This is a recent animation that I made for my friend, Danny Bullis. He's an incredible musician who recently released this single a few months ago. It has been on repeat ever since. You can hear the full track by going to Soundcloud.
You can also follow him on Instagram by clicking here.
Over the summer I got to work on a commercial for Bentley Motors. It was a 3 day shoot in the North Cascade mountains of Washington State. Of all the jobs that I worked on while freelancing in Seattle this was the most memorable. It was easily the most rewarding and challenging job that I've worked on. Like all productions, this one had it's problems. Some of the problems included no insurance, no sound recordists available and flying our DP into the wrong country.
However, even with these challenges this shoot was a great reminder why I love what I do. There is nothing more exciting than standing in the middle of the mountains and making a commercial that will move people in new and expected ways.
In conclusion, I'm looking forward to my next opportunity to get on set.
The month of December can be brutal working in the film industry and living in Los Angeles. Many shows go on hiatus during the holidays. It was great to get work during December after moving down in October.
I have to give credit where credit is due. I watched this tutorial on Youtube.
In early October I packed a good portion of my life along with my hopes and dreams into my Subaru and moved to Los Angeles. I didn't know if things were going to pan out and work in my favor. All I knew is I was on an adventure and following my dreams. I'm happy to say that I have just accepted a job at The Mill as a Runner. In my mind, Christmas came early this year. I honestly can't wait to get started and work with some of the best visual effects artists and filmmakers in the world.
Here is their 2015 VFX reel. May you all have a happy and safe 2016!
Found myself in Cinema4D again and managed to make this. I'm constantly blown away by the depth of this program.
For the past week I have been home in Wenatchee. It has been pretty cold. I think it was 27 degrees outside today. I know I haven't been living in Los Angeles very long, but I'm not use to this kind of weather.
I've been playing in Cinema 4D and designed this scene. I would've liked to export the entire scene but C4D said it was going to take close to a minute per frame.
With that said I will leave you with this.
A recent animation that I've been playing with.
#AppleCup has finally arrived. Let's beat the Huskies!
A video posted by Richard Lutz (@richard_lutz) on
Last night was awesome. The Cougs played the UCLA Bruins and beat them in a spectacular fashion in a last minute 31-27 victory. It is easily one of the best wins that I've seen in a while. The Cougs are now ranked in the top 25 to make things even better.
Over the past few days I've been working on a short animation for Cougar Football. I had to share it after the big win last night.
Go Cougs!
The night before I moved to Los Angeles in 2010 I was up a little late surfing the Internet. I should've have been getting ready for bed and preparing for the big day ahead but my mind was restless and I couldn't sleep.
When I was surfing the web I happened to stumble upon a short film called 'Last Minutes with Oden'. In this six-minute short film a man is faced with the reality that he has to put is dog and his best friend down.
I will be honest, I cried while watching this film. In this short film Eliot captures the pain that this man is dealing with as he puts his dog to sleep.
This is an incredibly hard film to watch, but it also demonstrates the power that editorial has to shape a film and our emotions. I hope to one day create a piece of content or film like this.
For the last few weeks I've been working with the roto brush in After Effects. Here's what I've learned.
Earlier this summer I had the opportunity to work on two spots for Bentley. Our director was Greg Williams and it was shot by John Lynch. I learned a lot on this job about what it takes to make great work and how to handle things when they aren't going right. It definitely was a learning experience.
During the beginning of my career I was often called a videographer. At the time the title didn't bother me and I was just happy to be getting work in a field that I loved. I was thrilled to be making work that people could engage with.
However, as my career has unfolded I have fallen in love with the work by directors like Chase Jarvis, Vincent Laforet, Philip Bloom and Eliot Rausch. I was blown away by the content that they were making and how they were sharing their perspective on the world that we live in. This is just a small list of the people of who have inspired me to grab my camera and capture the world that we live in. But the biggest thing that stood out to me was how they referred to themselves as filmmakers and not as videographers.
Ultimately, this has had a profound impact on me and how I view my craft. Filmmaking has always been a creative outlet for me. It has provided me the opportunity to share my thoughts and opinions about different issues and the world that we live in. It has also given me the chance to create different pieces of content that brings a brand's perspective to life.
This viewpoint has given me a certain perspective in how I ultimately refer to myself. I've always viewed myself as a filmmaker and not as a videographer. I have nothing against videographers. I've worked with many talented ones during the course of my career. However, I would rather be referred to as a filmmaker instead.
In my mind a filmmaker has a certain perspective on the work that they are creating. They also have clear intentions of the results that they are trying to achieve. A videographer on the other hand may have goals that they are not clear of.
I know that these are just semantics and may be irrelevant in the larger scheme of things. However, if I've learned anything over the last couple years it's that a person's point of view has a huge influence on shaping one's career and how people view them.
I want people to view me as a filmmaker and not as a videographer. I want people to hire me because of my ability to come up with ideas that come from a new and unexpected place and not my ability to operate a camera or edit a film.
Life boils down to a series of choices. Before long, the choices you make and the ones you don’t become you. Bold choices take you where you’re suppose to be.
Let’s make it official. I’m moving to Los Angeles.
Over the last year and a half I’ve been living in Seattle. During that time it has felt like I’ve been searching high and low for opportunities where I can use my editorial, post-production and design skills to make content on behalf of brands.
Unfortunately, I have not found the opportunities that I hoped I would.
A few weeks ago I spent four days in Los Angeles and talked with people at different commercial post houses and ad agencies. What blew me away was the sheer volume of opportunity that exists down there compared to Seattle. It seems like on every street there is people making work that matters to them.
This is completely different from Seattle. I’ve always viewed Seattle as a creative city, but LA exists on a completely different level.
Honestly, I would rather stay in Seattle. I truly love the city, including when it rains. However, there is nothing stopping me from returning to Seattle in a few years when I have some experience under my belt.
Ultimately, I don’t believe I’m anywhere near the success that I hope to achieve in my life. I believe that I can accomplish a lot more that what I’m currently doing. I believe that moving to LA will put me in a position where I’m surrounded by other motivated, hungry and creative individuals like myself. I see it as a chance to collaborate with people on a more regular basis and create work that means everything to me. I believe it’s a chance to create work that will help take my career to that next level.
There are no promises in life. I don’t know if this is going to work out. However, if I don’t try this I’m going to ultimately end up regretting not trying later on in life. If I find myself in Seattle in a few years I will be able to take comfort in know that I tried. I plan on making sure that it doesn’t come to this.
Let the adventure begin.
(Note: This date might slide change a little. There will be more news soon.)
Let’s be honest, The world as we know it has changed.
Our economy has crashed and tried to rebuild itself.
Different world governments have failed to fix our debt problems.
People are concerned about the progress that we are making compared to the rest of the world.
Things seem to be improving, but many are skeptical on the progress that we are making.
People seem to have a lot of doubt what the future holds for us.
Despite all of this uncertainty and confusion we have never had an opportunity to shape the future like we do right now.
We have the opportunity to change things and add value to the world to the make it a better place.
But we have to make a choice.
We are either part of the solution or part of the problem, but it’s up to us.
The world has changed, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t use our creativity.
We need to be like Oakland Athletics General Manager, Billy Beane.
Beane was upset to constantly loosing to teams with bigger budgets.
He also wasn’t satisfied with how the status quo viewed baseball.
But he was able to change how the game of baseball is played forever.
Ultimately, businesses need our creativity.
Now has never been a more exciting time to be in advertising.
We have the ability to shape how people view things and help create a better world.
Advertising is one of the most powerful mediums on the face of the Earth.
It’s also one of the most hated.
People feel invasive and impersonal.
People are tired of seeing it everywhere.
Ultimately, the business needs to change.
We will still be creating ads for a long time to come.
But the concept shouldn’t be restricted to the creative department.
It should be something that manifests itself throughout an entire organization.
We need to find other ways to help different businesses and engage audiences.
The future of advertising will be about creating experiences.
This shouldn’t be restricted to creating print, tv, and digital executions.
We need to become innovative and create products and services that enhance people’s lives.
Now is our time.
Let’s be innovative and use our creativity in new and interesting ways.
Let’s create work that touches people and changes how they view the world.
