9:03 Fund, for the Oklahoma City Memorial & Museum

It was a pleasure and privilege to be the editor and animator for Hillmann & Carr’s production of this video for the 9:03 Fund.  It’s an important place.  It is gratifying that the mission of the museum includes telling the story of the recovery and the flourishing of the community in the aftermath of tragedy.  It’s a story of renewal.

http://www.oklahomacitynationalmemorial.org/903/

Sunnylands, soon to be open to the public

I’m pretty excited about this.  My friends and colleagues have put a great deal of time and energy into the media for this new visitor center.  It will be gratifying to see it all installed and open to the public.

One of the best things about my job is that I get to learn about things that were never on my radar before.  While I’d heard the name “Walter Annenberg” before as a sponsor of NPR and other worthy causes, I never knew what an interesting character he was.  He was a close friend of the Reagans and Nixon.  He played golf with Sinatra and Bob Hope (on his own personal golf course), and had one of the largest private collections of Impressionist and Post Impressionist art in the world….and not because it’s a cool thing for a fabulously wealthy man to have art, but because he genuinely loved and appreciated the art.

So – an interesting character.

If you happen to be in Palm Springs, take a look!

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/24/us/annenberg-estate-sunnylands-to-open-to-the-public.html

and

http://sunnylands.org/

Some Useful Links

HELLO.

I am Kristian Perry, a Motion Graphics Artist and Video Editor in Washington DC.

STUDENT WORK:

• MGFX 1: Candy / Strangers
• MGFX 2: Pac(hyderm) Attack!
• History of Animation: Dolphins, Ducks and Beetles
• Thesis Film: Gustave Whitehead: The Forgotten Flier

FREELANCE:

• G.A.P.: Whistle Where You Work Titles, WWYW Ad
• AU Visions Film Festival: Promo and Award Show Graphics
• Center for Social Media: Fair Use Is A RIGHT!

HILLMANN & CARR:

• The evolution of “Frames”: Demo 1, Demo 2, Final

Other Links:

• David O’Reilly and Basic Animation Aesthetics
• Motionographer
• MK12
• Blender 3D
• AE Tuts
• STAND UP while you edit and animate!

FAIR USE IS A RIGHT!!!

I don’t apologize for shouting.

I did a video for The Center For Social Media, an outstanding organization:

The Center for Social Media showcases and analyzes media for public knowledge and action—media made by, for, and with publics to address the problems that they share. We pay particular attention to the evolution of documentary film and video in a digital era. With research, public events, and convenings, we explore the fast-changing environment for public media. The Center was founded in 2000 by Patricia Aufderheide, University Professor in the School of Communication. As part of the School, the Center offers research assistantships, screenings, master classes and volunteer opportunities to SOC students. The Center also has fellows associated with funded projects, but has no stand-alone funding for fellows.

It’s always a pleasure to work with them, and with Professor Pat Aufderheide in particular!

New Animator On My Radar! (Maybe I Should Stick to Music?)

I’ve long been a fan of David O’Reilly’s animation, as well as his theories of animation aesthetics.  Here are 3  links to understand what I’m talking about:

• http://www.davidoreilly.com/work/pss
• http://vimeo.com/1715318 (which at the beginning borrows from Norman McLaren)
• and http://www.davidoreilly.com/2009/08/basic-animation-aesthetics

HOWEVER — there’s some new guy just coming out of school somewhere in Israel called Eran Hilleli.  He was written up in Motionographer for his outstanding short called Between Bears.  Check it out HERE and don’t forget to click the link and watch a lovely piece.

Eran Hilleli - Between Bears

http://motionographer.com/2010/08/05/eran-hilleli-between-bears/

I’ve got a few ideas for some animations I’d like to do…but they are about 1/4 to 1/2 as cool as this one.  Maybe I’ll let them cook a little longer before I start moving pixels around!

In the meantime, there is a new public library near my place in DC, where I will pick up and read the following books:

http://catalog.dclibrary.org/vufind/Record/ocm57905088

and http://catalog.dclibrary.org/vufind/Record/ocm50948399

I will use these books, plus THESE interesting sounds, to create Music of the Future….even as it exists for you right in the present.

Now…I should perhaps get back to work?

Forgotten Flier is now Remembered, and sent to Slaughter!

Yep, I’ve submitted The Forgotten Flier: The True and Amazing Story of the First Controlled Airplane Flight! to the Vimeo Film Festival.  I submitted it to the Documentary category because:

1. It IS a documentary
2. Most documentaries are boring and self-important (especially many of mine)
3. This documentary was specifically designed NOT to be boring
4. MOST IMPORTANTLY – I’ve got a philosophical thing about expanding the notion of what a documentary is, while still honoring the strand of truthiness and journalistic integrity that is assumed to be part of the documentary art form.

In point number 4, I wrote “art form”….and that’s because documentary is a form of art.  Journalism and Scholarly Research are both very noble and important pursuits.  But they are different than documentaries.  The English Language has  even seen fit to give them different names from each other to help distinguish them.

I may or may not dive into this issue on this blog.  Whatever I write, however witty and profound, will still be a pale imitation of the Truth I received on this topic at the feet of Dr’s Aufderheide and Engel at American University….but reading this blog is free, and tuition at AU is not.

Stay tuned!

Remembering a Forgotten Flier

I’m so pleased with what I wrote on my “Current Work” page that I’ll quote it here:

I’m making an animated documentary about Gustave Whitehead.   He was a flier, and was largely forgotten.  The reason why this is interesting is because he made a controlled, powered flight in a heavier-than-air vehicle two years before the Wright Brother’s flew!  So, I’m making an animated documentary about him.  Perhaps this work will inspire other people to innovate and push the envelope of human discovery, knowing that even if they never achieve fame, even if they die penniless, it’s possible that someone might make an animated documentary about them.  Indeed, a chance at immortality.

Yep — I am indeed doing it!  I’ve made the bulk of the artwork, which is charcoal pencil on heavy watercolor paper, and I’ve got it into After Effects.  The voice track is done and I’m quite pleased with it!  An original score is also underway.  Exciting things!

Below are some low-res captures from my first renderings.  I’ll no doubt do some general color correction and maybe throw a vignette on it and whatever other finishing is needed.  Blah blah.  Here are some stills!

Since when do airplanes cast shadows on the sky? Since I adopted a puppet show aesthetic for my new documentary! That's when.

Gustave Whitehead exhorts his assistant to stoke the steam engine!

“Whistle Where You Work” Picked Up By Free Speech TV

Hello!

If you are blessed enough to have DISH Satellite TV, then you can watch a TV show that I’ve had a small part in. It’s called Whistle Where You Work, it’s been picked up by Free Speech TV, and it’s an interview/panel discussion show that tells the story of people who had the courage to do the right thing – to blow the whistle on wrong-doing and corruption – even though that integrity can come at a great cost. You can read more about it here at GAP’s website:

http://www.whistleblower.org/multimedia/whistle-where-you-work

For my part, I did the intro graphics, an ad for GAP in the middle of the show, and I edit and do post-production for each show. It’s fun, but the heart and brains behind the show live over at GAP, and they are doing great work.

(above are the opening titles, with music donated to the show by Penmachine.)

Move Over, Nanook!

I have some good news! My short animated documentary, Pac(hyderm) Attack! is one of the 2008 Official Selections at the Anchorage International Film Festival! This is some welcomed affirmation as I struggle with a fiction script I’m writing.

Please check out the festival here: http://www.anchoragefilmfestival.org

And my short film here:
http://kristianperry.wordpress.com/2008/05/06/its-nice-to-be-recognized/

To sample Flaherty’s documentary classic, Nanook of the North, try this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_wS-Li-9eE

Fighting for the Whistleblowers

I’m doing some work this summer for an excellent group called The Government Accountability Project (GAP). They are the people that help men and women of conscience blow the whistle on unethical corporate or governmental practices….which is something that requires courage.

They are producing a television show to air later this summer, and I’ve produced a short ad for them. It was partially shot by me, and was put together in After Effects and Soundtrack Pro. Enjoy!