The White Look: design for Dress Barn's makeover show!

I had an absolute BLAST on this project! I had a hey-day searching for fun, feminine yet modern pieces for this piece. But most memorably, the team was fantastic, professional and everyone on set was a pleasure and real doll to work with.

Dress Barn is launching these series of makeovers shows as a part of letting the world know that they are updating their style. They have really broadened their line to be more modern and appeal to more than just the old Christmas-sweater-wearing-teacher types and are now reaching out to the young, hip 30 and 40 year olds. I wanted to channel that energy into the design which is why I chose a clean, modern white look to be the base of this contemporary design. At the same time, I did not want to forsake Dress Barn’s feminine, classic side and so I decided to go for a more Soho chic with a lady-like twist to influence the shapes and pieces that I chose.

I found some fabulous furniture at a local prop house that fit the bill, chairs influenced by Rococo and a modern Chesterfield style sofa to bring in that Victorian charm. Delicate chandeliers contrasted with pure white shag rugs pulled together the accessory rooms to emphasize Dress Barn’s marrying of classic feminine look with a hip, contemporary twist. To keep the set from washing out, I added splashes of the Dress Barn pink (oddly named PMS 707) and bits of green in the flora to brightened the design and give it a fresh flair! Dress Barn did not want to over brand the set so for the backdrop behind the couch I choose a sparkly pink bead curtain. When filming, in the background it would shimmer and sparkle out of focus and give a high-fashion feel.

It was fun to add a totally new style to my portfolio and indulge myself in my girlie side! Thanks Dress Barn and The Creative Group team for this enjoyable experience!

Take a look at a few of the pictures below and check back here regularly to see when I update with the final video!

Click on the photo to enlarge the picture and Click HERE to view the whole set of photos!

And sending a Special Shout-Out and thanks to the talented and kind production designer, Russell Barnes for his guidance and referral.

Bible Quiz Documentary Pulls in TWO grants!

Fantastic news! I am proud to announce that the documentary I am directing, “Bible Quiz”, has been awarded in two grants this season. We received our first from Artist’s Trust and the second from Tacoma Arts Commission. I am so excited to have these fantastic organizations on board with this project and am grateful for their support. Both are awesome organizations that have a history of encouraging and supporting outstanding work in Washington’s Arts.

Check out their websites!
Artist’s Trust
TacomaCulture/Tacoma Arts Commission

A great big thanks to Artist’s Trust and Tacoma Arts Commission!

"How to Greet the Dead" – greeted some awards!

Here is a short experimental film I designed for director/writer/friend Aldous Davidson called “How to Greet the Dead”. It was for the “Interpretations” film contest where filmmakers are given a short script and can interpet it any way they choose.

Aldous and I worked closely together and decided upon making the “after death” world look like an enclosing forest. Using German expressionistic style, everything in the film was white or black except for the bright red blood.

I think it’s nice to have scenes visually come full circle so I suggested that since we have the guy “greet death” in a bathtub he could meet his Mother also in a bathtub to create a cyclical visual. Since a bathtub is a birthing place, this can also suggest with the umbilical chord that she died in childbirth. Black strings hung from the ceiling to add a subtle other worldly element, add to the confusion and create visually interesting layers to work with.

The Film won the contest AND won an award at the San Diego Asian Film Festival! Check it out!

"Split" – a short

Hey folks!

I was introduced to Craig Wood, the producer of this project through an awesome production designer, Russell Barnes. Once Craig and I met we realized we weren’t actually the strangers we thought we were. Turns out I had designed a logo for his musical “Camp Rolling Hills”, Small World!

The project was the first ten pages of a feature script and to be used as a fundraising teaser. The scene was set in a bowling ally which is a fun location to work with. The trick was, I had to turn the shoe counter in a Queens, NY bowling alley into a bar in Kentucky bowling ally! All of this within a super micro MICRObudget of $200. I was excited for the challenge and set to work. This is what I came up with. Look below for the clip, “before” pics and some of the graphics I created to set the mood.

SPLIT the short from Craig Wood on Vimeo.

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Everyone loves BEFORE/AFTER pictures. Take a look below to see what the ally looked like BEFORE we dressed it.

Following the wisdom of my art direction teacher at NYU, John Nyomarkay, I like to choose an image to center my design around. Sometimes it’s a photograph, a work of art or the set from an existing play or film. This time, it was the establishment’s outlandish and decaying carpet! As soon as we walked into the bowling for the scout I instantly fell in love with the wacky flooring and thought it perfectly fit the tone of film.

Here is the Logo I designed for the bowling team shirts, “Santa’s Pinions”

Since this film was going to be screened as a fundraising piece, we were not concerned with clearances for branding and I wanted to make something funky and silly.

I envisioned this film taking place visually somewhere in the 90′s. It need not chronologically take place there, but the characters were still living like it was the 90′s, their own personal hay-days battling the decay of time so their setting appropriately reflected that.

Additionally, it made sense to me that the bowling ally, like many bowling allies, would be antiquated and still sentimentally hanging onto everything, even the freebies like table advertisements, standardized menu boards and aging photographs (which can be seen poking behind the bar).

Adidas "Soccer Dream"

Talk about perfect timing!
Check out this commercial I production designed for the World Cup titled “Soccer Dream”. The director/cinematographer was the lovely Igor Martinovich, the cinematographer for the award-wining documentary, Man on Wire.
Enjoy…
And Go USA!!!

Adidas from igor martinovic on Vimeo.

Happy New Year!

2010 Postcard

MS OFFICE: Over a Million YouTube Views! Check it out!

Hey Folk, check it out!

The viral video I designed for Microsoft Office (director Dennis Lui) has received quite some attention.  Over a million people out there have decided it was worthy of their 2 minutes.