Family Gallery
      ... Home Movie Vignettes

Below are home videos that I shot over the last few years. No one likes to sit through these things, so I've decided to edit them into little short music videos. No movie is over 3 minutes long, and most are just around 2 minutes. I've edited them in a style that is hopefully both entertaining and reflective.
Jerry & Jerry 5.3mb	This is a very quick clip excerpted from an old 8mm filmstrip my father had. It is of Jerry Settanni and his son, Jerry in the early 60's. (Created June 2006)
Carl Feith 42mb	This is a collection of clips excerpted from a bunch of 8mm filmstrips my father had. They are all of my Uncle Carl. (Created June 2006)
Morning Clouds 9mb	My daughter pointed the the clouds one morning and noticed they were moving very fast and low. This is a quick 90-second video of those clouds. (November 2005)
Family Room Makeover 14mb	We painted our family room and added hardwood flooring to match our kitchen. This is a short 2-minute video of the process and finished result. (October 2005)
Gombert Carnival 2005 Preview Quality (14mb) High Quality (39mb)	Enjoy a musical recap of my daughter's elementary school's PTA carnival. In this video I used new layering techniques with pan and zoom underneath chroma-keying. It required several renders for each layered scene and this video is the first attempt with this technique. These techniques are used in the "clown scene" and the "merry-go-round" scenes. (March 2005)
Powder Room Makeover (5.3mb)	I re-made our powder room, and this video takes you through the finished results.(March 2005)
Nicole's 3rd Bday Preview Quality (11mb) High Quality (101mb)	Nicole's 3rd birthday was an indoor "gymnastics" party. I had lots of repetitious footage to capture the essence of the fun and games that were enjoyed by all. This is the last video I recorded with my old analog camcorder, and despite the low-light source, I was able to color-correct some of the footage to make this video more uniform. The upbeat music track really livens this video up.(July 2004)
Cassie's Party 18mb	Cassie's 7th Birthday party at home with her friends. She had a "Lizzy McGuire" theme, and I incorporated that theme in the video with Lizzy background music. (October 2004)
The Beach 27mb	This is the 1st video I ever edited. I looked like a total geek videotaping my kids at the beach, but the resulting video was worth it. The Beach Boys music is a perfect accompaniment. (July 2001)
The Boardwalk 30mb	I shot this at the Point Pleasant Boardwalk, mostly of the kids riding the kiddie-rides. What makes this video nice is the tie in to the words of the music, "Joy Ride". I used some more advanced editing effects here too. (April 2002)
Jeep Cruising 30mb	Our daughter, Cassie, received a Motorized Barbie Jeep for Christmas one year from her grandparents, and this is a video of her "cruising" in it with her sister, Melanie. The tailspins and skids were staged, but fun to watch. I also had an idea to do edit this video in a "Vintage comedy" style as well. You can see the Vintage Style Clip (4.7mb) here. (2002)
Snow Surfin' 37mb	This was our last snow day of the year, so we blew up some tubes and pushed the kids down the hill on the side of our house. The ogiginal video became boring after the hundredth push down the hill, so I edited the video in a "Grunge" style, and changed effects often to keep it interesting. I spent about a week on the typefaces that "vibrate" and animate in the video. This was definitely one of my most complex projects, even though the "grunge" style doesn't suit many. (March 2002)
Our Wedding 26mb	This is our Wedding Video, re-edited as a short compilation to our wedding song, "A Whole New World". The original video was dark and grainy, but I was able to correct some of it in this compilation with the editing tools I had. (1994)
Wisconsin Dells 29mb	This is a short vacation video of our first Wisconsin Dells trip. They have some of the biggest waterparks in the midwest, along with great canyons and beautiful scenery. (May 2002)
Nicole's 1st Birthday 43mb	I shot this video of my niece's first birthday party. Fast cuts and transitions keep this video rocking, and a reflective monochromatic finish makes this one of my favorite videos. (June 2002)
Everywhere 64.9mb	My niece and her friend wanted to do a "Music Video" to the song, "Everywhere" by Michelle Branch. This is definitely your amateur production here, but it was fun to shoot and edit. Particularly fun to watch are the outakes I've included at the end of the video. (July 2002)
You've Got a Friend in Me 49mb	My nieces and nephew wanted to do a music video of their own, so here it is in all of it's cuteness. I've edited it in a vintage style at first, with the original version of the song, and after about half a minute, I dissolve into an updated version of the song (sung by the "Broadway Kids") and colorized the video. It's hard working with kids this young on this kind of a project, as shown on the funny outakes at the end of this video. (July 2002)
Cigar Humidor 38mb	In a period of no less than one year, I've built a walk-in humidor in my basement with the help of my neighbors. This video shows off my cigar room as it was a few days after it was finished. I rushed this video job so I can show it to my family and friends in New Jersey, but soon I will shoot a better video that is narrated and more polished. (2003)
The Snowman 20mb	We had one of those blow-up snowmen in our front yard, and one windy day, it looked as if the snowman was dancing. For some reason, at that moment, a song was running through my head, "Shake, Rattle and Roll". To me, it was a perfect fit, and it looked as if the snowman was dancing to that song. So I whipped out my video camera and started shooting. Check it out. (December 2003)
Family Archive Slideshow (Windows WMV File) 5.6mb	My parents sent me a bunch of old photographs of themselves as kids, as well as my grandparents. I compiled this into a slide show, complete with animated pans and zooms (otherwise known as the Ken Burns effect), and put to reflective music. Most of the work went into retouching the photographs (fixing scratches, restoration, etc.)