Jonathan

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Posts by Jonathan

Interview with Documentary Filmmaker Barry Ptolemy

March 31, 2011 - 6:37 pm

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I recently had the pleasure to direct this Big Think interview with documentary filmmaker Barry Ptolemy. His latest project, Transcendent Man, chronicles the efforts of techno-prophet and futurist Ray Kurzweil. Kurzweil visited the studio the same day, but we interviewed the two separately. Watch Kurzweil share equally entertaining thoughts, here. Barry shared some pearls of [...]

Uncaged: Cultural Canvas Thailand, Art Relief International, and Baan Piranan

January 23, 2011 - 5:46 pm

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During my stay in Thailand I produced this short piece, Uncaged, which tells the story of two young children, Nong Mai and Nong Wichai.  The boys have cerebral palsy, which can be devastating if left untreated.  Three organizations (Cultural Canvas Thailand, Art Relief International, and Baan Piranan) have teamed up to give these children a [...]

BigThink.com Interview with Salman Rushdie

December 19, 2010 - 9:01 am

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In my new role as Director of Production at Big Think, I was pleased with this clip from Salman Rushdie.  It’s interesting, as many of our experts have very different takes on the the importance of inspiration.  More to follow! Original post at Big Think.  Full interview with Rushdie.

High Dynamic Range (HDR) Video: The Latest Breakthrough in Videography

September 10, 2010 - 3:00 pm

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I’ve been a big fan of HDR photography since I first discovered it three years ago.  While it can be overdone, or applied without motivation, it can produce some amazing results under the right circumstances.  Capturing detail in the highest of highs and lowest of lows results in an effect that I like to think [...]

Lightscapes: Non-Verbal Series on Discovery

August 7, 2010 - 12:00 am

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I never thought I would see a broadcast television series that sites Baraka as its main inspiration. Slated to air on Discovery HD Theater, Lightscapes is billed as a “half-hour experiential television series that captures famous buildings and landscapes around the world as they are transformed by stunning, large-scale lighting displays.” Read more about the [...]

After Effects Tutorial: Random Binary

July 12, 2010 - 11:27 pm

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In this quick tutorial/tip, I show you how to animate strings of binary code so that the values fluctuate randomly.  The effect is relatively simple, but you have to dig a bit into After Effects before you get to the right parameters. [HD version available on Vimeo or YouTube.]

My Latest as Director of Photography – “Fanihi: A Cultural Digest”

June 15, 2010 - 11:04 pm

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Fanihi (The Mariana Fruit Bat, a type of Flying Fox) have long been considered a delicacy by the inhabitants of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI).   Unsustainable hunting has brought the population of Fanihi to critical levels on the archipelago’s small island of Rota -  despite recent laws prohibiting the killing of the endangered species.  Fanihi: [...]

1 Great Concept, 4 Days of Shooting, 8 Months of Post: Nuit Blanche

June 2, 2010 - 1:12 pm

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Filmmaker Arev Manoukian combined all of the right elements to make his amazing short, Nuit Blanche.  From Wired: For Arev Manoukian, capturing the live action for his elegant short film Nuit Blanche came easy: He filmed two principal actors in four days on a green-screen soundstage in Toronto. The hard part happened over the next [...]

Tutorial: “The Kid Stays in the Picture” Effect Using Photoshop and Motion

April 8, 2010 - 5:08 pm

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In this tutorial I show you how to create the so-called “The Kid Stays in the Picture” effect (sometimes referred to as the 2.5D effect).  The idea is to separate a still image into distinct layers, move those layers in respect to the Z-axis, then animate movement on those layers to give the impression of [...]

Oscar Nominated Documentaries Cut On Final Cut Pro

March 6, 2010 - 9:06 pm

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A recent Macworld article points out that 9 out of the 10 documentaries nominated for the 2010 Academy Awards were edited using Final Cut Pro…  pretty impressive, considering that the first version of FCP was released only twelve years ago.  (The exception, Burma VJ, was cut on an Avid).  From the article: Apple’s PR rep [...]

‘The Virtual Revolution’: BBC’s Collaborative Web Documentary

February 15, 2010 - 3:45 pm

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From the BBC, regarding The Virtual Revolution, their collaborative documentary about the web: It was a radical change for BBC documentary making – an open and collaborative production, which asked the web audience to debate programme themes, suggest and send questions for interviewees, watch and comment on interview and graphics clips, and download clips for [...]