Monday, August 17, 2009

my seagate issues, resolved

all things decay. all hard drives fail. they overheat and crash. the best thing you can hope for from a company is a guarantee on the gear. don't expect to see your data again. but you might be able to get a blanket 'im sorry' and a new hard drive in the mail.

seagate is an honest company. i'm still not impressed with their external designs but at least they will replace them for free when they burn out.


i don't care what brand you buy, you will want two. and backup your gear. the question is not about if but when your hard drive fails, did you backup your files? and pray to god that two drives is enough.

take advantage of livemesh for your most important information. with every live.id you get 5gb of free cloud storage. this isn't much, but if you are a final cut guy like myself, this should be plenty of space to store your project files and special files from soundtrack pro or color.

recapturing footage might take time but redoing your work would put you in a whole new world of heartache. in many cases, you will never forgive yourself. kind of like losing your first born child.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

tommy dean movies

tommy dean is a singer songwriter who lives in the seattle and tacoma area. his life is a work of art full of adventure and mystery. he invites his audience to live vicariously through his music. some of his stories are true and some of his stories are outright lies.

if my movie seems overly romantic and idealized, it is because it was my first documentary film. like my subject, i am trying to find myself as an artist. it is a labour of manifesting my dreams.

tommy dean show (38:41) from Joshua Guerci on Vimeo.



this second film is an hour long. much of the innocent magic has dissapeared and the result is a much more gritty and real dipiction of my subject. as a film maker, i feel that i play the role of a selective mirror. i must find a balance between what the audience would like to see and what the subject himself wants to see.

further, it is a challenge to balance between scenes of idealizing my subject and showing off his grubby parts. too much of one thing will ruin the sauce.

tommy dean & friends (1:07:14) from Joshua Guerci on Vimeo.



if you would like a physical copy of these movies, please leave a comment below. you can see some outtakes on my youtube channel and send me a message there. if you would like to share this movie with a friend, i would be happy to send you a copy of the dvd in the mail.

i am an independent filmmaker living in seattle and i would love to do another project like this, to expand upon what i did right and practice some of the lessons i learned first time around.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

king rat by modest mouse

initially released in 2007, the rat king is released as an a-side to promote a b-side collection from modest mouse. i think the video is great!



pitchfork says heath ledger was directing this music video up until his untimely death. is that true? or is it some sick ploy? more likely, i think this video was directed and animated by terry gilliam.

whatever the case, this video is sick. whales hunting humans? do you think its some message of veganism? or some zen meditation? or maybe it just awesome. i'll go with just awesome.

emerson salon video

i am the cheapest videographer in town. what is the quality of my work? look below:

Emerson Salon: Rusty from Joshua Guerci on Vimeo.



how did i get rusty to talk about himself as a hair stylist? i got him to talk about what he thinks people want to see in a stylist. in describing his idea of the other's desires, he is talking about himself. clever? i thought so.

i enjoyed talking to rusty and putting together this video. rusty told me about how he enjoys helping customers discover the hidden 'sexiness' of their hair. as a videographer, i enjoy helping interview subjects discover their message. one of the first rules of journalism is, everyone has a story to tell. and i believe it. with the help of a creative and skilled journalist, any person can be transformed into a goldmine of storytelling.

there is a trick to getting people to talk. the interview should be at least twice as long as the intended application will allow and a good interviewer will use that extra space to ask peripheral questions. not worthless or trite questions but poignant questions that will prime the memory well, so to speak.

this is the first personal project in which i used soundtrack pro. once you get over the initial intimidation of the software, it is very powerful tool. i am familiar with sony soundforge, cakewalk sonar and pro tools so it is not difficult for me to get into soundtrack pro. no video should be completed without first going through the soundtrack pro treatment.

if i had more time to play, i might go in and tweak things in color. add some gain to the shadows maybe? subtract a bit from the bright window?

the eye is naturally drawn to the brightest part of the picture. in this video, that would be the window. so did i make a mistake by shooting into natural light? i like the effect. but do you?