REELFXLOG

Dots getting optically mixed

2011-12-24T00:20:00.000-06:00

Gondry Taxi Driver

2011-12-20T14:02:00.001-06:00

Michel Gondry's remakes Taxi Driver

French Ducks Book Trailer

2011-12-14T16:56:00.001-06:00

French Ducks in Venice Book Trailer

As a side project at the studio, I had a great team helping me create a book trailer for French Ducks in Venice, the childrens book I illustrated. We took my original illustrations and cut them up in the PSDs, then our motion artists projected the scenes in Cinema 4D to achieve some nice parallax and lighting.

Thank you to everyone involved, I could not be more thrilled with our final product.

Cast:
Jeffrey Freymann-Weyr - Composer
Erin McGuire - Motion Designer/Illustrator

Thanks to the team!
Barrett Lewis - Creative Director
Randall Smith - Compositor
Anuja Pothireddy - Motion Designer
Byron Slaybaugh - Motion Designer
Dustin d'Arnault - Motion Designer/Storyboard
Jackson Armstrong - Motion Designer
James Tobias - Motion Designer
James Webber - Motion Designer
Nader Husseini - Motion Designer
Jared Brower - Photographer
TJ Callaway - Audio
Gary Banks - Voiceover
Ellyn Golub - Producer
Leah Garner - Producer
Leigh Mergehenn - Producer

Sights around Northpark

2011-12-12T00:48:00.000-06:00

6 Legs in Grass

2011-12-07T19:43:00.000-06:00

A coworker let me borrow his macro lense and this is what came of it.

Audio is from the fabulous Hanna soundtrack.

AUDIO : Chemical Brothers - Hanna Theme
check it out: http://tinyurl.com/3j84cro

Gatorade "The Zone"

2011-12-05T15:38:00.000-06:00

*The editor's cut of a national campaign. Peter Tarter had some footage that he wanted to play around with. So he found some great audio and went to work. I saw what he had cut and wanted to take a crack at color-grading it and also adding on an endtag for good measure.

I know GATORADE, the black on black doesn't follow your branding guidelines but hey, it looks cool.

LIVE-ACTION COMPANY: Stone Cutters
LIVE-ACTION DIRECTOR: Norry Niven

EDITOR : Peter Tarter
EDITOR ASSIST : John McStravic
COLORIST : James Webber
GRAPHICS : James Webber
3D : Byron Slaybaugh

Painting At Naddy's

2011-07-22T16:43:00.001-05:00

In my own world

2011-06-24T14:09:00.000-05:00

I work with these people

2011-03-30T17:25:00.000-05:00

McCabe & Mrs. Miller: A Video Essay

2011-03-16T21:50:00.000-05:00

Nice video essay on a great movie.

Great Flow

2011-03-16T15:53:00.000-05:00

Friday Sketch- Springtime

2011-03-04T17:08:00.001-06:00

Friay sketch topic: Spring Break

2011-03-04T16:24:00.001-06:00

Saga of Biorn

2011-02-16T11:04:00.000-06:00

watch it here : Saga of Biorn

Found this the other day. So cool!
-Dd

Blast From The Past! BOZ!

2011-02-15T21:38:00.000-06:00

On the cutting room floor

2011-01-28T10:56:00.000-06:00

Pretty colors that failed to be picked. Maybe next time, wavy colors.

Go see this movie...NOW.

2010-12-13T10:19:00.000-06:00

...but first enjoy these other posters for the movie.

BJORK....still doing it.

2010-12-10T23:32:00.000-06:00

Shine on you crazy diamond.

Bjork 'Innocence' from Passion Pictures on Vimeo.

Beautiful

2010-12-08T18:01:00.000-06:00

Thought of You from Ryan J Woodward on Vimeo.

Behind the scenes.

Portraits

2010-12-06T17:42:00.001-06:00

See the rest here!

A while back I did caricatures of some art department peeps.
Hopefully you dig them...I know Nader didn't.

-Dd

Fluid Sculptural Motion

2010-12-01T11:18:00.001-06:00

Fluid Sculpture from Charlie Bucket on Vimeo.

El Lissitzky

2010-11-26T20:31:00.000-06:00

Long before desktop designing.

ve going nowhere

2010-11-23T13:34:00.000-06:00

Screen capture of a design I was working for a job. The design didn't go anywhere but I find it rather fun.

Weekend Photography

2010-11-22T03:49:00.000-06:00

Just uploaded some new photography on my website and on flickr. Hung out with some old friends and had a blast. Ultimate Frisbee, parks, Jingle Bash here in Dallas, video games, soda gallery... we did it all. Enjoy the pics :)

Yer a Wizard!

2010-11-19T17:52:00.001-06:00

In honor of the new Harry Potter movie, some of us did HP themed sketches for Friday Sketch. I drew a Hagrid. Enjoy :)

The King Has Gone Missing

2010-11-14T20:31:00.001-06:00

Here is a tribute to Where The Wild Things Are. Enjoy and have a great evening!

Massimo Vignelli

2010-11-12T17:25:00.000-06:00

Massimo Vignelli from John Madere on Vimeo.

Erinfort

2010-11-12T15:19:00.000-06:00

Our Friday Sketch topic this week was Dream Fort

Sound Sculpture Installation

2010-11-12T13:32:00.000-06:00

Zimoun : Sound Sculptures & Installations | Compilation Video V2.0 from ZIMOUN VIDEO ARCHIVE on Vimeo.

RED

2010-11-09T14:51:00.000-06:00

Halloween at Reel FX

2010-11-01T14:19:00.000-05:00

Here's most of the art department with their Ninja Turtle outfits. (Dustin, Chris, Nader, Seth, and James.)

Halloween at Reel FX is fun. I don't know how other studios are, but everyone seems to have fun dressing up and having a relaxing day.

My favorite costume of the day (and the one we all voted as this year's best) was one of our animators, named Ken, dressing as Ken from Toy Story 3. He even walked around like Ken all day. Sometimes a simple idea well executed is best.

Keep it super groovy!

Updated 2010 Reel

2010-10-31T23:17:00.001-05:00

2010 Showreel from Byron Slaybaugh

Updated reel. Check it!

ASHES

2010-10-27T18:56:00.000-05:00

Happy Halloween 2010

doodles

2010-10-21T18:52:00.001-05:00

Just messing around in sketchbook pro. Reference via http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/

-Dd

Father Autumn Time-Lapse

2010-10-18T14:14:00.000-05:00

Here's my contribution to Seed Deep Ellum Community Gardens. There will be a show in Dallas, TX.

This is a continuation of a monster I originally made called Autumn, but gave this guy a business attire. Making him... Father Autumn :) Enjoy this peace as he's casually hanging out with the leaves and blowing leaves into the air.

Audio by Christopher Smith "Gently, Gently"

Check out the final images of the painting here!

Halloween

2010-10-18T14:03:00.000-05:00

The Reel FX marketing folk asked me to work on our Halloween invite. Here's a snippet of it.

I might be Amelia Earhart for Halloween, and one of the animators here asked if that just meant I wasn't showing up for work. Thought that was pretty clever.

Happy Halloweenie

2010-10-13T11:34:00.001-05:00

The month of gory images starts with "The Shining".

2010 Reel update!

2010-10-11T17:26:00.001-05:00

2010 Showreel 2.0 from Christopher Vela on Vimeo.

Updated the reel with some new work I've completed recently! Enjoy and stay tuned for more updates on my site!

Autumn

2010-10-08T17:58:00.001-05:00

Friday Sketch- Autumn

Autumn is quite nice in Dallas, and it's been fun sitting outside eating lunch with the other artists :)

Autumn

2010-10-08T17:55:00.000-05:00

This monster changes through seasons... and we just happened to catch him at autumn :)

Custom Dunny: Yeti

2010-09-30T19:34:00.001-05:00

So I've always wanted a vinyl yeti... of some sort. Made this guy out of white fur and acrylic paints, shot by Jared Brower. Totally fell in love with the lil' guy. He may be up for sale in the future at my online shop, but we'll see :) He's the first of many! Enjoy and I'll keep everyone posted on the new customs!

Mountain Retreat

2010-09-17T18:03:00.000-05:00

Friday Sketch

Ran out of time.. may revisit this one...

Studio Fun Explosion Time

2010-09-16T11:03:00.000-05:00

Yesterday outside our Dallas studio, a film crew was set up filming for the NBC show Chase. A few coworkers were able to grab videos of the explosion they filmed. Skip to 0:30 for the action.

My Influences

2010-09-10T18:37:00.001-05:00

I think Olivia should be bigger, but there isn't enough room. :P

Influence Map : Christopher Vela

2010-09-10T18:14:00.001-05:00

Man, there is so much influence in my life outside of this. But one thing that has had a huge impact in my work is loving what you do. whatever that may be for anyone. For me... I do love art and design. So here are some big influences that have gotten me where I am today.

Influence Map

2010-09-10T16:30:00.000-05:00

There's a fun meme going around with these influence maps, putting down all of the things that inspire you. A few of us around the studio filled them out.

OS3/Loonytoons Wrap party!

2010-09-09T10:01:00.000-05:00

I did the invite, so you should go.
So go.
Dd

Circus Friday Sketch

2010-08-20T17:20:00.000-05:00

Haven't done a Friday Sketch in a while :)

Obey The Wolf

2010-08-10T15:23:00.001-05:00

Webosaurs Question and Answer

2010-08-06T11:51:00.000-05:00

Autolite

2010-08-03T15:48:00.000-05:00

Autolite Canadian Tire from Christopher Vela on Vimeo.

Creative Director: Barrett Lewis

Art Director: Nader Husseini

Lead Designer: Christopher Vela

3D Designer: Seth Olson

Audio: TJ Callaway

Painters: Erin McGuire, Seth Olson, Christopher Vela, Nader Husseini

Animators: Christopher Vela, Seth Olson, Nader Husseini

Producer: Kurt Kirchner Client:

Autolite Canada TV

Chris kindly uploaded recent Radium work onto his Vimeo, which I am kindly blogging.

Stoker

2010-07-30T15:21:00.000-05:00

monkey scribble

2010-07-26T14:05:00.001-05:00

2010-07-23T22:29:00.000-05:00

Scribbler

2010-07-23T18:58:00.000-05:00

Oleaginous... man reading a book to his daughter... max from Where the wild things are... "there is only one way..." fun times :)

Me Lord

2010-07-23T17:44:00.001-05:00

I was inspired by one of Yashar's paintings on this one.

Yes Master?

2010-07-23T17:43:00.000-05:00

Turk

2010-07-23T17:41:00.001-05:00

Friday sketch

2010-07-23T17:25:00.001-05:00

Scribbler

2010-07-23T15:38:00.001-05:00

Done using a fun little online drawing application, Scribbler- http://www.zefrank.com/scribbler/scribblertoo/

Anyone else play with Spirographs as a kid? Reminds me of those!

In-shanity!!!!

2010-07-13T18:07:00.000-05:00

Happy birthday to Shane....because it is in a couple of days.

What We Say

2010-06-24T15:34:00.001-05:00

New site. New work.

2010-06-15T00:09:00.002-05:00

Check it out! Posted some new work, updated the photography some, and posting new work as it comes in. Enjoy! Online store has been updated too. Prints coming soon!

Dallas ephemera

2010-06-08T14:21:00.000-05:00

Shots from around Dallas- The Arboretum, Curiosities, Libertine, and Arts district downtown

Listen to Yashar

2010-05-25T14:21:00.000-05:00

He's well-informed.

Whole Galaxy

2010-05-21T10:14:00.000-05:00

Here's a tiny tour video of our studio.

Waiting for Renders

2010-05-18T16:26:00.000-05:00

Renders take time. This is what we do with that time.
Reel FX.

Thunderstorm | Tormenta Eléctrica

2010-05-14T18:11:00.000-05:00

Spanish translation : Tormenta Eléctrica

Friday Sketch - Thunder

2010-05-14T16:30:00.000-05:00

Because of our ominous weather.

Around the studio

2010-05-14T10:06:00.001-05:00

Michelle & Horns

The ghost of Peter Tarter haunting the halls

Bring Me the Child

2010-04-29T10:35:00.001-05:00

Website update and a 2010 Showreel!

2010-04-22T20:56:00.000-05:00

Latest reel for 2010. I'll be updating it through out the year as new work comes in. Head over to my website and enjoy!
www.christophervela.com

DIFF Behind Scenes Day 2

2010-04-21T17:46:00.001-05:00

New CANVAS FOR CAUSE paintings up at the portfolio

2010-04-05T15:36:00.001-05:00

Just posted my pieces on my site for my canvases helping out a cause.
Peep them here.
STELLAR and SNAGGED.

Canvas for a Cause

2010-03-31T09:58:00.000-05:00

Time for the annual Canvas for a Cause show!

Here's some more info. If you're in the Dallas area, come stop by for the show tomorrow and check out the studio! All of the pieces are $60, so it's all surprisingly affordable, and it goes to a good cause.

Reel FX is hosting the 2^nd annual A Canvas for a Cause charity art event one week from now on Thursday, April 1^st from 7-10 pm which will again benefit Children’s Medical Center of Dallas. 100% of the proceeds will go to Children’s Child Life Program which is a great cause that helps make the kids’ lives better while they are being treated. All art is $60 and is done by locally and nationally known artists from Reel FX and our friends, partners etc… This year, there is also a silent auction portion where select photography and art will be available for bidding. There will be really cool art and a fun evening for a good cause. We will have apps and wine as well! We hope you can join us for this event.

Hope to see you there

I'M HERE by Spike Jonze

2010-03-24T00:13:00.000-05:00

Just watched this short film by Spike Jonze called I'm Here. Really awesome online experience and worth checking out. Camera work through out was shot well. Along with the editing of the film. Check it out if you have 30 minutes to spare, a really heart felt story.
http://www.imheremovie.com/

Behind the Scenes - DIFF Shoot

2010-03-23T10:18:00.001-05:00

Yashar Kassai, Leah Garner, Katherine Harper, Dustin d'Arnault and Justin Harder get together to make some spots for the Dallas International Film Festival, running April 8th-18th.
Here's a behind the scenes edit of their joyous day together filming with Chad Madden and Brendon Lankford.

CVELA Design Store has launched!

2010-03-19T10:54:00.001-05:00

The day has come! The store is live and online! Offering free shipping for a limited time, as a grand opening welcome to all :) Felicitous still hasn't come in but will post when it arrives. Take care and enjoy! Visit the store, click here!

Trolley

2010-03-15T14:12:00.000-05:00

Trolley from Christopher Vela on Vimeo.

First video/short film shot on the 7D, Trolley! Had a lot of fun with it, no color correction added. The beautiful Saturday helped :) Enjoy!

Kitchen

2010-03-08T13:22:00.001-06:00

Kitchen

2010-03-08T12:19:00.000-06:00

Kitchen

2010-03-05T17:52:00.000-06:00

Friday Sketch: Kitchen

2010-03-05T17:51:00.001-06:00

Friday Sketch - Kitchen

2010-03-05T17:44:00.000-06:00

Kitchen sketch'n

Aladino Debert: Beauty in Engineering

2010-03-04T01:04:00.000-06:00

Today we found out Radium's Aladino Debert's "Beauty in Engineering" was featured on Motionographer, check out the post here! Great job for everyone who worked on it!

Here's what they had to say:

Individuals and companies often create spec spots to showcase their talents and capabilities. Though without the support of a paying client (and a media buy) these works often fall flat and rocket straight into obscurity despite their inspiration and effort. Not so with this exceptional spec spot for Audi from director Aladino Debert and Radium.

“I wanted to treat it as photographically as possible,” says Debert, “and to design the lighting and choreography to mimic what we could have done in live action if resources had been available. If the reaction is ‘what a cool CG spot’ I would feel that we failed.”

Then I’ll say it: this is so not just a cool CG spot. And one I’d like to see more of. On air.

Website Update!

2010-02-24T11:15:00.000-06:00

It's that time again where I stay up late for two nights figuring out what to do for the website... and it's live! Check it out here and be on the lookout for a new showreel soon.

iphone sketch

2010-02-22T19:10:00.001-06:00

Invitation

2010-02-22T14:49:00.000-06:00

I was asked to create an invitation for a studio event this week, and it's always fun having an opportunity to draw classy ladies.

Incense

2010-02-14T22:03:00.000-06:00

Pancakes

2010-02-11T11:11:00.000-06:00

Quick invite for our Valentine's Pancake breakfast :]

Tri-cycle

2010-02-05T19:13:00.000-06:00

Trike

2010-02-05T18:16:00.001-06:00

Forgotten Tryke

2010-02-05T18:03:00.001-06:00

Tricycle

2010-02-05T17:52:00.001-06:00

Trike

2010-02-05T17:12:00.001-06:00

Okay

2010-02-04T15:51:00.001-06:00

Lightspotted

2010-02-01T14:44:00.000-06:00

Sketchin' while waitin'

Sketchbookings...

2010-01-31T21:14:00.000-06:00

Just some random selections from my sketchbook. Thought I'd better drop something in here to legitimize my presence in the "contributors" list...

Enjoy!

Deep Ellum : 2010, Jan 26

2010-01-27T10:35:00.000-06:00

Outside the office.

the letter F

2010-01-25T13:10:00.000-06:00

I'm slowly working on an alphabet series, every letter describes an emotion.