DLS-Telecommunications hired me to produce a short promotional / sales video that would explain the basics of their service and sales program. They wanted a fast-paced, high-impact video, that also included a short interview with the founder. We decided to go urban and patriotic at the same time. We shot at 4 locations in the Austin, Texas area, including in front of the capitol.

 

 DLS-Telecommunications Promo Video: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I wanted to make a short video introduction on the splash page for DaveCurlee.com. I decided that this should also be a short sample of compositing work I can do. I took one of the photos I took while in Chicago last fall and wanted to have DaveCurlee.com fly in between the buildings. To accomplish this I:

• - Used Photoshop to separate the front buildings and elements from the back buildings and elements.
• - Extended the buildings and elements on the back layer to provide visual information for any panning or 3D camera movements in After Effects.
• - Imported the Photoshop layers in to After Effects and added to the comp, making them 3d layers.
• - Added the text layer and made it a 3d layer.
• - Placed a camera in the comp.
• - Adjusted the back and front layers of the photo on the Z axis so as to create some depth.
• - Slightly blurred the back layer to provide a sense of field depth.
• - Positioned the title layer between the front and back photo layers, adjusting for the perspective in the actual photos.
• - Animated the logo flying between the photo layers.
• - Created a shadow to be cast on the title when it passes behind the front layer so as to mimic the shadow on the building in the back.
• - Animated the camera panning from left to right and zooming in slightly.
• - Rendered and exported the comp and imported into Final Cut Pro.
• - Added the final title using Live Type.
• - Added the ambient downtown street audio.

 

 DaveCurlee.com Animated Intro: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Scott Barkley and I made a trip to Romania back in the late 1990’s. Our purpose was to support a local missionary who works with Gypsy and Orphan children and document the success. These videos are being used to bring awareness to the work the missionary is doing and help raise financial support for her cause.

Touching Hearts - An Interview With Estera Cernat from Dave Curlee on Vimeo.

For The Fierce & The Few, I was given many photographs taken at various fires and rescues. Some of these pictures were so compelling that I needed to put them in the music video. A still image by itself rarely has the emotional impact needed in this kind of music video. Sometimes panning isn’t enough. Therefore I composited various flame and inferno footage in these images to give a vary unique look. These are still images….yet they’re video… yet it’s “a picture”. Most people upon seeing this state that they’ve not seen this kind of implementation before.

During the planning stage of this video, we thought it would be good to get some firemen out and stage a rescue from a burning house. For this sequence, we shot a fireman coming out of a house at dusk. Then I comped in fire elements to give the house the appearance of being a raging inferno. It worked so well, that the home owner thought he might try to pass it off to his insurance company…

 

 Fire FX comp: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In response to the attacks on September 11, 2001, singer and song writer Tracy Barker was inspired to write this song. The words and feelings simply flowed from her heart. When I was asked to turn it into a music video, I was honored. Like most people that horrific day, I ran several video tapes on different channels and captured as much of those events as possible.

We never published this video in mass quantity. It only enjoyed limited viewing in several churches and on our respective web sites. However, I consider it one of my favorite pieces.

 

 The Hand of God is Here: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

“….they come ready to give their lives so that your child, parent…..or friend might live”

The Fierce & The Few video project was produced in order to raise a national awareness and to re-capture a lost respect and admiration for the men andwomen who daily lay their lives in harm’s way, so that we may be able to survice life’s most tragic moments.

The Fierce and The Few from Dave Curlee on Vimeo.