I have alot of Rollerblading Footage on my Computer Now

All I have left to import is Smiley's brole footage for his section then all engines will be go.

I probably won't do that until I finish the extended trailer or the Pow Wow premiere though. Unfortunately, due to lack of funding, I won't be able to make it to the Pan Handle for the bash but the extended trailer premiere will still be happening as planned. Thank you Blake for that.

I've also had time to create this flyer for the upcoming event Represented happening in Myrtle Beach the coming Friday on the 1st.

I found that when I'm really into the idea of whatever it is I'm filming or desining for, its alot easier to create things. I guess I just feel more in my element when I truly believe in what I'm creating. Unity is a strong theme that I've always been a strong supporter of, so making this was less of a chore and more exciting.

So I'm going down to Myrtle Beach tomorrow and filming this event. It'll be a fun project and I'm excited to do it. I just have to be able to budget time between Southern Motion and it to get them both out relatively soon.

Good times.

Don't know if I'll be skating this weekend but I really hope to get a session in somewhere.

Until next time.

Teh Mega Session Aftermath

It was awesome. I have alot of awesome footage.

Alot ill dudes were in attendance and alot of hammers were dropped.

So be sure to make it for next month for Mega Session in Greensboro.

Updates soon to come.

hollrrr

Carolina Mega Session Re-Info

Ok just in case you missed the post a while back, here it is again:

Meeting Place:

Smiley's House/Prail warm-ups
966 Texas St,
Columbia, SC 29201

April 25th
Noon

Just like last time we'll warm up for a minute and then head out to the spots.
BYOB at Smiley's after the session too!

Email me if you have any questions ddodge04@gmail.com I'm almost always at my email so I can get back to you with quickness.

Also, got the computer back and imported another tape from the Carolina's Mega Session and I got alot of really good footage from the likes of Jon Cooley, Riley Hilsman, Phil Gripper, and Thomas Martin.

After this past weekend and going through a couple tapes, I'm really excited to start on Phil's section. I'm pretty sure people are going to be pretty stunned with the hammers he throws down throughout the entire section. Also, make sure you check out Kenny Owen's Say Word 4, rumor has it Phil has a little part in the production as well and its for sure something you don't want to miss out on.

Word, so that's all before the weekend, come out, blade and drink some beers, it promises to be a good time.

Goodness there Gracious

So, I'm picking up my computer today with a ton of new components so it will be working, bought a new motherboard, new processor and apparently what I had was dated and isn't even made anymore so I dropped another $250 on the new joint and I'm back in the business.

The Mega f'ing Session is going to be huge this weekend, we have so many heads showing up and if you're not going to be there you're missing out big time, its going to be soo much fun.

Directions and everything are a couple posts down and you can always email me if you have questions of any sort.

So I have a bunch of random pictures to post from a couple weeks of skating, so here you go!

The Boone Times:

Also, buried in the woods of a small town in South Carolina is an awesome little skatepark. Firelake Skatepark is extremely out of the way and impossible to find without a sherpa of some kind, you actually have to drive down a small windy dirt road to get to the park. It's definitely worth the drive though if you looking for something fun to skate, check out there site HERE. I didn't think to take any pictures at the park but here is a pic of they're awesome sign:

Also, this is out of focus but the clip was pretty dope so I'm posting it anyways:

So that's about it this go around. Expect some hot fire to come next week, this Mega session is very promising and will be a blast so make sure you show up.

Also, the plan for SOMO is this.

Extended trailer/teaser release showing at the Pow Wow before Tough Stuff, and the DVD will actually be done later on in the Month of May.

So get stoked, the ball is rolling again...for reals hahaha.

Post 66: The Ultimate Letdown

So, I got the computer back! So, being extremely excited, I imported 2 tapes and went to go skate. Came back imported another half tape and called it a night.

The next morning I woke up early to do some more work and my computer didn't work....again, the exact same problem I was having before. Talk about the ultimate letdown, I was so excited for that short period of time when it actually worked. So I spent all day in the computer store, again, and they have it in their possession, again, and I'm waiting to hear what they say about it.

But, goodies tomorrow...of the Thomas Martin hammer sort. Adam, Smiley and I traveled to Boone to finish filming thomas, and to Charlotte to film Phil Gripper's "hammer day" which was nothing short of amazing.

But it sucked I was so close to being on the ball again, hopefully the computer dudes will come through with good news and the quickness. Until tomorrow though, holler.

Hotness: Post 65

Got a call from the computer dudes at Computer Direct Outlet here in Greenville and things are sounding good.

Apparently I had some crazy virus on my computer causing my hard drive to not work and blue screen all the time, buuuut the good news is that all the information (40 gigs of music + countless work files) can all be salvaged. I'm extremely excited about all of this.

I imagine there is a small possibility of it (my computer) being done today, but if not next week is really looking good. So I'm juiced and about all that and ready to get back on the ball.

Holler!

Carolina Mega Session II Columbia INFO!!! APR 25th

Ok. Here is round #2 I hope to see all you doods out here again!

Meeting Place:

Smiley's House/Prail warm-ups
966 Texas St,
Columbia, SC 29201

April 25th
Noon

Just like last time we'll warm up for a minute and then head out to the spots.
BYOB at Smiley's after the session too!

Email me if you have any questions ddodge04@gmail.com I'm almost always at my email so I can get back to you with quickness.

Smiley has alot of dope spots picked out so make you sure come out! Bring a friend!

I'll keep you guys updated and if you follow Be-mag at all I keep it updated there too!

Oh, btw, I'm 23 today, recognize.

Blading this weekend!

No News is Not news

So Mcmanus recently took the front page of valo-brand.com with the steezin pic from Kevin Dowling.

Thought that was pretty ill.

The computer is supposedly 7 days away from being back in my possession and working, I'm very excited about this. Once it's back, its on.

I did, however, pick up another possible freelance project so we'll see how that goes with all the other projects I'm working on.

I'm currently in cohorts with buddy Mike Torres (roccityskate.com) with the possibility of hosting a pay per DL version of SOMO which I'm really excited about.

So lots of shit is happening and its going to be an interesting next couple of months.

Updates will keep a comin.

Printing Woes tied with Publishing Solutions

So, I've been pricing the printing for DVD's and talking with just about everyone I can to see how much money I'm going to need to front, and the general consensus is definitely between $700-$1000 dollars...which I don't/won't have anytime soon which sucks, but through my searching I was given some pretty sound advice.

Adam Killgore, who initially was going to distribute the DVD's, informed me of how difficult it was to sell DVD's and brought up the great idea of setting up a way that people could pay and see them online. So I did some researching and found a way to do so.

I've heard this idea kicked around alot here in recent times but haven't really heard of anyone doing it, sooo maybe I'll decided to do the test run for this thing and see how it turns out.

I definitely understand that, in some ways this makes it easier for people to pirate/steal or whatever, but I have a little faith in the rollerblading community, so it'll be interesting to see ho this comes out. And to be honest, I really want this thing to be seen, so here goes nothing.

Now, I didn't make the DVD Cover/Booklet for nothing, I will be printing DVD's through this awesome DIY company called Jewel Boxing (if you don't know about them you really should check them out) and they will be available for those who truly wish to buy them. The advantage of doing so will be better quality and a sweet DVD with lots of cool bonus stuff on it, like full quality internet edits, awesome b-roll and just having the DVD for me was always alot better than looking at it on the computer.

So, that's the plan as of now, the video will definitely still be premiering in Tallahasse and I'll still stoked on making this thing, its just a little experimental. haha

60th Post! Updates and Shish.

Alright. I've been wrapping up this DVD booklet while I'm waiting on my computer to get back, and I'm hoping by the time it's all fixed, I won't have to worry about any of the print material needed.

I'm getting a test run of the DVD Booklet printed today to see how all of the colors are going to come out so that's pretty exciting. I'll take some pictures and post them tomorrow...maybe. haha

I had a good weekend though, the Charlotte crew came up and skated a couple of awesome spots with us, and I got some much needed footage of Phil Gripper and Adam Mcmanus which was awesome.

And on a side note, I randomly ran into Josh Amacher riding his bike downtown this past weekend. We had a short conversation about Tim Taylor/Mckinney and all the crew he used to skate with and he was telling me how Garrett Slobey (sp?) was trying to start skating again and apparently lives here in Greenville, which is cool because I grew up watching all of those dudes skate. That marks the second time I've ran into him on a random occasion, cool, but very random.

Tipping My Cards

Alright, stayed up late last night getting stuff for SOMO done and to give you an idea of the kinds of things I've been doing I'm gonna post some screen shots of things I've been working on.

This is the fully animated DVD Menu I've been working on:

It's still in the works but I dig the overall layout and look of it, I just have to work on getting the animated buttons working properly so it'll work seamlessly with the chapters and such. And of course there will be video running where that still pic is so it'll provide something interesting to look at while you sitting at the menu.

This is the DVD Cover/Back. I spent the better part of the night converting the Somo Promo elements to work with this cover.

I really like the way its going, I'm not so sure what I'm going to do with the picture frame on the back or if I'm going to use it all, it seems a bit out of place. But In this rendition of the design, I tried to give the back ground a more textured feeling. I just really need to find some way to tie the back of the DVD cover with the Front.

These are a couple pages from the DVD booklet I'm really hoping to have with the DVD.

Contents/Line-Up

Thomas/Pic Montage
Adam and Smiley

As you can tell, alot of elements aren't quite finished yet. I still have to input responses from the riders, and insert two more pages (Phil Gripper and a Picture Montage) in total there will be 12 pages featuring interviews with everyone who has a section in the video (Adam Mcmanus, Phil Gripper, Jason "Smiley" Mosley, Thomas Martin, and Tim Taylor.) I really like the idea of having short interviews with the riders because I think it gives the viewer an idea of how personal this whole process was

These next 3-4 months are going to be extremely busy. I have an event I'm shooting in Myrtle Beach on May 1st called Represented which will require my videography/designing/animating/editing/authoring skills and alot of attention. I'm pretty excited about this one. Here's a rough draft of a logo I'm working on for the DVD.
I kind of got a little last minute inspiration and put this together the other day. Its got a little more work to be done on it, with some coloring and possible texturing, but having this done is huge because it gives me a really good idea of where to go with the design for the rest of the production. So I'm pretty juiced on it.

Then of course the weekend after I'll be in Tallahasse for the Pow-Wow where SOMO will be premeiring. Which is what I've been looking forward to for the past year.

All while this is happening I have a wedding that I absolutely have to get done as soon as I can, which will require, 1-2 hours of capturing/editing and a little bit of designing as well.

And lastly, I have been working on a top secret book project that I haven't told alot of people about called "Everything." Its basically a book of pictures I've shot over the past couple years documenting travels and every other aspect of living. So I've only shown one other person these but here is your first look at the book I'm working on:

Cover
Page1&2
Page3&4

So, if I don't return calls/messages promptly its because I'm busting ass trying to get all this done.

And just a side note, despite everything going on, SOMO is taking priority over all of this and will be the first of these projects completed.

Amidst it all though, blading this weekend because you can't lose sight of what you love.

Holler duders.

Update on SOMO

Alright, so tomorrow, I'm going to the computer store to drop my computer off with some professionals to get fixed so this should remedy the situation in 10 days.

Southern Motion will be premiering at Uncle Blake's annual Panhandle Pow-Wow in Tallahasse on May 8th and 9th so be sure to come check out the video I/my friends have been hyping up for the past year and a half.

I'm really excited about finishing up this video, there is still sooo much to do but I'm pretty confident that I can get everything taken care of without rushing so much that the final outcome suffers.

I have the DVD menu designed and will probably be completing the DVD cover tonight. So hopefully all of the elements will be in place so when I have all the edited elements.

So, that's the news and don't miss the premiere!