Skydiving Rig

In my next video project, I need to create an effects that looks like a person is skydiving. There is a problem though: finding out how to make it look like someone is floating in front of a green-screen. I have a theory on how we should do it.

The basic idea is to take an office chair, remove the back rest, and wrap it in green construction paper. As the subject is filmed, someone below oscillates the chair with a rig around on the floor; spinning it and moving it in a circular motion. And to give the impression that I want, i'll need to put a fan in front of his face to make his hair act like its being blown. Either that or I make him wear a hat. The illustration below shows what I mean, however crude it may appear

My Anatomy Presentation

Here is my "PowerPoint presentation" on a skin disorder we were each assigned. In my case, it was seborrhea: a special kind of rash. This video didn't take long to make, and writing and recording the script was pretty seamless. Anyway, I had fun with it and here it is.I got the idea from watching "Zero Punctuation" on youtube, but decided to make it a bit simpler than his hilarious videos.


Seborrhea, I Adore Thee from Trellis Haynie on Vimeo.

Documentary Failure

I was once tasked with creating a documentary on something. Being lost for options, my friend and I decided to do paintball. We got there, and right there things started spiral down the crapper.Nobody wanted to do an interview, which in documentaries B-roll is incredibly important. Without it, the film would be like a twelve year old's essay on giraffes. Anyway, here is pretty much the only thing worth showing off. I had an idea for a neat introduction where I introduce the subject matter, put down the mask, and get shot a few times. As you might be able to tell from the video, it hurt a lot more than anticipated. It's still kinda funny to watch.
Documentary Intro Failure from Trellis Haynie on Vimeo.

5 Video Tips for Complete Amateurs

     1.) Always have an original idea. While parodies and spoofs do have their luster, sometimes a really good idea will take you far. It doesn't even need to be complex. Just the bare bones of an something mildly entertaining, and then chisel out the finer details later on.

     2.) Have a plan. Whether it's a quick scribble you did on the bus, or something you even had multiple drafts for, planning a video is key. If you don't plan events out, everything is going to lack structure, and a strong foundation is all you need. From there you can throw a few decorations on top.

     3.) Make sure the people you are working with a.) have enough enthusiasm to help, and b.) actually know what they are doing. If you're the director, it's your job to make sure everything ties together smoothly and everyone does their job right.

     4.) Be sure to have the right equipment. This includes cameras, SD cards, software, lights, props, microphones, and most importantly actors. Make a checklist and run through it before every shoot.

     5.) Get everything legal out of the way. Copyrights, for example, for a song you are doing a music video to. It's finally finished and uploaded, and it's not even able to be played online. Make sure anything along those lines is completely out of the picture.

     Hopefully these tips will help you learn them by merely reading this rather than personal experience, like yours truly.

Storyboarding

            Storyboarding is an extremely important part of video production; just being able to write down your ideas, plan it out, and know exactly what needs to get done is incredibly helpful. While professionals can hire people to pretty up their drawings and make them look nice on paper, I don't quite have that luxury. Therefore, most of the drawings seem like they were walked on by a chicken with muddy feet. But it doesn't have to look good. All this is is a way to express my views and instead of having to describe them individually to everyone who's in on it. And in a lot of occasions, if there is a large amount of not-talking in the film, then it may also double as a script. Bottom line is, storyboarding is important
         The following images are scans of my storyboarding for my latest project entitled "Idle Hands". This video features a kid alone at home who dreams of skydiving. And I do apologize if my handwriting's a tad difficult to decipher. I'm really the one who is going to read it the most anyway.
Click HERE To See The Storyboard

Fat Lip [Sum 41] unoffical Music Video

Here is a music video I did a while back. I got the inspiration in class one day when I was pretending to take notes, so I wrote down song lyrics. The idea stuck with me for that as a music video, so I went home, sketched it out, and here's the final product. The interesting thing with things like this is that they require very little planning, and in the end that's how I've always been. The video took about three times as long to edit as a normal video mainly because the timing had to be really on track, and even now I still feel like it isn't quite as in-tune as I hoped. Eventually I got sick of hearing this song, which I think is something music video producers all go through, and frankly I was relieved when it was finished. Frankly speaking my computer isn't exactly built for this kind of work-you may have seen one of my previous posts describing the beginning of building a new one-and it took a while to render the video each time. But, lo and behold, it is finished.

Whiteboard Tests

Just some more experiments with animation. In this case, classic whiteboard animation. Nothing but washable markers and a washcloth. The theme of it was "Things that annoy me about technology".
Obviously it isn't finished, but it is still worth displaying at any rate.

Whiteboard Test Animation: What I hate About Technology from Trellis Haynie on Vimeo.

Claymation Practice

I've been toying with different forms of stop motion for a while now, and this is just one of my many experiments towards this. The goal was to have the red ball on the left have a short conversation with the blue ball on the right.
"Hey"
"What?"
"Happy Valentineth day."
One of the hardest parts of this was moving the eyes around. They were Airsoft BB's that I drew a dot on, and the really stuck well in the material. I'm really proud of the blinking portion of it, as it makes it a little more realistic. The rest of it was supposed to be a back and forth of them arguing about the fact that it's June, but the Play-doh I used dried out REALLY quickly. I figured the lip-syncing was a bit off; that portion of video takes a lot more thought and processing. Believe it or not, I really enjoyed doing this. Maybe Ill make a real video from this. Anyway, here is what I got done.

claymotion test from Tyler Haynie on Vimeo.

Bringing Toys to Life

I have always loved those little Hot Wheels cars. Mattel can recall all the Barbies they want, Hot Wheels is where it's at. I have long since now attempted at making a decent stop-motion race with them, but unfortunately they never exactly turn out how I want them to. Well, almost 2 years ago I finally made one and approved of it. So here, I share it with you today.

Bringing Toys to Life from Tyler Haynie on Vimeo.

Building The New "God-Machine"

Over the past few years, I have done every video project, all graphics jobs, and most of my video games on my 5 year old Toshiba laptop. It's been faithful, enduring, and has never failed me before, but frankly it's time to move on. After 5 years of files clogging the system like Fat Albert's arteries, and boot-up times that remind you how long an ice age can last, it's time for a new one. This time, I'm going to build this myself, and make the ultimate video-editing/graphic-designing/video-gaming desktop. So today we completed step one: buying a case. My dad (who is a technological genius) and I found a MSI Ravager case. Besides the oddly aggressive name for a computer tower, it's a pretty sexy box.
Next month comes the important guts; motherboard, processor, graphics card, etc.

The Great Wiener Chase

I have loads of fun with the Go Pro. Mainly it's because the thought of being able to relive all of your adventures and thrills is pretty awesome. This time we strapped a hotdog on the back of an RC car and made our dog chase after it up and down the street. Poor Millie.



The Great Wiener Chase from Tyler Haynie on Vimeo.

This video even got featured on a news cast one day.

The Fruits of My Efforts

About an hour ago I saw one of the commercials that I helped make while I interned in Seattle with SuperFad. Each photo you see I edited to look like an Insta-gram photo. It's awesome to finally see it on TV!

The Incline: A Documentary

Here's a documentary I made a while back for my advance video class on the Manitou Springs Incline. This is something I felt deserved some more attention. Therefore, this is the result.

The Paper Escape

This was one of my first major stop-motion projects. The idea came mostly from a video game, except the monochromatic style was inverted. I used paper and cut out, positioned, and photographed every separate appendage. Now that took patience. I learned that thicker/heavier paper works better for this type of animation. That might've been how they kept South Park so tidy.
Enjoy.

The Paper Escape from Tyler Haynie on Vimeo.

37 Miles Per Hour

I found some old Go Pro footage of me on my bike hauling down the hill I live on. It's not the most impressive, but I'm certain I must have broken the speed limit on my way down.

37 Miles Per Hour from Tyler Haynie on Vimeo.