A look back at 2017 an Amazing Year

How does one summarize a year without going the route of "RENT" and listing off the exact number of minutes (525,600 for those wondering) nor responding with a single adjective response? No seriously, I'm asking you because until I find out I'll just have to resort to a list because...lists are fun!

2017 was one of those years where at the end of it, I initially thought I hadn't accomplished near the amount of things I had in previous years. That is until I sat down and started making the aforementioned list and then boy, let me tell you...I had done some things for certain!

1.  

   The poster art for my short film (also made by me)

    

   A short film called “Upstairs” - I've helped make short films before, running almost 13 years in a row helping with a local area 48 film competition and lending a hand once or twice to a friend's project. However, I hadn't made something I wrote on my own since High School and getting the opportunity to not only write, but also co-produce and act in it was a blast. We brought a handful of friends in who are all experts in their craft, and created an environment where they could experiment with new techniques and equipment. We shot the 8 minute short with actual anamorphic lenses...you have no idea how amazing it feels to have a real short actually filmed in 2.35:1 without cropping it in post. So beautiful. Plus at the time of writing this post, the film has already been selected for two different film competitions which only widens my smile more. Oh and we're writing a sequel...did I mention that?

2. Abundance of creative & fun work projects - To say we do "fun and different work" would be an understatement for 2017, as the variation in type of client projects was so broad it constantly kept me on my toes. As the year went by, I got the opportunity to work on state-wide promotional videos, a series of workout videos, an 8 minute fully animated product video, a fantastically acted commercial that ran in local theaters, helped create a 'MTV Cribs" style internal piece for a fellow marketing company, and even helped co-write an 80's horror movie inspired short for an electrical company.

3.  

   An early 3D model of our front pallet wall

    

   3D: Back with a Vengeance - When I was younger, I wanted to be a 3D animator and even went to school for it. Unfortunately during my years in school, the market got over saturated with other/better 3D artists and I was left without a career to get into. As the years went by, I slowly stopped working with 3D and shifted my focus elsewhere (like editing!). That is until 2017 when I stepped back into 3D modeling and found myself enjoying every moment of it. Not only do I do it for fun on the side, but I started finding ways to use it for work. I for fun created a scale model of our office which proved to be helpful in planning future construction projects and even the scale of a set needed for a client shoot. 3D modeling is relaxing for me, and any project where I can turn my head off and crank Spotify is welcomed fondly with open arms.

2017 brought me a world of creative projects that I never thought would happen and if the start of 2018 is any indication, things will just keep going up from here.