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In August of 2009, a group of artists/friends and myself set out into the Sequoia Wilderness in efforts to create art. For three days and four nights, our group including artist and friend Mike Kershnar spent our time creating works inspired by our surroundings. Fully immersed in the natural environment and with Element’s generous donation of street art supplies, everyone was able to transform common street signs into new, meaningful messages.

Juxtapoz Magazine Article

Element Skateboards

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Willow Garage develops hardware and open source software for personal robotics applications.

The PR2 is an open and robust robot platform designed from the ground up for software developers and researchers. By eliminating the need to first build a hardware system and then re-implement code, the PR2 allows software experts to immediately create new functionality on the robot.

Edited by Rich Filipowicz

Shot by Rich Filipowicz, Brandon Moore, and Dayman Cash.

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BACKGROUND
For the past three years I’ve had the pleasure to work with Element Skateboards, a parent company of Billabong International, on a variety of projects centered around contemporary artists and skateboarding. Directing and shooting these projects has taken me to many beautiful places, but has also challenged me to employ unique styles of filmmaking. Similar to the approach of the counter culture artists and athletes I’ve documented, I’ve had to exercise a “Guerilla” style filmmaking approach. In an environment where everyone and everything is spontaneous, you need to be ready for anything. I couldn’t ask for anything more exciting.

THE TRIP
Elemental Awareness packed up the van and hit the road for 10 days through the southwest. We visited many good friends on the Apache, Navajo and Hopi Reservations along the way hosting three skateboard events and having a great time doing it. Thanks to everybody who made this trip possible. We are looking forward to the next one!

ABOUT ELEMENTAL AWARENESS
The mission of Elemental Awareness is to educate and inspire young people to develop self-esteem, social and environmental awareness and the tools to lead successful lives.
Elemental Awareness is founded upon the belief that a person can positively impact their world through an active involvement in their passions. By using our programs as the vehicle, we aim to encourage confidence and instill the realization that it is possible to be successful in life by doing what you love.
Check them out here: ElementalAwareness.Org

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Dodos Longform from Jenn Dorn on Vimeo.

INTRO

It’s always a pleasure to work on a music video when you happen to also love the song that your adapting. This was exactly the case with The Dodos, a local San Francisco band who’s songs naturally seem to invoke vision.

PRE PRODUCTION

For this project I was hired on by Jenn Dorn, the Director, and and close friend who I collaborated with during the production of her Sleepy Sun music video “White Dove”. Together, we began scouting locations all around the bay area coastal Highway 1. Locations were a crucial element in this project. Our only actress, Veronica Pavia, and the equally beautiful Carmengia,  where simply there to give the video context. Our main feature would be the abstracted locations themselves.

PRODUCTION

The first 2 days of production began along the coast between San Francisco and Big Sur. Between me, Jenn, and P.A. Daniel Herd, we accomplished most of the abstract roadside shots. While Jenn was at the wheel of my vehicle directing, I found myself hanging half my body out the window in order to achieve a variety of somewhat steady, tight shots. It was quite an experiment overcranking and undercranking the frame rate while driving at a variety of speeds, one that proved to yield a diverse amount of shots.

The next 2 days of production we worked with Mike Solidum, a great cinematographer, who was able to help us shoot the majority of shoots featuring Veronica and the Carmengia. With a smaller camera rig, Canon 5D MKII, we were able to get the tighter shots from inside the car and out the window. Overall, the production process was very smooth.

POST PRODUCTION

I commend Jenn Dorn for taking on the roll of Director, Producer, and Editor. In order to create such an incredible abstract treatment, she spent a considerable amount of time cutting this project.

CREDITS

Band: The Dodos
Song: Longform
Label: Frenchkiss Records

Directed by Jenn Dorn
Shot by Brandon Moore and Mike Solidum
Edited by Jenn Dorn
Color by Daniel Heard
Produced by Jenn Dorn
A.D. Brandon Moore
Actress: Veronica Pavia

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Sleepy Sun-New Age HD from Brandon Moore on Vimeo.

Directed, Edited, and Produced by Brandon Moore

INTRODUCTION

Working with little-to-no budget is always difficult. However, have entirely no budget can sometimes make your vision a nearly impossible task to achieve. “New Age” was my first music video project, in which I expected a to reach a somewhat large audience of enthusiastic fans. With this in mind, my initial goal was to create a video as grand as the opening song itself.

PRE PRODUCTION

From the very beginning I had big ideas for this video. Growing up watching fantasy films such as “The Neverending Story” and “Alice in Wonderland” were always a captivating experience. Therefore, it only seemed natural that I would honor such a genre. So in the spirit of fantasy I wrote a treatment, which would feature a young child who bares witness to a world that pushes the limits of imagination.

““NEW AGE” SCREENPLAY LINK

PRODUCTION

Adapting a heavy, psychedelic rock song like “New Age” had me stretching and expanding the limits of my filmmaking. Never before had I employed so many different forms of experimental filmmaking: buying a fish tank to shoot colored dyes and creating an elaborate setup to shoot ultra-macro bubbles to name a few. All of these bizarre experiments were extremely beneficial in regards to visual effects. However, shooting the narrative proved to be more of a challenge. Working with a child actress, Destiny Pape, and here mother, Amanda Pape as makeup artist, was very exciting as a director, but it would require that I communicate my vision very delicately as to not overwhelm Destiny.

POST PRODUCTION

With my nonexistent budget looming over my head, I decided to that in order to achieve a video teeming with some of nature’s most miraculous creatures, I would need to rely on found footage. So for the next 4 months scoured the largest plethora of royalty free archival footage on the entire internet: archive.org. Downloading and converting movie files of all sizes and formats became a daunting task in its own, although it proved worthwhile when it came time to start cutting. Using the newly converted movie files of archive footage, I began integrating it with the original HD footage I shot during production. From there I was able construct a fluid narrative.

FINAL CUT

After a 2 day shoot with Destiny, my child actress, Josh Unger, my supporting actor/grip, and an abundance of composited found footage I was able to construct “New Age”, an equal trippy counterpart to the psychedelic song.

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