Exodous Digital Productions

2010-01-18T13:16:00.002-05:00

The new website is up!

2008-11-14T00:16:00.003-05:00

http://www.exodousdigital.com is now up and running! Go check it out!

Wedding Packages

2008-10-21T09:17:00.001-04:00

Hey, all you soon-to-be 2009 newlyweds! Have we got a deal for you! Book with us anytime between October 15th, 2008 and November 15th, 2008, and you'll save 10% off your total package price! That could be up to a $375 savings! Simply mention this blog when booking, and we'll be more than happy to give you the discount!

Thus far, 2008 has turned out to be a fantastic year for weddings (including my own)! I've met with a lot of fantastic families, and have had nothing but great experiences. I hope to meet you, soon!

Our Wedding!

2008-10-17T23:17:00.003-04:00

I was just sitting here, thinking about the fact that I've spent so much time talking about everyone else's weddings... I never actually put up a posting about my own!

Back on September 27th, Katie and I finally pulled it off! After nine years, we finally rounded everyone up and had our wedding. It's not that we didn't want to do it sooner... this was just the most logical time to do it! We had initially planned on September of 2006, but then we both got accepted to grad school, and decided that #1, we were probably going to be too busy to plan a wedding, and #2, two more years of school meant two more years we could each stay on our parents' health insurance plans! The latter probably being the more important issue, we stashed away the decorations we had already bought, and carried on with life as it was.

The wedding was everything we wanted it to be. About 200 of our closest friends and relatives, coming together to share in our happiness. I've seen so many brides and grooms acting crazy and being terrified on their wedding day. I always thought to myself, "Why are you so nervous? If you're that nervous, maybe you should rethink your decision!". A long time ago, I said that wouldn't happen to me... and it didn't! We were the two coolest cats in the building. Everyone kept asking if we were nervous... "No, why, are you??"

Our ceremony was short. No more than 7 minutes long. We decided not to go through with a religious wedding, so we were right down to business. After a year of planning, and a whole previous day of setting up, we were calm and collected and ready to go. The second Katie walked up the aisle and took my hand, we were both in a river of tears! It was the happiest either of us has ever felt. Everyone in the room disappeared, and it was just the two of us, floating on cloud nine. Seven minute of sobs later, and we then cried through 80% of the reception line! Oh, yeah... and all the way through our first dance, too!

So, everyone asks me: is it any different? Tough question.

-Are we more in love than we were before?

Ehh... I don't think that was ever a problem.

-Are we struggling more now?

We've lived together for the past four years, so... no. Despite the financial meltdown in the economy, this is probably the most comfortable we've ever been.

-Do we treat each other differently?

Yes. If there's one thing I've noticed, it's that we both seem to appreciate each other more, now. Maybe it's because it's finally official... maybe it's because when I looked into her eyes at the wedding I saw nine wonderful years fly by in an instant.

Anyway, that's the story. Someday soon, I hope to get the pictures from our photographer, and I'll throw a couple up here!

P.S.: I've been to weddings that cost $5,000, $10,000, $20,000, and even $30,000+. All inclusive, our wedding cost under $4000... and it was the best one I've ever been to! :)

Book now for the 2009 wedding season!

2008-10-15T13:17:00.004-04:00

UPDATED: Paul Bunyan Scout Reservation Promo Video

2008-10-14T13:01:00.001-04:00

Three new wedding samples!

2008-10-12T15:24:00.002-04:00

Paul Bunyan Scout Reservation Promo Video

2008-10-10T15:28:00.001-04:00

Just finished up with a rough version of the PBSR video!

Alden B. Dow Home and Studio

2008-09-17T09:22:00.005-04:00

I just found out last week that our "Alden B. Dow Home and Studio" feature from the show last year was selected as a finalist in the College Broadcasters Inc., national student production competition! Last year we were selected as finalists for the Best General Entertainment category, but didn't end up with the grand prize.. In October, we'll travel to Kansas City to find out find out if we can take the Best Documentary category this year!

Here's the piece. (YouTube made me break it up, since it's over 10 minutes...)

Part 1

Part 2

A few pics...

2008-09-10T22:45:00.004-04:00

I was just looking through my Images folder, and found a few good pictures that might be worth sharing...

Library Footage

2008-09-10T21:37:00.005-04:00

Here are the shots from the Roof of Park Library! It was so cool to get up there and shoot! Thanks a lot to Anne Casey for pulling the right strings for us!

In other news, I just found out yesterday that a segment (Alden B. Dow Home and Studio) from my TV show Central View has been selected as a finalist for another national competition! College Broadcasters Incorporated, National Student Production Awards.

Busy, busy, busy...

2008-09-10T12:39:00.002-04:00

I realize I haven't had a post in a while, but I've been just about everywhere but here, lately. Two weeks ago I was up in Grand Rapids, Michigan for Kim and Dans wedding. Then it was back to Illinois to edit and get caught up on all my projects. Last Wednesday, I headed up to Michigan, yet again, for another wedding. This time it was Amanda and Greg in the Kalamazoo area. It was a great wedding! Both Greg and Amanda have a heck of a sense of humor, so the entire ceremony was filled with laughs. My personal favorite was when they read their vows off of their iPhones!

While in Michigan, I also picked up another great job, producing a promotional video for CMU's College of Graduate Studies! Apparently, someone in the Political Science Department showed off the videos I did for them. Yet another satisfied customer! We pushed all the paperwork through in a hurry, so I could save myself 1200 miles and shoot while I was still up in Michigan. I've never seen such a large organization operate so efficiently! Way to go Rob!

This is pretty much how my week went. I drove up Wednesday, arriving in Mt. Pleasant around 8:30PM. I was crashing at Ed's place, so I had to wait for him to get out of class. I spent Thursday meeting with the Graduate School people, and taking care of all the paperwork. Friday morning, I drove home to Pinconning to pick up my mom, and we went to Bay City together. I had to apply for our marriage license (!!!!), and I also got to visit my Grandma, who recently went into the hospital for heart problems. Her poor little 91-year-old heart is just plain old wearing out... From there, we went home so I could spend some time with my dad after he got home from work. Saturday, I left Pinconning around 11AM, so I'd have plenty of time to get to Kalamazoo (it's about a 3:30 drive). Well, right before I left, we noticed that you could see the steel belts on both of my two front tires!! There was no way I was going to safely make it, so I had to go to Bay City first to get new front tires! Damn good thing I was leaving early! I made it with thirty minutes to spare.

The wedding was quick, the reception food was good, and I was on my way back to Mt. Pleasant by 7:00. I spent the night at Ed's, hung out with Friends all day Sunday, and then spent most of Monday shooting the video for the Grad School Promo video. Stuff turned out great, and everyone cooperated with the cameras. I even got to go ON TOP of the Park Library!! That was soooo cool! I don't think many people get that opportunity! I finished up shooting around 4:00, ate dinner, and left for home about 5:00PM.

Normally, I get about 370 miles on a tank of gas, but apparently I had a bad batch, because I ran out at 349.5 miles. Yahoo. Midnight, on the side of I-70 in Indiana (exit 41), absolutely pouring rain... and I could SEE the gas station. I called AAA, and it took them 86 minutes to bring me 2 gallons of gas... UGH. I made it home about 4:30AM (E.S.T.).

As soon as I get the Library footage captured, I'm going to put it up here.

Back to work!

Updates

2008-08-26T23:36:00.003-04:00

I made the final finishing touches on the Political Science videos today. There were a couple of minor changes requested by the department, so I wanted to get that done and out of the way. Now I need to re-upload them and I'll be done for good!

I received an email from my contact in the PSC department, and they all really liked the videos. Apparently, some PR guy from CMU's Graduate School requested my contact information, so hopefully there may be a couple more jobs in my future. I hope so! I find myself searching for excuses to drive back to Michigan and be in Mount Pleasant..

I worked on Kathryn's wedding video a little more today. I'm pleased with how things are coming together. Hopefully the rest of it continues to go so smoothly!

In other news: While doing some searching today, I found out that SIUC has a fairly respectable flight school program that they offer... While growing up, most kids want to be firemen, police officers... cool things like that. Me; I've always wanted to be a pilot. If I could afford it, I'd put myself in a flight program tomorrow. It's just something that I've always had interest in... Someday.

Political Science Videos

2008-08-22T13:24:00.003-04:00

I can't believe I'm saying this... but I'm actually done with the Political Science videos! It's been almost a four month project, but things are finally done. The blog has been created, videos uploaded, and it was unveiled to the PSC department on Wednesday! Everyone seems REALLY happy with it, so I guess that means it's a job well done! Follow the link and check it out!

In other news, Ed created a blog. Good for you, Ed!

In other, other news, I started Kathryn and Will's wedding edit last night, and things are rolling along smoothly. I finished a rough of the ceremony and will start polishing on Monday. Thank God for Multicam Editing! I wish there was a way that I could add up how many hundreds of hours of work multicam has saved me... Sweet stuff!

It's been raining all day, here. Feels much more like a Sunday, than a Friday. Perhaps that's why I don't feel like doing ANYTHING AT ALL! Maybe I'll set up some compression jobs today, so that I can tell myself that the computer is too busy to work on other things... ;)

Katie just told me I use too many exclamation points. I'm not sure if I agree.... !

Kimberly and Dan's Wedding!

2008-08-20T10:59:00.002-04:00

Well, after a 9 hour drive on Wednesday, I arrived in Mt. Pleasant around 8:00PM. Not a bad trip! Everything went smoothly, and I got a chance to catch up on some of my favorite podcasts as I drove! I met up with some friends for a little get together before heading back to our apartment to clean. My good friend Jason has started brewing his own beer for some time, now, and he had just finished up a batch of root beer... so he gave me a bottle to try. We'll come back to this later.

I spent two days cleaning up our apartment and turned in the keys before leaving for the wedding in Grand Rapids. The drive there was great, and it felt good to be rolling through Michigan, again! I arrived at 1:30 and started shooting pre-ceremony stuff (exteriors, interiors, people arriving). The ceremony started at 4:30, and was great! I've shot a wedding with Pastor Steve before, and he's pretty entertaining to listen to.

The ceremony wrapped up around 5:30 and we headed downtown to shoot some photos before the reception. About five minutes into the drive I heard a huge bang/crash, followed by a shower of glass... Turns out good 'ol Jason's root beer had exploded in my back seat! What a mess!

The reception was a lot of fun, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Plenty of great toasts and dancing, a slideshow of Kim and Dan, and everyone seemed to be enjoying the... refreshments.

I wrapped up the night around 9:30, or so, and then headed straight for home. I hit Chicago around midnight, and Effingham around 3:00, putting me in our driveway at about 4:30am. Again, it was a great drive, and I look forward to my next Michigan wedding on September 6th!

Moving down in the world...

2008-08-01T18:25:00.002-04:00

Yes, that's right, folks, we're moving down in the world... Well, maybe not in the way you're thinking of... We're officially making our move to Southern Illinois, tomorrow. Cambria, here we come!

Don't worry though, we'll still be offering all of our event coverage to the Michigan area. I guess you could say we're expanding our coverage area. Katie is starting her M.F.A. in Creative Writing at Southern Illinois University - Carbondale, and I'll be working harder than ever at expanding our business.

Ed and I spent the last two days up at Paul Bunyan Scout Reservation in Rose City Michigan, shooting video for a promotional video that we've decided to donate to the camp. I spent six years of my life working as a counselor up there, so I figured it would be a nice way to give something back to the camp for all the great times and memories I have from there. Not to mention I spent another six years up there attending summer camp as a camper during my Boy Scout years...

The camp just installed a climbing tower and four new ziplines, so it was by far, one of the coolest shoots I've ever been on! We took the cameras across all the ziplines, and I also repelled halfway down the climbing tower and spent about an hour hanging from my harness, shooting great shots of the scouts climbing and repelling. Great stuff! I'm anxious to get the footage captured to check out what we got!

Kathryn and Will's Wedding

2008-07-27T00:35:00.002-04:00

Well, I just walked in the door from the wedding, and I have to say that it was by far the most beautiful wedding I've ever seen! The church had excellent lighting, and the reception at the Amway Grand was unreal. Everything seemed perfect! I'm so glad we had the opportunity to be a part of it. As soon as I get my life situated (we're in the process of moving!) I'll throw a couple clips up for everyone to see. Great times, great people!

Back in Mt. Pleasant... finally!

2008-06-07T11:49:00.005-04:00

Boy... I never thought I'd need a vacation from being on vacation! Katie and I have been on the move for the last three weeks, and we're finally home for a while. Thank goodness.

We spent a few days camping up in the U.P., then we came home, washed clothes, and packed to go to Vegas for a week. Then directly following that, we came home, repacked, and left to go up north with my parents for five days.

All in all, everything went well and we had a great deal of fun. But it just gets tiring after a while. We like to be home with the cats, living our boring and uninteresting lives. ;) I shot about 500 pictures in Vegas, so maybe I'll post a few of them on here later. I'm not very good at updating this, as I always get distracted doing other things.

We've (actually my editors) made some great progress on the auction video while I was gone, so I'm looking forward to seeing how that's moving along. Summer is moving a long quickly, and Katie and I need to start cracking down on the wedding plans. We've done a great deal of talking about it over the last three weeks, so now all we need to do is start making it happen! I'm sure things will be fine... they always are.

More later...

Redwings Game!!

2008-05-10T00:26:00.003-04:00

Wednesday morning we got an amazing phone call! Katie's (my fiance) parents got four tickets to game one of the Western Conference Finals and asked us if we wanted to go!!! Katie and I are BIG Redwings fans, so of course the answer was YES! I had a video shoot scheduled all day on Thursday, but I called in the recruits so I could make myself available. It was sooooo awesome! I buy Katie tickets for her birthday every year, but we've never been to a game like this! The crowd was unbelievable, and the noise was out of this world.

I took my little digital camera along and spent quite a few minutes looking through the lens, trying to capture some cool shots. Unfortunately, the the little camera isn't too great in low light, so a lot of the pictures didn't work out so well.

Below is a video I shot of the intro to the game. Forgive the shakiness... it's hard to hold that little thing still!!

2 New Jobs!

2008-04-11T11:06:00.003-04:00

Well, we picked up two new jobs this week!

The first is a promotional video for the CMU Political Science Master's Degree program. We had a meeting with the project head yesterday, and it ended up being more of a marketing consultation than the preproduction meeting I had planned for. We went over their current marketing plan and identified areas that they could better utilize the money they are spending. in the end, I think we did them a great deal of good! Now, instead of producing a 5 minute piece that was to be used in a direct mail campaign, we're going to produce 3 2-minute videos that will stream on their website. This way we're narrowing our target down, theoretically, increasing our effectiveness. We're also going to create links on their webpage that will lead to full length versions of the interviews we shoot of faculty members talking about their research.

The second job is for a company in Lapeer that is having a big auction on 4/25, and 4/26. They're apparently auctioning off a whole bunch of equipment, and want an archival video of the weekends events. We're going to head down with a 2-camera crew and shoot about 10 hours of the weekend. It should edit together nicely, and make an interesting project. I'm anxious to get started!

We (Ed and I, and a couple other CMU TV geeks) are headed to Las Vegas on Sunday for a week-long conference. NAB! The playground of the world... for TV nerds! I'm taking two cameras along, so hopefully we can document part of it and make a fun little travel video out of it!

More Sample Footage

2008-04-09T12:16:00.000-04:00

This is a public service announcement I created for the Central Michigan University Counseling Center. I ended up winning 1st place in the PSA category at the Michigan Association of Broadcasters College Television Competition.

Update: I'm not sure why, (I think it was the compression when I uploaded the file) but the image appears much darker than it actually is. The image you're seeing is a body outline created by approximately 1800 empty liquor bottles that I collected from local businesses over the course of 5 months.

Wedding Montage

2008-04-08T16:28:00.003-04:00

This is some sample wedding footage that I shot at Ciccone Vineyard in Suttons Bay, Michigan.It's such a beautiful setting up there! I hope I have more opportunities to shoot at that location!

-Exodous Digital Productions

Central Feature - Uncle John's Cider Mill

2008-04-08T10:56:00.000-04:00

This is a segment that we produced for our first episode of my TV show, Central View. Last September, we traveled down to Uncle John's Cider Mill in St. John's, Michigan, to produce a piece on the history and techniques behind Uncle John's famous apple cider.

In all, I think we put in about 90 hours of work on this piece, but we're all really pleased with how it turned out.

I'll be posting more samples of our work over the next couple days.

Good Fortune

2008-04-08T10:37:00.000-04:00

I'm not big on superstitions, but the fortune cookie that came with yesterday's lunch is sending me good vibes...

"You will be unusually successful in business."

Good news, for someone who's trying to get things off to a good start!

That actually led me to thinking about a nifty idea for a short film. Going with the fortune cookie theme, I'm going to collect a whole bunch of fortunes, and then organize them into a short story. The actual fortunes will appear as chapter headings, preceding each step of the story, much like the TV show Fraiser, or how Quentin Tarantino uses chapter headings to orient his viewers. I think the project has potential, and I hope I can find some free time to play with it!

If you have any good fortunes, let me know!

Our First Post!

2008-04-07T15:32:00.000-04:00

Well, we're finally getting around to starting a blog. I have talked about it for some time now, but it wasn't until Jen and Amy recommended it to me that I actually took it seriously. Amy and Jen are both photographers I met at a bridal show this weekend (my first!), in Shepherd. They are both incredibly talented, and have magnetic personalities that make them a real joy to talk with. After seeing their work and talking with them, I hope we someday have an opportunity to work together!

Since this is my first post, I guess I'll take a couple minutes to tell you a little about me.

Exodous Digital Productions is the name I (Aaron) have used for all of my projects since my freshman year of college. I'm not entirely sure how I came up with it... but it stuck, and everyone seems to like it!

I graduated from Central Michigan University's School of Broadcast and Cinematic Arts in May of 2006, and immediately after accepted a Graduate Assistant position, teaching video production, and producing a TV show for the university cable station. I'll finish my Masters in Film Theory and Criticism in August, and then I'll be seeking a PhD program in the near future.

I've shot and edited a great deal of productions for various clients, ranging from law enforcement conferences, to weddings, and even promotional material for a casino in northern Michigan. My most recent project was serving as the Editor for a soon-to-be-released documentary entitled Shooting Michael Moore. The film is currently in the hands of a Producer in Burbank, CA, and will be opening in 10 theaters nationwide, next month! I'm really grateful to my friend, Nate Meadows, who hooked me up with the job. Because of this job, I've finally been able to purchase a great deal of new production equipment, which means I can now expand my horizons and take on more projects! Since I finished the job in February, I've been booking events left and right, and am always looking for new projects to produce.

Through the classes I teach and other productions I've worked on, I've gathered up a team of highly reliable, and very talented people to help me with my productions. Each of them has their own specialty, and it's quite impressive to see how they function as a unit. Together we've won a great deal of state and national awards for our work, and we're always looking for ways to increase our quality and content.

If you have a wedding, conference, performance, or anything else, for that matter, please feel free to contact contact us!

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