Sons of the Guardian: 2011

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Finally a New Post: My Brother's Engagement

Well, it's been a long time since I last posted anything on my blog. I have been busy. Since my last post I have:

1. Finished school at TCC
2. Got accepted to my dream school, SCAD
3. Received an unexpected scholarship to SCAD
4. Proposed to my girlfriend of 2 years.
5. Watched my little brother get married (and act as a groomsman/photographer)
6. Married my best friend (Check out her Tumblr here)
7. Went on the most amazing honeymoon to Vail, Colorado.
8. Made plans for a new office/work area in our apartment in order to start school well on my wife's birthday, September 13th.

In addition to all of these wonderful life-changes, I have been very busy filming and editing several Quinceañeras, Weddings, and Reunions...gotta make that money for school!

I wanted to post some photos that I shot and edited a couple of months ago. The following edits are of my brother D'mitri and his now bride, Mandy. All photos were taken in Woodward Park in midtown and downtown Tulsa, OK. All shots were captured in the early to late afternoon. Thank God that the subjects and my lovely assistant were troopers even at hour four of shooting.

Enjoy:

All photos were shot with the Cannon 5D Mark II.

*In the Tulsa area and wanting some photos of your special day,
please contact me: Tony Willis [sonsoftheguardian @ gmail.com]

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Quick Review of 'MicMacs'

I started off this saturday morning with the talented Jean Pierre Jeunet's MicMacs (Non-stop shenanigans). You may know this French director from his past films like Foutaises, Delicatessen (the city of lost children), and most likely Amélle. From his choice of color schemes with the high levels of saturation and his use of the color green, Jeunet's latests film MicMacs is yet another creative masterpiece. Most of the time I can tell if I am going to stay invested in a movie from the opening scene. If you enjoy a story that compels you to stay tuned until the very end, MicMacs will met your expectation. If you have the time and can find this film, I would suggest to you that it is worth viewing. (If you have a Netflix account, you can get it by mail.) Feel free to drop by as often as you like. there will be some popcorn waiting for you. Have a great weekend!

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Dear Audience,

The video for B. Priest's, "Too Fast," has been completed for a week now.

I hope you enjoyed watching it. I had a great time creating it for you.

The past couple of days I have been working on some other projects, which have been taking up my time. So, today, I wanted to share some of my process with you.

Above is a picture of the After Effects interface. This is where I color my videos, create graphics, and sometimes edit. After Effects is home for me. This application has a lot to offer. From creating cartoons, using the puppet tool, to making explosions in a movie scene, this program allows my imagination take flight. I have not yet fully realized the program's full capabilities. A program that is a platform for your creativity is not something to master, but a journey that you take. A journey of discovery is the most important thing, not what effect you can make. In a couple of days I should be finished with the projects that I am working on, and I hope to post those behind the scenes photos and share more of my process.

I called you all, "Audience," because, well, I'm inviting you to observe, to comment, and enjoy all of my processes with me. I hope soon I will grow more accustomed to blogging and share more photos, stories, thoughts, and perhaps even problem solving techniques. Thank you all so much for taking the time to read and be part of those "looking on" as I am in the middle of "becoming..." something...

Don't forget to check out the video below if you haven't already...

B. Priest: Too Fast Music Video from Tony Willis on Vimeo.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

The Video is here!!

Today was a huge day for me. I uploaded the final cut version of the latest video that I gave photos for in the last post. Please click the link below to watch the HD version on Vimeo :)

B. Priest: Too Fast Music Video from Tony Willis on Vimeo.

B. Priest's "Too Fast" Shot, Edited, Directed by Me...

Monday, February 21, 2011

The Making of B. Priest "Too Fast" Music Video

Bryant Hamilton, AKA B. Priest, has been a close friend of mine for some time now. He contacted me about one of his new singles, "Too Fast," a couple of months ago and he wanted to know what I thought about making a video for it. I didn't realize at the time that I was going to eventually be enamored with the project. I was captivated by the coldness of the song the moment I heard it. Usually, when you hear the word cold, you would think unemotional, lacking warmth or depth, but I was moved. The way that the song is able to breathe is calculating, and I was immediately motivated to be a visual solution to this project. In anticipation of the release of the video this Wednesday, I wanted to put up some photos from the day of the shoot...