Hey guys, just wanted to link out to this article from VFX world, written by Master Key’s own Josh Marrazzo, gives some info on our worflow for Knight Rider and is a good read for anyone wondering how we work over at MK.

Click here to go to the article.

Tomorrow will be the start of my second week as a 2D VFX artist for Master Key, working on NBC’s Knight Rider.

So far the hours have been easier than working on a “Jim Project” , but still quite demanding.  It is all worth it however because I have already seen some of my shots on the most recent episode.

The long hours are supplemented by a great group of people who really do some amazing work, and I am already learning a ton and becoming faster at keying and roto.   All in all a great week, can’t wait for the next one.

Hello all, just wanted to update anyone reading on things in the life of Chris Faczek.

I recently started working on “The Bachelor” as a PA.  It has been a lot of fun so far, getting to know a lot of people and to be on a TV set is pretty fun.  Cannot say too much about that though.

Along with Bachelor work I have been freelancing for Bradley, working on a recruitment video for the Slane College which is coming along nicely, I am doing all the editing and graphics work for it so I have had a chance to put to work some of the stuff I learned from the courses I took at FXPHD.I am also still looking for some work in post production, interviewed for a position at Cutters Inc. and while I wasnt chosen it was still worth the experience, so I shall keep at it.

Other than that things a pretty much the same, hope everyone back in Illinois is, or Texas, is doing well.

This has been around for awhile, but I want to just point out because I am so amused by it.  I posted a quick piece about Audiosurf, a great game that lets you play with your own music.   With that post I posted an image from the game, which you can see below. Some time later I noticed I seemed to be using up a lot more bandwidth than normal.   When I looked at where the traffic was going I ended up finding that my image was being leeched from a whole bunch of sites,from review sites to forums.  It turned out since I was the number 1 result from google images people just take mine.  It’s kinda cool actually so right now I do not mind, maybe it would be different if I was using too much bandwidth but for now, who cares.

Well it has been awhile since I last updated this blog, and in that while a lot has happened.

As some of you may know I now live in sunny California.  To be more exact, Sherman Oaks, which is in the northern part of LA, up in the valley.  I came out with my good friend who I have known since grade school, Joe.  We decided to make the trip to find some work, because the time was really now or never, if we were to stay in Chicagoland we would have to get jobs and most likely would not have had the chance to just drop everything and move out here.  So we cam out, with what little money we had saved up, in the hopes of “making it big”.

The trip was interesting, we drove through the rockies, which was amazing, and through Las Vegas, where my car decided it wanted to start breaking.  Luckily we made it to Baker, which if you look on the map is basically the middle of nowhere in the desert.  Luckily, my mother, in an amazing bit of foresight, had gotten everyone in the family AAA memberships, which allowed me free 100 mile towing.  No pre-pay, or re-imbursment, or anything, 100% free.  So the tow truck drive suggested we just take the 100 mile tow into Victorville, a stones throw from LA.

We took him up on that offer, and while I sat in a hotel in Victorville, Joe drove into LA to meet with landlords we had set up appointments with the day before.  My car took a few days to fix, but the guys at the Pep-Boys in Victorville were extremely helpful and helped me get out of there as soon as possible, less 1600 dollars, but not much I could do about that.

And so we landed in Sherman Oaks, where we are renting a 2 bedroom apartment and now looking for work.  Updates as they come.

Roel Wouters, and shot in one take.  He uses the trampoline, acrobats, and actors to make up the transitions and effects in the video. 

Just been working and planning my move as of late.  Trying to get the logistics of all this worked out has been quite interesting, but everything is falling into place.  Except for a broken car that is.

Its official.  Joe and I are going.  End of the month/beginning of next. Who’s commin with?

Since I have had a little bit of free time in the last few months, somewhere between work and the courses I am taking on FXPHD (www.fxphd.com), I have finally started playing games again.

First off is GTA4, which I have not completed because of time.  So far its been great, and many of the issues I had with previous titles, (missions too complicated to be fun, stupid PS2 motion blur, feeling too confined within the world, etc.) have been taken care of, and I actually find myself being immersed in the somewhat disjointed plot.  We will have to see how it continues in the future.

Second, Mount and Blade.  I cannot say enough about this game.  It is an open ended game based around medieval themes.  Think of it as Sid Meyers Pirates! but with horses and castles and stuff.  It is still in beta but every update has been a great improvement to gameplay and I cannot wait to see the first release.  You an find it here  http://www.taleworlds.com/

Third,  Toribash.  This one is a bit weird, because it is a turn based fighting game with rag dolls.  You control their muscles and joints to make them do different moves.  It’s extremely tough to grasp but makes for some really funny moves, and in the end mine always end up flailing against one another.  This has been a big time waster for me because its causal and amusing.  Eventually if you play online you an level up and get new belt colors, like a martial art, and other add ons.  I’m just not good enough for that yet :(       Free download here    http://www.toribash.com/

So as any readers might know I have been out of school for about a month.  Things are going good, doing some freelance work shooting and editing right now.  My sister just got a job teaching in Texas, which is awesome, and some friends have also gotten some great jobs in the city.

I just recently added a piece I did for the Bradley Renaissance Gala, so you all should check that out.  The art page is finally up as well, and I am really happy with that. New reel edit coming sometime in the future so keep checking.