It was a very fun project to work on; I did the editing, visual effects, titles and color grading. Accomplished director/producer Jason James (IMDb) was/is amazing to work with: excited, driven, fun, positive. Who could ask for anything more? Well, how about a good cast? Yep, we got that too. John Stewart plays a lovable man-child, and Ali Liebert (IMDb) plays his cute and snarky girlfriend. Both are great comedic actors, and on-screen their chemistry was... well their chemistry wasn't the point (in the romantic sense).

The film was shot on the RED One at 4K by Steven Deneault. We offlined at 2k, then just for the experience of finishing at 4K, we finished it at 4K using the RED Raw files in Apple Color. Thanks to the handy ClipFinder application, the XML conforms were smooth sailing. Also note the wonderful 2.35 aspect ratio. I love you, 2.35:1.

As you'll see there are also some 'old movie' effects in the film, for which I used a vast combination of plugins and effects. The VHS effects in the end titles were actually taken from VHS tapes, not replicated in post, which gives it a more authentic look. Using a Blackmagic capture card, I digitized "the blacks" from some very worn out video tapes (Sister Act to be precise). Starting, stopping and pausing the deck during capture created some extra jitters and strobes, which I then edited together in a way that made them look seemless. Then I finally superimposed some fancy AC/DC-esque text graphics over top, and voila! Er, I mean rock on. And like Helix themselves, I'm sure our baby (short film) is destined for greatness.

The Rock Shirt, from Eliot Piltz on Vimeo.

A short film about a guy and a shirt.

The video itself, just released March 18, was a 3-camera 5D MkII shoot, utilizing the camera's shallow depth of field and brilliant colors. A quick tip for those experiencing 'green noise' problems with the 5D MkII, it only took a minor crushing of the blacks inside Apple Color to eliminate them. What you have left is the rich contrast and unique picture quality that we have come to appreciate from the new DSLR movement.

If you're in the Toronto area, you can catch a live show with all the 2011 Juno world music nominees– Pacifika, Jayme Stone, Roberto Lopez, and Mighty Popo– performing Friday, March 25 at 8pm, at Toronto's fabulous Lula Lounge.

Chocolate is Pacifika's third video from their Juno nominated album Supermagique; video directed by Samantha Jo Simmonds, edited & color graded by Eliot Piltz. Post-production services provided by the exquisite Hand Cut Films studios.

"Chocolate" by Pacifika - MUSIC VIDEO from Eliot Piltz on Vimeo.

Also on YouTube here.

As any montage reel, it can only go so far to show my storytelling abilities, so I encourage anyone interested, to contact me for a DVD version which has entire scenes and more examples of work.

Special thanks to David Weicht of Switchstance Recordings (Germany) for providing the music.