Production Notes aka: "The Blog"

Last Fall I shot a Russian commercial in Portugal called “Tonus.” The whole experience was incredible: both the shoot itself and the adventure of three weeks in the country. The crew was fantastic and it seemed like everyone there had lived and worked in NY or LA at some point. The Russian production company and clients were all incredibly cool, as well. We spent about every free moment exploring the country. It’s hard to beat opportunities like this.

I just finished cutting together a behind-the-scenes video. It’s now posted on the project’s page. Have a look at it here and click on the button over the slideshow.

A few years back I was shooting an industrial video for Microsoft in Seattle. We had hired a two girl choreography team named “FanKick” who had an 80s street performance act. I hadn’t actually seen their routine myself, but I promised them we’d try to shoot a few takes of them on the soundstage during lunch. If it worked out, we’d have a music video. I asked them to prepare one song.

They emerged from the green room decked out in neon lace with their “Yes” CD in hand. I had no idea they were this committed. We shot four stunning takes of their routine while our clients were out.

I returned to New York and made a rough cut. Later that year, the girls were visiting NYC themselves. So we hit the streets and shot a couple more takes around Brooklyn.

After that, I got sucked into other projects and dropped the ball on this one. It was ages until I finally returned to this footage, finished the cut and created a look in After Effects. But the results are pretty cool for a project that literally grew out of thin air.

Where, oh where has the sheriff gone? Well, longtime reader, change has come to Ryantown. And while it may be low on log cabins, cacti and tumbleweeds, it is high on new work and a new focus.

The past couple years have been the busiest of my life. The site saw few updates while I was submerged in television production. And when I finally did find time, the site was looking tired. It didn’t render consistently on many browsers. The wild western look that started as a joke had became long-winded. It was time to start over.

Maybe the biggest change is that Ryantown no longer adheres to its “Population: 1″ tag line. I have too many talented collaborators to share credit with on these films. And Ryantown is now a small company with an “Inc.” at the end of its name. The lone cabin on the prairie didn’t fit anymore.

So here it is. My, how it’s grown! I strove for a look that is fun and beautiful without so much kitsch. I taught myself CSS and built it from scratch. What do you think? There are still a few browser kinks to be worked out. If anything is clearly broken, feel free to shoot me an email or leave a comment.

And a blog, you say? This from the guy that checks his facebook once a month? I will use this space to post news of current projects. With TV work, I can’t post clips until after the show has aired. That can be many months or a year. So come here to learn about the latest and greatest. And I also wanted a place to share some of the smaller, lesser creations that don’t fit into my proper portfolio. There’s plenty of old videos cued up to get me started. Stay tuned.