Loosecubes featured this video and interview on their blog a few weeks ago. I talk about motion graphics, coworking and freelancing.

I arrived in New York on September 26th. The first six months here were a whirlwind of work and play, so I put together this compilation that includes bits and pieces of most of the projects I worked on.

This is the first project I’ve edited completely in Final Cut Pro X. A bit frustrating coming from FCP 7, but this was a great way to dive in and learn how to use it while working on a fun, personal project!

A few weeks ago, I attended the 20th UC Berkeley Chinese Martial Arts Tournament. I haven’t missed a single one since 1996 and it was the first wushu tournament I ever competed at. After many years of competing, I transitioned into judging. It’s become one of my favorite events of the year and I see so many old friends all in one place.

This year I was asked to perform in the Master’s Demo. My first time! I remember watching the Master’s Demo at my first tournament back in 1996. One of the performances I remember most was by Liu Yu, who performed Double Hooks. After I saw her perform, I knew that I wanted to be able to train with her one day.  Sure enough, a few years later I did travel to San Luis Obispo to train at her school and in 1999, she was coach for the US Wushu Team. That was the year I was on the team and traveled to Hong Kong to compete at the World Wushu Games. 

It was an honor to perform immediately after her during this year’s Master’s Demo. She performed Double Hooks, the same form as the first time I saw her so many years ago.

:)

Since 2008, students from the University of Oregon Wushu Club (my alma mater) have been recording and posting videos of me eating at wushu tournaments.  It’s a little creepy out of context, but it’s all in good fun.  Some of the videos are private on Facebook, but several are on Youtube. Just search for “Brandon Wushu Eating.”

My friend Susan made me laugh when she said, “This is awesome, you are a meme! ”

I attended a similar workshop from ill.Gates a couple years ago and though I’m not a music producer, the way he broke down his creative process was really eye-opening. I was so impressed by his workshop that I contacted him and offered to produce some motion graphics, which you can see at the beginning of this video.

I especially like his philosophy behind “day” and “night” sessions and his focus on multiple iterations, completing projects from beginning to end, and creating a workflow where your tools work for you and get out of the way of your creative flow.

Here’s a new trailer for a documentary I did some work on for Questus. You can see some of my motion graphics at around 0:30, 1:00 and 1:25. 

The writer/director for the film is my friend Sherng-Lee Huang.  We first met back in 1998 at a wushu competition in Baltimore. In 2002, while I was living in China, he came to visit during his year-long film-making adventure around the world.  You can see part of that project that I posted below. 

When I moved to New York last year, I had no work lined up. It was while driving across the country, somewhere in Utah or Wyoming, that I got a call from Sherng-Lee. He was starting a project that needed some motion graphics and wanted to know if I was available.

After ten days on the road, I arrived in New York on a Monday. On Tuesday, I took the train into Manhattan and began working with Sherng-Lee!

Going back to school for motion graphics was such a huge turning point in my life. When my school, Ex’pression College for Digital Arts, asked me to be a part of a commercial it was a no brainer. Ex’pression College has been extremely supportive of both my education and my career and I was honored to be able to give back. Also, I wanted to share my story and possibly inspire others to pursue their own dreams.  The message I want to send is: You must make the change that you want in your life. If you can’t do it on your own, which many of us can’t, seek out the people and resources you need to make it happen.  Just over five years ago, I had no idea what motion graphics was. I only knew that I needed to change my career path and I needed help doing so.

When I visited New York in April of 2011 for the awe-inspiring F5 Conference, I contacted a few local motion graphics studios. One of them was Hatchback Studios in Williamsburg. Turned out that the owner, Joe, used to live in San Francisco across the street from me!

Once I had decided to seriously pursue the thought of moving to New York, I came out to visit for a month in July. I contacted Joe and ended up working on this project for Hatchback Studios. It’s a promo for a Dead Island-themed “Zombie Survivor Game” integrated into Sony Playstation Home. This was officially my first gig in New York.

I think my favorite challenge is the Zombie Photo Shoot. What’s yours?

In 2002, I quit my job and moved to Beijing to enroll in a sports university and practice wushu (Chinese martial arts) full-time. It was a silly idea that made no practical sense. It was also one of the greatest experiences of my life that created lasting friendships and we kicked a lot of ass.