check out tumblr.

While I do plan to keep posting here the same as always, I have just created a tumblr page. I had always thought of tumblr as just another weird social network site that would eat my time and steal my personal information. After a very convincing argument from my friend Jason, I set up an account. The real benefit for tumblr is the amount of daily inspiration in provides you with. It's easy to follow other tumblr blogs you like and new updates get sent to you every morning. It's a free injection of cool images, audio and video. Also if people like the things you post they share it with the people who follow them. Very cool. You can find me at kevinAfraser.tumblr.com.

Surfing + Wildlife + Cineflex = Beautiful film for a good cause.

It's fun and cool to be a nerd.

Canon's C300 is actually looking pretty nice in this test. Wish it offered more in slow-mo had a 10K price point and would guarantee me a spot in heaven when I die....

ride bikes make food.

Zander sent me this. It made my already great day even better! Below is a really short doc / Advertisement buy the same director, I love the split screen display. I want to use it for something!

Real men make motorcycles.

Paul sent me a link to another one of Benedict Campbell called "The wall of death" You can find it here. After loving that doc I looked into other work by Benedict that lead me to this:




This reminded me of an Etsy video Melani had showed me 5 or 6 months ago that I can't believe I did not post. I wanted to meet up with this guy on my bike trip this summer but the timing didn't work out.

Quechua - We all need warmth

What decisions do I need to make to get to shoot something like this in the future?

CTXXX

A shot from a video we did for Cameron Smith and Jay Mayne's "Till my mind's busy"

The Alphabet

Any designers and animators out there want to team up for a stop motion/live action typography project?

On Any Sunday

Great movie ending I came across today! Can't wait until my new LomoKino Camera arrives in the mail.

Motorcycles and nature.

Two beautiful projects. Both shown to me by my friend Jared.


See more at http://machineshed.blogspot.com/

Skateboarding and Cameras

I've been seeing some fun skateboard stuff recently. My friend Jason introduced me to Unbeleafable. It would be one of my biggest dreams come true to shoot something like this. (I recommend watching on the biggest monitor you can in anaglyph.)


Here is a documentary trailer that is much more low-fi but also awesome.


I don't really love the contents of this video, but it is a video but it would have been really fun to make too. RED released to push an early version of camera called "Scarlet" which I am now considering the pros and cons of buying. It involves skateboarding so I think it fits with this post.

Sammy Winters Visual Profile

Thanks for the link Paul.

Building sync

Best building sync I've seen to date. Thanks for the link Angela.

Rusko, Everyday

My buddy, Adam Burke, just showed me this video today. It's pretty simple but is made in very good taste. I'm really digging it right now. Location location location.

Cafe Racer Short

Here's a beautiful little short my friend Doug told me about. I keep watching it over and over wishing so bad that it had a proper ending. Although it would be far better if the film had some pay off, each moment that is on screen is captivating and interesting, especially if you're someone who longs to own a cafe racer. The director, Ricki Bedenbaugh, also shoots lots of skateboard stuff for Etnies and Element. It's worth checking out his vimeo. Fun clients!!!

good people make me happy.

Another DSLR doc portrait. I have a list of people two pages long I'd love to do this for!

David Myles - Out Of Love

I was just sent the link to a video I shot for Scott Simpson back in February. What do you think?

Yep. Everybody likes kittens.

Dogbording

So many friends posted this on my facebook wall I felt I needed to put it here.

Dogboarding from DANIELS on Vimeo.

The Sartorialist

I know this is old news and we've all seen it, but I just wanted to have it here so I can have it close at hand to draw inspiration from.

SKATEISTAN

This is probably the best documentary under ten minutes that I have ever seen. It's surprising I just thought to embed it now.

SKATEISTAN: TO LIVE AND SKATE KABUL from Diesel New Voices on Vimeo.

Less talk more action?

Angela just sent me a link to this. Possibly to point out the fact that it's another idea I've talked at length about doing but have never actually done. Always thought it would be cool to do something like the first 30 seconds of this video but actually spell out something or make a "pixel" image. Below is a screen grab from test shot a did last winter thinking it would be a neat music video element. Never finished. I also thought it would be a good nocturne idea. never applied..... Let's make more stuff!

A timelapse spot. Why not?

Send me north. I work well in the cold.

A New Era.

I've spent almost all of my life lamenting that I was not in my 20's durring the 1970's. I love shooting film, classic motorcycles, earth tones. I never wanted to use computers for work and I almost never get excited about the technical inner workings of things.
That said I do love when I am provided with tools that help me come closer to creating the images that are in my head.

When I was in filmschool in 2003, I made a list of specs my dream camera would have. At the time it was laughable as there was no camera in the world that I was aware of that had ANY of these features.

Huge sensor size, Use of any format lens, extremely high resolution, slo-mo built in, operates and handles like a stills camera...
...and oh yeah, HDR.

Over the last few years there have been some majorly exciting improvements in the technology that I use to do my job. The strange thing is that ALL of these changes have been realized in my short career. It's amazing, maybe I need to stop wishing for the past and realize that I'm the perfect age and at the experience level to maximize the use of ALL of the things I've EVER dreamed of in a camera. It's all here.

The only thing I have left to wish for is budgets that will allow me to use the tools frequently enough to master them.
Check out this HDR shot from the EPIC, the last of my wishes to be realized.



But, if you do have a film job for me, I'll still be more excited about that then anyone under 40 anywhere.

More Blood, More Heart Teaser.

Here is a teaser for the behind the scenes doc I've been working on for Hobo With a Shotgun.

More stuff I like.

It would be so fun to be a part of the team who figures out how to do something like this.



I'm really into Aloe Blacc right now. I digg this music video's use of and commitment to split screen. Want to borrow this idea for a few projects. Could be a great documentary tool.

More Phantom

soldier shot at :22 lighter shot at :43.

Phantom Flex-1 min trailer from Liz Fye on Vimeo.

Rain or Shine

This is what happens when you have an idea and don't act on it. Someone else does it awesome and you're left wishing so badly it was you!

Rodarte

Just when you thought music videos were the only way to make pretty images with a loose story and no consideration for sound along came the Fashion line video. Interesting Location + Great Clothes + Pretty Girl =

This would be a fun day.

Support for sport? At the price of $400, you could probably get one specifically for the shoot in question, then if it got a little bashed up it would not be the worst thing in the world. I wonder how it would do on other things, a rowing oar perhaps? A football? Maybe you could do a helmet cam spot where you see what athletes see. Divers/swimmers and goalies would be interesting. I've only ever seen Go Pro HD footage online, I wonder how it would hold up to in theater projection?

Limitless budget + the best snowboarders on the planet =

One more reason I still live in Nova Scotia.

Time to shoot Phantom

How much do you think it would cost if we harnessed Egg's relationship with Sim and rented a phantom camera for a weekend? I think with some pre-planing, a phantom and a couple mid-sized lights. We could make some pretty incredible images. They could be used for our reels, stock footage or maybe to help out a local short film project. I always thought that you could make a brilliant television show opening credit sequence with the phantom. You could let the slow-mo dictate how you animate the credits. Are you guys pitching any TV that this would be useful for? If you do have a commercial come up that would benefit from a phantom, I'd be happy to shoot my first phantom gig at half rate because I'm looking for the experience.

Tarp Surfing

Imagine this with the tarp back lit in a cool location at 120FPS!

Demo Reel Rough Cut

Here is a rough cut of my new demo reel. Still waiting for more footage to come in. I think I should cut it shorter too, but this is where it stands now.

Short DSLR Docs

The last six months or so I've been noticing a huge number of short, DSLR shot, documentaries about both people who participate in and photograph extreme sports. How many more things that appeal to me can you wrap up in one package? How do I get to shoot with energy drink money & connections? Below are the two front runners at the moment.

DARK SIDE OF THE LENS from Astray Films on Vimeo.

Tasteful forced prospective.

I've never liked those cheesy forced prospective shots, but this caught my interest. Maybe there is a cool way to use this simple perspective trick in conjunction with motion in a stylish and interesting way.

Boring but still inspiring.

I don't completely love this and five minutes pretty long for a music video of this type. I do love some of the elements and would like to shoot something similar much shorter and more refined, like a commercial.

I appreciate this color palette and I like the idea of directing the viewer with a "double exposure" plus the use of glass reflection and photographed textures. I think we could do something very cool with more careful planing as to how and why to match up the images and if we captured higher quality base images.

In other glass reflection news, Remember the train scene in the opening few minutes of True Grit? That stuff was incredible, go Deakins! Have you ever done polarizer pulls during the shot before? Or, have you ever used this?

Caribou is one of my favorite Canadian groups right now. In case you're not already into them, a good gateway song is Melody Day.

CARIBOU - Odessa from Caribou on Vimeo.

Black and Yellow Black and Yellow Black and Yellow

I'm going though a rap phase which is lasting much longer than I expected it to. One video I've come across is Wiz Khalifa - Black and Yellow. In addition to the song being very catchy, I'm really into shooting that late afternoon warm summer look. Warm hard light, low sun lens flares and extremely low contrast. It seems for the last few years everybody just wants to crush the blacks. From a production standpoint this look makes sense because we don't have to bring the level on the subject up enough to save the sky. Just chose the right location and time of day, put the sun behind them bounce in soft fill and open the aperture. I don't generally like blown out skies but matched with a look like this they really work.

Also, I've now done a lot of hood mount shooting with various rigs, but it's all been very safe and tame driving, check out the shots at 1:17 & 1:24. I'd love the chance to do some higher speed more extreme hood mount stuff.

Wiz Khalifa - Black and Yellow from Bill Paladino on Vimeo.

Eyes Wide Open

What gets me excited about this video is the thought of being able to shoot in such high-end locations and have an editing style that allows shots stay on the screen long enough to really take them in. I love the use of both infinite and shallow DOF depending on the shot. I also thought the text and sound design made the piece pretty classy. This was made in Steroscopic 3D with two 5D's. Experimenting in 3D is something I'm interested in but it would need to suit the project and have some time for testing. You can check out more of this directors work here.

Eyes Wide Open / 3D Stereoscopic / 2x Canon 5D MkII from Damien STECK on Vimeo.