I've been working on building a new website to display my portfolio. I decided to use Wix.com as the platform for this website. It's still a work in progress, but here is the link to my home page. Check it out, let me know what you think.
http://brandondor9.wix.com/brandondorn
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Thursday, May 16, 2013
The Future of Iron Man
I recently went to the movie theater with some friends to
see the continuing story of Iron Man and Tony Stark. Iron Man 3 has reached
$700 million in the worldwide box office in the first two weeks of its release.
This film has already broken a couple records, it has had the biggest
international opening of all time, and had the second biggest domestic opening.
The Avengers is the only film to top Iron Man 3 in that category. All of the
Iron Man movies have been very successful in the box office, as well as the
other Marvel movies. Disney and Marvel Studios have released a flurry of movies
featuring other super heroes, such as, Thor, Captain America and the Incredible
Hulk. After the release of The Avengers last summer, everyone expects the Marvel
super hero story to continue. The Studios have had a difficult time figuring
out how to keep Robert Downey Jr., who plays Tony Stark/Iron Man. Marvel
Studios has gained a reputation for singing on their cast at a low-pay rates
and keeping them that way. Many of their super hero actors started out as
lesser known, low paid actors who were turned into super stars after one of
Marvel’s super hero blockbusters. Robert Downing Jr. was one of the few actors
who was able to avoid this. He was able to renegotiate his deal with the
studios after Iron Man and was able to get somewhere between $50 - $80 million
from The Avengers. Downing ended up being paid several dozen times more than
his co-stars. In the first two weeks of the release of Iron Man 3, Downing has made
over $35 million already. I wonder what it will take to get Downing to appear
in The Avengers 2. Iron Man has become the de-facto leader of the Avengers and
Downing has been the face of that character. Who knows what the studios will do
next, will they pay Downing a lot more to keep him? Or will they replace him with
another actor?
http://screenrant.com/robert-downey-jr-avengers-2-3-contract/
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Pepsi's Latest PR Stunt
Pepsi has released a new commercial that features one of
their many products, Pepsi Max. In this commercial professional NASCAR driver
Jeff Gordon changes his appearance by having facial hair, wrinkles and makeup
applied to him. He is made to look older and nothing like he normally does.
Gordon arrives at a car dealership with a hidden camera crew. The crew places
hidden cameras on the car, in a fake soda can, and in Gordon’s glasses. Gordon
meets a car salesman who suggest that they take a test drive in a Chevrolet
Camaro. The two men get into the Camaro, Gordon places the Pepsi Max can in a
cup holder and faces the hidden camera toward the car salesman. The salesman
still had no idea that anything out of the ordinary is happening.
Gordon starts up the car and floors it, speeding out of the
parking lot. The two men fly around corners and speed through different
obstacles. The salesman starts freaking out and telling Gordon that he needs to
slow down and stop driving crazy. He still doesn’t know what is really going
on. Gordon takes the Camaro back to the dealership and parks. Both men get out
of the car and Gordon reveals who he is and shows the salesman the hidden
cameras in the glasses, the Pepsi can and the hidden camera crews. The car
salesman is relieved to know the truth. The end line of the commercial is
“Pepsi Max – a zero calorie cola in disguise.”
The full length commercial on YouTube has already reached
over 28 million views. This PR stunt has been much more than a normal
commercial, it has raised all sorts of hype and been shared in all sorts of
social media. Even though the stunt was staged and Jeff Gordon didn’t really
take an unsuspecting car salesman on a crazy test drive and use hidden cameras
to record the event, this has been a great was to spread the word of Pepsi Max.
Thursday, March 7, 2013
"Disney Wars"
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In October of 2012, The Walt Disney Company announced that it was purchasing Lucasfilm and the rights to ‘Star Wars’ for 4.05 billion dollars. This huge deal would consist of Disney paying Lucas half the amount in cash, and the other half in Disney stock. Lucas ended up owning nearly 40 million shares in Disney stock. These shares would give him about a 2.2 percent stake in the 1.83 billion shares of Disney stock that are in circulation. Disney is now in the process of making a new Star Wars trilogy. They will be releasing the seventh episode in 2015 and Episodes 8 and 9 will be released every two to three years after the previous one. This new trilogy will continue to follow the story of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Princess Leia.
In October of 2012, The Walt Disney Company announced that it was purchasing Lucasfilm and the rights to ‘Star Wars’ for 4.05 billion dollars. This huge deal would consist of Disney paying Lucas half the amount in cash, and the other half in Disney stock. Lucas ended up owning nearly 40 million shares in Disney stock. These shares would give him about a 2.2 percent stake in the 1.83 billion shares of Disney stock that are in circulation. Disney is now in the process of making a new Star Wars trilogy. They will be releasing the seventh episode in 2015 and Episodes 8 and 9 will be released every two to three years after the previous one. This new trilogy will continue to follow the story of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Princess Leia.
In an article by Bloomberg Businessweek, George Lucas said
that Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, and Harrison Ford are all in the final stages
of negotiation to be in Star Wars, Episode 7. Disney has brought J.J. Abrams on
this project to direct Episode 7. Abrams has directed and produced blockbuster
films and series such as; Lost, Alias, Super 8, Star Trek and Mission:
Impossible – Ghost Protocol.
The original Star Wars was released back in 1977 and this
film made George Lucas into a visionary in the film industry. Lucas created two
more Star Wars films shortly after that. It wasn’t until the past decade when
Lucas made another Star Wars trilogy which received mixed reviews by his fans.
Many of the hard-core Star Wars fans had become convinced that Lucas had become
a commercial sell-out with the release of Episodes 1, 2, and 3. These fans
complained about many issues in the newest trilogy including the addition of a
character, Jar Jar Binks. Only time will tell how Star Wars fans will react to
the new trilogy that will be released two years from now.
Friday, March 1, 2013
House of Cards
Netflix has paid $100 million for two seasons of the new
series, “House of Cards.” This series is a political drama that stars Kevin
Spacey and Robin Wright. Netflix has announced that “House of Cards” is their
most streamed show. The show was released on February 1st, where
Netflix made the 13-episode show available for streaming. Most viewers of the
show ended up watching more than one episode. Chief content officer Ted
Sarandos spoke at the Dive Into Media conference, he said “We’re thrilled,
Netflix got more bang fro its buck out of “House of Cards” than it would have
using the same amount of money to license more traditional TV content.”
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said that he sees the business as
a long-term business opportunity. People who subscribe to Netflix don’t sign up
for their original content or for specific TV shows, they sign up for the
overall experience. “House of Cards” is just the beginning of Netflix’s
original content. Reed Hastings said, “You want to think of “House of Cards” as
a down payment on the potential to build real franchises.”
I believe that this is a great new way for Netflix to
increase their content on their website. Creating and producing their own
television series is ambitious and thinking outside of the box. I have not seen
“House of Cards” as of yet, but I intend to watch the pilot episode and see for
myself how it stands up to other drama series. I have had a subscription to
Netflix for nearly three years now where I stream movies and television shows
all the time. Netflix offers a large variety of content for a very reasonable
price. They are much cheaper than having some sort of cable or satellite
subscription. Releasing new, quality content on a regular basis is important in
keeping their customers happy.
"Life of Pi" and Rhythm & Hues
I recently went to the movie theater and saw the “Life of
Pi.” This movie is about a boy named Pi, who starts a journey with his family
to the other side of the world. His father owns a large variety of wild animals
and brings them along on their trip to Canada. During their long sea voyage,
they encounter a storm that disables the ship and sinks it. Pi is fortunate
enough to get aboard a small wooden lifeboat before the ship sinks. Pi’s family
and everyone else go down with the ship. Pi has to become resourceful enough to
survive on the open ocean for a long time with a wild tiger that shares the
same boat.
The “Life of Pi” is made up of a large quantity of CG,
including the ocean and the animals. Without these effects, the movie would be
made up of a boy on a boat in front of a blue screen. Rhythm & Hues is the
visual effects company that is responsible for creating the tiger in this
movie. Unfortunately, Rhythm & Hues has recently filed for Chapter 11
bankruptcy. There are more and more visual effects companies who are competing
for work in feature films. This is causing the price of these services to go
down and make it very difficult for these companies to maintain a decent profit
margin.
The director of the “Life of Pi,” Ang Lee, commented on
Rhythm & Hues’ bankruptcy. Lee said, “I would like it to be cheaper and not
a tough business fro VFX vendors. It’s easy for me to say, but it’s very tough.
It’s very hard for them to make money. The research and development is so
expensive; that is a big burden for every house. They all have good times and
hard times, and in the tough times, some may not survive.” It is sad to see a
company like Rhythm & Hues, that can produce such beautiful and stunning
work, struggle like this and have to file bankruptcy.
Monday, January 14, 2013
Copyright Infringement: It’s Everywhere
Copyright infringement can happen in all forms of media,
including film. The movie, The Hangover Part II has been subject to claims of
copyright infringement. In this movie, Ed Helms plays a character who has a
tribal tattoo around his left eye. This tattoo is the exact same design as the
one on the boxing champion, Mike Tyson. Tyson’s tattoo artist S. Victor
Whitmill had obtained a copyright for the “artwork on 3-D”. Whitmill filled a
lawsuit against Warner Bros Entertainment just weeks before the movie was
released in theaters. He said that Warner Bros had committed copyright
infringement by using his design in their movie and in advertisements without
his consent. Before there was any sort of ruling on this matter, both parties
came to an agreement out of court that resolved this problem.
Images are not the only things that can be protected by
copyright law. In 1985, Lucasfilm filed a lawsuit against High Frontier and the
Committee for a Strong, Peaceful America. In the middle of the 1980’s
politicians nicknamed the Reagan administration’s Strategic Defensive
Initiative, the “Star Wars” program. George Lucas didn’t want his film to be,
in any way, associated with this government program. This program wanted to put
anti-missile weapons in space. Lucasfilm had a trademark for “Star Wars” but
they were not successful in winning the court’s decision. The court decided
that these interest groups could use the term as long as they didn’t use it to
sell any product or service.
Adidas has been using the three-stripe marking on their
shoes and other products since 1952. Adidas filed a lawsuit against Payless
Shoesource, claiming that they had broken the law by trademark infringement. Payless
was selling shoes with similar logos of two and four stripes that looked like
the Adidas logo. Adidas got a jury trial that took seven years to reach a
verdict. During this time, 268 of Payless shoes were reviewed because of
similar, Adidas style logos. Adidas won the case and was awarded $305,000,000. Its
fairly easy to see that copyright infringement can be very costly and never a good idea to try and steal
someone else’s intellectual property.
Sources
Monday, December 10, 2012
OMCOPTER
Over the past six months or so, I have been in
pre-production for the short film Operation: Just Cause. We have finished the
script, shot the trailer and are now working on the list of gear that we will
need to shoot this film. One of the scenes of this film takes place at an
airfield in Panama. During this scene, a team of Navy SEALs infiltrates the
airfield in order to render it inoperable. During this mission, the SEAL team
gets caught in a bloody firefight with the Panamanian Defense Force. I have
been working on how to shoot this engagement and what type of gear we will need
to accomplish it. I would like to be able to get some coverage from the air
during this scene. I have looked into some options for renting a helicopter for
the day and the other equipment that would be needed to secure the camera for
these shots. It is very expensive to rent a helicopter and pay for the
insurance as well.
Lately I have been considering other options and have found
a few of them. I was recently introduced to the Omcopter. This product is
remote-controlled helicopter, which is capable of carrying a Red Epic camera on
a stedicam platform. The Omcopter is small, agile and is capable of outdoor and
indoor flight. It can maneuver through tight places that other aircraft cannot.
There are other remote-controlled helicopters that are capable of similar maneuverability,
but I have not seen one that is capable of carrying a camera that is as heavy
as the Red Epic. The Omcopter has been used in big films such as, “Prometheus”,
“The Hobbit” and “Avatar 2”. If I can raise enough money to fit this product
into the budget I would like to rent it for a day and use it in Operation: Just
Cause.
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Gunshots with Adobe After Effects
During the past couple of months I have been working on
pre-production for a short film that will be shot in April of 2013. The film is
about a team of Navy SEALs who were deployed in Panama in 1989 during
Operation: Just Cause. With the help of a small crew and cast, we have filmed a
short trailer for the film. The short production went well and we have enough
footage to make a decent trailer. We were able to get a couple guys with
recording arts backgrounds to make a song for the trailer. The biggest problem
that we are facing right now is the lack of an editor. I have some experience
editing with Final Cut Pro, Avid Media Composer and Adobe After Effects. This
trailer has a lot of action shots where the SEALs are firing their weapons.
These shots require a good deal of visual effects editing such as, muzzle
flashes, shell ejections, dust, and color correction.
I have been using Video Copilot as a resource to learn how
to make these gunshots look real. Video Copilot is a website that has tutorials
on how to use After Effect to build a variety of different visual effects. I
had to learn how to create muzzle flashes from scratch with Adobe After
Effects. In one of their
tutorials, they take you step by step and show you how to make it look like a real
weapon is being fired. I found pictures of different muzzle flashes with black
backgrounds online. I learned how to key out, (meaning remove) the background
and manipulate the remaining images in order to create a believable muzzle
flash. I have also been looking at tutorials on how to create shell ejections. I
used one of Freddiew2’s Channel videos called Gun Sound FX and Bullet Shells,
to learn how to animate the shell ejections.
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Negotiation Interview
Negotiation is a very important part of being successful in
business and in the entertainment industry. Foster Lovelace is an independent
video editor who lives in Sacramento, California. He primarily edits music
videos for local bands and independent artists. Foster is not limited to
editing music videos, but has also worked on wedding videos, commercials and
documentary films. Each of Foster’s projects are unique and require different
amounts of time and effort to complete. Each time Foster meets with a new
client, he must negotiate with them and settle on a price for the completion of
that particular project.
I asked Foster about the preparations that he takes before
negotiating with a client. The first thing that he does is to do some research
on the client’s company or band, in order to have a better understanding of
their video needs. Foster usually deals with smaller businesses and bands,
which normally have a small budget that they can spend on his services.
Understanding your client’s financial situation is very important when
negotiating over the price of any given service. Foster also said that he does
research on other editors in his area and tries to stay within their price
range.
During the interview, I asked Foster if he had ever
experienced any problems when negotiating with clients. He said that there have
been a couple occasions where clients have tried to use tricky tactics in order
to get a better deal on his services. On one of these occasions, the client
stated that they could only pay a set amount and they couldn’t go any higher. The
price that they offered was a good deal lower than the price that Foster would
normally ask for on a project like that one. He told the prospective client how
long it would take for him to take complete their project and that their offer
was too low and not worth his time. The prospective client would not change
their offer and threatened to back out of the deal and find another editor.
Foster knew that the offer was below his bottom line and had to decline the
client’s offer and pass on that project.
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Video Copilot: 3-D Elements
Video Copilot is a website that showcases after effects
plug-ins. After effects is great editing software program that has a wide
variety of capabilities for creating visual effects. Video Copilot has a
variety of products, tutorials and information about visual effects editing.
New plug-ins are being created and added to this site all of the time and can
be purchased at their website, videocopilot.net With each new plug-in that they
add, there is at least one tutorial that takes you step by step through the
process of using the new tools that are made available with the new plug-in. Most
of the newer plug-ins have multiple purposes and therefore have more than one
tutorial.
I find these tutorials very helpful and informational. The
only downside to some of these tutorials is that sometimes they will lead you
through the first half of the project and then let you know that you will need
a second plug-in to complete the particular visual effect. That’s where they
get you hooked. You get to see what they can create but you have to purchase
more plug-ins in order to do the same. I came across this dilemma not too long
ago. I was following along with a tutorial on creating the Biohazard Logo using
the Element 3D plug-in, and a little over halfway through the tutorial, they
require a separate plug-in to create what they have made in the demo. Now I
want to get this new plug-in but getting more and more of these plug-ins add up
pretty quick.
This short video is an example of Video Copilot's new plug-in, 3-D Elements package and it shows some of the new thing that you can do to manipulate an image. This plug-in is great because you can take your basic 2-D elements and convert them into 3-D images.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
The Hobbit: An Unexpectd Journey
The first installment of the Hobbit trilogy will be in
theaters on December 14th, 2012. Peter Jackson, Writer, Director and
Producer of the Hobbit films, has already become a huge success with the
well-known Trilogy, The Lord of the Rings. The Hobbit Trilogy is the prequel to
the Lord of the Rings and follows the tale of Bilbo Baggins and his journey
through Middle Earth.
Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who is caught up in a quest to
help thirteen dwarfs reclaim their lost kingdom. The big problem with this is
this kingdom is guarded by a notorious dragon named Smaug. Gandalf the wizard helps
this small team of adventurers on their journey. They come across Orcs,
Goblins, Trolls and many other creatures that try to stop them along the way.
Bilbo discovers the ring of power in Gollum’s cave and steals it from him and
barely escapes with his life.
The Lord of the Rings trilogy
grossed over 3 billion dollars and was wildly successful. New Line Cinema had
no problem investing in Peter Jackson again and expect to make an even greater
profit. New Line, along with MGM and WingNut Films, have given the Hobbit Films
a 270,000,000 dollar budget. At first, the Hobbit was going to be made into two
films, but not too long ago it was decided that the story was too long and it
would be better to make it into a trilogy. I think that this is a smart
business decision for a couple of reasons. First of all, by making the Hobbit
into three films, the studios will be releasing one more film that will most
likely be a huge blockbuster and be more than worth while. The second reason
why I think that the Hobbit should be released in three parts is the story
itself if very long and has lots of details. If the studios had decided to make
two films instead of three, they would have had to choose what parts of the story
to leave out of the two films. I look forward to seeing the three Hobbit films
over the next few years starting with The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.
Sources:
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Monday, September 10, 2012
Helicopter ride at D-Day
This was my first time in a helicopter and it was awesome! I can't wait to get in another one. This was shot on a GoPro HD Hero at Oklahoma D-Day 2012.
Sunday, September 9, 2012
48 Hour Film Project
I have been researching local organizations and businesses
that are involved in the film industry and I found one that stood out to me.
The 48 Film Project is a unique competition that has been going on all around
the world since 2001. Filmmakers get together for one crazy, fast-paced
weekend. Each team of filmmakers have just 48 hours to write, shoot and edit a
short film. Each group will be given a list of things that they need to have in
their film; a character, a prop, one line of dialogue and a genre. Besides
these guidelines, the rest of the short film is up to the team to decide what
to do.
The 48 Hour Film Project’s mission is “to advance filmmaking
and promote filmmakers.” This event is a great way for filmmakers everywhere to
come together, share their ideas and make some great movies in a short period
of time. Having such a short period of time to make a film is a great way to
encourage creativity and teamwork.
Eleven years ago Mark Ruppert came up with the idea to make
a short film in 48 hours. Ruppert was able to get other filmmakers to take part
in this experiment and their projects were successful. Now this competition has
taken place in over 400 cities around the world. There have been 278,000
filmmakers who have participated in these competitions over the years.
Events like the 48 Hour Film Project are very beneficial to filmmakers
everywhere. They are forced to think outside the box and use their creativity
and communication skills to create something that normally is not done in just
48 hours time. Many filmmakers spend do much time talking and arguing about
making films and very little time actually making films. I have never taken part
in the 48 Hour Film Project which just took place last month but if I am not
working during the next 48 Hour Film Project, I want to get my crew together
and give it a shot.
Monday, September 3, 2012
Friday, August 31, 2012
JJ Abrams: The Mystery Box
I recently watched this TED talks video by JJ Abrams: TheMystery Box. Abrams is a well-known
producer, writer and director who has worked on many hit movies and television
shows. In this presentation,
Abrams inspires his audience to be creative with whatever they have. He talks
about his grandfather and how he used to encourage him to try different things.
He would help Abrams take things apart and learn how they worked. One of the
things that Abrams became intrigued with was boxes. He was interested and still
is interested in how they are made and constructed. Abram’s grandfather bought
him a Super 8 camera when he was ten years old because he wanted to create
films. Abrams was inspired and encouraged to create things and use his
imagination from a very young age.
Friday, August 10, 2012
Blackmagic Cinema Camera
Will the Blackmagic Cinema Camera take the place of HDSLR’s?
In THIS article, Marco Solorio from OneRiver Media,
discusses a new product, the Blackmagic Cinema Camera. This camera has a very
different look to it, in comparison with most HDSLR’s. Solorio talks about the
possibility of the Blackmagic Cinema Camera taking the place of HDSLR’s. The
Blackmagic Cinema Camera retails for $2,995 and this includes the camera body,
DaVinci Resolve grading software, UltraScope used through the use of
Thunderbolt, and you get the Blackmagic Design’s media Express software which
allows you to preform live capture of the RAW footage. This bundle of extras do
not come with any DSLR on the market that I know of. Another cool feature is
the five-inch touchscreen on the back of the camera. This screen has many
useful features, one of which is the ability to enter metadata onto each clip. The
Blackmagic can also accept most lenses that are made for Cannon 5D’s and 7D’s
with an EF mount. This is a great idea because there is already a wide variety
of these lenses out on the market, so people who own older DSLR’s and have
these lenses and are ready to upgrade their camera, will be able to keep their
lenses to use with the Blackmagic.
The Blackmagic camera has many benefits compared to DSLR cameras,
which are in the same price range. The Blackmagic has a 13-stop, 2.5K sensor
resolution and has the ability to be recorded at 12-bit RAW, internally or
externally. You can also record in other formats such as, 10-bit ProRes or
DNxHD at the full 1080 HD size. This camera has qualities and functions that
only higher end cameras have. The Cannon C500 is the next, cheapest camera that
outputs a live, uncompressed, RAW output that is higher than 1080 HD and is
higher than 8-bit, but this camera costs around 30,000 dollars.
One of the areas where DSLR’s have an advantage over the
Blackmagic, is its sensor size. It has a much smaller sensor in comparison with
the Cannon 5D Mark 2 and 3. IF you have
a larger sensor, you will gain to things. The first thing is a greater
sensitivity to light, and this will also give you a lower amount of noise at
higher ISO values. The second benefit in having a larger sensor is that it will
give you a narrower depth of field. There are other ways to get a narrow depth
of field with a smaller sensor size, it just takes a little more work.
The Blackmagic Cinema Camera is a very new camera with great
functions and qualities, and also has its drawbacks. It has many features that
are only offered on higher end cameras, and has a new innovative design. I believe
that this camera will become a very popular, cheaper alternative to other
cameras on the market.
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Welcome to BRAN.DID
Hi, my name is Brandon Dorn and I’d like to welcome you to my site. I am a creative and passionate filmmaker who loves to direct and edit all sorts of film and video projects. I have worked on short films, music videos, commercials and promotional videos. I love what challenges each new project brings, and exploring creative ideas in order to make each of them unique and professional. Please feel free to check out my work here at BRAN.DID and HERE.
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