Fire-Wired Blog

Well it took 10 months but FINALLY..."No Shortcuts" is in the can. A one-man band short film I undertook in Winter 2021 to give myself a creative project when I had practically no free time is shot, cut, colored, scored, and ready to be submitted to a few festivals. Now looking back, I gotta say it was much more work than I was ready for. No Shortcuts has practical effects, computer generated effects, sound effects, compositing work and color touches that all together make it happen. Most films require a lot of post work, but science fiction requires an additional layer of care to make them work and not turn an audience off. Much of my efforts worked well, some will be nitpicked. But that's okay, I wasn't going for perfection. I was simply going. I will say I learned a lot about my tolerance for imperfection when tired and/or cold. I also cemented my belief filmmaking is meant to be a collaborative endeavor. Not only to produce a better end product, but get a grea...

Wading in the Boone River with Shane and Tiffany. Over the last couple of weeks I got a chance to dip my toe in a pool I’ve always wanted to swim in but rarely get to enjoy; public speaking. Not saying I want to become a motivational speaker or give weekend classes on video storytelling, but I’ve always enjoyed performing. I’ve acted, sung, played in bands, and now I’ve repped my employer, Iowa Public Television, to audiences five times in three weeks. For the past two years I’ve been working on a project called “ Iowa Land and Sky .” With the assistance of two very generous grants my team as well as a few instructional designers from IPTV’s Education department have been crafting special drone fueled ecological and geological materials for Iowa classrooms and broadcast. Getting my FAA drone pilots license in the process I’ve travelled all over the state to capture unique aerial shots of Iowa’s landscapes as well as tell very specific natural history stories. With my Education ...