Eric Mortinson - Video Producer

Jenny and Tyler - "Skyline Hill"

2012-02-10T15:14:00.000-08:00

Jenny and Tyler came to campus this week and we had the opportunity to shoot a live recording of them in our studio. Special thanks to Tim Johnson, Cameron Smith, and Vanessa Mortinson for helping me out on this shoot.

Bruin Gold

2012-01-31T12:04:00.000-08:00

Here's a quick trailer I made to pump people up for George Fox Athletics! For the motion graphic titles, I combined some effects learned from a few tutorials by Andrew Kramer at Videocopilot.net. That site has some great resources for aspiring After Effects artists.

Katie Carlene - Promise Me

2011-11-16T18:17:00.000-08:00

This girl can write! She wrote this song the night before we recorded this video. Crazy good.

Beyond the Games

2011-10-05T12:02:00.000-07:00

This one was a lot of fun to make! I got to interview several former student athletes with great stories to tell. When I met Brad Smith for the first time, he told me that we had something in common. When I was in school, I was roommates with a guy named Tyler Dexter. When Tyler's dad went to GFU, he was roommates with Brad Smith! Small world.

A Film in 48 Hours

2011-08-29T12:09:00.001-07:00

In early August I joined a crew of 10 GFU film alumni and current students to conquer a unique challenge: write, shoot and edit a short film in under 48 hours. As part of the Portland 48 Hour Film Project our crew was assigned a genre, prop, character, and specific line of dialogue that must be included in the final film. For us, these elements were:

Genre: Dark Comedy
Character: Mac or Meg McGill, Explorer
Prop: a wig
Line of Dialogue: "Looks like you’re in over your head."

After drawing our genre out of a hat in downtown Portland on Friday evening, our crew of writers spent the rest of the night hashing out the script. In the morning props were located, costumes were procured, and dumpsters were arranged. Set dressing and makeup took up most of the morning, but we were finally able to start shooting at around noon. Our lead actor, GFU Adjunct Professor of Theatre Andy Copeland, did an amazing job and the shoot was a breeze. Since we were all former or current George Fox CMCO majors, it was almost like a family reunion being able to work together on a project again. The shoot lasted til about 6pm. The footage was offloaded and the sound was synced. Then around 10pm our editors got to work! By 7am, the film was in picture lock and work on sound and color correction could begin. We worked very efficiently and had the film ready to submit on a DVD around 1pm, a full six hours early! We held a private screening for the cast and crew that evening on campus. We all felt really good about the final product and about the filmmaking experience as a whole.

Next was a waiting game while the films were being judged for the awards. There were 53 accepted films and they were divided up and screened in four groups within a week of the film submission deadline. Each group had an audience choice award. For our screening group, the audience chose us! Finally the list of submitted films was widdled down to the best 14 for the awards night screening. We were elated when we were notified that we made the cut! So on August 22nd the cast and crew headed to the Hollywood Theater in Portland for the "Best Of" screening. There were some REALLY entertaining films from some of the greatest filmmakers in Portland. Finally, the awards were announced. Andy Copeland won "Best Actor", our film won "Best Writing", and then in a very suspenseful moment they announced our film as the "Best Film" of the entire festival! We couldn't believe it. We were able to mingle with the other filmmakers immediately after the screening and made some valuable connections. Then the crew met up for burgers and tots as we (excuse the pun) digested the realization that we had just made the best 48 hour film in the city of Portland. Wow.

Portland 48 Hour Film Festival 2011 - Images by George Fox University

Campaign Kickoff Animation

2011-08-19T12:00:00.000-07:00

I got to have a little fun in After Effects with this one.

Just Lions Live - End of Time

2011-06-16T12:34:00.000-07:00

I did a live shoot/recording with my buddies in Just Lions. My lovely fiancee helped with camera and art direction, while one of my former students, Samuel, stepped up to run my D90. We shot a few more songs but I haven't gotten around to editing them yet.

Campus Video Tour

2011-05-26T18:20:00.000-07:00

Well it's been a long time in the making (probably about a year and a half since the first script!), but the new George Fox Undergrad site was launched last week and along with it a new Campus Video Tour. Special thanks to the tourguides, Chris and Jenn Savage! They did a great job. Check out the George Fox Campus Video Tour.

Customary - "Such Is Life"

2011-02-01T14:32:00.001-08:00

Since I only get to see Alex every once and a while, we tend to have to shoot a music video every time we meet up. This one we shot in about 40 minutes at Vanessa's apartment. Editing it was fun.

Customary - "I=MC2"

2010-11-02T16:27:00.000-07:00

Woke up one day and realized that Alex would be gone for the next month. I called him and asked him if he wanted to shoot a quick music video. So we did. Shot it in about 2 hours. Edited that night.

Gungor - "Dry Bones"

2010-11-02T16:22:00.000-07:00

Grammy Nominated band Gungor stopped by the studio last week and I got the opportunity to record an acoustic version of this song with them. Check it out!

Another Music Video!

2010-06-15T13:15:00.000-07:00

Wednesday: Alex showed me the beat. Thursday: Alex showed me the finished song. Friday: We shot Katie and Jael's parts. Saturday: We shot Alex's parts and played a hip hop show that night! Busy weekend.

Special thanks to Alex, Katie, Rachel, Jared, Jael, and my lovely fiancee Vanessa (she did the art direction!..amazing job). I'm really looking forward to the new album's release! Probably within the next week or so, it's really close.

The Music Video!

2010-05-11T17:44:00.000-07:00

After You "Don't Look Back" Music Video from Eric Mortinson on Vimeo.

My friend Tim Johnson organized this project with a Portland area band called After You. It was a two day shoot. Day one was the on-stage full band stuff. We shot it in a high school auditorium in Sheridan, OR. One of the band members had an extensive on-stage lighting setup that we were able to take advantage of. I ran the camera with the Letus attached to it..so all the close ups. Nathan ran the crane camera on Tim's brand new 16 foot jib. Day two consisted of shooting all the story vignettes and all of the in-studio shots with the picture frames. The final edit was finished within two days after shooting! We were pretty happy with how it turned out.

Katie Carlene Audition Video

2010-04-07T17:20:00.000-07:00

A few weeks back we shot this live in my basement studio. Though more people liked her version of "Yellow" best, this was my favorite of the bunch! We recorded this live using Pro Tools M-Powered 8, a Sonic Maximizer rack effect, two cameras with Letus Extreme adapters and Nikon lenses! It was quite a setup, but I'm happy with the results. Thanks to Ethan Burke, Corina Warner, and Joel Clarkson for helping me out on the shoot.

Bowls for Haiti Video

2010-03-22T22:40:00.001-07:00

This one I made in 2 days! I wrote the voice-over as well...kinda proud of myself. This should be a fun event next month.

Graveyard - The Movie

2010-02-05T18:06:00.000-08:00

In my spare time I'm shooting an independent feature film with my fellow GFU graduate J. Aaron Dort. Currently we're about 80% done shooting principal photography and are looking at only about one or two more weekend shoots! The trailer above was made after the first two days of shooting. Check back for an updated one, and keep updated on our progress via our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/graveyardmovie

The eBike Store

2009-11-12T17:07:00.000-08:00

My favorite videos are the ones in which I get to help tell someone's story. Wake's story about going to China with GFU's MBA program and getting an idea to start an electric bike shop is an incredible story. In less than a year, before he even finished the program, he successfully opened up the first electric bike store in Portland.
For a full two weeks before the shoot at his shop in Portland, Oregon's weather was a giant downpour. I nervously checked the weather forecasts all week. When Saturday came, it was a beautiful Portland morning...not a cloud in the sky. The shoot was a fun one. Wake was super friendly and supportive throughout the whole thing. It was really great to work with him. One other cool thing was that I was able to use footage from my trip to China a few years back. Watch for it in the video. I just happened to get some really great shots of bikes in China! You never know when you'll need footage down the road, that's why I usually keep everything. Enjoy the video! I think it's one of my favorites so far.

Check out Wake's store: The eBike Store Online.

Katie Carlene - "Come Back"

2009-11-02T16:43:00.000-08:00

So, this is what I do in my spare time! When I'm not recording videos for GFU I play keys in Katie's band. Here's one of her latest songs recorded live in a George Fox University piano practice room. The mic we used for her voice was a Rode NT1-A, and I mixed it in Pro Tools M-Powered 8.

You can by Katie's album "Sound" on iTunes! Click Here.
You can also download this song free here. (Right-Click, Save Link As)

Slip 'n Slide Slo Mo!

2009-10-21T20:21:00.000-07:00

I was just looking at the list and I realized I've created over 12 videos for GFU since the Fall semester has started! I've been busy! Here's one of my favorite videos though. I put the Sony in SloMo mode and shot at 60 frames/sec instead of the usual 24. It provides a really smooth slow motion effect when the video is played back at normal speed. I'm guessing there were a few students missing from class the next day due to slip 'n slide injuries.

Serve Day 2009!

2009-09-11T12:15:00.000-07:00

I've been looking forward to making this video for a while, mostly because it would provide lots of great footage for future videos! I used the Letus 35mm adapter and my trusty Nikon 50mm lens for the whole day. I also used the d90 for most of the indoor stuff. Also, another GFU employee used a Flip HD cam to capture some shots at her work site. We also got some footage from a Canon SD780is camera...with some great results.

Serve Day is always a fun event. The general feeling on campus that day is electric. The after-serve celebration event is always fun. Free food!

The CMCO Video - Film Major at GFU

2009-09-04T14:11:00.000-07:00

This was a great video to finish up the summer with. I have lots of behind-the-scenes footage from the time that I spent as as CMCO student at Fox, so creating this video at this time made sense since there weren't too many students around yet! I had lots of b-roll footage. Most of the b-roll was taken on the set of "1996", which is a feature length student produced film that was shot this past summer. I used my trusty ole DSLR Nikon d90 to capture most of the behind the scenes shots because I could simultaneously take production stills.

Some cool production stills by GFU film major Mason Morris:

Learn more about the Film Major at George Fox University.

The Boise Ad

2009-08-20T10:30:00.001-07:00

This was my first TV commercial. It aired on cable in Idaho this summer. I got to do some fancy After Effects animation. I also got to direct my first voice-over session over the phone! Overall, I think it is 30 seconds of goodness.

George Fox University - Student Experiences

2009-07-29T13:39:00.000-07:00

The goal of this video was to be able to give people not familiar with George Fox a brief overview of the school. I wanted to show lots of great campus shots and also share some neat student experiences.

This video was the first chance to use some new camera gear...most notably the Letus Extreme lens adapter. It allowed me to attach some of my old Nikon SLR lenses to the front of the Sony. This allowed me to get very shallow depth of field for my interview shots. (The background is very blurry.) I used a Nikon 50mm f1.8 lens for the interviews, and for the wide-angle campus shots I used a Nikon 18-35mm f3.5 lens.

The EX1 with the Letus Extreme adapter and Nikon lens.

To make the wide-angle shots even cooler, I used an Indislider Pro. This little gadget is basically a portable mini-dolly that you can put on top of a tripod. It's about 3.5 feet long, but it can create some cool effects.

The Noble Hill Anagama

2009-06-23T16:06:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd start my blog off with one of my favorite GFU videos so far. In early February I found out that Mark Terry was planning a kiln firing with his ceramics classes. Clay, Fire, Flames, Pottery! What could be a more visually interesting story to capture!?

Mark emailed me some directions and I soon found myself, camera on board, driving out to the outskirts of Forest Grove, OR. I finally found the place. It was a tree farm on a hill. A truly beautiful location. I found Mark and one of his former students, Scott, loading the kiln. I took out the camera and grabbed some loading shots. They were dealing with the challenge of fitting a table-full of pottery into a kiln with limited space. It was like a giant jigsaw puzzle. In the end, most of Mark and his students' work made it into the kiln.

I knew I wanted to document the entire process, so it was going to take at least 4 trips out to the kiln. The first was the loading, the second was an evening in which the students would be stoking the fire (and roasting some marshmallows), the third trip would be the daytime interview with Mark, and the fourth was the grand unloading. I unfortunately couldn't make it to the grand unloading because I was at a film festival in Los Angeles. However, my trusty work-study student, Natalie, got some great shots for me in my absence.

I was really pleased with how the night-time footage turned out with the Sony EX1. I love this camera. One cool feature of the EX1 is its in-camera slow motion. I first got to use this with the pottery video. I setup a dolly and a light in the pottery studio and had Sara work with some clay. Natalie pushed me on the dolly fairly quickly as I shot 60 frames a second. I was then able to play those back at the standard 24 frames per second and it gave the effect of super-smooth slow motion. This provided some really awesome and dynamic b-roll footage for Mark's interview.

Overall, I think its a great video because it emphasized George Fox's unique community. As a graduate of George Fox, the family-like community that comes with the smaller class sizes was one of my favorite things about George Fox. Oh, and on a side note, Mark Terry was named the 2010 Art Educator of the year! Read about it on the George Fox University Homepage.