Archive for the ‘music’ tag

Everything’s Coming Up Milhouse!

I got myself a job. I’m now editing for a little agency in Scottsdale called Mission E Commerce. So far things are going well, working all day and going to school at night is going to get real old really fast, but I’ve worked a full schedule and passed classes before, so I probably just need to HTFU. This is the first time I’ve had the job title of “editor” so I’m pretty stoked to have that first career hurdle behind me. The work we are doing isn’t real exciting and the clients are pretty particular, but I’m sure as we grow we’ll be able to get better and better jobs. In the mean time it pays well and they seem to like me, so I don’t really care what I have to edit.

The screening for my latest weekend film festival was saturday. Only seven teams finished the challenge but the ones that made it were pretty good. We ended up getting third place, which I am happy with. We went a very simplistic route so I’m not sure we deserved a whole lot more then that. The films that beat us were good, the production value of one was pretty low but it was clever and that’s kinda how these things work.

I got to go see Stars on friday and they put on a great concert. The opening band was a local act named Back Ted N Ted. A friend had shown them to me a few months ago because he was in talks to produce a music video for them. The music ranges from some cool electronic rock to some weirder almost experimental stuff but you should definitely check em out. After seeing them rock out on stage I’m definitely going to try to get that video to actually happen. Our little group has now done a few videos but all have been hip hop or rap and I really want to direct a rock video.
Stars took the stage soon after and while I’ve been into Stars for quite a while I’m sad to say that I had no idea Amy Millan played guitar. The band uses two vocalists on most of their songs but I didn’t know that both also played other instruments. There was a session guitarist who played a lot of the guitar stuff and almost every solo, which I hate to see, but Amy definitely played her share and did some acoustic stuff. The other lead, Torquil Campbell, actually plays the trumpet parts in a few songs, the keyboard and the melodica. The band rocked the house for the next hour, took a break and then proceeded to play just about every song on their last two albums. The show was at The Brickhouse, which I had never been too because I’m lame, but it’s a nice little bar and was packed. I’ve been pretty proud about how Phoenix turns out for indie shows. The band could have easily filled one of the small venues in town, they seemed pretty surprised at the turnout and were sincerely appreciative. After a great set the two founding members of the band came back out for an encore and played “Barricade” which was awesome.

I went out with a new friend of mine last night. We met a few weekends back on the set of an ASU production I was helping out on. I honestly had no plan of action, I just knew I wanted to see her so we took a walk down Mill Ave and ended up at Tempe Beach Park (which is surprisingly nice). It was really low key but a lot of fun. I felt a little bad that I didn’t have some great idea of what to do, but we simply enjoyed each other’s company and that seemed to turn out for the best.

I leave you with the following two videos, they have nothing in common other then the fact that I like them both. During the week I often collect links that I think I’d like to reference in a post and usually don’t end up writing about them. However these are too good to not share.

A great promo for the Discovery Channel, the VFX were done by a cool production house called Method.

If you’re still on the fence about the whole Hillary vs Obama thing this should pretty much cement things for ya :D

Thanks to everyone who send me a note or a card, I’ve had a pretty good Birthday. Being 23 was a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to being 24 :D
David Hildreth

Two minutes and forty seven seconds.

I get to shoot my first film this week and words can hardly describe how excited I am. The main reason I switched schools was so that I could actually work with film, and after a year and a half I get to shoot 100′ of 16mm black and white reversal. While this is a big deal for me, 100′ is not a lot of film. So I’ve been putting a lot of thought into how I want to use my 4008 frames. The idea I’ve settled on is pretty cool, it’s simple yet clever and should be easy to shoot. Which is great because I’m very much use to a video work flow, and film is unforgiving at best. I get to set my focus with a measuring tape, frame my shots in an inaccurate viewfinder, and depth of field? Well, I have to consult a chart to even have a chance of controlling that. I’m proud to say I am pretty handy with a light meter these days, and my knowledge of lighting has grown to a respectable level. For most of my shots I’ll only get one or two takes though, so while I can prepare for most anything, I’ll still need a lot of luck for this project to really turn out.
Which I hope it does, because visually this has the potential to be by far the best thing I’ve shot… and that measly 100′ of film is $85.

I got to see David Bazan in Tucson on friday. I was sorta on the fence about going to the show until a few weeks ago, but I am so glad I went. It was amazing. Me and two guys made the drive down to Solar Culture in Tucson and while I wish David had been in Phoenix, the venue was worth the drive. The place is an art gallery by day and at night it has concerts on a little stage, which makes for a intimate and unique atmosphere. The acoustics were good, which can be rough at smaller places, but it was just the overall feeling of the place that really made it work. The show was only $10, and the guy at the door was just taking cash with a small money box for change, which is better then an ass hole bouncer or some huge commercial ticketing system. After getting in we looked around and saw that most people had bought in their own drinks, which the venue is totally cool with. So we went to a gas station and got a six pack and enjoyed a few cheap beers with the show. A concert sans the ~$8 beer? What’s not to love? The first act was some local guy, who was awful but after him was J Tillman. I had never heard of him, but he was really quite good. His sound is sorta Iron and Wine -esque and his voice is just off the charts. I’d definitely check him out if you’re like me and had never heard of him.
Then David Bazan took the stage, and I immediately noticed something a bit different about him. Earlier in the night I had seen a balding, bearded man making a phone call near the front of the venue. I thought to myself, “Is that David? Nah, he was shorter then I am, there is no way.” Its funny how you can sometimes idolize people in odd ways. David Bazan has always struck me as a hulking beast of a man, with a lumber jack beard and a straight face, he just seemed like Paul Bunyan with a guitar.
So to set the record straight, David Bazan is an excellent singer/songwriter, a hulking, beast of a man… who is also like 5’6”.
He played a wide variety of songs, from his solo stuff to old Pedro The Lion tunes. He also played a bit of Headphones and apologized for not playing “Natural Disaster” because he didn’t know the synth part very well. He did play “Bad Things To Such Good People” which was amazing. He played the first riff while getting himself set between songs and I (and most of the people around me) yelled in excitement. It’s a dark and complicated song, but hearing it live was great. Also I couldn’t help thinking about Luke playing it in the back yard of the Juanita House with the rest of us trying to sing along, good times.

I saw I’m Not There last night, it’s a movie about Bob Dylan where Bob Dylan is played by five different actors. Each story line follows a different time in his life or aspect of his character. While it’s not the most cohesive movie I’ve seen in recent memory it was really fun to watch. Dylan is portrayed as an old soul who is running from his past by an eleven year old african american boy. As a conflicted husband and father by Heath Ledger, a spiritual person and preacher by Christian Bale. A young poet who speaks his mind by Ben Whishaw, an old hermit by Richard Gere and finally as a jaded and misunderstood rock star by none other then Cate Blanchett. It’s a really fun watch, if you can catch it, I highly recommend seeing it.

Keep it chill, I’ll do my best too do the same.
Dave Hildreth

The doggie paddle days of summer

So as I step onto the diving board at the west end of our pool I dribble once and heave the basketball towards the hoop on the east end. I miss, I always do, but at least I hit the backboard. I take the two more steps to the end of the plank and jump (not dive) in. As I skink like a rock there are three things that go through my mind.

1. Why didn’t I take a bigger breath before I jumped in?
2. Why am I 23 years old and still unable to efficiently move in water?
3. How could my resume be better?

1 and 2 are easy, because I’m a poor swimmer, and because I’m a poor swimmer.
3 is where it gets tricky. My resume doesn’t suck, it just wouldn’t get the me the sort of job I want. Like I talked about a few weeks ago, I have learned a lot this last year in Arizona but my work still resembles the videos I made in high school and that honestly keeps me up some nights.
I was browsing SA the other day and came across a thread of people’s 3D renders, I was blown away. There are a lot of goons, and many of them are pretty talented but I would have never guessed that work of that caliber was common for the 18-35 nerd crowd.
Lately when I see work that is better than mine I am usually jealous of the production value, the shot composition and the lighting. The areas that for a long time I felt I had nailed down. I am so much more creative than I once was, but somehow I just can’t keep up with the basics of production.

I’ve got a pretty big decision coming up, I’m pretty sure I know what I am going to do but I’m not yet 100%. The bachelor’s program at Collins is diving up between Film/HD production and Visual FX. The FX degree looks awesome and I would love to know more about 3D animation and compositing, but I really not very good at all that and don’t think that I could catch up in 2 years. So I’m pretty sure I am going to stick with Film/HD production, I still want to shoot actual film for once, and I need the time to work on my lighting and composition skills.

Jeannie did this the other day and I figured i’d give it a shot. These are some track’s from albums I’ve been listening too. It’s a bit random but they all have similarities.

Bright Eyes – I Must Belong Somewhere

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I’m going back in the pool
David Hildreth

P.S. I took some pictures of my new place the other day, I’ll take a few of my room and then upload em.

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