Over the summer I have had an insatiable urge to shoot video. Since my car has been out-of-order, I have been catching rides to out-of-town drift events every chance I get. While it is seemingly easy enough for me to go and shoot an event – life ramps up it’s speed, making it seemingly impossible to edit anything. This video sat nearly complete as a rough cut, sans a few effects and grading for two months. Well… over the holiday weekend I was able to put the finishing wrench-time in and complete my first drift video in two years.

I tried a lot of new things with this video, which is really my driving force behind making them. I want to learn something with each project. This edit is no exception. I tried a lot of new things both behind the lens, and behind the keyboard. This video was a ton of fun to create… and even though it took me forever to finish it – I think it was worth it.

The biggest change in my realm, is undoubtedly work-related. In late November, I was contacted by a local Atlanta studio to freelance on a showreel of animated print advertisements. The studio is Artistic Image, located in the King Plow Arts Center in west Atlanta.

The studio is really awesome, and does amazing work! After working on the showreel I got to work on some really fun spots for Cartoon Network LA. I was given all of the graphic elements to animate, and the concept was that ordinary back-to-school items would transform into giant aliens and battle it out. Really really fun spots to work on!

Then in January, the crew at Artistic Image asked me on full-time for a 6-month contract to work as a part of the team to revamp the historical Stone Mountain Lasershow.

The project would entail video-mapping technology to create the illusion that the mountain comes to life… giving the show an added element of dimension that the traditional lasers could not provide. It was an incredible project to work on, and took an immense amount of work to complete. Everyone on the team at Artistic Image did an amazing job. I had a chance to see the show’s opening July 4th weekend, and judging by the crowd’s reaction – this renovation was a HUGE success! I feel very honored that I was able to work on a project of this magnitude, and one that has such a historical significance to the state of Georgia.

This spot on 11alive.com gives a little more insight to what we did.

June marked the end of my contract, at which time, I was offered a full-time position as an animator. I graciously accepted the position, for I have been wanting to transition away from designing for web/print for well over 5 years. I was finally able to make the jump to motion design full-time, and I am incredibly happy about it. Everyone on the team at Artistic Image is super-talented, and most of all – really great to work with! I’m really excited that they gave me the opportunity to come on board and be part of the team!

Gran Turismo East – Michelin Spot from Andy Sapp on Vimeo.

HUGE thanks to my buddy Alex for the amazing voiceover, to Will and Josh for hooking me up with some of the incredible footage, and to Cody for letting me borrow his 5DMKII!

Biggest thanks of all goes to Kieran at GTE for all his amazing help and unparalleled support over the years – both to myself and to the drifting community as a whole. Atlanta drifting would not be anything close to what it is today without it.

If you’re in the Southeast, keep an eye out for this commercial airing on Comcast very soon!

A couple weeks back, my buddy Clint Davis gave me a shout about a feature he wanted to do for the Longshots section of Import Tuner. This section is normally reserved for automotive photography, but Clint wanted to switch things up a bit, and feature some video content.

It is VERY flattering to be featured in a tuner magazine for my endeavors behind the keyboard instead of behind the wheel. It is even more of an honor to be paired up on the same page with my ‘Keep Drifting Fun’ buddy, Will Roegge!

This feature really turned out cool, and is available on newstands nationwide. Thanks Clint!!!

Turbonetics Indent Bumper from Andy Sapp on Vimeo.

2009 Motion Graphics Reel from Andy Sapp on Vimeo.

My 2009 reel showcasing my motion graphics efforts. Short, sweet, and right to the point. Enjoy.
Soundtrack: Motor by SebastiAn.

Averaged Motion Tracking. from Andy Sapp on Vimeo.

A short clip I made while experimenting with averaging track points in After Effects to create solid, precise tracks. In the past when I have motion tracked… it always seems slightly off. I have now learned that if you track several times over, and average that data together – you get a rock-solid tracking point.

I then created some quick motion-type pieces to follow the these points. It took several layers of compositing to create the illusion of depth caused by things passing in front of one another. I added a light-streak to the back of Tyler’s light to see if I could match the live video with an object in 3D space (the particle emitter for the light).

This video clip was shot using a Flip Mino HD, which was not the best to try and track with. The motion blur made it incredibly difficult to find solid track points. I’m sure I will try more of this using my XL-H1.

This was a fun experiment that I learned a great deal from. I’m excited at some new possibilities that will come of this new workflow.

MotorMavens Ident Bumper from Andy Sapp on Vimeo.

This short 5-second animation (which loops three times) is something I created to preface online video efforts for MotorMavens.

A Soiree in the Hamptons. from Andy Sapp on Vimeo.

This video is collaboration between myself, and Will Roegge. Will shot all of the footage last November at a secret invite-only event in Nashville. His amazing edit STILL ranks as the most viewed drifting video on Vimeo. I wanted to try and focus on a different aspect of drifting with this video. I wanted to peer into what really makes events like this so special: the people.

The DriftMechaniks crew has an amazingly strong bond. It may sound cliché – but we are a family. Truth be told… it doesn’t really matter what we’re doing – we have the best of times when we are all together. That is what I wanted to explore with this video: the family and friendship we share at these events. If you take that camaraderie away… then well… it’s just… drifting.

BIG thanks to Mr. Roegge for flexing his creative genius behind the lens, and allowing me the privilege to work with the footage!

Hopefully you enjoy this look at what I feel is a more intimate side of this crazy sport.
If not… please return to taking drifting way too serious and continue not having any fun. EVER.