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=

Here’s a little update on a previously mentioned project I’ve been working on.
A Music Video for the song “History Lessons” by the band Dinosaur Feathers.

So the Studio shoot day on Jan.23 went really well. There where a couple of snags on production side that where quickly circumvented with cleaver spur of the moment problem solving. The shooting it’s self was excellent we captured everything we need on schedule despite delays. When we finally got the footage back a couple weeks ago, everything was crisp, in focus and as planned. The “R3D cam” it was shot with was an incredible piece of high tech whoopass. Editor Andy Giles cut a rough edit of the video and gave us the specific footage for compositing and effects.

The main bulk of green screen compositing went well. If I didn’t do the compositing myself, I might assume it was practical effects. It’s amazing what a difference ultra high res footage makes.

The animation went REALLY well. Corinne put together a library of animated elements and illustrations for me to put together in to scene which where used as background plates. The background plates then had the hero character composited in for the “Trippy Dream Sequence” . I got say I’m proud of it and can’t wait to see it on the big screen.

For now, it’s all back in the hands of Writer/Director Chris Piazza and Editor Andy Giles.
I’m certain that for the sake of the final edit, we’ll end up having to swap out some of our footage, but that’s to be expected and wont take long.

Looking forward to being able to invite you to the premiere.

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=

Rise Up (Music Video from Astonishing X-Men Motion Comic)

Woah, so apparently someone (presumably from Marvel) took clips from ‘The Astonishing X-men Motion Comic’ we’ve been working on over at ‘Neal Adams Continuity Studios’ and made a music video with them. It’s a good teaser for our yet-to-be released work.

Click here to watch it