Troy Chinn received his Bachelor’s degree in Japanese from San Francisco State University.  He has had an extensive career in the technology industries working at various traditional and dot-com companies in the San Francisco Bay Area since the early 1990s.

Troy spent over 2 years in Japan as a computer network and web design specialist including one year at Merrill Lynch Tokyo.

Presently, Troy is in charge of advertising and promotions for a San Francisco event planning company.  He also provides web site design and computer networking services and has been a freelance photographer for the past 24 years.

His involvement in numerous infomercial, film and video projects over the years ultimately inspired Troy to begin shooting his own video productions in 2004.

Black Turtle Media: What kind of a background do you have in video production?

Troy: My first real exposure to video production came when I assisted friends with their wedding video business.  I also worked with various technology companies and the experience showed me how EVERYTHING was starting to be processed through computers. I improved my video and graphics skills on the job. 

I’ve also been a still photographer for over 20 years.  I’ve learned from this that a lot of time in the postproduction helps one become a better shooter and more effective with less resources. Continuity, lighting and composition also improve greatly. I believe all the pain and mistakes made in post only improve one’s eye for composition and vastly cuts down on wasted editing time on each new project.

I’ve also been involved in my own video production work for the past few years, shooting my own videos for three years and editing on non-linear systems.   And I’ve assisted in video production on various infomercials and corporate training videos.


Black Turtle Media: How did you get the idea for your video?

Troy: What piqued my interest the most about the iPhone was its photographic capabilities and easy-to-use catalogue functions. That coupled with its sleek style and typical Apple ‘coolness’ made me focus on its aesthetic qualities.  All those factors, led me to express that cool, high-tech, dynamic, rhythmic and explosive ‘feeling’ that I initially got when I first experienced the iPhone.

I figure everybody ‘vibes’ things in different ways .But, I feel most anybody who really embraces the iPhone ‘feels’ its energy in a very profound and personal fashion. So, I really tried to visually and rhythmically put forth the concept that beauty is perceived differently by all, but the iPhone truly is a thing of beauty to all who own one. Kind of‘touchy-feely’ I know, but that was the internal inspiration for the ‘i of the Beholder’ video.

Black Turtle Media: What was the production process like?

Troy: The iPhone video was more ‘non-linear’ in the way I approached it.  I was compelled to ‘imagine’ my way through the creation process. I started working with different sounds and beats that would slowly build up to a climax. Then, I started to choreograph movements of the iPhone in my head to that music and rhythm.

 I started piecing together 5-10 second video segments that would match what I had imagined. Then I did some chroma-keying of the iPhone screen and overlaid existing video to simulate viewing real scenes through the iPhone camera.. All of this was very organic.  No storyboard was used. When I got the order of things in place, I ended up spending quite a bit of time just tweaking timing and effects until I got the vibe I liked.

Black Turtle Media: What kind of equipment did you use?

Troy: I used existing iPhone still and video footage, along with video that I shot myself of the iPhone to create each segment. I used a combination of Adobe Photoshop, Adobe After Effects and Sony Vegas to produce each clip. I used Sony Acid to build the music, loops and beats. The final video compilation was processed in Sony Vegas.


Black Turtle Media: What advice do you have for aspiring video producers and directors?

Troy: Taking classes, learning video software, all that is good, but nothing beats getting excited about your work and actually shooting it. That’s number one, keep shooting.
Editing your work and finding ways to edit other people’s work is a great way to hone one’s eye for the medium. Once you get a real command over the editing process, the imagination can start going wild.

In my various careers, the need to interface with others, to let the ego go and cooperate, while managing resources of all types is so important. Usually, this quality is even more important than being a great videographer. If you can get funding, hire and manage talent, and create and sustain a sense of cooperation and leadership almost any project can be accomplished.  Most of all, never give up! We’re all talented in our own ways. It’s all about knowing our strengths and improving our weaknesses . . . and all the while keeping networked, finding folks who will support and help us while we help them back.