Rafi is an award winning contemporary artist who creates emotionally charged works. He is best known for his use of texture and bold color palates in striking pieces that each has a story to tell.
Rafi is a self taught artist who spent years refining his own techniques and creating a style that is all his own. He has a unique ability to absorb colors and emotions in a very abstract way and is somehow able to translate it into the high energy fine art for which he is known.
"He is driven to communicate visual qualities of perhaps the external environment which offers us freedom and inspiration as we cope with awesome focal points in the vast open space surrounding our existence. He attempts to show the internal passion of human sensuality that brings quality to our senses stimulating and extending our consciousness elevating life as individuals or sharing space with others around us. Ultimately Rafi seems to convey simple sophistication and intellectual freedom as he uses the visual language to express the human potential." - Spiros Zachos (PO10TIAL Magazine)
So as you know at one point I was going to make the tag line for Rafi Was Here Studios “Bringing Imagination To Life” which in my opinion was absolutely brilliant! Then I realized I didn’t make it up and it actually belonged to G.E. or something like that. Well, this last film wasn’t only imagination, but it was also just totally nerdy! You have no idea how cool it is too see yourself on film doing things that you hope you will never have to really do in real life.
Such as having an epic gun battle or over the top sword fight! reliving my childhood days of playing cops and robbers, or pirate battles. Of course now they call it LARP Live Action Role Playing… Back then it was just a battle with wooden sticks as swords and shields.
This video is proof that most of us never really want to grow up!
Klee and I had a wonderful day having a photo shoot in which we took several great pictures for some of the new paintings I’ll be working on at in Gulf Breeze. Some of the designs will be for a secret unveiling at Gallery Night in Pensacola on May 18th.
The pictures themselves were amazing and we loved how they came out. You can find some more on my facebook page.
Recently I’ve had the honor of filming a group of amazingly talented musicians who have come together in a musical project called Creedence Revived. Check them out, they are an awesome CCR Tribute band!
This year we are getting a new look here at Rafi Was Here Studios. As you I already love to share entertaining videos on youtube… This year I will be adding a few new elements to my studio, including Art and Music. I will also be offering production services to consumers and opening a location in Gulf Breeze Florida. Coming Soon Rafi Was Here Studios at Gulf Breeze Flea Market.
So you are making some videos and sharing them with the world. You want to take it the next level and use special effects to enhance your viewers experience.
What do you do? What program do you use? How do you get it? How do you learn to use it?
I’ve been making videos for a while now and that counts for something but not too much when it comes to the advances in technology in video editing.
I use Sony Vegas for film and Video Sound Editing. I use Adobe After Effects for Special Effects and picture quality rendering (Due to the fact that I use a very cheap camera for the moment) I also use Sony Acid Pro and Audacity for music production and sound effects.
So on a low budget, how do you come across all these programs? Well, Audacity is a free sound and music editing program and you can find it at http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
The other program are a bit expensive, I reached out to a lot of people and was constantly on the look out for a bargain. I found the programs I was looking for at the Flea Market in a box of stuff that belonged to a kid who had gone off to college and his parents were cleaning out his room and converting it into an office. The interesting thing was that once I found the programs a bunch of people let me borrow their copies.
The next step was learning the programs, I can only speak for myself but the best way I found for me to learn something is to actually play with it. I spent a month filming and playing around with both programs, when ever I wanted to do something specific I looked it up on Youtube… In fact I still look it up when ever I think something up that I don’t know how to do. I think that is key, stretching your abilities by dreaming something up that might be a stretch for you and then making it happen, either way, it will be a learning experience.
To be honest with you, the key to filming something on a low budget is to just do it… Creative ways of doing it usually pop up in your mind once you’ve already started the process of filming. I spent a long time dreaming things up and not taking action on them because I didn’t have everything I needed. This will make your filming experience dull and you may not enjoy the process… In my opinion, why film unless you enjoy making films.
So, if you are a filmmaker and you have no budget, don’t think to yourself that someday you’ll be able to do it… Just do it. Borrow equipment, find good deals, be creative and stay optimistic… And have fun!
Some of the best films I have seen had virtually no budget but a lot of creativity… You can’t buy that, and sometimes necessity breads ideas that are creative and brilliant simply because you were forced to think outside of the box.
Also, display your work… If you watched it more than once and you enjoyed it, put it out there, you’ve got nothing to lose. So, if you are a filmmaker, then make films, and stop using not having a budget as an excuse to not make films… Happy shooting!
In This skit Klee and I are “parking” and I was totally going to get to second base until we were attacked by aliens.
This was filmed at night, so there was a lot of moving lights around involved and the challenge of keeping the auto-focus from going crazy.
One funny thing about filming this skit is the fact that the alien who is played by my cousin Erik is supposed to be a tiny scary Alien who just sort of appears. Well, the challenge is the fact that Erik is a big dude with wide shoulders.
Erik had to stand on his knees to reach the small alien stature, yet you still see some of the widest shoulders you could ever see on an alien. He was a great sport.
I have to applaud Klee in this skit. Her performance was amazing, and her terrified screams are convincing… When I was editing I had to lower the volume because our dog thought I was killing her every time I played back a scene. It turned out great!
Chances are if you live in Pensacola Florida you’ve seen a crazy looking truck with the words Watch us on Youtube painted all over it, or maybe you ran across one of the videos by Rafi Was Here on Youtube.
Rafi Was Here is a small (Very small) production company that is focusing all it’s efforts on creating fun and original content on Youtube.
Armed with a cheap camera, an old computer and creativity we decided to see how far we can go and how many people we can make laugh.
In 2009 Klee and I (Rafi) left Chicago Illinois and traveled the country in a customized 92 Ford Explorer. We decided to hang out in Pensacola for a while and focus on filming. So far so good. This Blog will be used for production notes and tips Utilized by us during our filming efforts on a shoestring budget… Luckily we can get pretty creative.
FAM JAM Festival May 18, 2024 at 2:00 pm – 5:00 pm
2 Central Ave, Oil City, PA 16301
Come watch Rafi and Klee create art and jewelry demonstrations at the Fam Jam festival.
Red Brick Gallery Exhibition Reception And Poetry June 2, 2024 at 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm
17 Main St, Foxburg, PA 16036, USA
Join us at Redbrick Gallery for some awesome art from myself and other local artists. Poets will recite poetry written about the art in this awesome group show..
The Manos Gallery 24 Minis Reception September 7, 2024 at 4:00 pm – 8:00 pm
320 E 5th Ave, Tarentum, PA 15084, USA
Join us for this amazing group show and witness a collection of mini art from myself and 42 other fantastic artists.
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