#ciphereyemedia

[secroner]

Music Video Animated Promo (Nephele - "Apples & Oranges")

A few years ago, I helped produce the music video "Apples & Oranges" for my good friends in the band Nephele. I had a lot of fun with the experience, since it was one of the first times I had gotten a chance to have full creative control over a music video shoot (though I was pretty green to the process). The boys in Nephele were very helpful and we shot some great content that I eventually edited into the full video that was published to YouTube.

At the time, I had the idea to add a cool, retro introduction to the video using motion graphics and a couple special effects. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, I had to scrap the idea. I was so very proud of the final product, yet still regretted missing the chance to tinker with some more involved effects for the video.

Luckily, I recently had the time to revisit my original idea and apply it to the footage from the beginning of the music video. You can now see the effects video in all of its "old school" glory on my YouTube page! Check it out and let me know what you think!

If you really dig the promo for the band and the song "Apples & Oranges", check out more music from Nephele on their YouTube (including the full "Apples & Oranges" music video) and wherever you listen to your music (Bandcamp, Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, etc)! Special thanks to those guys for continuously being supportive with new opportunities to create content for them. I hope you enjoy this promo as much as I enjoyed creating it!

Follow Nephele here!

[secroner]

Keeping It Steady: Filming with a Gimbal (Highlight Reel)

As I look back at previous film and video productions, I was reminded of the challenge and the fulfillment of working with a camera gimbal. This camera technology has always been a bit foreign to me for the past decade. I have worked with several professionals that are well-versed in gimbal and steadicam systems, often in a supporting role, yet I have never had the opportunity to operate a similar system. Recently, I finally had the chance to work extensively with a camera gimbal.

For a quick and simple explanation, the purpose of a gimbal or steadicam is to smooth video footage while operating a handheld camera by compensating for the movements of the camera’s operator. There are several advanced gimbal systems that electronically calibrate and balance camera movement, which is mounted to the gimbal.

Last fall, I had the opportunity to shoot a short film for the 48 Hour Film Project in Pittsburgh. Our goal for the film was to shoot it entirely on a gimbal with the facade that the film is shot in a single take, meaning the camera moves with the story and characters in real-time. Think of how the movie Birdman (2014) was shot (and if you’ve never seen Birdman, do yourself a favor and add it to your watchlist). Our production team chose to adopt that sort of method of filming.

For our production, The Fatal Burden of Educating Children in the Time of the Undead (2023), I decided to use the DJI Ronin RS 3 Pro gimbal stabilizer paired with my Blackmagic Design Pocket Cinema 6K Pro camera. Initially, it proved to be a challenge to understand gimbal calibrations, but our camera team was able to overcome difficulties and film a fantastic little film based on our own constraints.

I decided to put together a little highlight reel that shows off some of my favorite shots from that film, as well as footage that I shot for another project that utilizes the gimbal. Check out the video, which is now live on the Cipher Eye Media YouTube page! From my experiences I hope to produce more camera shots like this in the future and share more of my work with you!

[secroner]

That's Wrap for Fort Pitt Motel (Behind-The-Scenes April 13th and April 14th)

The second weekend of filming for the Fort Pitt Motel pilot has concluded and I’m excited to announce that we have wrapped production! Currently, Joseph Bucci is hard at work editing the footage, which will then be used to market the series to those who are interested in contributing in the production of further episodes.

I don’t currently have any new information about the project, but if you’d like to participate in a test screening, the production team is looking for volunteers to sign up! Please check out the link below for more information.

https://forms.gle/ht99aHgbEUswShBQA

In the meantime, check out some behind-the-scenes photos from April 13th and April 14th! I’m so glad that I got to work on this project as the Director of Photography and make something with a group of very talented filmmaking friends and colleagues!