I Kettlebell!

I recently finished shooting and editing a TV commercial for Tallahassee Kettlebells. Here’s how it turned out.

I Kettlebell from Carlin Trammel on Vimeo.

Thanks to Michael Calienes at transplant for this work.

Nerd Lunch Comic Con

My wife and I each recently purchased an iPhone 4. I really wanted to check out the video these things shoot. Being impressed with a couple projects produced with the iPhone 4 that I’ve seen recently, I felt the need to put together my own project. So, in a 24 hour period, my family and a couple friends put together this seven and a half minute short for my Nerd Lunch blog.

If you’re not a comic book nerd or have never been to a comic book convention, some of the jokes may fall flat for you, but I still thought I’d share it here. It didn’t get a huge response, but it was effective in being something fun the family and some friends could enjoy.

There are things I like about the iPhone 4 footage, but now having used it, I can’t see doing any major projects with it. More fun stuff like this though.

Nerd Lunch Comic Con from Carlin Trammel on Vimeo.

Special thanks to Scott Holstein and John Kimber for swinging by to be actors in the video. And also check out Michael Calienes’ site for more music like the clip I used at the beginning of the video.

Not-So-Superdad

I had the opportunity to write a one-page article for Tallahassee Magazine. I’ve worked as a production coordinator for Tallahassee for almost five years and this was my first chance to get a story published. My friend Marc drew a fun illustration for it as well. I’m pleased with how this turned out.

The story is in the May/June 2010 issue which is hitting stands as of the writing of this post. It is also available to read online here.

Quagmire

In the midst of my first semester of grad school, I took on this wacky project that I just finished. This is a promo video for Scott Holstein, a photographer I work with in Tallahassee.

“Quagmire” Photo Shoot Behind the Scenes With Photographer Scott Holstein from Carlin Trammel on Vimeo.

The video shows the final result, but here it is again:

"Quagmire" by Scott Holstein

Read more about the making of this photo from Scott’s own blog.

Conversation Factory

About a year ago, I began increasing my use of Twitter. I wasn’t really sure what I was going to do with it and I guess after over 800 tweets, I’m still not entirely sure what I’m doing with it other than making jokes.

One of my earliest followers on Twitter was a guy by the name of Michael Calienes. I’m not sure what possessed him to follow me, but he did. I had heard of him before through my work at Rowland Publishing. He’s a local ad agency guy. He does some really cool stuff.

Somewhere in there, the economy tanked and businesses suffered and Michael got the idea to start something he calls the Conversation Factory. Every Friday, local Tallahassee business folk (and sometimes people from out of town are Skyped in) gather around a table for some sandwiches and chips and talk about business in a very informal way. I had been considering going, but between being busy and not the most social, I put it off. But finally, Michael directly invited me and I decided to take him up on the offer, but only if I could bring a friend.

That friend is Lexi, my Canon XL2 camera. She came along and I videotaped a majority of yesterday’s discussion. It’s a cool idea and I hope this goes a long way to helping area business people.

Here is the hour-long discussion distilled down to about three minutes. I shot it entirely handheld to try to capture the feeling that you’re there as you watch it. I apologize if you suffer from motion sickness.

Conversation Factory from Carlin Trammel on Vimeo.

Children’s Campaign

I recently did some minor updates to a Children’s Campaign video that I produced in 2008. It’s not much different. It’s actually shorter and has some minor edits like swapping out photos.

They’re taking this video on a “Truth Tour” and there will be a stop in Tallahassee on October 6. I am making plans to attend that event. For more information, visit the Children’s Campaign website.

Gator Bait!

While scouting the Tallahassee Museum location for the video shoot last week, the zookeeper let me and Scott, the still photographer, into the alligator enclosure. He was probably hoping that Scott would get eaten but that didn’t happen. Instead, we got a few bonus shots of this impressive looking beast.

Gator! from Carlin Trammel on Vimeo.

Music by Flannelhorn.

Cyclo-Cross Spectacular!

This past weekend, Tallahassee was host to the Cyclo-Cross Spectacular. My co-worker Daniel participated in one of the races on Saturday. I went out, with Lexi the Canon XL2 camera in tow, and videotaped him racing. Then I threw together this quick edit for Daniel so he could share with his friends and family.

While it was a challenging course for Daniel, I found myself put a bit through the ringer as I ran all over trying to keep up with him. Running up hills and cutting across fields to find locations to grab multiple angles was exhausting, but fun. At no point was I tasting blood like Daniel was though.

Grab Your Chalkboard…

Two and a half years ago, in my second video for Meridian Woods, I had an opportunity to do some sci-fi. Being one of my favorite genres, I wanted to return to it once more before wrapping up my tenure. I wrote this script pulling bits from Star Trek (using a metaphor to explain technobabble), Back to the Future (drawing on a chalkboard), Doctor Who (music) and numerous other sci-fi sources.

There’s a running gag at church that’s been labeled Meridian Woods Time. That concept is explained in the video. It’s something that a lot of people joke about and I felt it played in perfectly to my desire to revisit this genre.

My Homage to Sesame Street

For about two years I have been formally in charge of the “Media & Communications Ministry” at Meridian Woods Church of Christ. And for a few months before that, I was putting together videos unofficially. It’s been a good experience and I’ve had fun doing it.

However, it takes a lot of time to put these together. Between the writing, wrangling, shooting, capturing, editing, exporting and uploading, I can spend hours on a project that maybe only has a final run time of three minutes. And in light of the upcoming arrival of my second child, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s time, at the very least, for me to take a break from this. So, I informed the church leadership that I am resigning as deacon over this ministry effective November 2. They had already asked me to put together videos promoting “Freedom Sunday” (a day in which they are hoping to raise the remaining funds needed to pay off the mortgage on the church building), so this series will be my last set of videos for Meridian Woods for the foreseeable future.

It took me some time to figure out what I wanted to do with these, but being my last ones, I decided to take this opportunity to do a couple things I’ve long been wanting to do. In this week’s video, I put together my homage to Sesame Street. This video features Ralph Whatnot and fellow member Kime Landes.

Next week, I’ll post the second video which is also is an homage to one of my favorite things ever. It’s a fun one as well and has gotten some good reactions so far from the people I’ve shown it to. I look forward to sharing it here.