Kerry Beyer

HEADSHOT PHOTOGRAPHY HOUSTON

Visual FX

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HOW TO GET PRESS and PROMOTE Yourself

Having trouble getting press? Tried getting magazines, newspapers and blogs to run your story without success? Here’s a little secret that will open the doors to more press exposure.
Create content that is unique, relevant, and of value to readers. That’s a given. But you need something to make you stand out from the crowd. And what is that, you ask?
A great image. Seriously. An eye catching image will grab attention, create more readers, more clicks, more share’s on facebook, more tweets, and ultimately more advertising revenue for the media outlet. 
Media outlets love advertising revenue. 
My fabulous client, Misha Penton, founder of Divergence Vocal Theater (DVT), is as much a PR maven as I am. DVT is an ensemble of performer/creators, consisting of singers, musicians, dancers, and more. If and opera company was a rock band, they’d be it. A truly innovative performance company. 
Misha has burst onto the art scene with phenomenal success in a very short period of time, garnering press from national media outlets for her events. How has she done it?
For each of her show’s, Misha has envisioned a theme of images that represents the overall feel of the performance piece. Then she calls me.
We talk about the concept, go over wardrobe, brainstorm background ideas, then shoot… on the green screen. Yes, green screen is not just for block buster Hollywood FX extravaganzas anymore. It’s quickly becoming one of my favorite ways to shoot… everything from bridal portraits to movie posters.
After the photoshoot, Misha makes her selections – then I go to work… dropping out the green, and compositing in the new background, color grading the image, and adding any special FX (like the ghost in image below).
Once the magic is done, Misha puts together a press release and sends the images out. “Your pics are my lynchpin, seriously. I would not get the press I do without them, and they are and have been instrumental in building my career,” says Misha.
Misha’s current project at DVT is the Autumn Soiree – an evening of haunting vocal & instrumental music, dance, puppetry and folktales. Just in time for Halloween. Performances October 14 & 15th in Houston at Divergence Vocal Theater. Tickets available here.
Here are a few links to the great press she has gotten:
Contact the studio when you need an amazing image for your next adventure.

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Million Dollar Visual FX on a Indie Budget

Visual FX extravaganzas dominate the box office, but independent filmmakers can play in the same arena, at a fraction of the cost. A recent debate of Facebook stirred controversy over whether or not indie filmmakers should attempt to compete with Hollywood in genres like action and sci fi – The gist of the debate was that indie filmmakers shouldn’t attempt it…

Proper visual FX takes time and planning to integrate and composite correctly, but it’s not out of reach for the indie filmmaker. Almost anything is possible with After FX… but subtly is the key. FX should be transparent… and by that I mean, the audience should never go “oh, cool effect.” They should be completely immersed in the story, and not notice that it was an effect.
I recently shot and edited a short film over the course of one weekend. As co-founder of SplatterFest, I wanted to make a film to screen at the event, even though I couldn’t compete. The result is CASTLE OF THE DAMNED – a dark fairy tale where a lone Knight must battle and army of the damned to save the Princess from an Evil Queen.
The entire 4 minute short was shot on green screen, and composited over the weekend. The backgrounds were generated in a 3D modeling program, and exported as still frames.
One of the most important things to make your composites look real is to match lighting between your live action elements and your computer generated backgrounds. For this reason, I try to light and generate my backgrounds before I shoot live action elements, so I know where to place the lights.
Castle of the Damned is currently in consideration at Slamdance. Check out the IMDB page, and look for it on the festival circuit and online afterwards.