Jayel Draco’s News Blog

Hello,
Thanks for reading my blog,
I really do appreciate your interest in my updates.
Without your interest, it would be meaningless.
It’s been a while since I’ve posted an update.
Things have been quite busy.

To start with, the music video for “History Lessons” by the band Dinosaur Feathers (directed by Christopher Piazza) has been officially completed as of April 2010. It is currently expected to premiere sometime in June. The official details of it’s premiere are still being worked out. I will post more when I know more.

The formation and launch of  Creative Logic Studios has been a notable accomplishment. Creative Logic Studios is a webdesign company comprised of various free-lancers including: Amanda Kellman(the company founder), Corinne Alexis Hall, Jayel Draco, and Christopher Covelli. As a team, each member specializes in specific goal oriented tasks, working together to solve the creative needs of our clients companies. The creative needs we are more than qualified to fulfill as a team include but are not limited to:  Logo Design, Graphic Design, Branding, Website Design and Implementation,  Web & TV Commercial Videos, E-commerce, Website SEO, etc. . . This undertaking has been time/thought consuming, but has already proven to be well worth it.

A complete overhaul on director Christopher Piazza’s website panopticonnyc.com has begun and is expected to be completed in early June. The first incarnation of the site I created using Adobe Flash CS3 AS2.0, the revamp will utilize cutting edge coding and fully customized features created in Adobe Flash CS4 AS 3.0.  Expect a slicker quicker and even more unique website capable of deploying enumerable streaming HD videos with little to no load time.

I have been working with various models on photo-shoots for fantasy photo-manipulation illustrations. Some of these have been recently posted to my image gallery: http://www.jayeldraco.com/gallery/main.php, while some of them have been for semi-long-term multi-shoot conglomerate projects which will certainly be posted about upon there completion.  You can expect to see some recurring models as well as a slew of new models in my gallery updates to come.

The project “Nomi Now!” has had new progress renders posted on the newly revamped project progress site: gettingtonomi.com. As you may know, this project has been a labor of love on and off the back burner for the past few years. Please check out the website to learn more.

Well, I think that about sums up the things that I can mention in my happenings as of late. There are still more progress updates to come. Many of these updates however must remain in the proverbial “bag” for the time being. I look forward to being able to let you know more.

Again, thanks for reading
and keep rockin. . .
=j=

So Corinne Alexis Hall and I have been working steadily for the past couple of weeks building our muppet-esque costumes for the music video  “History Lessons” by Dinosaur Feathers. We were hooked up with the band when we won first place in SILVERSOUND Music Video Festival + Band Battle for our work in Cockroach Hotel (written and Directed by Christopher Piazza). Dinosaur Feathers won first place in the Band Battle part of the festival. The two first place winners where hooked up and given a budget for a video which would headline next years festival in August.  The Video for “History Lessons” was conceptualized, written and presented by the talented Writer/Director Christopher Piazza. I can’t say too much about it, but I’m quite certain it will be well received.

Yesterday with our costumes complete we started our day in Monroe, NY accompanied by a small crew of 8 at 5:30 AM. Outside in the snow all day until sunset Corinne and I Puppeteered our hearts out for the camera. With special thanks to the work of “super-on-it” Assistant Director Sara Blake, the first day of shooting was completed on schedule with time for a few extra shot thrown in for good measure. Today I awoke with the sharp pain of deep tissue exhaustion snaking throughout my back, arms and legs.  The pain subsides as I focus on confidence in the knowledge that we gave it our best. I also find myself comforted by the knowledge that we have a week and a half of recovery and costume repairs until the next day of shooting.

The next day of shooting will be the 23rd. A warm indoors green screen studio is where Corinne and I will do the rest of our Puppeteering for the special effects shots. The day will be divided between the filming of our puppeteering and shooting Dinosaur Feathers performing. So in theory it should be a significantly easier day for us. After that Corinne and I will have our work cut out for us as we will be animating special effects and compositing them into the video with Photoshop, Flash, and After Effects.

I’ll fill you in on how the 23rd goes.

Keep Rockin. . .
=j=

Neil Halstead’s “Elevenses” Premiered today on 99dollarmusicvideo.com.
This video was made with a $99 budget, 24 hours, and a production team consisting of: Christopher Piazza, Sara Blake, and Jayel Draco.
It’s my pleasure to show you “Elevenses”.

Neil Halstead’s “Elevenses”

Excerpt from Panopticon NYC’s Newsletter:

NEIL HALSTEAD MUSIC VIDEO TO PREMIERE THIS THURSDAY

The music video for Neil Halstead’s song “Elevenses,” directed by Christopher Piazza, will be premiering on Thursday, April 30th, courtesy of our friends at 99 Dollar Music Videos. Neil was the lead singer of shoegaze pioneers Slowdive and indie-rock favorites Mojave 3. He is currently supporting his solo album Oh! Mighty Engine, out on Brushfire Records.

The “making of” the music video is currently being shown on the front page of 99 Dollar Music Videos. The video details how the video’s lofty concept was pulled off for just 99 bucks — $98.95 to be exact. The video itself will be on the front page – and elsewhere on the interweb – starting Thursday, April 30th.

JIGSAW SOUL’S MUSIC VIDEO FOR COCKROACH HOTEL SHOWING AT THE DELI MAGAZINE SHOWCASE

After a successful run on Much Music Canada and Fuse on Demand here in the U.S., the next stop for Jigsaw Soul’s music video “Cockroach Hotel” will be the Deli Magazine’s Best of NYC showcase. Jigsaw Soul is an alum of this event – they played the old Galapagos space back in 2008 – which features the New York indie scenes hottest up and coming bands. This year bands include Chairlift, Lowry, Crystal Stilts and The Gay Blades.

“Cockroach Hotel” was the official runner-up in the Deli Magazine’s music video search – second only to a very worthy clip from Home Video (see below). The Jigsaw Soul video will be played between the bands on the 8th of May and the 10th of May, at The Bell House in Park Slope-ish, Brooklyn.

The Deli Magazine Best of NYC Showcase

The Bell House

149 7th Street

Brooklyn, NY

May 8th at 7:30pm, May 10th at 6:00pm

$12, 21+

A well written terrific tidbit of information from
Christopher Piazza of Panopticon NYC.

Thanks Chris!