Writing

Here's a summary of my work as a screenwriter and technical writer.

Narrative Screenwriting

My first love was and is narrative screenwriting. To date, I've written the five episode radio serial Deadpan Alley (which aired on Santa Cruz radio station KZSC in 1991), several shorts including Peace & Quiet (science fiction), and four feature length spec scripts—Walking to Frackville (drama), Dating the Devil (comedy), The Vampire Hunters (horror/adventure), and Four Weeks, Four Hours (a survival drama which I also produced and directed).

I've also written a 13-episode animated science fiction series, Starship Detritus (currently in development).

Contact me for writing samples.

Encyclopedia of Color Correction

I'm the author of the Encyclopedia of Color Correction, available at Amazon.com. It's been getting some great reviews:

DV magazine gave it four diamonds, with reviewer Matthew Jeppsen calling it "A good mix of background tech details and concise, effective techniques that would-be colorists immediately can employ." link

Patrick Inhofer at FiniTV says "...I had to note the excellent entry on Broadcast Legality and the following entry on [the] Broadcast Safe Filter. These two topics confuse hobbyists and professionals alike. This book does a better job explaining these topics than anything I've read anywhere else, ever." link

Consultant and fellow writer Larry Jordan wrote "Since starting Edit Well, I have become a huge fan of Alexis van Hurkman. His books on color and color effects in Final Cut are excellent and he now has a new book out on Advanced Color, which I used as one of my sources during my recent seminar tour... I recommend it highly."

Shane Ross, editor and author of the blog Little Frog in HD, wrote me to say "This book explains the nuts and bolts of color correction in such a way that you don't need to be a professional Colorist or engineer to get what is being said. Yet it also contains all the information that a professional colorist might need to understand how color correction within FCP works. I own a couple tutorial DVDs on color correction, but this book covers not only the basics, but goes more in depth and reveals some of the advanced features of the built in 3-way color corrector. It is the perfect color correction manual for the novice as well the advanced colorist."

Paul Escandon, editor and motion graphics designer for The Outdoor Channel, was also kind enough to write me saying "My role is slowly shifting to one of a colorist and graphical finisher here on our original programming and I thought I needed a resource that provides me with real world examples... This book is amazing! I’m only through page 180 and I’ve learned more than I ever knew about color."

It's an encyclopedically organized collection of articles that compiles methods and information I've found valuable while working with my own clients, combining specific color correction techniques with technical information relevant to colorists and finishing editors, with hands-on exercises throughout. Although designed for Final Cut Pro, each article is general enough to be applied to any an application that supports three-way color correction and secondary HSL qualifiers (keyer based limiting), and all concepts apply to Apple's new application, Color.

Encyclopedia of Color Correction

If you're a NLE based colorist who's looking to expand your range of techniques, an online editor who's increasingly called upon to do color-correction, or a new Color user who's looking for more in-depth information on how to approach different types of shots, this book is for you.

Color 1.5 New Features Videos for Ripple Training

On behalf of Ripple Training, I've created a one-hour set of instructional videos covering every new feature in Color 1.5. If you already know Color, and just want to get up to speed with what's new, these will give you a focused tour of the new features and workflows available in this upgrade to Final Cut Studio 3. Best of all, these are available for immediate download in iTunes!

Ripple Training is Available in iTunes

Color Video Training Available from Magnet Media

I did my first video training title with Magnet Media, recording the lessons for the JumpStart Color title in their Digital Media Training Series. This title will give you a solid foundation with 13 lessons—over four hours of training—spanning the entire application, from set up, through each corrective room of the Color interface, and wrapping up with rendering your final output. It's like having me there in your video suite!

Color Jumpstart Logo

Other Technical Writing

I was a contributing writer for Edit Well, Peachpit's interactive newsletter on the Final Cut Studio, with an ongoing column on color correction. Many of my articles from the series, and others from experts in Final Cut Studio applications, have been collected into the verbosely named book Edit Well: Final Cut Studio Techniques from the Pros.

Edit Well]

I cowrote the now out-of-print Advanced Color Correction and Effects in Final Cut Pro, which was part of the Apple Pro Training Series published by Peachit Press. Excerpted chapters from this book covering the use of color correction filters in Final Cut Pro can now be found in Color Correction in Final Cut Studio.

On behalf of RED DIGITAL CINEMA, I wrote the RED Final Cut Studio 2 and 3 Whitepapers, that cover the most ideal postproduction and finishing workflows when using media from the RED camera with Final Cut Studio 2 and 3.

RED DIGITAL CINEMA

I've also drawn upon my postproduction experience on behalf of Apple as one of the founders of the User Publications group responsible for documenting Apple's professional digital video applications. While I was once on staff, I still freelance for Apple from time to time, most recently as the author of the Color and Final Cut Studio Workflows documentation.

Final Cut Studio 3

 

Awards for Technical Writing

The Final Cut Pro 2 User Manual won a Touchstone 2001 award for Excellence from the Northern California STC. The Final Cut Pro 4 User Manual also won an award for Excellence from the Rocky Mountain STC.