Seattle This Weekend!

I hop a plane on Friday to see Seattle for the first time! Shockingly, this is the very first time I've ever booked a flight for something non-work related. Should be fun!

Kodak Zi8 Test

I recently bought the Kodak Zi8 for some on-the-go shooting. I've had it for nearly a month and I finally got some time this weekend to take it out for a test shoot. Here are the results:

Zi8 Test - New York Park from Emilio Martinez on Vimeo.

If you're looking to have a inexpensive compact HD cam, I highly recommend checking this thing out. The camera can shoot in 1080p, and 720p / 60 FPS. It doesn't come with much on board memory, but it accommodates to SD memory cards. I have a 16 GB inside right now, and I haven't come close to filling it yet. This does a pretty good job holding up to my Panasonic HPX-170 for about 5% of the cost. You can check out my HPX-170 test here.

No Shave November: Week 1 Status.

It's that time of the year, kiddos! No Shave November is just kicking off. Here's my current situation after week one:

This is my second year going for the Grizzly Adams look in November, and thus far I think I'm off to a decent start. I'm off to a much dirtier start compared to last years, I've already achieved pre-teen woodsman in the early stages. I really can't grow a beard, but I swear I'm trying my hardest here. Stay tuned for weekly photo updates of the situation at hand. And don't miss the grand finale at the start of December: The Creeper Stache...

Hey October, Don't Be Lonely!

I really cut this one down to the wire, almost not posting at all this month. Good thing I remembered my log-in information for this thing. I made an honest attempt a few weeks ago, but after repeatedly putting in the wrong email / password combination I thought, "screw it."

Anyways, straight to business - Since my last check in over a month ago lots of ridiculously awesome stuff has been in the works. I sent in a few months worth of savings to buy my first EVER video camera, which is pretty absurd considering I'm in this whole videography business. I picked up the Panasonic HPX-170, and I'm still in the process of decking out the whole kit. Since P2 media is REALLY expensive, I hope to have the whole kit ready by the end of the year. I shot a test so those curious could see just how awesome this camera is:

HPX-170 Test from Emilio Martinez on Vimeo.

Just before the excitement of getting my first video camera, I traveled up to Colorado to shoot Evan Taubenfeld. We shot his show supporting Secondhand Serenade at The Gothic Theater in Englewood. Although Evan was nearly dead from sickness for the show, he did an awesome job for the cameras. I'm currently putting some finishing touches on the show edit and we'll see what happens with it. Some shots are pretty awesome, though!

...and lastly in between editing the Evan show, I've been doing a few things to help out with the highly anticipated release of Tom Petty's Live Anthology. Check out a teaser video I pieced together for the new Tom Petty Superhighway Tour below:

So, that's about it! Lot's of skateboarding has happened in between all of this and quite a few remarkable shows have happened too (Portugal. the Man, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Dodos, and Thom Yorke). I've been listening to the new Minus the Bear single a lot, and most recently I've been listening to the new Tegan & Sara album lots - I highly suggest checking both out!

I'm really hoping to give my site and this blog a conjoined facelift so they can both live happily together in some sort of wordpress based site. That's my new short term goal to achieve by the end of November. Maybe too ambitions, but we'll see what happens!

- Emilio

The Making Of - It's Like That

Hey Kiddos -

Check out a behind the scenes look at the last video I worked on for Evan Taubenfeld, brought to you by the folks at Almost Midnight.

- Emilio

Evan Taubenfeld - It's Like That!

Our third Evan Taubenfeld video wrapped this past week! This video has been in the works for quite a long time now. I'd spent most of the past month or two organizing and editing over 4,000 photos to make this thing come to life. Check it out below -

Stay tuned for the "Making of" It's Like That. Also check out my other Evan Taubenfeld videos for Boy Meets Girl and Cheater of the Year.

- Emilio

Sorry, Chicago...

Hey Chicago! It was great seeing you for about three hours this past weekend, I promise next time I visit I'll give you the attention you deserve. Next time I see you I hopefully won't be on antibiotics so I can enjoy a drink or two or seven in your fine city.

So my visit to Chicago was lots and lots of work! The break down went something like this - 10% travel, 75% editing, 10% sleep, 5% free time. I was able to indulge in some Chicago deep dish pizza not once, or twice, but on THREE different occasions. I was only able to catch one of the 140+ sets at Lollapalooza, luckily it was Lou Reed's set. While walking back to my edit suite in the Hard Rock, I made a stop inside Millennium Park:

The art and architecture of this city is unlike any other city in the US. This was my third time visiting on a "work related" trip, and with each visit I get just a little taste of the city. With each visit I have a stronger urge to take a non-work related trip, so I can thoroughly take the city in.

Check out the wrap up episodes that the LP33 team threw together during this crazy, crazy weekend:

THURSDAY:

FRIDAY:

SATURDAY:

SUNDAY:

- Emilio

Chicago next week!

Heading out to Chicago for Lollapalooza next week!

Band vs. Road Episode 5: The Show

The fifth and final episode of Band vs. Road was posted today. Check out the series finale below -

...and if you missed out on the other ones, look back in my blog! Episodes one, two, three, and four are all on here.

- Emilio

Band vs. Road Episode 4: A Day In The Life

The fourth installment to my Band Vs. Road series with Vanna was posted yesterday. Watch it to find out what I did for this years Super Bowl, and how van problems, Arkansas, and extended Wal-Mart visits can still make for a good time. Watch it below, or check out the band's full blog right here.

- Emilio

2009 and a half.

2009 is geared up to be an amazing year for music, for me at least. A lot of my favorite artists are in the studio (Tegan & Sara, Minus The Bear, Brand New...) or have already release something this year (Silversun Pickups, Franz Ferdinand, Set Your Goals...) Since we're half way thru the year, I thought I'd share my top 10 album releases to come out of the first half of 2009.

10 - Mos Def - The Ecstatic

9 - Vanna - A New Hope

8 - Two Tounges - S/T

7 - Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz

6 - Gallows - Grey Britain

5 - Franz Ferdinand - Tonight

4 - Passion Pit - Manners

3 - Silversun Pickups - Swoon

2 - P.O.S. - Never Better

1 - Set Your Goals - This Will Be The Death Of Us

Honorable Mentions -

Cursive - Mama I'm Swollen

A Day to Remember - Homesick

The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love

Metric - Fantasies

Wilco - Wilco (The Album)

Most Anticipated Releases in the 2nd Half -

Minus The Bear - ?

Tegan & Sara - ?

Rx Bandits - Mandala

Brand New - ?

Saves The Day - Daybreak

Portugal. The Man - The Satanic Satanist

Thrice - Beggars

The Fall of Troy - ?

Mariachi El Bronx - ?

The Dead Weather - ?

- Emilio

Band vs. Road Episode 3: Life In The Venue

Episode 3 from my "Band vs. Road" series was posted earlier this week. Watch some of the hilarious footage I shot while I was in NYC for the first time in my life! Check out the full blog here, or just watch the video below -

- Emilio

It's Like That!

I'm currently editing my THIRD piece for Mr. Evan Taubenfeld - this one is going to be a doozy. It's entirely composed of still photographs. During the 14 hour shoot we did not shoot ANY video, we used SLRs as our video cameras. Some of the photographs are stunning. Here's a tease:

I've got a lot of work ahead of me - since standard video footage shows about 30 frames a second, and this particular song is about 3 minutes long (!!!). The video should be wrapped up in early July, I'll post it here when it's live. In the mean time, check out this behind the scenes clip from the last shoot I did with Evan for his song "Boy Meets Girl" -

Making the "Boy Meets Girl" lyric video

- Emilio

Band vs. Road Episode 2: Life In The Van

Episode 2 of my "Band vs. Road" tour series went online today. Check out the full tour blog here, or just watch the video below.

...and if you haven't already done so, go check out episode 1.

- Emilio

Band vs. Road Episode 1: Getting To Know Vanna

The first episode of my Band vs. Road tour series has made it online! This is the footage I shot and edited for Vanna on the Life I tour w/ Gwen Stacy in January - February this year. You can check out the full tour blog here, or you can watch the video below.

Episode two should be posted next week, be sure to check it out because it is hands down the funniest of the series.

- Emilio

You've Gotta Swim

I'm super excited to have one of my own videos featured on the homepage of MTV.com. The "online only" version of Jack's Mannequin's latest single "Swim" can be found here - be sure to check out the director's credits while you're watching the video! Although this isn't the official music video, I'm still pretty darn excited to get that kind of exposure!

Here's me on the set of the official music video shoot for "Swim," the official video should be released soon. It shot last Friday in Hollywood, from what I saw on set it should be pretty amazing. Be sure to check it out when it's released, and you just might find me somewhere in the video!

Site update sooner than you think, more blog posts shortly after.

- Emilio

An Update - Four Months in a Nutshell.

Since it has been so long since my last post let me give you a quick run down of what I've been up to since December. I've been pulling fun and random freelance gigs left and right - a tour,a few shoots, a lot of edits, etc. I spent the end of January and early February on my 2nd tour as tour videographer with Epitaph act Vanna. MUCH different than my first tour on the Bamboozle Roadshow - I didn't live in a bus this time around. Instead we got around in a 15 passenger van and we slept on random people's floors across America. It was in the Winter in the North East this time around and not Springtime in TX, FL, GA, like the last tour. I pretty much froze my ass off the entire tour - but I had so much fun. Driving around in a van for a few weeks was amazing. I finally went to NYC thanks to this tour, found a bar that serves free pizza with each drink order, needless to say I drank and ate a lot of pizza. NYC was a great city, I just wish I could have stayed longer than one day. I ended up shooting over 50 tapes - and I've edited 5 segments for the band. I'll post them here when they're live, they're hilarious pieces because the Vanna dudes are hilarious people. If you're into that hardcore stuff, definitely check them out - they fucking rule.

Shortly after that, I picked up a freelance job with lp33.tv working as an editor at SXSW in Austin. I didn't have any insane desire to go to SXSW 'til I had this opportunity. The city is completely overtaken by music for 4 or 5 days - it was amazing. Unfortunately, I was working...I was editing from about 9:30AM - 10:00PM everyday so I didn't get to catch all the acts I wanted to see - I got to see a few shows, though. I saw Gallows in a tiny pub, it was without a doubt the best punk show I've EVER seen - the stage was super small so the band (except for the drummer) ended up playing most of the set on the floor with the crowd. It felt like a house party - Frank got on top of the bar shattered a lamp that was hanging from the ceiling and a few people in the crowd were bleeding from the shattered glass - it was absurd! I also caught A Day to Remember, and P.O.S. - both fantastic sets as well. A lot of the fun came from the tour bus ride to Texas and back as well - The LP33.tv folks are awesome!

I've been back from those travels for about a month now - taking it a little bit easier. Keeping busy, but not stressing from being overloaded. Life is good. After posting the Beatbreaks video a few days ago, I really want to do another short film / documentary for myself. We'll see what happens. Currently on my plate - I'm working on videos for Jack's Mannequin and Evan Taubenfeld for Warner Bros. Records, and I'm wrapping a viral video I pieced together for The Pretenders. Keep an eye out for links to projects that I feel like posting. And yes I will try to blog a bit more if I'm not overloaded!!!

- Emilio

Finally, a post - Beatbreaks.

OK so I haven't updated in 4 months. Who Cares.

Let's get right to this - If you remember from my last blog post in December I was working on setting up a drum circle at pershing square. All of that was for a final video project for one of my last college classes. I wrapped this project up in December and hesitated to post it for several stupid reasons. Well, now I'm pretty much over whatever was holding me back from posting it, so here it is for your viewing pleasure:

BEATBREAKS: A Break From The Routine. from Emilio Martinez on Vimeo.

I'll work on posting more - Since my last post I finished up college. I've been doing out of college things like working my ass of to pay for student loans. No worries though, I had some fun along the way. I toured in Janurary, I went to SXSW for the first time, and I got paid for both! Talk about a win win situation. Stay tuned, but don't hold your breath.