I have been doing a lot of work on official sets recently.

This is a fun experience and you always learn something new on set and in action.

Here are a few projects I have worked on lately.

Project - Production Company - My Job On Set

17 Miracles - Excel Entertainment - Set P.A.

Nitro Circus 3D - Godfrey Productions - 3D Video Assist 

Dentrix Web Commercial - Soul41 Productions - Set P.A.

Flip Men - 25/7 Productions - Set P.A.
The New Testaments - LDS Motion Picture Studio - Set P.A.
BlackJacks - Quorum Entertainment - Set P.A.
Dr. Fubalous - Hip Hop Doc LLC - Key Set P.A.
Dentrix Web Commercial  - Soul41 Productions - Key Set P.A.
12 Dogs of Christmas 2 - Merrill Family Films - Set P.A.
Euro NinjaPro Infomercial - Stilson Productions - Key Set P.A.
Bullworker-Pro Infomercial - Infomercials, INC. - Set P.A.
AAA Insurance Commercial - Impatient Cow - Set P.A.

Not to mention I have been working on several of personal projects as well -

"It's Just Not Working Out." - Writer, Editor & Actor (Official Selection 2012 UVU Film Festival)
Utah Safety Council Web-Commercials - Writer, Editor & Director (On YouTube)
Father of The Year - Writer, Editor, Co-Producer & Director (Official Selection of the 2012 UVU & Salt Lake City Film Festivals)

Utah Safety Council Public Service Announcements

A group of friends and myself were contacted by The Utah Safety Council to create five Public Service Announcements.

They will cover the topics of Drowsy Driving, Distracted Driving, Aggressive Driving, Speeding, and non-use of safety restraints.

I have personally written three of these PSAs and directed two of them.

Here is the first finished product, please let me know what you think.

Please make sure the video is set to HD before playing.

Prom Crash PSA

Starring:
Prom Date: Dan Garner
Girl: Kelsey Kendall
Mom: Vicki Kingdon Robinson
Dad: Dan Larsen
Crash Photographer: Derrick Dube

Crew:
Written and Directed by: Neil Hiatt
Director of Photography: Stelios Xanthos
Producer: Jorden Nash
Art Director: Penny Johnson
Script Supervisor: Elizabeth JoAnne Griffin-Spencer
Wardrobe, Makeup & Props: Kellie Preece
1st AC: Jeremy Prusso
2nd AC: Jorden Nash
Gaffer: Henrik Patterson
Grip/Electric: Zach Vineyard
Dolly Grip: Austin Wilson
VFX: Josh Badger
Consultant: Alyson Freebairn

Craft Service: Ashley Xanthos

Music:
"Hold Me Closer" Written and Performed by: Kellie Preece & Sheii Lindley

Special Thanks To:
Utah Valley University
UVU Digital Media & Theatre Departments
The City of Orem
Vern Hiatt
Shawn
Will McKinnon
UVU Police
The Utah Safety Council

Helping Hands

Here is a video I helped out with, it's called Helping Hands.

My friend Sean Del Pullan wrote and directed this one for the St. George Guerilla Film Festival.

By the way...Helping Hands, WON the Jury Award (so 1st place).

I believe that is three out of three competitions I have entered and been involved in that have won.

Boosh!

Cinematography II

For my Cinematography II class we we were given several short film assignments and one video essay.

Here are the fruits of that labor.

Short Scenes:

For each short scene we were given one page of action to shoot M.O.S.

It had to be between 5-10 seconds long and we could add music in post.

Bar Scene:

Music: "First Night" By: The Hold Steady

End of The Relationship:

Music: "Bad Reputation" By: Freedy Johnston

Office Waiting:

Music: "Landslide" By: The Backbeats

Video Essay:

For this assignment we had to create a two minute video essay that told a story to music.

Music: "Moth Wings" By: Passion Pit

Coming Soon "It's Just Not Working Out."

For my advanced production class our group filmed an 8 minute short titled It's Just Not Working Out.

CAST

Johnson: Neil Hiatt

Mr. Wilson: Jake Ben Suazo

C.E.O.: Arlen Card

Secretary: Sarah Rasmussen

Miles: Dan Garner

Sweatshop Employee: Vick Doultani

Additional Office Workers:

Bradley Crane

Eric Lawrence

Stelios Xanthos

Alyson Freebairn

Claudia Garza

Brittney Johnson

Elizabeth Spencer

Jeremy Prusso

Jorden Nash

Valentina Bilancieri

Penny Johnson

Jorden Rasmussen

CREW

Written by: Neil Hiatt

Directed by: Alyson Freebairn

Director of Photography: Stelios Xanthos

Producer: Jorden Nash

Sound Designer: Eric Lawrence

Gaffer: Bradley Crane

1st A.C.: Jeremy Prusso

2nd A.C.: Valentina Bilancieri

1st A.D.: Brittney Johnson

Camera, Grip, Electric: Jordan Rasmussen

Dolly Grip: T.J. Bates

Property Master: Kellie Preece

Set Designer: Penny Johnson

Set Decorator: Claudia Garza

Script Supervisor: Elizabeth Spencer

Colorist: Justin Morris

Digital FX: Josh Badger

We had a fantastic crew and amazing cast. At the moment we are adding the finishing touches to the final product (the audio is being sweetened and color correction is taking place) and we hope to have it done in a couple of weeks.

So as a teaser here are our outtakes from It's Just Not Working Out.

Thank you to all of the wonderful Cast & Crew involved in the making of It's Just Not Working Out.

Imposing Building

This was for a Video Assignment in my Cinematography II class.

We were supposed to film establishing shots that would make a building seem imposing...

I think Matthew Butler and I did a pretty good job.

All of the shots were filmed on the Canon t2i at 24 fps.

Imposing Building:

The song we used was "Time" By: Hans Zimmer from the film Inception.

LDS 24 hour Film Festival

For the last nine years the LDS Film Festival has held a 24 hour film competition.

The basic idea is you have twenty-four hours (from 10:00 A.M. Friday to 10:00 A.M. Saturday ) to write, shoot, edit, score, and turn in a three minute film.

The Rules Are:

1. You can only have five people in your group total (meaning only 5 people to act as your cast AND your crew).

2. You must use the given theme, prop, and line of dialog in your film (Our theme was generosity, our prop was a dollar bill, and the line of dialog was "What more can...").

3. Your film can only be three minutes in length.

Anyway, my group entered and won this year!

It was a wonderful feeling to meet so many talented individuals and to walk away with our heads held high.

So, without further ado I give you our short film...

(NOTE: Remember we only had 24 hours to make this, so please forgive some of our editing and continuity errors)

MUFFIN TOP:

Final Animatic

For my storyboarding class we had to do a 30 second (minimum) animatic to help us learn basic motion tracking in Final Cut Pro, Premiere and After Effects. I used Final Cut Pro 7 to edit and motion track my project.

We had to draw and scan in several separate layers, color them in Photoshop, convert them into PNG files, and finally animate them to tell a story.
Our instructor gave us some leeway if we were not animation majors (which explains why my main background and two of the characters are PNG images and not hand drawn).
I wish my art skills were up to par but the main reason I am studying film is that I can't draw...

All together I had to draw and scan over 26 separate slates for my animation.

Here are some of them:























Here is the final Product (54 Seconds):

The Doughboy





I originally planned to have the Doughboy remove his neckerchief and turn it into a speedo but I ran out of time on the project. Hopefully one day I could pitch this to the animation department, 3D-animation department, or maybe just make it into a claymation myself.

But that will have to be a project for another day.


- Neil Hiatt

12/06/2010

Ships of Sand by: Voltaire 7

At the beginning of the semester I helped crew on a music video directed by Steve Keele for the band Voltaire 7. The video was an idea that Steve had storyboarded, modeled, and animated and I was honored that he asked me to help with the filming.

To see the kind of work that was put into the video check out the before and after.

Here is the animatic Steve Made for the Video:

Here Is The Final Product:

The Final animation was done by Steve Keele, Josh Keele, and Kevin Keele.

Awesome Work guys and thank you for letting me be a part of it!

Credits

Steven Keele
Story, Storyboards, 3D Models, Texturing, Lighting,
Animation, Editing, Live Action Direction.

Kristal Thompson
Princess

Robert Thompson
Hero

Joshua Keele
3D Models, Texturing

Kevin Keele
Concept Art, Coloring.

Neil Hiatt
Camera, Grip, Gaffer

Jason Robinson
Story

All rights are reserved by the artist.
For any commercial interests, please contact the artist
at the email address: skeeleart@hotmail.com

Animatic

For my first digital assignment in my story boarding class I had to make an animatic using Photoshop and FinalCut Pro.

The goal was to make a five second animatic that has four separate layers and zooms in on any object.

I first had to hand draw the four layers and then scan them into the computer.

Here are the layers before scanning:

Background:

House:

Tree:

Cloud:

I then applied color and saved it as a Photoshop PSD file.

Here is the file after Photoshop and coloring:

After importing the PSD file into FinalCut I applied motion tracking to each separate layer to zoom in on the house window.

Note: I know this isn't solid but it's my first time using motion tracking...that and my art skills are at a 1st grade level.

Here Is The Final Product:

My New Production Blog

Hey everyone. As you know I am studying film at UVU now and for one of my classes (and for myself) I am making this my production blog as well. So, hopefully, I will be posting my work on here for the next few months.

Hope you enjoy!

- Neil Hiatt