Shooting Stuff... with arrows.

I like shooting stuff. I've always liked shooting stuff, and I consider myself jolly lucky that some how I've managed to carve out an existence where I get to shoot stuff on a regular basis. I shoot places, I shoot people, sometimes I shoot puppies. Thankfully I shoot them all with my trusty camera.

Like I said, I've always enjoyed shooting stuff, and I'm not sure where it came from originally. My mother I suppose, was the one who first encouraged me. A stick and some string with dowel rod arrows was my first weapon. Mother said that I had ancient Archery roots. Our great, great, great, forefather in Ancient Briton was a Yomen and feathered the French at the Battle of Agincourt. Not sure how actuate that is, but I'll buy it because it fits, and it's romantic as hell.

Of course now, it's mainly 24 frames per second that I'm shooting, but recently I've begun to create a real Archery program with my Girlfriend who caught the Archery bug from me. Truth be told, she's a much better shot than me, which is frustrating because she's only been shooting for a year.

Here is a video we recently produced for Bodnik Bows in Germany, highlighting their Bearpaw Navajo; a beautiful 40 pound recurve with blonde accents.


The video caught the attention of Henry Bodnik of Bearpaw Bows and he commented via Skype that Hannah had excellent form and "looks like she's been shooting for years." I'll take that too, as Hannah Gart is my first official student.

Hannah runs a wellness retreat and activities business here in Sonoma County, California. It turns out there was considerable interest in Archery from the Lululemon crowd, and that the practice of Archery is similar to practice of Yoga.The first line of the wiki Yoga page reads, "Yoga (/ˈjoʊɡə/; Sanskrit: योग) is a physical, mental, and spiritual practice or discipline, that aims to transform body and mind." That is Archery in a nutshell.

Hannah and I have done several classes and workshops, and are gearing up to do more. Here is a video we recently made describing what a Yoga/Archery, or Archeryoga workshop looks like.


We are focusing on the Traditional form of archery, or Instinctive Archery which means there are no sights and no mechanical aides. The only piece of equipment that needs tuning is the Archer.

You can find out more about Karma Tales Archery Workshops on the Karma Tales website and join the conversation at Karma Tales Facebook page.

Man. Painting Waves.

It should be said that a wise man will see beauty in all things. This was something most likely said by someone who did not live in Chicago during the winter. I am now someone who happily does not live in Chicago at all. I live in Sonoma County California and it is easy for me to see the beauty in most things, a product of my surroundings I would wager. This video is a perfect example of that.

I was on my way home from a meeting at Chanslor Ranch just north of Bodega Bay, wiggling along Highway 1 towards my home in Villa Grande. It was February and therefore should have been cold and miserable, but it wasn't. It was gorgeous and I spied this man doing a remarkable job capturing the colors of the setting sun. This man, painting waves at the side of the road, did not flinch when I asked if I could film him. At Rock Point, off of Hwy. 1, Frank Gannon answered with a flick of his wrist, and a shrug of his shoulders. When I commented on how accurately he had captured the colors of the evening, he grimaced and said that he was stuck on the side of a particularly tricky rock face. He said so while perched precariously, with all of his paints and brushes, 30 feet above the waves crashing below. As a filmmaker, I was drawn to the motion in the Ocean, while Frank mixed the perfect blend of color to match the setting sun. It was a pretty cool moment. It was a Sonoma County moment.

I only spent 45 minutes filming Frank Gannon, but it has since become one of my favorite videos to show friends and family when they enquire about my new habitat. It was shot with my Cannon 60D with a little pick-up footage gathered with a gopro hero3.



Artist: Frank Gannon - www.FrankGannon.com

Man Painting. Waves.
Shot/Edited by: Edward Seaton
Music: The Mentalist by Mr. Fiji Wiji

Rubber Side Down in Sonoma County

So, you want to experience what its like to cruise the Sonoma Coastline on a motorcycle that won't wake up the entire world, and or rattle itself apart? Would you like experience the Redwoods and Highway 1 in true European Motorcycle style? Me too. When Joshua Poe of RideNorCal.com enquired about some promotional video work for his new business based in Santa Rosa, I jumped at the chance.

He's got a Triumph RRR for those that like the crouch-rocket racket without gaudy plastic bits getting in the way. RideNorCal has the new Ducati 1200CC Multistrada which is perfect for couples, and long hauls along the coast. Josh Poe says, "It will get ya zoomin!" They've got a Triumph Tiger which is just dope, and for those of us who don't like roads, while those who want to cruise looking like a Jedi on an Imperial Speeder bike can hop on the Ducati 2013 Multistrada. An impressive collection of tip-top two wheelers to choose from.

The only problem I had working with these guys is that in order to shoot it all, I had to sit in the back of my beat up old Subaru, and didn't get to ride at all. My girlfriend/gopro operator got a go around... with some other guy driving, which was swell. You can see her in the video. She always makes the cut :)

We made 5 videos total, all of which were shot entirely handheld with a Cannon 60D and GoPro Hero3, both set for 60 frames per second. I cut the pieces on FCP 7 as usual, and only did minimal color correction. Keeping the camera steady in the back of the moving vehicle was trickiest bit, but shooting at a faster frame rate helped smooth out the wobblies.

If you are interested in more information please visit the www.RideNorCal.com website. They've got tons of info about the bikes and possible routes to choose from. Tell them Edward sent ya, and remember, rubber side down.

Whatcha been up to?

Packed and ready to hit the road Jan. 1, 2012

It has been some time since I updated my site. A move to California was the culprit, and once I landed on the West Coast I found very little time, and thankfully very little need to find work, so the website has weathered…

I landed on my feet running in San Francisco thanks to my old friend, Rob Lee, who said that there might be the odd, internal agency job, that he could throw my way, every now-and-again. I had been in Chicago for 17 years, and though I will miss those dreamy winters, the "odd internal" was enough for me to heave-ho out of there.

The kind of jobs I ended up doing for the Agency, DDB San Francisco, have changed the way I look at advertising forever.

Rob Lee at the helm

In Chicago I was part of the production company circuit. People who owned these companies, also had a relationship or two with various advertising agencies around town. Producers would come to me when the Advertising Agency had made up it's mind about what it wanted, and then, if all the stars had aligned, I'd get to shoot and edit something. Weeee! 

There was however a very clear and definite line drawn, usually by the Prod Co, between Advertising Agency Creatives, and myself. This is called, "preserving your clients", as everybody knows, the leading cause of death to the average production company is a pimply-faced kid with a DSLR in his hand, and ripped version of FCP 7 on a laptop in his backpack. 

This opportunity with DDB SF was different in that there were no barriers between me and the inner workings of a massive ad agency. The type of creative work they set me to, has defined me as a filmmaker. 

San Francisco in my sights

My very first job in the agency world was for Steve Weiss, owner of, Zacuto Films in Chicago; way before they started making aluminum bits for your cameras (their bits are great btw www.zacuto.com).

The first one was a Rippo for Jim Beam. A Rippo is a mash-up of audio and video that helps create a mood. That mood then helps guide the Client in the direction the Creatives at the agency would like to go with the campaign. Rippos are always cut together with found footage.

When I made Rippos for Steve, we would send an intern to Blockbuster, (remember them?) to rent stacks of DVDs, all within thematic boundaries. Now we pull with glee and absolute freedom from youtube and vimeo! 

Please no belly-aching over rights management! No one is selling tickets to see this crap; it's shown to a roomful of people, and then it's dead. It is no more illegal than you cutting up your favorite Mag-Rag, and collaging out an idea for a sexy outfit, which I'm sure everybody does…

I am posting this Rippo as an example for filmmakers who still don't know what I'm on about, or for those who are just curious. It was created for the launch of Explorer 9. 

The Rippo is a great place to start for young filmmakers because you can concentrate  on what the images actually mean, and how that meaning can change simply by rearranging the sequence. Go, find me shots that say, "future!" It can be a fun challenge, and it's paid the rent more than twice.

The best internal agency gigs are the "Micro-Docs." They are in fact, small, or short, documentaries.

"Yo, Edward. We need 3 minutes or less on why our agency will kick everyone eles's ass!"

"Roger, Roger."

These videos are fun because you get teamed up with some really amazing people from inside the agency. The short deadlines and minuscule budgets keep everyone on their creative toes, and when it hits, it hits. There is nothing more magical than magical realism.

In this example of a MicroDoc, we were charged with defining the hiphop culture.

"3 minutes or less, please."

Since I moved out to California I have been asked by some of the friends and coworkers that I left behind, "don't you miss doing the bigger stuff?"

The answer is, no. Those that would tell a story only if the Many will hear it, are sycophants, not sorcerers. The videos I've reared with DDB San Francisco have helped win clients like STP, Ross, Amgen, Wells Fargo, and most recently, the telecom giant, Qualcomm. Winning those clients means that some director in L.A. down the road will get handed a set of boards. Good for him, or hopefully her. Make sure you stay between the lines. I helped create them.

written by: Edward Seaton

They call me 'Gunny.'

Good friend, and Executive producer/director for the Leinenkugel beer commercials, Ted Lega said to me once, "In this business, you go on runs. This here, has been a pretty good run." 

To date, Ted and his merry band of film- makers at Hotcake have produced 23 airing spots for this epic run of Leinenkugel's commercials, from footage gathered over five shooting trips to Chippewa Falls, WI.

From the Agency side, you have a team of innovative Creatives and Producers led by Steve Simoncic of Jacobson Rost, who coined the term, 'creative non-fiction,' a no-nonsense way of looking at a brand from a positive and authentic perspective. 

Jake and John Leinenkugel are the 'real deal,' fun and laid back, they would stand in the freezing rain till we got the shot. Whatever, whenever, these guys are on. 

On one summer shoot, we had Jake standing on a rock fishing. The story line was, "... and we fish in it" ... for 'Leinenkugel's Canoes for a Cause' 30 second promo.

I was across the river shooting the Sony EX3 nestled on a sand bag, a poor man's high-hat, between the river and the reeds, pushed in on a long lens to crush the depth of field. 

"Ready on the line Jake?"

Right then, a small-mouth bass strikes the end of Jake's line, he hauls it in, the real thing, live, as if we had a PA underwater, holding his or her breath, ready to hook on a prop fish!  

"Say the line!", we shout.

He struggles to reel it in;

"It's a fish! I caught a real fish!" 

"Yeah, yeah, we can see that. Say the line!"

And he did, he nailed it. That's 'creative non-fiction.

Same shoot, later that day. We want a shot of John Leinenkugel paddling the canoe, delivering a few lines - it is, after all, a 30 second spot for 'Canoe for a Cause.' The wind was up, blowing maybe 10 knots; too much chop for a steady shot and our light is fading fast.

Across the lake, the water is glass-calm in the shelter of the opposite shore. 

"Take you 45 minutes to paddle across", someone  says, probably Ted, or producer Cannon Kinnard, who were worried about the camera going over the side.

John and I look at the distance, then at each other ... a determined look.

"We can make it in five."

Bets made, the camera is in a plastic bag.

"Better double bag that..."

With John at the helm and me in the stern, Jacobson Rost producer/audio technician, Mark A DiPietro mans the bailer and cradles the gear in the belly of our craft.

John and I both grew up in Wisconsin around canoes and we took to it this time, like ducks to water. Pointing the nose into the wind, we carve our way across the lake in five minutes, and still with enough light to run the lines to our hearts' content.

Working with these guys is a real treat; rare and wonderful, the whole lot, a 'Band of Brothers.' On the first shoot I did in Chippewa Falls, Jake Leinenkugel is watching us set up 'round the bar. He calls out to the crew; this is before we knew him real well,

"Which one of you is the ass-hole? In every group like this," he grins, "there's gotta be an ass-hole."

The crew gleefully points at me in unison. Jake nodded in approval, and later he started calling me, Gunny.

We remind him, he says, of a group of guys he knew while serving our Country in the Marines. One guy there, they nick-named 'Gunny.'

"A real ass-hole, but he always got the job done. We really loved that guy."

So yeah, you can call me, Gunny

PS Gunny says thanks for the beer, Jake and John :)

written by: Edward Seaton

GERTRUDE Launches TransPortraits for Singha Beer

As Singha beer looked for new ways to increase their market share here in the States, GERTRUDE stepped up with a much buzzed about way to get the word out.

First, the clever minds at GERTRUDE reached out to some of contemporary art's most established and influential stars, and challenged them to interpret the Singha mythical lion.

The artists hurled paint onto massive canvases back at their studios, but the projects were to be finished at a chosen location, chosen by GERTRUDE, a different venue for each artist. I was the lucky punter that got to shoot San Francisco and it's contemporary master, Kofie One.

We shot on the Sony Ex-3 with no stics and only a sun-gun to weigh us down. Before each shoot Otis Gibson, founder of GERTRUDE, and I, would discuss the piece of art, the artist who created it, and the chosen city venue. We tried to identify connections between the 3, and then gathered imagery that crossed over. My favorite was the cross cuts between Kofie One streaking super straight lines across the canvass, and the electrically charged wires that crisscross the city of San Francisco.

These were down and dirty shoots... and some of the most fun I had in 2011.

written by: Edward Seaton

GERTRUDE and client Singha Beer have launched Singha’s Global Tag Takeover Facebook campaign at Facebook.com/SinghaWorld, an application allowing fans of Singha Beer on Facebook to have their friends’ Facebook walls painted over with stylized versions of the Singha mythical lion logo, share the new commercials and enter a sweepstakes.

“Singha’s Global Tag Takeover allows fans to share the new Singha Beer commercials with their friends worldwide while engaging with the Singha Beer brand and campaign in an innovative, spirited way,” said GERTRUDE's Founder, Chief Creative Officer Otis D. Gibson.

The application prompts users to share the commercials in an engaging way – by first “tagging” their friends’ Facebook walls with stylized Singha mythical lion artwork. By viewing and sharing the commercials and tagging their friends’ walls, fans of Singha Beer are eligible to enter for a chance to win a Singha Black Book tagged by one of the international artists featured in the commercials.

For more details on this and other work from GERTRUDE, please visit http://ninjanewsdaily.gertrudeinc.com, and check out Singha's Global Tag Takeover by visiting Facebook.com/SinghaWorld.

Wet Nickers = Good TV

Making a living in the film/video business takes an ambidextrous soul. I've never been afraid to grab a camera and dangle from something precarious to get the shot. I like getting the shot. I would imagine that it produces in me the same cocktail of dizzying endorphins that a long distance runner might enjoy. Since I am not a long distance runner I can only surmise.

A few of the more bone-headed moves I pulled over the years include hanging out the side of a mini-van to shoot a moving bus, climbing a rickety old grain silo to film pigeons, or shooting any number of music videos in the "bad" part of Chicago.

In the 14 years I've been doing this, I can honestly say that I've only broken a couple of things. One was a monitor, and I'm blaming the c-stand on that one. The other was a light, but who amongst us hasn't shattered a light, or two?

I once heard a story of a camera-op who set his 90 thousand dollar digi-beta cam on a dock so that he might extend a hand to another getting off the boat. The camera was just a hair to close to the edge, and as the gentleman helped his friend ashore they both watched as the camera teetered, and then kur-sploshed into the drink. 90K - gone, just like that. It happens, and as I knock on my own head, I'll say I'm glad that it's never happened to me. Knock on wood.

The monitor was only 3K, and that hurt plenty. Damn you, cursed C-stand! By far the most dangerous piece of equipment on set!



Ted Lega, executive producer of HotCakes and Protein Editorial, calls me during a grey and chilly Chicago spring morning.

"It's gunna be run-n-gun footage of guys test drivin boats in Miami. You interested?"

"Does a rabbit bump it's ass a-hopping?"

I'd like to think that the reason that I have escaped injury, and for the most part, expensive repair bills, is because I take calculated risks. Calculated to be in favor of me not falling off a speeding boat, while not dead-ing myself in order to keep shooting, kind of risks. Often though, its just dumb luck that gets us through, and if you don't believe in luck, a sympathetic Universe.

Case in point, the Miami shoot was progressing nicely. Already on our second day the line of test drivers was shrinking and we had plenty of footage in the can to sell the spot. It was towards the end of the day and the setting sun was starting to make things look really pretty. We raced past each other at breakneck speed. We climbed an abandoned house in stilts-ville and zoomed past some more for overhead shots on the cheap. It was while the boat was at a dead stop that calamity nearly ruined the trip.

We were on a 20 foot long deep-sea fishing vehicle built for speed and there was limited room for myself and the audio technician to operate in. While we decided on the next direction to tear off in, the audio guy squeezed past me as I leaned backwards to give him more room. The decks were wet and my trainers slipped out from under me. I fell backwards over the side rail.

What happened in the next half a second was as follows: I could see the reflection of my own horrified face in the shinny sunglasses of the equally horrified sound guy as he looked up from his dials to see me receding overboard, camera in hand. He reached forward to grab me. I pushed the camera forward towards his chest, and yelled, "camera!" His arms closed around the Sony EX3 like a venus fly trap snaring a bug. I went over the side. Splash, tethered to the boat by my headphones!

I was back in the boat as quick as I went over.

On the way back to the dock we decided to leverage my dripping drawers to see if we could give Ted Lega, the director and producer of this gig, a mild aneurism by insinuating that the camera had been lost to Davy Jones. The south Florida, sun-kissed face of Mr. Lega went Chicago winter white when I threw my hands in the air cursing the rolling seas and gravity.

When we finished torturing Teddy there was one more shot to get.

"there's a spot, only 3-5 foot deep, we could zoom past about 10 feet away going 60 mph."

"well, my shorts are already wet."

So over I went again. On purpose this time.




written by: Edward Seaton