dc chavez – the BLOG

Here is a quick POV video I did for Rhys Millen Racing at a Time Attack event at California Speedway. He wanted to show what it was like going around the track at 155MPH and give a season recap at the end of the video. Shot with a Sony HXR-MC1 and a Sony Webbie.

Here are some screenshots from a recent proposal (22 page bound presentation) I created for Rhys Millen Racing. This proposal was going to be presented to executives Hyundai Motor America regarding the 2010 season.

This was a fun project to work on because I had free reign to get as creative as I wanted. I felt that images of past performance would be a good backdrop for each section and help to set the theme. It was broken up into Past, Present and Future, showing where RMR has been, what they are currently doing and where they want to go. I also had the opportunity to write a large amount of the copy for the proposal.

Both myself and the client were very pleased with the way that it turned out. Even one of the HMA execs commented on how polished the presentation was. It is very rewarding to create something for a friend that will help them out with their endeavors.

I made this video for Rhys Millen Racing. They take a new Hyundai Genesis Coupe to a Redline Time Attack event at Willow Springs Raceway. This was a test to see how the new RMR parts help to lower lap times with each group of additions. They started off with a stock car, got a base time and then started modifying everything from wheels, tires, intake, exhaust, differential and suspension.

The day was sooooo hectic that we never really had a chance to sit down and record interviews between each session telling about the modifications. I shot the footage during the event, running back and forth from the pits to the track, trying to get a different angle each session. I had to head down to RMR the next day to get a voiceover of what happened and match footage to the audio. Not ideal, but it worked out well to tell the story of the RMR parts.

Here is a recent project I did for Rhys Millen Racing- a promotional poster that would be signed and handed out at each race. I had two days to gather assets, create the poster and send to the printer so it could make it to the first race.

I ran down to Rhys’ shop and took some quick headshots to incorporate into the poster. I used a hero image of the car from the recent El Toro shoot. Coincidentally, it was the last frame shot of the day, after team photos as the car was about to be loaded onto the rig. The light kept getting better and better as time went on, but try explaining that to a crew of people that had been working on the car for at least 14 hours a day for a month straight. Yeah, they wanted to get home and fast… Combined all that together with an image of some of the burned up rubber on the runway to add some character and VIOLA- poster…

Lots of projects that have been going on, so I will make my best attempt to slowly sprinkle them onto the blog… New video in the works too! More to come..

Wow, time flies when you are busy… Thankfully things have calmed down a bit, and life in starting to get back in order. So many things to post, so here are the highlights of the past month.

Old vs. New

So while I was at RMR filming the Genesis being built, Cole went to the swap meet in Huntington Beach and came across these gems:

Okay- so maybe just the ones on the right… What are they you ask? Well the camera is a Kodak Vigilant Six-20.  Some of the info:

“medium format camera was manufactured between 1939-1949 and originally sold for US $38 (about US $560 in 2007).”

Some more photos:

Quite a contrast from my new Canon 5D Mk II..  More on that later…

The other find was a General Electric Dw-58 light meter:    Made around 1946 and at that time sold for $26.50.

Once again- quite a contrast between that and my Sekonic L-358 meter.  I have yet to try them out side by side, but from what I can see, the GE meter is still in working condition, just like the camera.  Thank you Cole for such an awesome purchase…  I can’t wait to load it up with 620 film and shoot some interesting pics.

OK- now for the new toy- the Canon 5D Mk II.  Wow is all I can say- for so many reasons: razor sharp photos, 1080P HD video, HUGE file sizes and being able to see down to people’s pores when  you take photos.  It is seriously amazing…  One major gripe- the old 5D battery grip does not fit this cam, and the batteries are different too.  Oh well, get to drop $400 on new batteries and a battery grip- but one problem…  The batteries are not available anywhere…  :(  I feel awkward shooting vertically with my hand twisted all around- yes, a stupid complaint, but once you are  use to having the vertical grip, its hard to go without it.

Here are some shots from a recent shoot for Hyundai of the cam in action:

Here is the first video I put together using the 5D Mk II and a 70-200 2.8L- IS.  Nothing special, but the video I am putting together as we speak will show some cool depth of field and crazy fisheye shots.

Speaking of new video- another piece of gear that I got to help out in the video making process.. Sony HXR-MC1

Got a chance to use it at Formula D Long Beach and testing at El Toro.  WOW this thing is awesome.  Full 1080 video and it records onto Memory Stick Pro cards.  I will splice some of this video into the new cut as well.

Ok- time to get back to work.  Hopefully I will not neglect the blog like I have been…

So this is the big one that I have been working on for a while, but couldn’t talk about. Now that they have officially unveiled the car at the Chicago Auto Show, I can talk.

I have been doing a lot of work for Rhys Millen Racing in the past few months and he recommended my work to Hyundai. I have been helping out since before SEMA- creating a video of the “Art of Speed” car as it was being built. This was blasted all over the internet and at SEMA. After the great response from the media and consumers, Hyundai decided to go drifting with Rhys behind the wheel. This is where I came in.

We needed renderings of what the car was going to look like for the 2009 season. I used the studio photography from the Art of Speed car and built upon it to make the car look real so it could be painted, put on the RMR transporter and media CD’s for the Chicago Auto Show. See the process below. MANY painstaking hours went into this final product, with Rhys at my side for good deal of them saying “Move that higher, lower, bigger, smaller…”

Here is the final car image- I didn’t take this one…

Can’t forget the team transporter..

And the media CD Cover for the Chicago Auto Show:

So from this rendering came the final car. Hyundai hired me to shoot photos of the vehicle and also to make a video for the unveiling of the car at the Chicago Auto Show. Here are the results:

Here is the link to the full gallery:

So from this came the video… Hyundai used this video as part of the unveiling in Chicago. They had PR people and Rhys talking about the project, showed the video and then pulled the silk off the car. This was debuted on Edmunds.com Inside Line concurrently with the unveiling of the car. Here are some shots of it happening on Autoblog. They were looking for something dynamic that showed the car moving… QUICKLY! “Sideways with lots of smoke” was the actual request… This was all shot in one afternoon, using my XH-A1 and Rhys’ HVX-100A, edited in Final Cut Pro and color graded in Color.

RMR / Hyundai Drift Genesis from DC CHAVEZ on Vimeo.

It has been an awesome project to be a part of. Hyundai is a great company to do business with and I am pretty stoked that they have given me creative license to do what I want. I am sure this is not the last time you will hear of me cranking out projects for Hyundai. Heck- I might even have some in the works as we speak- but of course I can only tell you later.

Well a lot has been going on…

Running back and forth a lot for the Roadhouse catalog shoot. We have done soooo many motorcycles with so many different exhaust systems on each of them. I also had the opportunity to do a location shoot for the cover and various sections of their new catalog. Here is a little sample:

Also- more work for Hyundai that I will be able to show after the Chicago Auto Show… I have been doing a bunch for them that will all be revealed in a mega-post. As for now, its allllll hush-hush…

More to come tomorrow…

So I will be adding lots of the new content that has been sitting around for a while… I have been so busy that its hard to find the time to get it online. I am now officially MAKING time to do this.

So I got a call a while back from my friend Rhys Millen asking if I did videos. He mentioned he had a top secret project that he wanted to make a video of. I signed on, dropped a LOT of money on new camera gear (Canon XH-A1, Sennheiser wireless lapel mics, Audiotechnica Shotgun mic, a new Apple 8-Core video editing workstation, Apple 20″ monitor and lots of other accessories) and started shooting.

The super secret project was the build up of a new Hyundai Genesis Coupe. This car is really nice- especially considering the fact that its a Hyundai. It has completely changed the way that I see the brand. Unlike Domestic automakers, Hyundai has done their homework on what consumers want in a car. They hit a home run. This is the video that shows the whole process- from stock car to carbon fiber, track-ready machine.

This is the culmination of 8 days filming in Huntington Beach and 2 hours at Buttonwillow raceway.  This video was debuted at the SEMA show and has received well over 150,000 views and counting.  I only wish we had more time at the track to get some better action shots.  I was also shooting photos for Modified Magazine on track, so it cut into our action sequence time.  Thankfully, the photo session was not a waste- the images made the cover of the December 2008 issue and was featured as the main story.

Enjoy!

RMR Hyundai Genesis Coupe Build from DC Chavez on Vimeo.