Rory Gordon Photo

Print Shop

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 10:11:27 -0700

Just a quick post to say I put a few prints taken on various road trips to/from Oklahoma up for sale to benefit the Red Cross of Oklahoma. They always need extra funding and it’s going to take a long time to rebuild all the recent tornado damage. Take a look if you’re interested; you’ll get some great quality photos plus help out my homestate!

The Daily Ocean

Thu, 30 May 2013 14:48:00 -0700

The Daily Ocean from Rory Gordon on Vimeo.

Ah, the Internet. While I was researching a different project last September, it brought me to a blog called The Daily Ocean written by Sara Bayles and for that I am so grateful.

Back in December, Sara completed her 365th twenty minute beach clean up, for her project The Daily Ocean. Basically, Sara wanted to prove you can do what you can with the time that you have and still make a difference with an issue as big as protecting the ocean. So she set out to do her 365 clean ups non-consecutively in between working, bodysurfing, and all the life stuff that just happens.

Over three and a half years, Sara collected over 1,300 pounds of trash off her beach in Santa Monica, just between two lifetowers. I got to be a part of the last clean up in December, which 39 others attended as well. Together we collected 22 pounds of trash in twenty minutes, and then we ate some cookies. Both were equally enjoyable.

Sara’s low key, inclusive, affordable attitude just knocks me out. It really is less overwhelming to think about how to change the world when you’ve got a plan of attack that’s so accessible (and friendly. and fun. am I gushing?) and gives credit that any thoughtful action, regardless of size, helps. Skipped bottled water with lunch? You helped! Picked up trash on a walk in your favorite park? You helped too! As Sara says, “The ocean is downhill from everywhere.”

Anyway, Sara has completed a manuscript about the experience and I’m continuing to document this part of her efforts to get this information out and her efforts to make keeping our planet healthy easy as she now navigates the publishing world and gets the book into classrooms.

If you like it, spread the word! I’ll be posting updates from my side of things making the documentary. I’m really proud of this project and I hope you enjoy it. And help me get it into theaters in 2014!

Trailer Thursday

Thu, 02 May 2013 17:18:03 -0700

“Only the Young,” a portrait doc on three small town teenagers.

I found this doc today and I’m rooting for it to take over the world. Or at least take over my local theater. Personal documentaries can ride an icky line between navel gazing and voyeurism, but this one looks like a very sweet look into what teenagers are really like in small towns - outside of a John Hughes movie.

Inspiration, Inspiration, Inspiration! I promise I have some really cool stuff to post soon.

(You missed my videos during pilot season, didn’t you?)

Trailer Thursday

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 11:56:18 -0700

I’m working on cutting a documentary project right now and I’m hoping the trailer will double as a fundraising tool for my totally awesome subject. So I’m watching more kickass trailers to get inspired and this one caught my eye today.

Are you a Ben Lee fan? I went through a huge “I’m a Lover Not a Fighter” phase in high school and I bet this doc is going to take me back down mem’ry lane. Ahhh, pop songs. Don’t pretend you’re too cool for it.

I think I have link-pimped this awesome short within an inch of...

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 12:32:52 -0700

I think I have link-pimped this awesome short within an inch of its life, but here’s the magical BBC-esque take on Flying Monkeys one more time in case I haven’t made you watch it already. I mean we’re in the desert of Northern Australia - finding beetles. It’s just awesome.

PS - I did the final color on this short and I am very pleased with the way it turned out! My inspiration on this was Indiana Jones and old leather, and if you’ll notice a lot of the darker scenes have that “old man face” kind of rusty black quality to them. Does this make any sense to anyone else who doesn’t stare at color for 40+ hours a week?

Full Circle/Done Good.

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 15:19:09 -0700

In 2011 I was just getting started as a dailies operator - and coming in on my own time to use the color suite and learn from my mentor.

The first task my mentor assigned me was calibrating an old CRT to use as another reference monitor. It took me probably three hours. I thought it was the coolest thing in the world. I even wrote about it - how the level of subtlety in determining pure black and white had to involve a little magic. And it does - I have superior color vision! (And you know, also have had training at one of the top schools for imaging science in the country. That probably instills magic too). I went back and forth about a billion times on the quality of the picture, but I was pretty sure after asking Mark about ten times that I had done good.

Fast forward to the now and I have lost track of how many shows and pilots I worked on this week. I think it’s five. Anyway, we’re training another colorist and I catch myself all the time stealing my mentor’s phrases and throwing them around like they are mine.

And when the new plasma monitor got in for our second color suite, I flew in to calibrate it between handling three shows a night and got it done in about twenty minutes over two nights - but I still wasn’t sure it was right.

So I asked my mentor to take a look at it the next day, just for a minute before he’s off on a big job too. And he said I done good.

Half Empty by David Rakoff, Book Review

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 12:22:00 -0800

The first time I heard David Rakoff it was on This American Life and I thought if I could hear one sound every night before I go to sleep it might be that guy reading me rhyming couplets. Then I heard his story about the tortoise and the scorpion, I read Don’t Get Too Comfortable, and devoured anything else with him in it. If there was any human left on the face of the planet using irony as a proper literary device to evoke some sort of genuine human emotion rather than sell chotchkies at Urban Outfitters, it was David Rakoff.

When I heard about his passing in August, I put off reading Half Empty partially because I wanted to stretch out the rest of his work. I rationed the Rakoff.

But, I finally picked it up and my short review is: go read it. It’s his best book. Goddammit I love the way he writes.

The book is a collection of essays set under the umbrella of exploring pessimism and melancholy. A lot of the essays can be filed under “hilarious anecdotal evidence” but the first chapter delves into the behind the scenes of an article David (I can’t do the last name thing, I feel like I knew David Rakoff and I wish I did) never ended up publishing on the subject of defensive pessimism and the research of Dr. Julie Norem.

Quickly, defensive pessimism is an anxiety management tool in which you break down a situation into the most awful potential outcomes and then find ways to deal with those worst case scenarios. In cognitive therapy it is also referred to as a hierarchy of anxiety. So a person with a fear of dogs might have at the top of that hierarchy “Be attacked by a dog,” and over time realize that yes, we have the tools and technology to deal with even the worst case scenario (in this case: go to a hospital and get a rabies shot, plus probably stitches and some comfort food). So all the littler fears become easier to tackle. Lower on the hierarchy might be, “Be barked at by a dog.” I could use my defensive pessimism to come up with a solution like, “If a dog barks at me and scares me, I will cross the street to avoid it and then make fun of it for being a dumb dog with no opposable thumbs.”

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
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Anyway, while David wanted to write about about how negativity can dance circles around our life-finds-a-way happier counterparts, the conclusion Norem (and he, begrudgingly) came to is this: pessimism is a trait just as neutral as brown hair, and arguing for negative thinking is very different than arguing against positive thinking (I’m paraphrasing as I can’t find the page). But being negative (or maybe just detail oriented) isn’t going to kill you or make you less successful than the next guy.

While the argument to give due to positive emotions and study them, as did the positive psychology of the 90’s, is still certainly true and helpful, it can dwarf the notion that negativity is still an important and valid part of life. Humility probably wouldn’t happen in a world of 100% healthy egos.

And then the rest of the book is delightful and sweet and sad, and I just didn’t want it to end because this was the end of the essays from David Rakoff.

I can’t understand on the same level what David wrote about because I don’t have cancer (thank goodness, knock on wood), but I certainly see the world with a little bend in it like he does, and the lots I see strangers have are by and large, not equal. Look, some of us have by chance darker lenses through which to view the world than other people. We see the cracks in the paint before we see the color of the wall.

And David Rakoff makes such good use of a little darkness, it just makes me feel in great company. Humor doesn’t have to be pretty or rose colored: it just has to make me laugh. Boy, did this book.

If you’re not familiar with StoryCorps, I highly suggest...

Mon, 28 Jan 2013 12:16:00 -0800

If you’re not familiar with StoryCorps, I highly suggest you check it out. StoryCorps travels all over the country recording snippets and stories from all sorts of people, and occasionally those stories are turned into animation.

This one from Ronald McNair’s brother is really lovely. What a good story.

Demo Reel 2013

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 16:49:52 -0800

2013 Demo Reel from Rory Gordon on Vimeo.

I shot some awesome stuff in 2013, huh?

"“Are you looking for chickens?” “No,” said the little prince. “I am..."

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 11:32:45 -0800

“

“Are you looking for chickens?”

“No,” said the little prince. “I am looking for friends. What does that mean—‘tame’?”

“It is an act too often neglected,” said the fox. It means to establish ties.”

“‘To establish ties’?”

“Just that,” said the fox. “To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you, I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world …”

”

- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Le Petit Prince. This is the only deviation from the traditional city hall cubicle wedding vows we had. It was pretty perfect.

Who are you and what is that smell?

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 14:30:00 -0800

Oh, hello there influx of new eyeballs! Mel probably brought you here.

I’m Rory. This is me pretending to be caught in a candid moment:

About: I am a dailies colorist by night and a videographer by day. I live and work in Los Angeles (but I also work everywhere I can travel). This blog is mostly about why I keep pursuing making videos, why I think color science is so cool, what sort of MacGuyver contraption I set up to produce something I didn’t have a budget for, and adventures contributing to the complicated reasons I love this redonkulous, silly, overpriced city.

I am married to a storyboard artist (James) who is the best ever, and sometimes I end up recording reference footage of how a chicken would dance because animators are weird:

(Please don’t watch all two minutes of that).

I suspect I am a good addition to your Google reader if you: are wondering how anyone has a “normal” job in Hollywood, like to read behind the scenes antics, enjoy watching short videos about entrepreneurs, enjoy bad jokes, or want to follow the not-so-epic tale of how I’ve gone from a Williams-Sonoma chef to paying my bills via makin’ pictures look pretty.

Bienvenue! It isn’t much, but you’re welcome to stick around.

Life Is Fridayful.

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 13:51:40 -0800

I had never seen Life is Beautiful and my good friend Vanessa sat me down in front of it last weekend and I finally watched the whole damn thing without checking my iPhone, texts, emails, or thinking about whatever new part of my fancy pants News Year’s routine I had forgotten to do.

It was awesome.

If you haven’t see this amazing movie by Roberto Benigni’s, please do yourself a favor and go watch it with some good people. It’s not a miracle diet or booty-kicking workout, but there are a lot of ways to take care of yourself and a good story can do a bang-up job of it.

I can’t believe I haven’t shared this yet! Two years...

Thu, 10 Jan 2013 12:34:38 -0800

I can’t believe I haven’t shared this yet!

Two years ago I was visiting Oklahoma for the holidays and had just bought my first SLR, a Canon Rebel T2i. I shot this photo essay, which ultimately would shape how I shoot all my video essays: as a little pun cracking gremlin that’s a part of the scenery for a day and gets an authentic, irreverent view. Damn, I want that on my epitaph.

Anyway, two years later I’m incredibly proud of this video. And it makes me feel really awesome to see it on the home page of the University of Oklahoma Health Science Center graduate college website.

Viva la Nerds!

2012 Video Scholarship Recipient!

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 11:28:25 -0800

It is with great joy that I am announcing the 2012 Video Scholarship Recipient: Dev Love Press!

Dev Love is a new publishing company dedicated to telling stories spotlighting unusual heroes, often with a physical disability. Here are a few words from Dev Love:

“I publish books that are unusual love stories. To get a romance published traditionally, there are ideas about what the hero has to be like, what the heroine has to be like. And those books never interested me as a reader. I wanted more complex love stories with people trying to overcome some real problems.

And so I began to write and seek out books where the hero had a physical disability that he had to deal with. I liked to see how that changed the way the hero and heroine in a romance responded to each other. ”

Carolyn Moir is behind Dev Love, and I chose her submission based on her outreach to new authors, her desire to manifest the change she wants to see in the publishing industry, and her efforts for charitable donation towards Life Rolls On.

It was a very difficult decision, and I’m so thankful for everyone who took the time to submit. I really enjoyed reading everyone’s stories so far.

Carolyn and I will be collaborating this spring and I can’t wait to post the video. Thanks again to everyone who participated in the 2012 scholarship nominations, and the 2013 application will open up in June, so get your business plans ready!

An Exercise in Body Image

Thu, 27 Dec 2012 11:30:00 -0800

Here is my new year’s ~~resolution~~ manifesto:

Suffering is not a benchmark of hard work. Misery is not an indicator of importance. Anxiety does not bequeath great discovery. The grass might be greener on either side, but grass is growing everywhere. You do not have to search arduously to find grass.

Long hours do not guarantee long lasting results. There is no finite amount of success in the world; your neighbor’s triumph does not detract from your own. Joy you find in work does not overshadow years of training or strained efforts mastering a craft.

Bemoaning your tools, your body, your brain does nothing but paint a picture to your disadvantage before you even begin. Let in the possibility you already have everything you need to make what you want. The best thing about body image is that you’ve got to make it up in your head - and a fancier insert tool here is not going to convince the world you are legit. Just try something that makes you laugh, feel good, whatever… and I guarantee as long as the voice in your head and your heart approves, the rest of the world could eventually follow.

Happy New Year!

Milk n’ Cookies,

Rory

Printcopia Canvas Print Winner!

Sat, 22 Dec 2012 09:47:23 -0800

Thanks to Random.org, the winner is:

Chloe Peeples!

Congrats Chloe, and thanks everybody for entering! Hope you and Printcopia make something awesome.

For now, after one more color session today, happy hiatus too everyone! Hope you’re celebrating an excellent year.

And back to unpacking. Sigh.

Printcopia Canvas Print Review + Giveaway

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 11:44:00 -0800

When Allison from Printcopia emailed me a few weeks ago to ask if I’d be interested in reviewing one of their canvas prints, I said of course! I suffer from that very common shoemaker’s children situation: professional photographer with very few photos on display in my own home. And I just moved - so my walls are blank. So many options!

So, I agonized. What do I get printed? Where do I hang it? How easily could I construct a whole gallery in my office And then my good friend Kaitlyn the art director sits me down and goes, “You don’t have any photos of you and James, you know, GETTING MARRIED.” So that was that: wedding photo it is!

Here’s the original photo:

And here’s the result:

I went with the gallery wrap and putting us on the far side of the frame. I like the way the composition changes as you walk around it.

I think this kind of print does really well with photos including texture - sand for example. I love the way the texture of the canvas changes the texture of the photo. Plus, these prints are made domestically, which always gets my goat in a good way.

I’m thinking about getting some Instagram prints done too, considering you can upload straight from social media websites. It’s just such a shame to have those everyday snaps wasting away in Cyberland. Or maybe making Instagram magnets for New Year’s cards.

So now the good stuff! Printcopia is letting me give away another 8”x10” canvas to a reader here! Leave me a comment with your name and email and you too can agonize over your perfect photo and hanging method. You have until next Friday - December 21st to enter. Go forth and get photos!

Hold Please.

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 12:09:34 -0800

Hello there! It’s been a hot minute huh? This is a self portrait, in our old apartment right before we moved and right before I literally worked days and nights back to back for four days.

This week I wrapped my first show as a dailies colorist (go on, spell it with a U if you’d like to make me feel extra fancy…) and we spent our first night in the new apartment. We have a patio, y’all! And crickets, but that’s our upstairs neighbor’s pet food.

I’ve hustling my ass along and in the process I sure let this blog go a little bit didn’t I?

You know those “On Storytelling” videos featuring Ira Glass? There’s a great quote from him in one that’s something along the lines of: there are two building blocks of stories - anecdotes, and the moment of reflection. He then goes on to say some other smart stuff but I get caught on that simple concept that as storytellers we have anecdotes we need to gather and the reflecting, the smart junk, does not happen in cahoots with the action. In fact, the anecdote has momentum that might be lost if interrupted by constant moments of reflection.

So that’s where I am currently: anecdotin’ on my merry way.

But! I have all sorts of color science posts in store here, as well as a giveaway on the blog tomorrow (yay Printcopia! you guys rock!) and a new project in which I’m going to document James and my process of turning a little corner of a fourplex into a home full of awesome. So stay tuned, right after this anecdotal break. I’ve got some good stuff.

Inland Empire Derby Divas

Tue, 04 Dec 2012 16:16:35 -0800

I sure love shooting roller derby. This time I drove out to Commerce and shot the Halloween themed monster smash for the Inland Empire league, which is flat track. It was fun to shoot both bank track and flat track Ina relatively short timespan. Amazing what a different game it is just based on the kind of track involved. Anyway, where else can I get on my knees, shoot up a skirt, stay in the middle of a throng of wheels, and not get socked?

Thanks to Bambi Beatdown and Jewsin for a Bruisin for having me out! I want a derby name so bad…

Downtown Los Angeles, helpin’ me get back on the blogging...

Sat, 24 Nov 2012 10:14:54 -0800

Downtown Los Angeles, helpin’ me get back on the blogging horse. Hi there, blogging horse!