Peripheral Studios

Photography - Light Graffiti

Graffiti: the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property. Graffiti is often regarded as unsightly damage or unwanted vandalism.

For many people, the distinction between destructive and nondestructive graffiti is a nonexistent notion. Indeed, as we can see by the definition given above (courtesy of wikipedia.com) the very word "graffiti" carries with it an extremely negative connotation, often associated with criminal behavior.

This distinction between destructive and nondestructive graffiti intrigued me, leading me to venture out into Northfield with a couple of guys on the nights of Friday April 18th and Sunday April 20th. The results, as you will see, were outstanding.

Using a tripod, a Canon PowerShot SX100, and a large assortment of colored flashlights, we were able to experiment for hours on both nights, taking about one hundred pictures, and experimenting with different kinds of light graffiti. Although not all of the pictures turned out well, I was very pleased with the outcome, and around 10 or 15 or so came out great.

This project can be seen in the  light graffiti photo album found on this page. 

Trapped in Goodhue

I'm pleased to present "Trapped in Goodhue," third place and audience approval winner in Carleton's annual film competition (DVDFEST). Intended as a parody of R. Kelly's soap opera titled "Trapped in the Closet." Subject matter may not be suitable for children. Enjoy!

Trapped in Goodhue- Carleton DVD Fest 2009 from Mateo Trujillo on Vimeo.

Credits

Ebuke Amaefuna as R. Kelly

Avi Fine

Alexander Cooney

Lucy Schroeder

Mira Alecci

Chelsea Lau

Sarah Duane

Carl Smith

Owen McMurtrey

Henry Spruth

Kelly Soderstrome

Andrew Tatge

Alper Dikmen

Claire Harper

Helen Waller

Geoff Williams

DeeDee Rupert

Original Score by R. Kelly

Soundtrack by Carl Smith and Henry Spruth

Vocals by Ebuke Amaefuna

After Effects by Alexander Cooney

Written by Carl Smith, Henry Spruth, and Mateo Trujillo

Directed and Edited by Mateo Trujillo

Produced by Collegiate Opera in association with Peripheral Studios

Photography - Rome Study Abroad (The Underground)

The second project that I have been working on in Rome is a photographical study of the underground culture of Rome. Known as a historical and religious city, few people have seen the hidden side of Rome, that of modern street culture and graffiti artists. 

Fascinated by this distinction, I set out onto the streets of Rome looking for a contrast between the Rome in the guidebooks and the Rome of the streets. Here is what I found.

 

 

 

 

I found these three breakers preforming near the ruins of the Roman Forum, which you can see in the background of the three pictures. A very talented trio, I was amazed by how each of the three dancers had mastered one of the elements of breakdancing. While one could execute extreme power moves,  and another was able to transition between the up and down-rock seamlessly, the thirds unique style and intense attitude in unison with the other two made hundreds of people stop admiring the historical landmarks of the city to watch their performance, which is no easy feat in Rome. 

Photography - Rome Study Abroad (Good vs Evil Project)

Well, it's been nearly three weeks in Rome, and the experience has been nothing short of magnificent. The city is a magical place, and I've felt very much at home here despite the language barrier. Something about the atmosphere here is extremely inspiring, leading me to start work on several projects. 

The first project that I have been working on actually began while I was in New York city around four weeks back. I remember being bored and needing something to keep me busy, so I started going through the pictures I had taken over the past couple days. One of the pictures was of one of my friends named Sam Scherf, which I randomly decided to start messing with. After around fifteen minutes, this was the result.

 

Although this case didn't involve a lot of photoshop manipulation, it was the first step in a series of photoshopped images that I have been working on. Inspired by the themes found here in Rome, and NOT on the movie "Angels and Demons" which is set to come out soon, I started working on a good vs evil project here in Rome. Here are some examples.

 

 

Photography - New York Study Abroad

It's been nearly a week, and it's high time that this site get the attention it deserves.  Although I will have spent a whole week in New York City on Tuesday, Sunday appears to be the best day to work online considering how little time we spend in our apartments in International House.

It has been a great week. Judging by how much time we've spent traveling around the city, I'm sure that John Schott (our professor) intended to use this week as an introduction to New York City. Although I've been to New York more times than I can count since I live in New Jersey, I've gotten to know the city far better and can now safely say that I feel comfortable moving about on my own. 

 

After traveling to several sites with the class and by myself, I began to amass a large number of pictures that I felt required some artistic attention. Although many of them came out great by themselves and required little more than a little bit of cropping, I decided to start working on a narrative through the pictures, leading me to create an apocalyptic narrative of New York City. Although I plan to continue as the weeks progress, this is what I have as of right now:

 

 

As the three weeks progressed, I undertook several other small projects, mainly of picture studies of the city. Unedited, these are the original photographs that I took as I travelled around New York City.

 

Re-Shoot of "The Terrible Flowers"

As a final project for the directing fiction class I took during the first trimester of my sophomore year at Carleton, we were assigned to re-shoot a scene from one of our professors films called THE TERRIBLE FLOWERS. The visiting professor was independent film director Eric Tretbar, a Carleton native, and director of such films as SNOW (1998), GIGI 12x5 (2005), and THE HORRIBLE FLOWERS (2005). Divided up into four groups of three, the class chose scenes from the most recent of Tretbars movies and was given the task of finding actors and locals for the shoot, as well as the artistic freedom to make the scene as unique as possible. Along with Jesse Ruiz (2010)and Henry Moskowitz (2011), we found and prepped two actors, set up a set, shot, and edited the film for our final project.

This scene stars Chelsea Lau (2012) and Carl Smith (2011).

The Horrible Flowers- Scene Re-Make from Mateo Trujillo on Vimeo.

The Light Graffiti Music Video

This was a short piece I composed consisting of a music track I created using Soundtrack Pro and a multitude of light graffiti pictures I took during my freshman year.
Designed to be played within the massive bubble-dome that my site-specific media class constructed during the final term of my freshman year, this song was played in front of thousands of Carleton students while the visual was played on two large projections that were illuminated on opposite sides of the dome.
Pictures from the event can be found in "Media Dome", under the Links category of this page. 

The Light Graffiti Music Video from Mateo Trujillo on Vimeo.

Web Design - In Memory of The Carleton Show

Carleton College, Spring Term, 2008: A group of nine other students and I joined up to produce the final season of what had become a well-known campus group, The Carleton Show. More of a club than an actual class, the course was first introduced by visiting professor and award-winning independent film director Melody Gilbert, known for her films: URBAN EXPLORERS: INTO THE DARKNESS (2007), A LIFE WITHOUT PAIN (2005), WHOLE (2003), and MARRIED AT THE MALL (2002), as well as for her guiding role in the production of DISCONNECTED (2008), a student run film produced at Carleton.

Producing an episode every other week, the group would designate a managers, anchors, editors, camera-men, and reporters to produce the show, allowing for a diversified understanding of the film-production process. Including a total of ten members, our cast consisted of:

Mike Baron
Alyssa Hursh
Chai Lee
Kate McDonald
Jordan Narvey
Jacob Schak
Meryl Schumacker
Lisa Short
Max Silver
and Mateo Trujillo (Me)

With the help of Bedrich Rios, a then junior CAMS major with a concentration in computer programming and web design, I was able to launch a website for our class that lasted for the entire term. Using a website design I created in Adobe Photoshop CS2 and with the help of my friend Chris Wilen, we were able to write up an html for the webpage, the visual of which can be found below.

Including a total of five episodes, The Carleton Show covered all sorts of campus events, including concerts, art exhibitions, and dances; and was intended not only to amuse but to also educate the student body on events occurring around the campus.

Towards the end of the term, the class began to advertise the existence of the show by using posters and pamphlets, as well as by broadcasting in public spaces and through the use of weekly lotteries.

This post goes to the memory of our little show, two short clips of which can be found in The Carleton Show-Shorts post of this website.

Animation - Company Logo Ideas

It was a dark and stormy night, nearly two years ago to the day. I was alone in my room, and I was in desperate need of something to do. After spending an hour or two chatting online with my friends, I began to browse through my windows applications, searching desperately for ways to amuse myself.

After a while, out of options, I began to mess around with the paint program that comes pre-installed with every Windows, thinking about a company logo for my dream enterprise. After an hour or so of thinking, (and after several name ideas that I don't care to mention), I stumbled across the name that you see artistically portrayed at the very top of this page.

Thus, that very night, I got to work on two simple logo designs using stop-motion animation with the the paint and Windows Movie Maker applications. These two short videos can be found below.

Peripheral Studios Logo #1 from Mateo Trujillo on Vimeo.
Peripheral Studios Logo #2 from Mateo Trujillo on Vimeo.

Is It All Over You?

This short video was directed by my good friend Alexander Cooney, and was submitted for an online competition. However, the event was poorly run, and Cooney decided to pull the video. Starring both Cooney and myself, the video was designed to imitate the classic Gatorade commercials that have become the life-blood of all broad casted sporting events in the USA.
The rest of Alexander Cooney's videos can be seen at www.blarbus.com.

Is It All Over You? from Mateo Trujillo on Vimeo.