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A Year in Review

Posted on January 1, 2016 by Shawn

Many things have happened this year and I have posted about none of them! So to continue this lazy trend, I will simply list some of the things that have happened and hope that I will get less lazy one day and post more about them.

– Cruised on my birthday to Belize, Honduras, and Mexico (GoPro evidence to come! I swear…)

– Got my first leading role at Blackfriars in their production of “Shakespeare’s R&J” as Student 1 (Romeo, etc.)

– Worked on commercials as a grip and audio tech for Batavia Downs Gaming

– Acted in (and am now editing) a short horror film called “Zone of Alienation,” written by Jenna Wright of Mad Raven Films

– Shot BTS stills for an NRG commercial/promo in the country on a beautiful farm

– DP’d my first spot. An organ donation piece for bLifeNY under the direction of Nate Stone of Forte Films.

– Played my best role thus far (in my humble personal opinion) – Ty Williamson in Black Sheep Theatre’s production of “Sordid Lives.”

– Created IndieGoGo/Kickstarter videos for Kate Royal’s original play, “Mammoth,” and for the technological love baby of Wes Rockholz and Nick Rabb known as the mobile game “Adventure Guild.”

– Landed my first leading comedic role as Jacob in RAPA’s “La Cage Aux Folles” in the Rochester Fringe Festival

– Was the Best of Boys (Best Boy G/E) on shoots for Memo and professional boxer, Willie Monroe Jr.

– Performed as Johnny Carson in the Strong National Toy Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony to bring Twister into the rankings.

– Started work at Dresden PR

– Shot Interviews and B-Roll at the George Eastman House and the Library of Congress for a documentary called “Be Natural,” (About the life, contributions, and films of Alice Guy-Blache) executively produced by Robert Redford and with VO by Jodie Foster. (Following trailer does not include footage shot by me)

– Shot footage for the High Falls Film Festival and met actors Richard Kind and David Zayas

Oh, and my sister got married and I jumped in a Booby Bounce house. Happy New Year!

Indus

Posted on November 22, 2014 by Shawn

BREAKING NEWS! The featured video on my portfolio page has been changed! It might be the first time ever…but why watch it there when you can just watch it here!?

Matt O’Neill and I geared up for a fast paced shoot when we found out we’d be shooting 5 interviews in 3 different locations in less than a day…oh, and B-Roll too.

HOW DID WE DO THAT!?

Luckily we had a B-Cam and were working with Dresden Engle of Dresden Public Relations, who just so happens to know how to steer an interview to get what she needs quickly. We could have used some more time to light the B-Roll and tweak the interview setups to make them even better, but all things considered (Mainly schedule), I’d say it turned out pretty well!

No Choice

Posted on October 27, 2014 by Shawn

Man, lighting this video was such a rough experience. Never have I had such hurtles to get over on a set before! Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong:

1) It was a beautiful, fall-pretending-to-be-summer weekend.
2) We were filming at a pool.
3) There were beautiful people everywhere.
4) Most of the beautiful people were in bathing suits.

HOW AM I SUPPOSE TO CONCENTRATE WITH ALL OF THAT!? Murphy’s law, my friends. Murphy’s law.

A vast majority of this video was lit with my new favorite tool, shiny boards! So much shine. So much sun power. We also used mirrors to reflect light into the lens of the camera to give the video a little extra flare…badump chhh!

AND we got to make a grip fort. NO GIRLS ALLOWED. We fought them off with C-Stand arms…Floppies, plywood, and plexiglass all came together to create a safe environment to smash a CRT TV – which just so happens to explode with noxious gases when you poke it too hard.

The Best of All the Boys

Posted on October 16, 2014 by Shawn

The girls may have been better, but that doesn’t even matter. I was the Best Boy.

I like to think it was because of my good behavior. Others might say it’s because I was second in command to Rick Shannon, the Gaffer for Routine Involvements’ new music video. He’s a pretty cool cat.

Brought to you by Mike Schifino and a whole bunch of other talented folk, feast your eyes on “UFO.”

Weren’t those floating blue bulbs just glorious? They wouldn’t let me touch the big lights until I hung all of them…

…and then I got to be a human flicker box. We didn’t have enough for the row of flickering background lights, so myself and some grips made magic with manual dimmers and our hands. Wink.

Oh. And I also lit some things. A wide open, abandon warehouse is a fantastic place to work. We should do that more often.

Barbecue Baste Me at Your Will

Posted on October 5, 2014 by Shawn

Dresden Engle and Daniel Lauritzson wrote a show and now they’re famous! Fringe famous. Rochester Fringe famous.

I so knew them before they were cool.

Dresden wrote the book/lyrics and Dan wrote the music. The entire cast (except one!) was stolen from the Pittsford Musicals production of “Les Miserables” last Fall, which I just so happened to have been in! And then I was in this. And it was awesome. And I was barbecue basted. “The Cougar & The Cabana Boy”!

Working on a completely new, original musical was a fascinating experience, and one that I am incredibly grateful for. Everything is from scratch. There’s no previous production to pull from. There are no other actors that played your role to imitate. The script gets changed during rehearsal to work in ways it wasn’t before. It’s all just you and the people you’re working with in that moment. Pure creative goodliness! GUSH SESH OVER.

And now, a montage of silliness!

More footage and pictures to come! The team is currently working on a feature length version of the show (This one was less than an hour as per Fringe requirements), so keep an eye, ear, and tongue out for a bigger, better, and more delicious Boy Buffet in the future!

Go Pro on a Steel Beam

Posted on September 10, 2014 by Shawn

The building of the new Irondequoit Library has given us ICAT folks a bunch of opportunities to play with our toys. I even got to pretend to be a strappingly strong construction worker with an extra chin!

I don’t know about you, but I’ve personally always wondered what a day in the life of a piece of metal was like, so to get a POV I mounted my Gopro to a steel beam…I swear there’s an innuendo in there somewhere.

And then I donned my pilot goggles and flew!

How Does This Cowboy Make You Feel?

Posted on September 1, 2014 by Shawn

About a month ago I worked G/E on a music video and never posted about it! GASP. You’ve been missing out, and it’s my fault. I am so very sorry.

To make up for it, let’s play “Where is Shawn?” Can you find me in this BTS video? Your prize is feeling awesome! Go you.

And now that you’re refreshed with your daily dose of Shawn, check out the Official Music Video for Alyssa Trahan’s “Cowboy,” by Optic Sky Productions.

And don’t even bother looking for me. I’m not in it this time.

But it’s still awesome.

Return of the Mutton

Posted on August 27, 2014 by Shawn

And now, starring Devin’s Keys and Shawn’s Mutton, I give you one of Apple Transportation’s spots:
“The 20 Something.”

Is that the actual title? Who knows! But it’s my character name, so it’s probably important. And those clothes, am I right? Devin was so impressed by my suavelicious taste that he just had to wear something from my wardrobe as well.

If you’re lucky enough to live in Rochester, you can probably even see it on TV! Wowzers. Because we all still need those.

Thanks to Rick Shannon for giving us this opportunity! I warned you about the mutton.

I Won’t Quit!

Posted on August 26, 2014 by Shawn

I shot and edited a music video – with and for kids! I must have a soul after all, right? Right!?

– and “No One’s Going to Keep Me Down”…except for Youtube. They apparently do dumb things to colors. Silly Youtube. You think you know what colors I wanted, BUT YOU DON’T.

Oh, and make sure to watch the Behind the Scenes & Interview with Artist/Lawyer Paul Vincent Nunes, featuring my Beard!

You’ll have to click on this link though. I know, it’s a pain, but the D&C has no embed codes as far as I can see because they clearly want you on their website and not mine. Go ahead. I won’t be offended. Much.

Rig It Up

Posted on July 12, 2014 by Shawn

Friends, viewers, random people that don’t know how they got onto this website: I have a confession to make. Lately, I’ve been feeling a bit shaky. Wobbly, jello-y, and downright jittery. Hard to believe, I know, but it’s true. So, I decided it was time to get some stabilization…FOR MY CAMERA.

Oh man. I bet you didn’t see that one coming.

Up until now I’ve been using a craptastic monopod (not that I have anything against monopods! This particular one I own is just cheap. And also terrible) to add some semblance of stabilization to my DSLR shooting, but then I came across THIS:

It says BEST right in the title, so you know it has to be good. Possibly even…the best.

And now I own it:

It works great! Incredibly helpful, and a touch more professional than the rig you made out of PVC, wood, and black spray paint (DIY FTW!). Shout out to Caleb Pike at dslrvideoshooter.com for posting this a year ago. I feel so up to date now.

The rig is very flexible, the parts can all be used for other rigs, and I’m happy to announce that I’m over my case of the jitters.

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