Shell-Shocked!

A couple months ago, Springfield Museums hired me to create a commercial for its upcoming exhibition Turtle Power! Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Samurai Heroes, which will feature original TMNT art, as well as samurai swords, armor, and Japanese prints from its collection. Of course I yelled "cowabunga!" at the opportunity. 

Although I went to college in Hartford and have been working in Western Massachusetts over the last decade, I had never been to this fellow cultural organization, referred to as the "Quadrangle" for its assortment of museums in one central location (a new museum dedicated to Dr. Seuss, originally from Springfield, MA, will be opening in the new year). In late September I had a quick tour of the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum, which is where Turtle Power! will be exhibited. A successful 19th century businessman (carriage manufacturing), Smith had quite the collection of European, American and Far Eastern objects — the oriental arms and armor are impressive, and will make up a good part of this new exhibit.

Turtle teammate Steve Lavigne
at Albany Comic Con, Oct. 2016.
Photo: Jeremy Clowe

As for the Ninja Turtles, I admit: I'm old enough to remember them as an edgy black and white comic book during late high school/early college. Shortly afterwards, they mightily morphed into the Turtle Power rangers that became a sensation in their own animated TV series, and toy stores (I had a suction-cupped Turtle on my car/apartment window during college). I wouldn't say I followed the franchise too carefully... in fact, I only just watched the 1990 movie (directed by Steve Barron of A-ha videos fame, with puppetry by Jim Henson). Like a good slice of pizza, I understand the Turtles' appeal. 

While working on the trailer, I also decided to watch Turtle Power: The Definitive History of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a documentary that came out a few years ago. It was interesting to hear how this modest late-night creation by two comic book artists, then based in the Springfield area, exploded into such a global, merchandised phenomenon (in the UK they were known as the Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles, due to a ban on ninjas in the media of that part of the world). The doc also provided several interesting interviews detailing the Turtles' history, including illustrator Steve Lavigne, who was part of the early creative team.

So, imagine my surprise when I attended the Albany Comic Con last weekend, and Lavigne happened to be there! I spent a good amount of time speaking with him, and learning more about their creation (there actually used to be a TMNT museum/gallery in nearby Northampton). Peter Laird, who developed the characters with fellow artist Kevin Eastman, apparently still lives in Western Massachusetts as well. Maybe I'll run into them again during the run of the exhibition.

Turtle Power! Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Samurai Heroes opens November 8 at Springfield Museums, and my commercial will start airing on TV stations in Massachusetts starting next week. Totally tubular, dudes!

Fresh Country Air

Congratulations to Albany-based singer Joey Sontz, whose current single "I Melt" has top 20 on the Hotdisc Country Charts in the UK! 

Back in February I spent the day with Joey in Saratoga's Congress Park, filming a music video for the song, which is the second single off of his album It All Begins with a Song. It really is a great park, filled with interesting sculpture, buildings, and levels, which match the charms of the renowned resort town. Also charming was the interaction between Joey and his friend Rachel Wellington, who I captured larking about the park, having snow ball fights, getting sprayed by a water fountain, and hassling the local ducks (felt like I was directing the opening of Friends)! After a few weeks of dedicated editing, here is the final result:

In addition to the satisfaction of creating the video, I'm pleased to learn that it is featured on this week's Hotdisc Country Top 20 TV Programme, currently airing in the UK on Sky TV's Keep It Country channel! We'll see if the song/video can climb any higher in the weeks to come... fingers crossed!

Joey has been getting some nice reviews on his album, and offered his own words of praise on the edited video, saying that it looked like we had a large crew working on it... besides him and Rachel, it was just yours truly: videographer, director, and editor... signed, sealed, delivered!

Development

The last couple weeks have found me focusing on a handful of video editing projects, which has been a nice change of pace. I think my colleague put it best when he recently remarked that, "when it rains it pours, huh?..."

Below are two videos I produced for the development department at work. The first one utilizes some of the footage and music I used for my recent WMHT-TV segment, as well as the aerial footage I shot on the Museum's campus a couple years ago (yes, I can mark that bucket off the list):

The second video was created to promote the fellowship program through our Rockwell Center for American Visual Studies. I think I might try and add some music, and further massage the audio when I can find the time:

Both videos were created using Adobe Premiere Pro CC. The editing program takes a little getting used to (counterintuitive, in some ways, after using Final Cut Pro all these years), but there are some useful tools found within; it certainly complements the rest of the company's Creative Suite.

"The Schenectady Gazette" April 2, 2015. Courtesy of Jeff Wilkin and
"The Schenectady Gazette."

I am particularly pleased with how the :30 second promo came together. It is one of a few music-based edits I have worked on recently, and I find myself really hitting my stride when it comes to such projects.

Apart from creating these videos and some photography at the Museum, I have been promoting our current and upcoming programs and exhibitions. We currently have an exhibition on the art of illustrator J.C. Leyendecker (a hero to Norman Rockwell), which features all 323 covers he created for The Saturday Evening Post. It is a remarkably strong display, and a few weeks back I was pleased to be contacted by my local newspaper for an interview about the exhibition (yeah, it never gets old seeing your name in boldface).

Related Link (Professional):

"Artist had more Saturday Evening Post covers than Rockwell," The Daily Gazette, April 1, 2015

Inspiration (Personal):

"Teaching Students To Hear The Music In The Built World," NPR, April 21, 2015

Some Assembly Required

Alex Ross, First Avengers, 2010
Courtesy of the artist.
AVENGERS ™ & © 2012. Marvel and Subs.

I had the day off today, yet I spent it working from home... off the clock... trying to add an extra polish to the video that I have produced for the exhibition Heroes & Villains: The Comic Book Art of Alex Ross. It takes time and focus to do these things properly... something that is usually challenging in my role as press/media manager. Even though I wanted to avoid "killing myself" in order to complete the video in time for the opening, I care about my work... so it was worth revisiting. To be honest, I'm not sure I'm completely done with it yet... I might look at adding some background music to further move the piece along. Anyway, I am happy with the way I have approached the project...  I haven't let it interfere with and take over the rest of my life, which is something I have had a habit of doing in the past. I care about my work, but there are only so many hours in the day... hopefully someday it won't be an issue.

Calling All Heroes...

Some of the artist's reference masks on
display in the Heroes & Villains exhibition.
Photo by Jeremy Clowe for Norman Rockwell
Museum. All rights reserved.

Whew... managed to complete a first version of my Alex Ross exhibition video in time for the opening. There's several things I still want to enhance, but all the elements are there and I think it tells a decent, cohesive story.

I just got back from dinner with the artist himself and curators, and all is good... it's a nice installation, and we have some decent press happening. It should be an interesting opening weekend...

And it doesn't end for me with the opening tomorrow... on Sunday I will be representing the Museum and the exhibition at the Albany Comic Con... talk about perfect timing.

Set Your Sights on Adventure!

As promised, here is the commercial I created with Time Warner Media Sales for Norman Rockwell Museum's new Howard Pyle exhibition:

This spot will begin airing this month in Western Massachusetts and Central New York on Time Warner Cable stations... throughout the run of the exhibition, I believe. 

I have to give big props to Emily McEntee Shaw, Producer/Director at Time Warner. We had worked together last year on a couple spots for the Museum, and she is an absolute pleasure. We worked on her Avid Media Composer, and it all came together rather seamlessly.

My colleagues and I first came up with a suitable 30 second script, I gathered the images and then chose a narrator from a few choices. I was drawn to Dave, who is the one we ended up using... apparently he also has done work for the History Channel, so it makes sense that his voice fit for Pyle's historical/fantasy subject matter. 

The trickier thing was finding the music. My experience finds that is always the most challenging... the soundtrack can't distract from the piece, and I think we managed quite well here. I have to admit that I was unsure about the narration when I first heard it, but the music made it sail with a little "pirate ease" once we combined them together.

I do love to edit, and this was one of those experiences where I wasn't pulling my hair out through the process... it was nice to work with a fellow video professional. Granted, the artwork stands on it's own, so I guess I should also be thanking Mr. Howard Pyle.

Howard Pyle: American Master Rediscovered is on view at Norman Rockwell Museum through October 28, 2012.

control

Speaking of Adam "ShadoKat" Bowser, here is a poem he created for the Spoken Word Almanac Project (S.W.A.P.) on the topic of gun control. It was actually written in response to the news of the assassination attempt of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, representative of Arizona, back in January 2011. The tragic shooting actually happened a year ago to this day... so it shows just how early the poets start their work.

This poem made it into the year-end show--and for good reason. It has all the elements of the best S.W.A.P. pieces, which I described in the previous post. An emotional response from the audience, and for the poet--equally invested.

The process starts like this: first the poet chooses a news story each month. From there, they write the poem, eventually sharing it at a monthly meeting of the entire group. In this early stage, I start to think about visuals that might accompany the piece, and wrap my head around not only the story, but also the idea/tone the poet is trying to convey.

I like Adam's delivery: it gets more intense, more heightened as the poem goes along. I responded by making the imagery more and more alarming, and the cuts a little more frantic. I thought this one really captured the feeling of an idea gradually unravelling--losing control.

As good as this piece was, there are only so many works that can be included in the final show. It was decided to switch this out for the encore performance, so that Adam could have a chance to deliver his poem about Troy Davis (see last post). I am reminded of my years working in TV news, where the stories prepared for a live broadcast would sometimes get shuffled around last minute--or a new story would need to get cut. I have memories of frantically running back and forth from the studio to the editing room to facilitate such requests. Thankfully, things aren't quite that "last minute" with S.W.A.P., but we all need to be on our toes. That is the exciting thing about the live performance--I have experienced it on the stage as a performer, and here, behind the scenes as S.W.A.P.'s media designer.

Well, I have a train to catch--see you tonight in NYC!

Details:

The Spoken Word Almanac Project 2011 Encore Show
Friday, January 7, 2011, 9 p.m.

at Wild Project
195 East 3rd Street (between Ave A & B), New York, NY 10009
For more information: http://poetictheater.com/festival