Little Bo-Peep lost their sheep… and the sheep from space took over. Here’s what happens when a bad dream meets animal farm with guns, George Orwell style.

Band – Bo-Peep
Song Title – Power
Album – Vibe
Labels – Flightpath Records & Tours and 3rd Stone from the Sun Corp.. Available worldwide in every major music store, also online at Japan Files and iTunes.

Credits:
Producer – Ethan Green
Co-Producer, Director, Art Director, and Editor – Aaron Jenkin
Camera Operators – Edward Caughlin, Ethan Green, Aaron Jenkin, and Pierre Maugendre

Notes:
This was my third video on the Canon 5D Mark 2; I love this camera. My first attempt at stock motion was a 30 second Kraft Singles Cheese commercial. We shot the Kraft commercial in one day and edited it in three days. It was a piece of cake, or should I say cheese? I made the assumption that any stop motion was easy. Enter, Bo-Peep and “Power.”

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Bo-Peep is a punk rock girls band from Tokyo, Japan. Mika is the lead singer and guitarist, Ryoko is on drums, and Take is destroying the bass. They write their own music and perform live shows on a regular basis. If you see them, you will be instantly PUMPED. Recently they had an awesome writeup in a very popular Tokyo Magazine for English Speakers, titled Metropolis. They also went on tour in the US to promote their 3rd album, “VIBE” which will hit stores worldwide on May 29th. Alternatively, you can download the album at Japan Files and on iTunes.

The Experience:
The concept for this video was originally VERY simple. Of course as my brain ran wild, it went from a one month project to an obsessive five month perfection attempted, but very successful disasterpiece. Working with the band was nothing short of great, and in the end the video turned out just as we had hoped, but the hours put in to make the final result became uncountable and there were days when I thought I was going to go insane over not being able to get something technical to work. This video pushed the limits for me and everyone who helped. Four cameras shooting a live performance (We shot on 4 different cameras, including one with a fish-eye lens, to give the video a mixed look); 130GB’s of miniature footage; sometimes 20 takes to get a shot perfect; countless other hurdles. I now am a firm believer that shooting miniatures, even with the right equipment is one of the hardest things in the world. A speck of dust or a hair that you miss with the naked eye turns up so easily when you view it full screen. We got to the point where we had to check every take on a laptop monitor, to give it a pass or fail. Even our High Rez shooting monitor was not picking up all of the necessary details. Editing was not any easier than shooting. Since we were doing both simultaneously we had to learn new techniques AND invent new techniques to pull off all of the gags and ideas we had. Coming out of this, I feel like we can call this experience the miniature version of filming Apocalypse Now. At least we were in a studio for most of the shoot!

If you are interested in working with me on a music video and have an idea using miniatures or stop motion, let’s collaborate. As much as I hate the pain staking process, I love the outcome.

Special thanks to Bo-Peep for making such a rocking song and freedom to create a visual to match, Flightpath Records & Tours and 3rd Stone from the Sun Corp. for giving me the opportunity to work with the girls, Dean De La Cruz and Joe McDaniel for technical assistance, and Michelle Vines for letting us set our stage on fire in her studio space.

Life is hard enough when you’re alive. Try the dating game when your mind is rotting and you smell like a corpse.

Writer, Producer – Scott Maio
Writer, Producer, Director, Photographer, Editor – Aaron Jenkin

Cast:
Zombie – Mike Kniewel
Zombie Voice Over -Scott Maio

Crew:
Production Assistant – Scott Maio

Notes:
This was put together as a viral video to promote my friend Scott’s new company, brainlesstees.com. BT is a fresh website selling funny t-shirts that are all original.

What has Billy Ray been up to since his ol’ achy breaky heart blew up? Maybe his daughter Miley knows.

Producer – Scott Maio
Writer, Producer, Director, Photographer, Editor – Aaron Jenkin

Cast:
Billy Ray – Scott Maio

Crew:
Production Assistant – Mike Kniewel

Notes:
This was put together as a viral video to promote my friend Scott’s new company, brainlesstees.com. BT is a fresh website selling funny t-shirts that are all original.

The Watanabes are looking for a female friend for an upcoming music video. The chance of finding a girl, about 20 percent.

Band – The Watanabes
Song Title – 20 Percent Chance
Album – Independent Social Power
Label – BabyBoom Records, Available at Tower Records, HMV, CD Baby and Apple iTunes

Credits:
Producer, Director and Editor – Aaron Jenkin
Written by The Watanabes and Aaron Jenkin

Cast:
Duncan Walsh – Himself
Selwyn Walsh – Himself
Ashley Davies – Himself
Flavio J. – Himself
Stefan Samuelsson – Himself

Notes:
I spent the last couple of months editing a music video I directed back in March. Here’s the link to the video on YouTube if you’d like to rate it. I’ve also included the real story behind the video. This was my first video on my new Canon 5D Mark 2; what do you think?

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The Watanabes are a European Band, living in Tokyo Japan, writing music and performing live shows. They just released their album “Independent Social Power” available at Tower Records and HMV stores. You can also download their music over at iTunes.

I hope you enjoy the music and consider buying the album because these guys deserve it. Not only do they pour their hearts into their music, but they’re great guys to be around too. I had so much fun making this video, and I’m not just saying that. If I didn’t mean it, I wouldn’t say anything at all! It was good working with people that cared.

The Experience:
The story in the video is pretty much what happened in real life. Originally our video was about a girl who’s lost something special to her and the band finds it and eventually returns it. We were to shoot it over the course of two days. We had locations picked out, storyboards, all of the band on board, and a nice girl lined up to play the lead. I even bought a new camera, the Canon 5D the night before the shoot to really get everyone excited.

Talent Problems:
On the first day of shooting, our star canceled on us. She was very apologetic and promised up and down she would be there for day two. We quickly adjusted our shooting schedule, and shot everything that DIDN’T involve her. With high hopes we gathered for our second day of shooting and our girl canceled on us once again. At this point we were dead in the water with no well thought out backup plan; not a good position to be in. The band and I sat down at a restaurant and completely rewrote the script. We decided to make a video about NOT having a girl for a video. It seemed more fun, and felt right for the bands personality since it is in fact difficult for “gaijins” (foreigners) to succeed in a serious relationship in Japan.

Technical Problems:
To top off the difficulties, after the first day of shooting I realized that my new camera had a flaw. Something was wrong, and the footage was coming out with a reflective looking reverse image on the right side, covering about a 5th of the total image. When you watch the video, it’s not hard to miss, but it’s most noticeable on the fourth shot. For most shots, I was able to crop it out, but for this shot, we left it there as a bit of a personal reminder of what happened, and because it kind of looks cool, plus Ash the bassist was playing his heart out and the band insisted the shot stay. On day two of shooting, I figured out a way to minimize the effect, but it severely limited what I was able to do with the camera and meant I had to shoot everything on a fixed 24mm lens because for whatever reason the problem was least noticeable at this range. During post production, I cropped out the reflection out of most shots so much of the footage was salvageable. I posted still images of my problem on several Canon forums but no one had ever seen anything like it. I sent the camera to Canon, and they quickly realized the problem. Somewhere on the assembly line, someone forgot to remove the protective clear plastic piece covering the chip sensor. I imagine this plastic is supposed to be pulled off before the camera is sealed up, but it wasn’t. Before sending it to Canon, me and my Director of Photography friend Brian Levin tested the camera, inspected it, and couldn’t figure it out for the life of us! This plastic thing must have been nearly invisible. I’m just happy the camera works now!

Despite all of the problems, we put together a video that everyone involved is happy with. The band is happy, we’re planning on making another video this fall, and that’s all I can ask out of the whole experience!

Sometimes love can be your own worse enemy. It can be the thing that makes a relationship or breaks it.

Band – Track a Tiger
Song Title – Love Finds a Way to Torture Me
Album – I Felt the Bullet Hit My Head
Label – Deep Elm Records and Future Appletree Records
Available at CD Baby, Apple iTunes, and EMusic

Credits:
Directed by Brian Levin and Mike Tovar
Produced by Brian Levin, Mike Tovar, Aaron Jenkin, Adam Koralik
Production Support – Sean Miller, Naz Khan, Jim Vallet
Editor – Emre Cihangir

Cast:
Brian Kavanaugh – Guy
Sue Redman – Girl

Special Thanks to Susan Koralik for the use of her apartment, Mark and Helayne Levin for allowing us to immolate props in their backyard and Tim Troy for the use of his lighting equipment

Notes:
Here’s a music video I recently helped produce in Chicago. It was a quick shoot, but we still found time to have fun! It was great working with Brian Levin. I’m used to working with him as a Director of Photography, so it was great seeing him in action as a Director. Mike, Adam, Sean, Naz, and Jim were great to work with too. It was awesome working with Sue Redman and Brian Kavanugh. This was actually my third time working with Brian K. It seems like we keep crossing paths. Hopefully I can work with him as director one day. He really keeps an upbeat tempo on set. I hope you enjoy the video

A fun filled group of barnyard animals make a grilled cheese sandwich on a farm in the clouds. Will they pull it off in this larger than life environment?

Credits:
Director Writer, Producer, Editor – Aaron Jenkin
Photographer, Editor – Brian Levin
Production Assistant – Sean Miller

Created for the Kraft Singles “Have a Happy Sandwich” contest. This stop motion advertisement was shot on a Canon 30D digital SLR.

Young Josh falls head over heels for an older girl. Sometimes people will do dumb things for a shot in the dark.

Producer, Writer, Director, Editor – Aaron Jenkin
Producer, Director of Photography, Editor – Brian Levin

Cast:
Josh – Joshua Brail
Rachel – Jill Sandmire
Cat – JoJo

Crew:
Camera Operator – Alex Falk
Lighting provided by Tim Troy
Production Sound – Sean Miller
Music provided by Mark Burnett Productions

Special thanks to Dawn Michell, Helayne Levin, U Lucky Dawg owned by Randee and Larry Estes, Fletcher of Chicago, and Northwestern University.

Notes:
This film was created for the producers of the “On the Lot” television show as my second round entry piece. They gave me a vague topic and I had to write, shoot, and edit this film in just one weeks time. I really appreciate all of the work and support I received from my peers, friends, and family on this project. They really made it come together. The “On the Lot” producers told me Steven Spielberg and Mark Burnett were going to watch this round of films to pick the shows final contestants. Whether this really happened or not is debatable, but I’d rather assume it DID happen then know the truth!

Dr. Thomas Sproul tries to rid the world of his greatest creation. His colleagues try to stop him, while his autistic son slows him down.

This was the first film I directed outside of college. I entered it into several film festivals. It played at the deadCENTER Film Festival in Oklahoma City and The Norman Transcript did a nice review of the film which was cool to read. This film was also my initial entry into the “On the Lot” reality television show contest, produced by Steven Spielberg and Mark Burnett. It was picked as one of the best 100 films out of over 12,000 entries and it landed me a camera interview and opportunity to make a second film for the producers of the show. Ultimately I did not get picked to star on the show, but it was fun none the less. Lastly, this film got me my first directors credit on the IMDB. Hopefully I can keep adding to the list!

Writer – Joseph Cahill
Director, Editor – Aaron Jenkin
Producer – Elyse Robison
Producer, Director of Photography, Editor – Brian Levin
Costume – Kara Gingras
Score – Fredrik Blom

Cast:
Dr. Thomas Sproul – Dan Flannery
William Sproul – Joshua Brail
Dr. Steven Alton – Steve
Yuri – Nico Tricoci
Melanie Meyers (VO) – Jill Sandmire

Crew:
1st Assistant Camera – Alex Falk
Dolly Grip – Tim Troy
Grips – Cliffton Radford, Eon Mora
Sound Mixer – Trey Johnson
Boom Operator – Tyler Lang
Production Assistant – Brett Blake

Special thanks to Sean Grice, Dean De La Cruz, Kent Swindle and Funks Grove, IL, Sgt. John Sandage with the McClean County Sheriffs Office, OSF St. Joseph Medical Center, Cec and Sheri Jenkin, Dawn Michell, Essanay Studio and Lighting Co., Chicago, IL, Jimmy Johns, Qdoba