking at all the statistics.. Here's what the statistics prove...

1. My youtube subscribers triples, and continues to rise exponentially.
2. Annotations videos that feed off the main viral video get 9 TIMES MORE HITS THEN NORMAL. If you look at the bike,Washington, and rabbits foot video, this is true without question.
3. EVERY OTHER video on my channel gets double to 4 times more hits then normal.
4. My main youtube channel views triples.

It always seems like part luck though with this.. because so much is dependent on cyberspace once that video goes out there.. however, there are certain formulas that do work, and I would like to be considered one day, one of the youtube channels that can constantly produce "one hit viral wonders" on a regular basis, time will tell :)

Websites like collegehumor,smosh, and huffingtonpost have changed the game for me, by them posting there videos on there main pages, it has gotten my name out there so much further then anything I could have done on my own, it's been the game changer, it's given me the chance to compete with the big dogs.

Kauai - The Lost World - Questions

2011-01-12T01:00:00.000-08:00

I posted a video I shot in Kauai today, and within the first 12 hours I've gotten over 30 emails of people asking several different questions as far as how things were pulled off, camera settings, etc. This blog is in response to those ask questions.

For those of you who haven't seen the video yet, here it is.

Common questions:

1. With your glide cam how do you get the shots that are going over the cliff, and high up in the air, are you using any other equipment like a book stick or something? OR just holding it the whole time?
I am ONLY using the glidecam 4000 for all the shots in the video. I even use it as a tripod aswell, for the shots where the camera isn't even moving. I DO NOT use a vest, or harness, or anything of that nature.
For the shots where the camera goes over the waterfall the first 30 seconds into the film, and other similar shots... I personally am afraid of hights that big.. In fact that waterfall is 180 feet high, and anyone of any recent times that has jumped off it has died... So to get that shot, and any similar shot... I walk through it several times on my own, just to make sure I know the terrain (it was all rocky), then I walk through it slowly with the camera/glidecam several times to get the movement down, and then I film it 10-15 times just to make sure I get it right. This whole process on several of my shots can take anywhere between 1-15 minutes.

2. How do you get the camera to fly over the water, rocks, and sand so smooth?
I have been filming with the glidecam for the last 5-6 years now, almost every other day, which is no exaggeration. So a lot has come with experience. I didn't start out smooth, but anyone can make it smooth with time/practice. It's like riding a bike :) When I film on the sand, because you sink, I have learned to walk a certain way, (kinda looks funny, ha) that makes it so I can still have the glidecam work the same way as I was walking on flat cement. The same thing goes for walking over big rocks, I've just learned to walk on them and pace my self so the camera consistently stays smooth.

As far as the shots that fly over the water.. There is no fancy tricks about it, if it looks like we are flying over the water, that means I got wet filming it :)

For all the glidecam shots, I use a wide angle lens, 16mm is the focus length I normally use. That also gives us a much wider perspective, and makes us look like we are a lot higher then we are, just because of the lens perspective. I'm not holding the camera up higher then I normally wouldn, generally speaking anyways. I have never once put it on a pole or anything fancy like that.

3. What camera do you use? And why?
I use the Canon 5D Mark II. I think without a doubt its the best camera quality out there for its money, and because i'm a photographer as well, it allows me to do that on the side :) Also, because the camera is super small, it allows me to be a one main film crew, and take it anywhere I go, and blend in with anyone else, as far as I'm not carrying around a big camera where I go.

4. How do you treat the footage you shoot? What do you do to it in post/editing?
I generally do nothing to it, except for some times raise the contrast a little. Almost 95 percent of the shots are exactly as they come out of camera. I try and shoot everything in camera how like it, just because I don't like to spend a lot of time coloring it later, because I don't have a ton of experience in that world. So in camera, I always set the white balance for sure. The shutter speed I try and get as slow/low as possible, ideally it would be 30, often times its to bright for that. And then I have a "picture style" I have set in the camera that gives me a "saturated look" that brings out the colors a lot more then typically what the camera would do.

5. Do you use any filters or effects in post to make your shots smooth?
Every video I do, it depends. For this Kauai video, I would say on about 10 percent of the shots that I filmed on a glidecam, I used a filter that comes with Final Cut called "smooth cam". It zooms into your image a little, and smooths it out. It works great, however, keep in mind that you must have shot it smooth first in order for it to work to begin with :)

6. As far as the "exact" picture styles that I use on my Canon 5D, or any dslr for that matter, i use these settings.
Sharpness: 0 | Contrast: -1 | Saturation: 1 | Color Tone: 1

There is an awesome blog online that shows different examples of picutre style settings, and how they effect everything, you can check out that blog, and video in the two links right below.

http://vimeo.com/10423259
http://www.alexandrosmaragos.com/2010/03/dslr-cinematography-canon-eos-7d-new.html

I hope that helps, please let me know if you all have any other questions, and I will do my best to answer them :)

-Devin

Take on me :)

2010-12-16T20:08:00.000-08:00

I have noticed a trend... I only write blogs when one of two things take place... Either, 1, something amazing is going on. Or... Number 2, something super dramatic took place. Well.. Today I am writing in regards to number 2... Ha!

Yesterday I flew in from Hawaii to Portland. I have been shooting a documentary down there on an amazing surf photographer who passed away 5 years ago. With that, I have invested in a great deal of video and audio equipment to film the entire movie.

I was just going home for Christmas... So I filled up my biggest suitcase with all of my equipment, all my sound equipment, camera equipment, including every lens that I own, and I had it all padded down. It was to much stuff to bring as a carry on.. And I had the option of bringing my hard drives I have been shooting everything on as a carry on, or my camera, and right now my footage is worth more because of all the time I have put into it.

Either way, on the flight back we had a layover, then I got put on standby.... Which meant my bags that were on the airplane continued onto Oregon... Without me... I then went straight to United Airlines while I was at the airport, and I asked if I should have my parents come pick up my bags in Oregon, since I wouldn't be there. She told me that there would be no way that anyone could get them, not even my parents, that they would have to use my ticket stub to get them. She told me they were totally safe...

When my plane arrived in Oregon, my parents and I went straight to pick up the luggage. We saw my small suitcase behind a rope.. my mom walked right through and picked it up... without any security guards... hmmm... what's with this security of how they promised it would be impossible for anyone else to grab the bag? We then talked to United and asked if they had gotten the bag... They looked through there systems, and said it had for sure arrived.. they could even scan that it had gone on the conveyor belt 3 times before they put it behind the line.... From there they didn't know where it went....

So we filled out a report, and had to come back the next day... Met with the police, where they have been reviewing all the security cameras... When we got home this afternoon, around 4.. I get a call from another police officer who had found my bag in a car rental parking garage at the airport, he didn't know the bag had even been stolen at the time, he just saw my name and phone number was on it, and called asking why I had left it.... He then told me he checked before hand and all that was in it was some padding that I had put in to protect my camera stuff.

So yeah... that's where I am now... The bag had everything that I have acquired over the last 6 years of pursuing video.. so it's not the ideal situation.. Right now it doesn't look like United is going to cover it... But we will see..... If not, plan on me making a youtube video about the whole thing, and know that I will be very clear on expressing myself ;)

My whole life/career was in that bag.. that was stolen....

I fly to Tahiti in two weeks to continue on the documentary that I have been shooting in Hawaii... and as of now.. I have no equipment to make that happen....

Anyways,... bring it on :)

p.s. on the super positive side of life, I brought my laptop and all the hard drives of all the footage I have shot over the last 8 months with me on the plane, so none of that was stolen/lost :)

The New Light Project

2010-08-31T21:53:00.000-07:00

I have embarked on something I call "The New Light Project". This is a personal endeavor in which I am very passionate. It consists of showing the everyday things around us in a new light through the use of cinematography, music and, of course, the subject that is being captured.

Stephen Anderson and Lance Montgomery are two phenomenal composers that I came in contact with while attending film school and they have agreed to join me on this adventure. However, I am interested in collaborating with anyone who is passionate about whatever it is that they pursue in life.

The New Light Project will be distributed via YouTube on a regular basis with the intent of showing viewers how I have come to see the world.

Here is the second video of the series, the first one being the one I filmed in Canada a couple weeks back.

Also, make sure to subscribe to my youtube channel as well for all the videos :)

The Dark Divine book trailer

2010-07-06T11:43:00.000-07:00

Here's a link to a book trailer I shot for Kineto pictures, for the book, "The Dark Divine".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxMy_TE88-0

It premiered during the opening advertisements in several theaters in Utah before the latest Twilight movie, on the big screen :)

We only had 3 hours to shoot the entire spot because of the location we used. We shot in a church yard in Salt Lake City.

Kineto Pictures was the production company that made it happen.
Damian Dayton produced the spot.
MIke Stone directed it.
I was the DP.
And David Thorpe was my right hand man/gaffer.
We also had an excellent makeup artist Dawn Weidauer. And that was our crew.

As far as technical stuff goes...
We shot it on the Canon 5D Mark II. With a Nikon 50mm, 1.8f, and a Canon 24mm-135mm, 3.5-5.6, with image stabilizer.

Shot it all on my glide cam as well.

The Dreams We Live

2010-06-27T23:03:00.000-07:00

For the last couple of weeks I have worked on a film shoot that gave me the chance to travel all over Utah from Moab, Bryce Canyon, Zion National Park, Park City, and several other places.

From this commercial shoot, like all film shoots ironically, I was reminded how much I really love what I'm doing... As I was sitting at Delicate Arches in Moab, waiting for the sun to rise so we could start filming... I thought to myself that I could have ended up with a 9-5 job, working in some cubical... but instead my office ended up being the world :) It really doesn't get much better then this :)

It has given me awesome opportunities to travel all around the world, from the Mayan pyramids, to filming in helicopters above the Hawaii volcanoes, to not only filming bobsleds, but also riding in them at 71 miles an hour, as is what happened last week :)

I really do love my job, I love working with the talented people I do, and learning from all of them. I love that it is a bunch of friends trying to make something for the rest of the world to see. It is exactly what I used to love doing as a kid, making movies with my friends, except for now the only thing that has changed is someone else is paying for it, :) and I get paid in the process as well, to do what I love! :)

In highschool, one of my favorite bands was called "The Starting Line". One of their songs they sang was called "Given The Chance", it's about how they were living their dreams as singers/a band, for me, I feel the exact same way with the opprotunities I have been given with film. I love it.. And I can't see my self doing anything else... It's the only thing that makes sense.

Here's some of the lyrics from the song. It explains how I feel about film making perfectly :)

The Starting Line "Given The Chance"

What can i say
that can explain
all this time
i'm loving life
theres not a day
that i can't say
all this time
i'm living out my dreams

the feeling is screaming out
the words of the things i think about
hearing them coming back
from the crowds mouth is perfect
and when the curtains close
i'll realize how fast time could go
thanks for everything
you know how much this means

what can i say
that can explain
all this time
i'm loving life
theres not a day
that i can't say
all this time
i'm living out my dream

what this is to me
is more than words could mean
i guess dreams do come true
this song itself is living proof
what this means to me
is more than it may seem
i guess dreams do come true
this song itself is living proof
what this is to me
is more than words could mean
i guess dreams do come true
this song itself is living proof

what can i say
that can explain
all this time
i'm loving life
theres not a day
that i can't say
all this time
i'm singing out
singing a song about
a dream that has come true

Also, as a side note, here is the info on the Utah Tourism Commercial we did these last couple weeks...

Ad Agency: Struck
Production Company: Saint Cloud
Director: Julian Acosta
Line Producer: Jared Harris
Director of Photography: Travis Cline

The commercial was shot on the Redone, all on a steadicam or jib.

My role/position on the shoot was as B camera, and a grip.

N sync music video remake!

2010-06-13T19:53:00.000-07:00

So here's the deal.... I started making music videos with my parents video cameras when I was a tad little kid.. I've always loved it.. and that's one of the big things that got me into film/what I do now....

Anyways.. Lately I have been so caught up on all these odd end film jobs... That I've strayed away from my roots,.. So in an act of desperation to represent, I got some of my friends together a day ago, we shot a music video in 6 hours, with no real preperation, then I edited it the next day, and then released it today.

Also, one last note. It was a huge refresher on life though, and all the other things that I love about it, as far as just being around great people.

Here is the link....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HindoFr6o9Q

p.s. You should also all subscribe to my youtube channel :) I plan on making a random music video like this at least once a month, if not more, just because it's a huge breath of fresh air! Holla!

This video was shot in a total of 6 hours on friday evening. It was shot on my canon 5D Mark II. We hurried with lighting, so everything outside is all natural, and we had a couple lights inside.

The locations we were going to originally film in.. it was raining that evening, so with the choice to cancel, or move somewhere else, we turned to a highway overpass, where we filmed most of the music video. Thanks again for everyone that was a part of it.

Porter Rockwell Documentary- Now in bookstores :)

2010-05-23T17:46:00.000-07:00

In March/April I was the main DP for an hour long documentary that was just released in bookstores around the country called "Stories from the Life of Porter Rockwell". It was made through a production company called Issimo who I often do freelance work for. Jared Cook was the main director on the project as well. It's the first dvd I have ever been the DP for that was sold in stores.

It was an awesome experience for me, especially because of the character and time period in which the documentary was based on. I was involved with shooting a great deal of the reenactments for the video.

Here is the trailer for the video itself.

As far as the technical stuff goes, the reenactments where mostly shot on the Canon 7D, with my Nikon 70-200mm lens, 2.8/f. and a Nikon 50mm, 1.8/f. With a Canon to Nikon mount.

If you want to purchase the dvd, which, just for the record, I don't make a profit off of that, but I still think it's a great doc regardless, here is a place you can get it online.

http://deseretbook.com/store/product/5046730

The Story of Orabrush/short doc

2010-05-23T16:34:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday we filmed a short documentary on how YouTube has made the company Orabrush successful. I have been filming all of the viral videos for the company since they have tried viral marketing, and it has proven to be very successful.

Here's the video...

For this project it was Jeff Harmons idea to do the video because it was also YouTube's 5 year anniversary. So what we did was we interviewed the founder of Orabrush, and Austin Craig who is the spokesman for all of the YouTube viral ads.

For this doc I filmed, edited, and directed it. It was a super low crew, and we had to have the video done in just a couple days so it could go up online Saturday morning.

It's been awesome to see where Orabrush has come so far, our first video we made 8 months ago has over 11 million hits now, and it rises greatly each day. We would never have imagined where it would go, and continue to go from that first video.

We filmed it all on a Canon 5D Mark ii, which was my first time actually shooting on the camera, and I'm very impressed with how it handles things, especially low light. You must know the limitations of the camera though, and nothing hand held looks good at all because of what is called the rolling shutter, or the jello effect. Only digital SLR cameras have these problems currently, at least where its very noticeable.

Also, we used ALL natural lighting, with no crew. I used
mostly my Nikon 70-200, at a 2.8/f, a Nikon 50mm, and a Canon
28-135mm 3.5f, and a Zeiss 35mm at a 2.0f.The ISO I used was
anywhere between 100 and 1600, without any notice of grain/noise.
All the sound was recorded onto a H4n, through a shotgun mic. I
synced it manually.

Binaca commercial.

2010-05-13T16:56:00.000-07:00

We filmed a commercial for the breath spray company Binaca this week. The owner of the company, Dr, Fresh, and one of there head marketing people from the company flew down from LA to where we shot the commercial in two different studios in the Provo Utah area.

Binaca contacted Joel Ackerman, who had written all of the Orabrush commercials, they hired him on to write and direct these two spots that we filmed.

I was the director of photography, and editor for both of the spots.

We also had a cow in the commercial, it was super small, but loved to go to the bathroom everywhere regardless of it's size :/

Once upon a time in Hawaii... BYU IS Film shoot

2010-05-08T00:28:00.000-07:00

So, the last ten days we spent in Hawaii filming a campaign of commercials for BYU Independent Study. They will be playing during next general conference, and they will be on TV for the next couple of years.

Here's a run down of our trip, in a nut shell...... But wait.. Before we go into details, I want to shout out to a couple people who made this all possible. First off, Natalie Vilos, who gave us so many contacts. Evan Fa and Lindsay Evan for hooking us up with so many amazing people in Hawaii. Along with Timmy, Clark, Chris, and Andy. There are also other countless people who helped along the way, so shout out to them all, without them we couldn't have been able to accomplish half of what we did.

Also, we filmed the whole project with a 3 man crew. That consisted of Jacob Schwarz, Jamison Dayton, and me. We shot all the commercial spots on the Redone camera, and we rented a huge 18-85mm lenses. We thought the lenses was gonna be pretty small, but it ended up weighing more, and being bigger then the camera itself. The whole camera ended up weighing close to 50 pounds, which was killer because we were filming the commercials all hand held/documentary style.

Day 1/April 25, 2010: Airplane gets delayed two hours in San Francisco while going to Hawaii, we don't get to our hotel in Honolulu around 12-1 ish, we don't go to bed until around 2am after camera prep, we have to be on the other side of the island by 6am ish.... So we get about 3 hours of sleep, if that.

Day 2/April 26, 2010: We woke up way early, travel through the island of Oahu Hawaii, we drive through the Dole pineapple on the way there, fields as far as the eye can see, watch the sunrise over the pineapple farm, it's green everywhere.

We link up with Evan Fa, a sponsored Body boarder, with his surfer friends. We planned to shoot surfing the whole day.... but the waves were not as big as expected, so we filmed everyone on the beach instead.

Later in the day we shot surfers at a place called Pipeline. It's one of the most famous surfer spots in the world. We brought an underwater housing for another camera that we brought, and I swam out to where the surfers were to try and get some underwater footage.... however the waves were against me... in every way, ha, and I got knocked around to the point I had to retreat, got to the beach, and threw up everywhere, haha. Not the prettiest site.

That evening we filmed an old fisherman fishing on the beach as the sun was setting, one of the prettiest things yet. The guy we filmed went by the name of Uncle Butch. He was awesome. He said he was one of the oldest surfers on the island, at least that's what he said. Everyone here as been so friendly, and willing to help, its fantastic!

We've been staying in this house that boards surfers. The lady who runs the house is also super chill, and the whole house is decked out all festive, Hawaii style.

Day 3/April 27, 2010: We woke up at sunset to film more surfers. For the BYU Independent Study ads that were doing, we showing that you can do what you love to do, but also go to college, and that's what BYU IS allows people to do. So we got several shots of different surfers on the laptop, at the beach doing there school work.

Then we met up with a couple girls who owned horses, and filmed them riding on the beach, it was epic.

In the afternoon we drove to a place called Kualoa ranch and we did a location scout. It's the same location they filmed Jurassic Park, Might Joe Young, Pearl Harbor, Wind talkers, Godzilla, Lost, and basically any other movie that takes place in the jungle.

This ranch/location was the coolest place I have ever been to. It was huge, and super scenic,perfect to film in. They have made the ranch a place for tourist, and that's where they get a lot of their money. When we were trying to decide if we wanted to film at the ranch, the owner of the place gave us a two hour tour through the entire property. We got to go where no one else does, and got to see where every film was shot. We decided we would pay the fee to shoot at the location, and we would shoot there later on in the week.

In the evening we drove to Pearl Harbor. To get to the harbor from the North Shore, you drive over the jungle on this huge bridge, which seemed like several miles, you then went under a super long tunnel under a huge mountain top. The place looked just like Pandora from Avatar.

We got to the dock near Pearl Harbor, and we filmed several time lapses as the sunset.

Day 4/April 28, 2010: In the morning we met up with a couple guys who took us to several cool locations on the North Shore, one of them overlooked the mountains and ocean.

We then spent the rest of the morning filming at a skate park on North Shore. We met up with a guy by the name Timmy who works for Quicksilver, just graduated from BYU Hawaii, and was super chill to work with.

We then filmed outside of the Hawaii Temple, and behind the Temple there was this huge tree, where we shot a time lapse there.

We also needed to shot some people on beach cruiser bikes... and we didn't know of anyone we could use... however, it just so happened that we found a girl riding her bike next to the beach. When we asked her if she would be down to film her, her only concern was with we were filming for "Girls Gone Wild". Haha, it was pretty funny, but it was definitely not the case. So she got her sister to come, and we got some great stuff with the sun setting.

In the evening we filmed a time lapse of the sunset, and we met this super young family, husband, wife, and a young baby. We filmed them on the beach spending time together as the sun was setting, and we got some great stuff with them.

Day 5/April 29, 2010: One of the commercial spots were doing is based on the idea of someone traveling the world, photographing it, and also doing BYU Independent Study. For this commercial we worked with a girl by the name of Lindsay Evans. In the morning we met up with her, and filmed her on a hammock, working on BYU IS, on the computer. We then headed to the beach to this place where people jump off this huge rock into the water, we filmed her there, and we also met up with Timmy who we filmed doing gainers from the rock into the water. We also filmed a bunch of Polynesians who were in the military doing the same thing.

From there we left with Lindsay to several locations all over the island. One of them was a fruit stand, with an old nice Hawaiian woman.

Lindsay knew her way around the island, and showed us some awesome places to film, one of them was what appeared to be an old Chinese place of worship. We got a film permit to film there. The location was awesome. It looked like it was in a completely different country in the world.

We then filmed in the city of Honolulu. One of the places we filmed was on a boat from the Philippines. A lot of the people there looked like pirates... so it was very intense.

We finished the day by filming next to the Dole Pineapple plantation.

The weather has been great for each day we have been filming. Because we have a crew of three, we have minimal hands, and we have to go off of all natural lighting, and we've been very lucky with the weather we have had up to this point.

Day 6/April 30, 2010:

We spent the day filming on Kualoa Ranch. We had several BYU Hawaii students help gather a good group of kids. We filmed frisbee, playing guitar, climbing towers, hiking, traveling in the back of pickups. We filmed also a couple other scenes with Lindsay "traveling the world".

We also met a guy by the name of Chris. He is an AWESOME soccer player, one of the best I have ever seen. He can also juggle the ball better then anyone I have seen. What is so amazing about Chris, is the fact that on top of all his talents, he is also deaf, and has been that way since birth. He plays for the BYU Hawaii soccer team, and is one of the best players on the team. When we met him, we thought we could make a spec ad on his story, as a phenomenal soccer player, who has risen against any opposition that he has faced due to having no hearing. So we filmed several scenes with him juggling the ball, playing soccer through a heard of cows, etc.

The whole day was an adventure, and it seemed like we were in the middle of nowhere. The place is a tourist attraction, and it attracts a great deal of people from Japan. When one of the tour buses came through where we were filming, they saw Jamison Dayton. He was taking a car full of girls back to the parking lot. When all the people on the bus saw this, they thought for sure he was Justin Timberlake filming his new music video. So it became the talk back at the ranch.

In the evening we were all exhausted from crazy long hours, so we all chilled. I went to the beach, and filmed a time lapse of the ocean.

Day 7/May 1, 2010: In the morning we met up with Chris again, to do some more filming of him juggling the soccer ball on the beach. He also brought an interpreter to translate. We did several interviews with him for the BYU Independent Study commercial. It was our first time working with an interpreter, so it was a great experience. Chris is extremely talented, and we really do hope his story can be seen by the world.

The same group of people from Kualoa Ranch met up with us in the afternoon, with a great deal more people. We headed towards a waterfall that you can jump off, with a rope swing that goes into it, another magical place.

Everyone here is so chill and rad, I love it :)

We spent the evening filming a football match, we didn't have much daylight left, so we were able to only get a few shots.

Day 8/May 2, 2010: We chilled the whole day, and it was the first and only day we slept in. We traveled the island a little, and spent some time at the beach. It was our last full day on Oahu.

Day 9/May 3, 2010:

We had to wake up super early, at 2AM, we headed to the airport on the other side of the island. We were flying out to the big island to film the volcano from a helicopter. The helicopter was leaving at 6am, so we had to rush.

The second we arrived, around 5:50am, on the big island, Jake and I had to build up the redone camera while Jamison went to pick up the rental car. It was like a relay race. We got to the helicopter pad on time though. A lot of helicopters take tours out to the volcanoes, but they are not allowed to get super close, so Jamison found a pilot who we could privately charter who could fly super close to the volcano. He helped us rig the camera we were using. He also took off the helicopter doors so we could film out of them. The helicopter was super small. It was our first time riding a helicopter, and for some reason there was nothing scary about it.

It was about a ten minute flight to the volcano, where the lava was pouring into the ocean. It was epic in every sense :) We got so close to the lava that you could just feel the heat coming up. We got super close. When the lava poured into the ocean it caused steam to pour up. We also watched as the lava poured past trees, catching them on fire. I have never seen anything like this, not even in the movies. It was AWESOME!!! And it will go down as one of the best experiences I have had with film making.

When we were done, we spent the day traveling the island. Later we met up with one of Evan's friends he had hooked us up with. He took us to the ground level where the volcano was we had filmed earlier with the helicopter. We got special permission to walk somewhat close to the lava, and one of the workers went with us to make sure we were kept safe. The whole area looked like a completely different planet.

We then traveled to the opposite side of the island, to a place called Kona. That's where we stayed. It ended up being a 3 hour drive. We had to drive through the top of the island at night, and it was super foggy. It was one of the creepiest sites ever. When you get near the top, it really does look like a different world. You get so high on the island, that it actually snows there every year, and a lot of people there snowboard, which I had no idea before hand. And it was freezing up there.

Day 10/May 4, 2010:
In the morning, when we woke up, we had a flat tire on our rental, so Jake and Jamison dealt with fixing it, then we traveled back to the top of the island, top of the volcano. Up there, they have a HUGE space observatory. They have huge telescopes up there, and it looked like something from a sci-fi movie.

After that we headed back to the airport, where we flew back to Oahu. We spent the night in the airport, we fell asleep in the area where the luggage comes out. At midnight we got kicked out, and we slept outside, where the climate was perfect. We had to sleep on benches, ghetto style.

Day 11/May 5, 2010:
We flew back to Provo, had a long lay over in LA.... miss Hawaii already, having withdrawls...

Conclusion:
Hawaii is an amazingly photogenic place. At the end of the day, you can film there, no matter what your skill level is, and have something worth showing to the world. Tons of diversity. However, what made the trip so amazing, was not just the location, but the friends we were able to make along the way. We worked with amazing people, all volunteering there time. Everyone is so friendly, and I miss that already! Hawaii is an adventure within itself, simply put.

Passion Pit Music Video/Live in Concert

2010-04-13T21:30:00.000-07:00

This week I went down to be one of the camera operators to film the Passion Pit concert in San Fransisco. I hadn't known much about the band ahead of time, but since the experience, I have fallen in love with their music. Awesome band live.

Julian Acosta was the director of the music video, who I went down there with. We stayed in San Franscico for a couple days, where we stayed almost next door to where the venue was that the band played. The live video was for Colombia records.

The main song that we had to get was a song called "Sleepy Head". Before the concert started and people arrived, we filmed the band several times on stage, where we could go anywhere. Once they played live for everyone we were not allowed on the stage, but we could go anywhere else, and the bouncers would pave through the people with where we needed to go. The place was sold out, so it was packed.

An awesome experience.

Julian is editing the video as well, and it will be released through Colombia Records.

We shot the entire video on the Canon 7D. We had a total of 5 of them, to get several different angles/cuts.

Here's a couple screen grabs from the video itself...

Family Link photoshoot

2009-07-24T22:13:00.000-07:00

So.... For anyone who really knows me.... I have spent countless... Or more hours working for free, for everyone... EVERYONE, and trying to learn all that I can from everyone that I come into contact with, regarding photography, and cinematography, I have had awesome influences such as people like Scott Jarvie, Cole Webley, Derek Pueblo, and countless other people and teachers. All of these people I have learned a ton about lighting, lenses, etc. I have taken every class that they offer wherever I go, and read every book I can on the subject. After all this... after shooting so many peoples pictures/films, I have finally been able to establish myself so that I can make money, and now even a living doing what I LOVE!!!!!!!! I am living my dreams, and its only getting better.
This summer I have had sooo many awesome opportunities, all paid, and they come so often, that I even have the choice of who I get to work with, and it only continu es to get better.

This week I had the opportunity to work for ancestry.com/familylink. They hired me out to shoot product shots of these portraits that they are starting to sell.
Also, during the same week I had the chance to DP/Edit two commercials for Orabrush.com. They were simple web commercials, but still a fun/unique learning experience. I love so much what I am doing, I love the people I get to work with. And I am blown away by what I get to experience and learn with each new project that I get to work with, and the opportunities
those open for me.

Adventures in Moab land!

2009-07-09T21:32:00.000-07:00

Do you ever have those days where you wake up, and have nothing on your mind but to get away from it all?.. And go on an adventure? Well... that's how I am everyday :) A week ago I called my friend Jamison, at the last minute, less then a day before, and asked if he would go out to Moab with me. He was down! So we packed up my Subaru with a cooler full of 24 bottles of water, all of which we drank, hotdogs, and sandwiches, and we headed out on an adventure!

It was amazing!! I have never been to Moab! And for me this was photography heaven! I have a Subaru wagon/outback that I just got, so we put it to full use. We slept in the back, we would... or I should say I would stay up until 2am taking pictures of the stars, only to wake up around 5-6 am, and drive to the next best place to take pictures for golden hour. Jamison slept in the back, and would wake up around 9-10 by the time I was done taking pictures of the sunrise. So it was the perfect combination. Then we would go hiking out in Arches/Canyonlands. I fell in love with this place, so photogenic! And the history of it all I'm in love with!

We would park/camp in the middle of what appeared to be the Grand Canyon, we would get there so late from the day ahead, only to awake to being engulfed in a massive canyon.

We also ran into a little trouble on our adventure. My car got stuck when we took it on a gnarly road. And it stopped working almost completely, we were 20 miles out in the middle of nowhere,... then I started to panicking in my heart. There was no way anyone could help us get it out. We somehow managed to get it running good enough that we drove it into town and got it fixed. It's always an adventure!

BYU Indepedent Study Commercials

2009-07-01T09:50:00.000-07:00

We just got done wrapping up a week of filming the three commercials that we pitched to BYU Independent Study! We came up with the entire concept, and pitched them to BYU. They loved the ideas, so they were willing to give us full support in making them a campaign. All three commercials dealt with cute, dirty little country kids, taking on the impossible, in this case it was flight.

We had an awesome crew, and in many cases it was the funnest time I have ever had on set, working with amazingly talented people, with a budget where we got the chance to turn our ideas into reality.

Jamison Dayton produced all three of them. With Jacob Schwarz directing the kite(plane) and rocket boy commercial. I directed the balloon commercial, and was the DP on all three commercials. They will be playing in between General Conference, and will be on several TV stations, including BYU Independent Study website, when they are all finished.

My mom and dad also drove down from Portland Oregon for the final commercial, the balloon one. They did all the food for the entire crew. It was awesome having them there to see the world that I'm getting into.

Cancun Adventure!

2009-06-07T20:27:00.000-07:00

I just got back from perhaps my biggest and best adventure yet! I have always wanted to visit the Mayan ruins, and this week I had the opportunity to do just that. I got hired to film/DP a chocolate commercial working with Kineto Pictures in Salt Lake. Travis Babcock was the director, and Jamison Dayton came as well, as a 1st Assistant Camera man, and PA, etc. It was a three man crew. They both spoke fluent Spanish, and I knew nothing of the language, which was quite funny because I had no idea what was going on half the time, and they had to constantly translate everything for me.

We also worked like crazy! We wanted to take advantage of our opportunity for being out there, so we would often wake up around 5 am, and go to bed at what seemed like 2 am, to catch the best lighting to film in, and do location scouting, and the crazy thing is, I honestly loved every minute of it!

We stayed at an amazing hotel right on the beach, all inclusive, with as many pina colodas as we could drink, we took advantage of that :) The entire commercial took place on the Mayan ruins and jungles, so I was in photography heaven for the whole week. We got access to many places most people don't have access to. And the places we didn't have access to, we found a way to get access to them :)

We had Mayan actors as well, recreate all these scenes of chocolate being made from a plant. They travel by canoe to deliver it to the Mayan King. The last day we had some free time, so we went to Tulum, and went swimming right below the Mayan pyramid. No one was hardly there at all because of the swine flu! I was loving every minute of it! And this is only the beginning :) I plan for film to take me all around the world, starting with Cancun :)

Underwater excursion

2009-05-09T15:30:00.000-07:00

This last week we filmed a commercial for the BYU swim/dive team. It was an awesome experience for all of us because the entire commercial consisted of filming and lighting underwater. Something none of us had done before, and we had the opportunity to work with phenomenal athletes in the process. On top of all of that we had an awesome crew, which always helps a great deal. And my dad flew down to support me as well, it doesn't get any better then that :)

We filmed Monday through Wednesday night, we had to film after hours because we had to shut down the entire pool. Jake and I were in the water for like 6 hours a night, and the chlorine ate us alive. Not fun. We were also shooting on the redone and we kept on having a problem with the humidity giving the camera a problem, but we were able to work around that as well.Jake was the director on this commercial, with Jamison Dayton as producer, and me as DP. We had full support from the Swim team, and were excited to see what doors open up because of this experience, for all of us. You can check out some of our sample footage with the video below.

Once again, it always amazes me on the adventures that film making takes us on. We have a wonderful team, and I can see us all working together to the end!

This is Devin signing out.

Summer Adventure Begins.

2009-04-26T18:36:00.000-07:00

Currently were working on several commercials for BYU. One for the dive team, swim team, and BYU Independent Study, with several other side projects lined up as well. Most of which we will be shooting on 35MM Film and on the Redone camera. All of which are being produced by Jameson Dayton. Its also one of our first times working with a budget where the teams are funding the projects to make them happen. They will also be airing on KBYU and some will be on PBS. So it will be great exposure for all of us. And were all working together to make sure they are the best we have to offer at this time. So were all very excited for this opprotunity.

Jake and I will be leaving this week to LA to get trained on some underwater film equipment for the dive team commercial, and will be meeting up with several other contacts that we have up there. Stay tuned as the adventure continues.

-Devin

In the thick of the battle...

2009-04-26T14:20:00.000-07:00

The summer adventure begins.... Yesterday I had my own solo escapade. I went off headed out in the middle of nowhere, and I really do mean that, no exaggeration there. I was looking for a location to film, for a commercial were shooting in a month. After driving out in the middle of nowhere, somewhere past Provo canyon. I veered off the road, and started to go off the path about a mile or two. Not the smartest thing, especially if you have seen my car and the weather conditions. Anyways, long story short, I thought I could get past this ditch area...... And I failed.. In fact I didn't even come close. And it was so muddy everywhere, I was all by myself, and my phone was about to die.... So... I kinda laughed to myself because all odds were against me... I spent 5 hours in the mud, hail, and lighting trying to get my car out of the mud. I tried everything... Halfway through,... I decided I would have to try another method... So I walked towards the river, by the river there was these old creepy abondoned houses that looked like something from a horror movie. I found a shed full of old rotten wood, and I grabbed a couple pieces to see if I could use them to move my car.. The whole time I was waiting for someone to pop out and kill me... Haha, and I'm partly being serious to.

Eventually I got the boards I found back to my car, and had to build a teeter totter to lift my front end of my car up. After a couple more hours I was eventually able to pull my car out. I was completely soaked, covered in mud, and freezing. But I cant remember the last time I have felt so relieved as I pulled out of the mud, I felt like busting out in my own musical! Life was wonderful.

This is where I was stuck, and the view from my window.

The sense of adventure....

2009-04-26T13:57:00.000-07:00

Last summer I read one of the most amazing books..... In fact I can honestly say its one of those books that changes your mindset, and the way you perceive the world. This book did that to me, "Into The Wild". Since then Sean Penn has made a movie about it. But its all based off of letters from a guy by the name of Alex, who leaves everything has has for the sense of adventure. He starts a brand new identiy, and goes off to make the most out of life. Below, I typed up a letter he sent to one of his friends he made along the way of his adventure. I have since then read this letter several times, I think there are so many great lessons to be learned in it. And once again, this is the chalenge I am taking on this summer. This whole year I have been ingulfed so much into film, where I haven't had the chance to live for myself, and without that knowledge I loose my poser as a film maker to, because the strongest power that comes from film making is the abilitiy to tell stories of life that connect with others. That is my goal this summer, to begin that process once again of discovering my own self.

Here's the letter that Alex sent to his friend. It's a little long, but I promise its worth the read.

I’d like to repeat the advice I gave you before, in that I think you really should make a radical change in your lifestyle and begin to boldly do things which you may previously never have thought of doing, or been too hesitant to attempt. So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give ne peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun. If you want to get more out of life, Ron, you must lose your inclination for monotonous security and adopt a helter-skelter style of life that will at first appear to you to be crazy. But once you become accustomed to such a life you will see its full meaning and its incredible beauty. And so, Ron, in short, get out of Salton City and hit the Road. I guarantee you will be very glad you did. But I fear that you will ignore my advice. You think that I am stubborn, but you are even more stubborn than me. You had a wonderful chance on your drive back to see one of the greatest sights on earth, the Grand Canyon, something every American should see at least once in his life. But for some reason incomprehensible to me you wanted nothing but to bolt for home as quickly as possible, right back to the same situation which you see day after day after day. I fear you will follow this same inclination o=in the future and thus fail to discover all the wonderful things that God has placed around us to discover. Don’t settle down and sit in one place. Move around, be nomadic, make each day a new horizon. You are still going to live a long time, Ron, and it would be a shame if you did not take the opportunity to revolutionize your life and move into an entirely new realm of experience.
You are wrong if you think Joy emanates only or principally from human relationships. God has placed it all around us. It is in everything and anything we might experience. We just have to have the courage to turn against our habitual lifestyle and engage in unconventional living.
My point is that you do not need me or anyone else around to bring this new kind of light in your life. It is simply waiting out there for you to grasp it, and all you have to do is reach for it. The only person you are fighting is yourself and your stubbornness to engage in new circumstances.
Ron, I really hope that as soon as you can you will get out of Salton City, put a little camper on the back of your pickup, and start seeing some of the great work that God has done here in the American West. You will see things and meet people and there is much to learn from them. And you must do it economy style, no motels, do your own cooking, as a general rule spend as little as possible and you will enjoy it much more immensely. I hope that the next time I see you, you will be a new man with a vast array of new adventures and experiences behind you. Don’t hesitate or allow yourself to make excuses. Just get out and do it. Just get out and do it. You will be very, very glad that you did.
Take care Ron,
Alex

The story continues...

2009-04-20T10:16:00.000-07:00

This summer is going to be an adventure, the best is yet to come! Never have I been so excited for what lies ahead of me.

Last week thursday, I went 80's dancing with a couple of my friends, and halfway through, they played one of my favorite songs of all time, "Take On Me", by A-Ha, it was one those amazing moments that gets your blood pumping so fast, and I looked around and got so excited to be living at this time. So with this in mind, I thought it would only be necessary to keep a blog of my summer adventures, and everything that will evolve from hence forward. I have had a blog in the past, didnt write anything on it except for super painful dramatic experieces that were going on in my life.

This blog will be quite different, it will be revolved around everything great in life