filmmaking

A collection of 4 posts

Covering the Beatles' 'Eight Days a Week' and Recreating the Ed Sullivan Show using Unreal Engine 5

Video video 1 min read

The past few months marked the last summer before my daughters were both away at college. We passed the time working on a project together.  It combines all our interests, from music to engineering to filmmaking. So what was it? Well, we set about recreating the set of the Ed Sullivan Show and performing a cover of Eight Days a Week by the Beatles. Why? You'll have to watch the video to find out.

We used Blender for modeling, Unreal Engine 5 for creating the environment and lighting, Cubase 12 for recording music and vocals, Artlist for crowd noise, a

Judging LightSwitch Video's STEM-focused Filmmaking Grant

news 3 min read Lightswitch Video Film Grant

Toward the end of 2021, a friend and former coworker reached out with an interesting opportunity. His company, Lightswitch Video, had been working to create a grant for aspiring filmmakers in the city of Chicago. He and I had spoken previously about my goals with Streetlamp Media, and he asked if I wanted to be a judge for the grant contest.

The goal of the initiative was as follows:

The Full STEM Ahead Filmmaker’s Initiative is a first-year initiative launched by Lightswitch that is designed to not only encourage STEM education and careers in STEM but to also cultivate

Fun with my new DJI Phantom 3

drones 2 min read

This past Christmas, I bought a decent sub-$100 drone for my brother-in-law. We’ve enjoyed the progress small RC vehicles have made over the past decade, and our excitement bubbles over in December. Christmases are filled with battery hunts, impatient charging, and destructive crashes. This drone stepped up our excitement. 3-axis controls, 30 meter range, and a 720p video camera. I won’t bore you with our giggly first flight adventures, but the day ended with a fishing pole and some fishing line tied to a glove, which we cast onto a neighbors roof to gently retrieve an inverted,