I produced this behind the scenes look at the creation of Ballet Austin’s upcoming production of The Magic Flute.  To say that it’s ambitious of them to take on this opera is an understatement.  With the backing of the Austin Symphony and the aid of giant shadow puppets, Stephen Mills and company have turned an 18th century Mozart masterpiece into a contemporary feast for the senses.  Being there to film this process unfold was an incredible experience, and I can’t wait to see the final show for myself.

I worked with Sparksight, a great local company, on this brand identity project for one of their clients.  They provided me with the voice over track and music, and I created the video from the ground up using stock photos and some original digital creations.

That’s the great thing about Adobe After Effects, the program I used to make this.  It allows content creators to produce some really slick looking HD video without the need for expensive cameras or other gear.

If you’re interested in something like this for a video project of your own, feel free to contact me.

My good friend Rob Marley brought the idea for The Austin Supper Club to me a few months back, and asked me to partner with him to make the show a reality.  We’ve been working since then to develop the concept into something great for the city of Austin, and we’re so excited to talk about it.

We’ve finished shooting our pilot episode, and videos will start posting very soon.  “Like” us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and look for on on the air very soon on KLRU-TV.  In the meantime, check out the short video teaser below.

Have a very fun, very happy, and very safe Holiday Season!!

PS – Look for The Austin Supper Club, a new television series I’m developing with my producing partner Rob Marley, on KLRU-TV early next year!

I recently redesigned his website and blog for the book, theyoungandthedigital.com.  It’s amazing what a little graphic work and coding can do for content that’s already compelling to read!

Ballet Austin hired me to create a short promotional video in the run up to their 48th annual production of The Nutcracker.  If you dance ballet as an adult, then chances are you’ve been dancing in The Nutcracker for most of your life.  This behind-the-scenes look into the production includes interviews with dancers at all levels of their career — from the little ones just starting out, all the way through to professional dancers fulfilling their girlhood dream of being the Sugar Plum Fairy.

You can watch the video below, and read more about it on Ballet Austin’s blog:

My wife, Virginia, and I love music, so it really worked out well for me when she decided to start a blog devoted to the subject in April of last year.  The passion and hard work she dedicates to each and every post benefits any and everyone scouring the web for music news and commentary in Austin, in Texas, and beyond.

In the short amount of time that she’s been posting, the Austin Girl Music Guide has grown from a small, unassuming Blogspot page to  a well-trafficked hub of album and concert reviews, musings on music, and information about the live shows going down each week in Austin.  V’s expertise on the subject (and her years of working with me on my video projects) even led to our collaboration in covering SXSW 2010 for Docubloggers.

And so with great growth comes great change.  As of yesterday, I’ve completed the development and migration of her blog to her own, hosted domain.  I’m no expert in this field, but I do enjoy building WordPress blogs/sites, learning the tricks of the trade as I go along.

I used a great free WordPress theme as the foundation (Producer theme for WordPress from Antisocial Media LLC), and built on it with the colors and style of the logo I designed for AGMG a while back.  I also whipped up the header banner with the help of a photo I took of my parents’ old record collection that now resides in our office.

At any rate, if you’re into music and looking for a great blog to follow, check out Austin Girl Music Guide (also on Twitter and Facebook).  If you’re looking for someone to take a swing at revamping your existing blog, creating some graphics or video for it, or getting you started from the ground up, click on my contact info at the top of the page.

I hear that tickets are still available for the shows, which run from September 24 – 26.

Description from Ballet Austin’s website:

Inspired by the forbidden desires of 13th century monks, Carmina Burana is a tale revealed through their found poetry of lust and passion. With iconic music performed live by more than 100 singers from the Grammy®-nominated choir Conspirare and The Austin Symphony, Stephen Mills’ interpretation is a textured experience set to the haunting rhythms of artistic repression and the spirit of liberation that comes from breaking free.

Set to the exotic and experimental music of John Cage, Kai (meaning water) is a sensual celebration and a mysterious journey.

That episode is one of my favorites, not just because I love MMJ and not because the folks behind ACL hit it out of the park with their camera work, directing, editing, sound mix, etc.  That episode recalls for me the behind the scenes look into ACL that I produced about a year ago on the day/night that My Morning Jacket performed.  It was one of those stories that reminded me how lucky I am to do what I do in a town like Austin, Texas.

This is what I wrote in my original blog for KLRU:

When I first started working for KLRU as an intern many moons ago, I felt a great deal of pride to be associated with the station behind Austin City Limits. My dad was a big fan of the show, and I grew up watching it in San Antonio. He was thrilled to find out I was working at KLRU, and even more thrilled the first time I actually got to work on a taping … with Robert Plant!

The same year I started was also the first year of the ACL Festival. I didn’t know it at the time, but the fate of the show and the brand name was about to get big.

Time has passed, and like so many associated with KLRU, ACL has become a given in my life, though still something I wear with pride. Reflecting on this, I decided it was time to produce a Docublog about Austin City Limits, effectively sharing what those of us behind the scenes see each time a great band comes to tape in Studio 6A.

So, here it is, a behind the scenes look at Austin City Limits featuring My Morning Jacket.  Enjoy!

Now that some of the dust has cleared around the relaunch of this website and the official conclusion of Docubloggers, I found a bit of time to create a new logo.  The old one was something I put together hastily last year when I launched Seanningham.com version 1.0, and I’ve been itching to change it ever since.  I know, I know … not the most important thing to do, but I’m glad the task has been scratched off my to-do list.

There are exciting things in the hopper now, and though I can’t talk in too much detail about them (yet), I can say that I’m very happy to begin the pre-production and fundraising phases of a new television series.  I mentioned this briefly a while back on Facebook, and will surely have updates with actual information in the coming days and weeks.

Until then, stay in touch, and as always, keep me in mind for any and all of your video needs.