I totally forgot to share this here. The video from the first-ever-video-shoot I did last year on YouTube. And no, I don’t do videos. Yet. It was an experiment! The band’s website is now up – where you’ll also find some desktop wallpapers I made for them the other day.
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Airbrushing video is exactly like airbrushing photos, except for the doing it 25 times a second on a face that keeps moving around…I usually use a cocktail of filters to airbrush skin – blurs, grain, liquify (sp?), dodging, burning – targeted filtering, I call it. Targeted because it’s only applied on certain parts of a face/body; usually large expanses of uninterrupted skin – and avoiding features like the lips, the eyes etc. More
Continue ReadingSome of the footage for Mena’s video are effects-heavy, and render times can be extremely long. So, what to do when estimated time of render completion is 3 a.m. in the morning?
I discovered Free Download Manager which – in addition to being a great download manager, and being honest-to-God FREE – is great for unattended shutting down of the computer at ungodly hours, allowing you to go to sleep and find finished renders the next morning.
I know, I know – not exactly what the makers of FDM were thinking, but hey! Free software! That works!
Continue ReadingI mentioned earlier that we were using a cheapskate greenscreen consisting of bits of bright green paper stuck onto a cardboard box.
Will it work?
Being an amateur/cheapskate/dummy (delete where appropriate), I’m using ordinary household objects as substitutes for professional filmmaking gear.
Inspired by people who think like this.
Some examples:
8,000 bob collapsible reflectors? I’m using the sun-shades they use in cars to protect them from heat. 200 bob each (MPPS or Motor Boutique).
5,436 bob muslin green screen? I’m using bits of violent-green sheets of A3 paper stuck onto a refrigerator carton. Sure, it sucks and it’s fiddly, but it costs 50 bob for 2 sheets of the paper (Nakumatt). And the carton was free.
Gazillion bob wind machine? Two large sufuria (saucepan) covers, operated by enthusiastic friends taking turns on either side of the cast. Free, if you don’t count buying the friends lunch afterwards and apologizing for cheating them that making videos was glamorous.
And so on. Will it show in the final product?
I certainly hope not. Fingers crossed.
Continue ReadingBased in Nairobi, Jim Chuchu began taking photographs by accident in 2007. He has since had the opportunity to create stylized advertising photography, portraiture and experimental video for clients such as Virgin Atlantic, Zain, and Coca-Cola and for artists like Just A Band and Sauti Sol.
