2014 Family Photo Shoot with an iPhone

by Ray Roman in ,

This past weekend my family and I went out to eat at Rockin' Baja Lobster on 5th Ave. in Downtown San Diego.

While we spent our Saturday afternoon in the Gaslamp Quarter of San Diego, we spontaneously had a photo shoot with the iPhone. It was pretty fun just walking around "America's Finest City" taking pictures. The cool thing about todays technology is we have the freedom to take pictures continuously than if we were taking photos on film. Some might argue over the pros and cons of film vs. digital photography, but in this case digital was more convenient for this situation. It's amazing how sufficient the iPhone can be when it comes to taking photographs. If you're in a well lit environment or daylight situation you can capture some decent quality images. Although you don't have full control of how the image turns out, you could always make adjustments in Photoshop if necessary. Checkout some of the photos below and I encourage you to go out and take some family photos!

June 2014 Update

by Ray Roman in , , ,

Hello world. I feel like I've been locked up in my room for days on end editing my life away! I've been lucky enough to continuously jump from one project to the next. Over the past 10 months or so I've edited over 60 videos including MMA/boxing interviews, mini-documentaries on cycling, music artists, and experimenting with personal projects as well. Below is a quick video I edited to share on Instagram for "Throwback Thursday" yesterday. The video is a 15 second highlight video of one of my best friends bachelor party in South Lake Tahoe earlier this year.

When I first began video editing it started with creating videos of my friends around 15 years ago. Early on as a filmmaker I was influenced by Tom Green, Candid Camera, CKY and Jackass. As the years went on as I learned new techniques I tried to recreate the visual effects I saw on TV. I feel like I've come full circle at this time because my computer currently crashed so my editing will slow down just a tad at this time. It just so happens the last video I created for fun is of my friends and I and now reflecting back on my years as a filmmaker I can see this is where it all began. Thanks to my friends I've gained experience, and continue to have fun as a filmmaker with each project I take on.

I'm resolving the technical issues I'm having right now but I'll be back to have some more fun soon. Stay tuned and don't forget to Subscribe to My Channel and The Hollywood MMA Show!

2014 San Diego Film Awards

by Ray Roman in , , , ,

Last night the Film Consortium of San Diego held the first ever San Diego Film Awards at the Horton Grand Theatre. I directed and edited the music video for Monkeys In Space "Supermodel Suitcase" which was nominated for best cinematography in the music video category.

This event would not have been possible if it wasn't for founder of the Film Consortium Jodi Cilley, the FCSD members, and volunteers.

Certainly this festival will continue to grow, it was an honor to be a nominee for this first time event! It's nice to know that in the future more local filmmakers and talent will have the same opporuntiy that I had last night.  Lookout for the new Monkeys In Space album "Kill Your Past" coming out later this month at Facebook.com/MonkeysInSpace and you can watch the Monkeys In Space "Supermodel Suitcase" below.

Special guest star presenters include TV and film actors Kimberlin Brown (Emmy nominated for Sheila Carter-Young & the Restless), Jose Yenque (Traffic), Marc McClure (Superman, Apollo 13). Kimberlin Brown Jose Yenque Marc McClure Host for the show is longtime radio and newspaper personality, Chris Cantore a UT-TV Host and Night & Day Editor as well as long-time San Diego radio on air talent. Featured presenters include many community leaders and local celebrities Joe Terzi (San Diego Tourism Authority), Wally Schlotter (celebrated San Diego Film Commissioner), William Lansdowne (San Diego Police Chief) Allison Andrews (San Diego Fashion Week) Scott Marks (San Diego Reader), George Varga, (2 time Pulitzer nominee & UT Music Critic), John Decker (KPBS Program Director), Larry Groupe (movie composer – Usual Suspects) and more top award winning directors, filmmakers and dignitaries including Police Chief William Lansdowne. San Diego’s Mayor Kevin Faulconer is expected to present a major award. -Film Consortium Press Release

Stay tuned for more photos, and videos from the event this week!

Good artists copy, great artists steal.

by Ray Roman in , ,

“Good artists copy, great artists steal.”
— Pablo Picasso

Below is an animated .gif of a scene from My Imaginary Friend, a short film I worked on with my friend Brandon Mackey.

Now here’s a frame from the film Citizen Kane directed by Orson Welles. (screen capture is fromCreativeCOW.net)

As I mentioned before, the screen capture above is directly from a CreativeCow.net article titled “The Camera Is An Eye – Not A Vacuum Or A Gun”. The article refreshed my memory of a scene I worked on from the short film ‘My Imaginary Friend’. This image stuck out to me the moment I saw it because I can remember lifting this same technique from Citizen Kane. In 2006 when I was in college and made ‘My Imaginary Friend’, is around the time when I watched Citizen Kane for the first time. I may have watched it a couple years before, but just around this time of my life I was obsessed with Orson Welles. Now I don’t believe I was technically ‘stealing’ like I have titled this post, but I was for sure influenced by the cinematography in Citizen Kane.

Nowadays these choices of where to place the camera is ingrained in the way we make movies today. In fact every movie is technically stealing from the past in one way or another.

As a filmmaker I believe it’s important to try and understand the history of filmmaking as much as possible in order to stay creative, and fully understand how stories can be told.