Dan Racusin

I cut this for fun with some footage I filmed of my son. I was testing out the difference between using Blender 2.6 and Maya 2012 with MatchMover2012 to track and composite animated characters into a live action shots. In the end I found Blender to be much easier to use and overall more powerful than Maya. I have been using Maya exclusively for many years now and was very hesitant to begin using another 3D application. I am glad I decided to finally go outside my comfort zone and expand my knowledge with Blender.

I directed these tosses and created the virtual set as part of LATV's 2012 Upfront sales reel. I used Blender to track this footage and create a virtual set. I put the comps together using After Effects. This was the first time I used Blender for a commercial project. Although I only had 3 days to finish these shots I believe they turned out great

Here is the final spot as it Aired on LATV.

I just finished working on some graphics for a new show airing on MTV tr3s. This project was a collaboration between Pablo Espada and myself. Here is the first title treatment we sent that they rejected. In the end this title was not working for the show and they decided to go with something much simpler. I used Blender 2.6 to create the 3D globes and text. This is the final title treatment for the show. I have to agree that this is a much better look and fit much better with the overall look of the open. Here are some stills from the open. Pablo took the photographs and I added the glowing particles and the final color correction. 

I am very excited about being hired to direct a Christmas movie for next year. I have been working extremely hard on preparing for our production which will begin at the end of this month. The star of the show is a dog who saves Christmas with the help from one special little girl. I am still waiting for the final word from the producers as to which actress will play as the little girl but I am confident that we will have a strong leading actress for the part. For the Santa in this movie we are trying to create something different from the traditional Swiss chalet style Santa. I want our Santa to be believable counterpart to the main character who is a very bright young girl.   This week I have been scouting out locations and prop shopping with my art director. We checked out some great prop facilities in the valley earlier this week. The first stop on our list was "History for Hire". If you have ever been there, then you know how amazing this place is. They hav...

In December I directed three spots for Verizon's NFL mobile application. Verizon provided us with the creative and our team executed the production of the three vignettes. We planned to shoot all three commercials in a single day and to my surprise were actually ahead of schedule throughout the entire shoot. I was fortunate on this production to be able to work with a very talented group of individuals. The spots turned out amazing and even better the client loved them and had little feedback during post. This was another surprise for me since I am so used to having to make revision after revision during post. We definitely created something very special and unique for the client and I was very proud of the team I worked with for being able to pull these projects together with very little resources.