Since I took my first video class in 2005, I've shot and edited everything from horse shows to television movies. Usually, I play many roles in one production. Most of my videos are done with a one-man crew: me. I love the creativity required for composing just the right shot, envisioning how the end product should look and tweaking each piece until the edits fall into place. It really is not unlike a kind of magic.

I've also been a part of radio broadcasts through graduate-level classes at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State. I've done radio wraps, written stories for air and acted as technical director for several broadcasts.

Documentary-style videos are my favorite to shoot, especially if there's a bit of adventure involved, like the Rae Lakes Loop "packumentary." I'd love to shoot for a show like Anthony Bourdain's "No Reservations" or Bear Grylls' "Man vs. Wild." But in the end, I am a storyteller at heart. Whatever the subject, wherever the place, I will do my best to find the story and do it justice.

Currently, I am experimenting with compression and exporting video. To my distaste, most of the videos hosted here on my site have a rather You-Tubish feel to them. Balancing file size and quality is not an easy task. It's one I'm continually learning about. If you have any words of wisdom you'd like to impart, feel free to email me. And if you are interested seeing in a higher-quality version of anything you see here, I can provide a DVD.

The Gardener's Minute

These are short, podcast-type videos produced for Mountain Valley Growers, Inc. Each one showcases a different plant or gardening technique. Due to experimentation with the method of export, not all of the videos are exactly the same size. I hope to rectify this at some future point by exporting new versions of older videos.

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Rae Lakes "Packumentary"

My father and I do a lot of backpacking. In August 2008, we hiked the Rae Lakes Loop in the Sierra Nevadas. I documented the four-day trip with my handheld Canon Optura 400, a telephoto lens, a couple of tapes and an extended-life battery.

This is my first backcountry video experiment. I'm pleased with how it came out, though I think there is too much voice-over, the compression kills some of the photos and transitions, and some of the shots and audio are not the quality I would like. But this is the kind of thing I want to do more of. Here's the cut of it I made for The Collegian Online.

The Collegian Online

During my time as multimedia editor for Fresno State's student newspaper, I've supervised production of, shot and edited videos on a wide variety of subjects. These are a few of my favorites. The Cooking 101 videos are some of the ones I enjoyed most. The only videos shot with a crew, these monthly episodes always provided a challenge. I supervised production of these, finding the best positioning for lights, checking framing, directing, operating one of the two cameras and editing the final product.

Links will open The Collegian Online in a new window.

(May 13, 2009) Cooking 101: Build-Your-Own BBQ: Toni Martinez says farewell in this last episode of Cooking 101.
(March 16, 2009) Cooking 101: Tasty treasures: Toni Martinez creates St. Paddy's Day party treats.
(March 13, 2009) Education about religion topic of panel: Veritas Forum, a nation-wide program encouraging thought about religion, tackled whether religious topics should be taught in public schools.
(Feb. 13, 2009) Cooking 101: Cooking from the heart: Romantic recipes for Valentine's.
(Jan. 23, 2009) Take a tour of the Madden Library: After literally years of delays, renovations at the Henry Madden Library were finally completed.
(Jan. 20, 2009) Fresno family's extreme makeover: Extreme Makeover: Home Edition visited a family in Fresno. I and my multimedia team covered their week in the Valley.
(Dec. 10, 2008) Cooking 101: Seasoned greetings: Students learn some handy holiday recipes. In this episode, we learned that an oven will cause feedback on a wireless lav mic. The abrupt change in sound is due to replacing the mic's audio with audio from the other camera.
(Nov. 19. 2008) Cooking 101: Thanksgiving, take 2: Host Toni Martinez discusses proper use of leftovers.
(Nov. 16, 2008) 15 minutes with alumnus Bill Feightner: As part of the College of Arts and Humanities Distinguished Alumni lecture series, I hosted a half-hour interview with Bill Feightner, senior executive vice president of Hollywood post-production house EFILM. This is the version I edited for length.
(Nov. 13, 2008) KFSR hosts local bands: A two-week project, Joel Ede and I split the videography and editing duties for our campus radio station's pledge drive. Flash by Brandon Ocegueda.
(Nov. 4, 2008) The Collegian presents election night '08: Nine hourly videos keep readers up-to-date on latest national and local poll results. Includes a Collegian-exclusive interview, shot by Joel Ede, with Fresno city mayorial candidate Henry T. Perea. Other election coverage included blogs, proposition analyses and a video of how votes are processed.
(Oct. 28, 2008) Cooking 101: Tasty treats for Halloween: This introduces a monthly cooking show hosted on The Collegian Online.
(Oct. 19, 2008) Economy's effect on students: Reporter Sandra Sedano examines what the struggling economy means for students.
(Oct. 9, 2008) Body composition testing: The student health center offers testing to increase the level of student fitness on campus.
(Oct. 2, 2008) Students learn dining etiquette: The university president hosts a dinner at which students are taught proper business luncheon etiquette. Shot as a practice newscast by two of my crew, I gave this video its final edit.
(Sept. 19, 2008) ASI speaks, students call for action: An alcohol scandal eventually caused the resignation of Fresno State's top two student government leaders. My multimedia journalist, Joel Ede, shot two follow-up videos, which I consulted on. (Sept. 7, 2008) Clearing the air on smoking: Smoking on campus continues to confuse as smoking areas are continually reshuffled.
(May 1, 2008) Choir ends year on a high note: The Fresno State choir hosts a competition upon their return from performing in Beijing.
(April 6, 2008) Wildflowers of the Central Valley: A local naturalist talks about Central California's springtime beauty. Winner of the Mass Communication and Journalism Showcase of Excellence Award of Excellence for video.
(Feb. 5, 2008) America Ferrera rallies for Hillary Clinton: "Ugly Betty" star America Ferrera comes to campus as part of Hillary Clinton's campaign tour.

The Members

In July 2007, I participated in the California State University's Summer Arts program. This program offers intensive two-week studies with acclaimed professionals from many artistic fields. I enrolled in a live television production session taught by Howard Ritter. My classmates and I worked more than 12 hours a day to produce a Zimbabwean political play written by Cont Mhlanga. Mr. Mhlanga brought two of his acting troup with him from Zimbabwe, where he was not allowed to perform "The Members" because it criticized the president of more than 20 years, Robert Mugabe.

Mr. Ritter had gathered three talented and experienced actors for the main roles and begun rehersal with them in Long Beach. Over the two weeks, I assisted in set design and blocking, played an extensive role in developing the shot list and helped set up lighting, all under direction of Hollywood experts.

My main role, however, was operating one of the main cameras. Gary Allen, who has filmed shows like Home Improvement, coached me on difficult shots, such as the telephone call early in the film and the village speech in which I had to trolley backwards and pan left simultaneously.

On the last evening, we went live with the play via the Internet and a local cable channel.

"The Members" is available for viewing on Fresno State's Web site. Running time is approximately one hour.