Mike Gaines

I really could not think of anything class-specific to write about; so I am going to write about a visual effects artist that I personally know!

Mike Gaines is a "digital artist" -- his works has ranged from graphic design, camera work, visual effects, post production, producing, and teaching!

I attended the Summer Institute for TV, Radio, and Film Production (ITRP) at Boston Univ back in high school, Mikey was the post-production / effects teacher and we have become good friends

His personal production company is "a graphic design company focused on providing quality, budget conscious projects for film and television productions. Since its inception, Gaines Images has expanded to include visual effects, DVD menu design and web design"

although he has little footage / productions on his YouTube, I did find this one After Effects video he made -- unfortunately he doesn't show how he actually stabilized it, but it is just so cool that we have the capabilities/technology of AE to turn a shaky shot, into something so smooth and stabilized

like i've said, he also worked as a special / visual effects artist for various productions (some series of FX, TNT, also Never Back Down feature film and others) -- the most interesting stuff I have seen from him his the screen compositions. it seems kind of complicated, with having to keyframe motions and create the on-screen image ... after talking with him, he says it is relatively easy

http://www.gainesimages.com/vfx/index.html

at 1:25 -- examples of his picture fixes are shown and very briefly the process

at 2:45 of his reel -- he provides demos of the motion graphic / animation work he has done for the various projects

all of which are effects and tasks that I think we could easily do in class, from all the material we have learned