We are excited to be a part of another Parachute video. We worked with them on a few videos already and the guys have been nothing short of FANTASTIC.
The video was used to announce the annual 2012 Jostens Renaissance National Conference event that brings together over 1200 students and educators from across the United States and Canada to share best practices and promote the philosophies associated with Jostens Renaissance.
TurnHere Creative Mike Lee did an amazing job.
This week TurnHere wants to highlight the video for Creperie Saint Germain done by the filmmaker team Vanessa & Andrew. Upon reviewing this stunning video, I went here for lunch that same day. I was unaware that a crazy good crepe stand was just around the corning from the TurnHere office; I hit up Creperie Saint Germain on the regular. As a side note, check out the cameo from the lovely Alison, rockin' the TurnHere Local Ops team.
Vanessa, Filmmaker: The length of the shoot was close to two hours, which is longer than a typical TurnHere shoot. This was mostly due to the problems we had with the location and the bit of time adapting to the workarounds.
Z, Client: Easy and smooth.
Vanessa, Filmmaker: Two staff members from TurnHere, whose office was nearby, wanted to meet with us at the shoot so they could get a taste of how it works. The shoot location was on a corner of a busy and noisy San Francisco intersection, which would have made the audio a nightmare to work with. Because the TurnHere office was a short walk away, we were able to borrow TurnHere's conference room to shoot the interview. If that wasn’t enough, one of the TurnHere staff was gracious enough to allow us to cast her as the customer. Every time we watch the video, we think, "this woman loooves her some crepes."
Z, Client: It looks very professional. They did a great job with editing and the quality is really good.
Vanessa, Filmmaker: It's always fun to learn about some of the interesting things that happen behind the scenes of a 60-second TurnHere video. We're not always lucky to have a couple TurnHere employees present at a shoot, but thank goodness they were there for this one.
This week TurnHere is highlighting the awesome video done by Anthony Puente for Dragon Books, in Los Angeles, CA. Anthony, great job on the video - you really captured how special this bookstore is.
This is somewhere I’d love to spend the afternoon curled up on a comfy chair by a fireplace with a first edition (and signed!) Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea.
Anthony, Filmmaker: The shoot probably took 2-2 1/2 hours. According to TurnHere guidelines, shoots should take no more than 60-90 minutes, but I find that if I give the client as much time as they need, within reason, instead of consistently checking my watch and pushing to make the 90 minutes, they are appreciative and give me a better interview and overall better experience.
Cassandra, Client: Overall, it was a great experience. Anthony was very good at what he did, put us at ease, and was very timely with the edits.
Anthony, Filmmaker: Great! The two ladies that manage and run the store were friendly and free to help out in anyway. It was such a hidden gem of a store. All of the design elements lent itself to be a great, visually interesting shoot.
Cassandra, Client: I think my two favorite shots are the overview shot of the store, and the shot of Rebecca and I talking.
Anthony, Filmmaker: I had a few on this project, but I would have to say that the perspective shot with the Los Angeles book in the foreground and the staff in the background was tops. A great moment to wrack between the two elements as well as a perfect match in post to a previous shot of the employees hard at work.
Anthony, Filmmaker: Never knowing what is held in store for me from shoot to shoot is my favorite part of the job. Solid research, client phone call and roll of the dice are all you can hope for to prepare yourself.
I really try to pride myself on tackling every shoot with the same amount of passion, creativity and professionalism.
The opening shot to this week's video of the week is AMAZING! George Stearns did a fantastic job shooting the Wild Bites restaurant in Amesbury, MA.
And he even offers some tips on how to use things called a Pocket Dolly, tripod and slider. Can you tell I'm not a videographer? But I know a great video when I see one!
I'd like to start by saying Tony Ortu is truly a character and a really great guy to work with. He sent me back to my girlfriends with some tiramisu that was to die for! With that said, Tony's passion for the food he creates was the greatest challenge of the shoot. The shoot was scheduled for the evening so we could capture the clientele and vibe of a typical evening. Shooting during prime time made locking Tony down for more than five minutes really not possible, as he was running out to the kitchen to attend to every plate, and that made getting voiceover and interview footage a total nightmare!
The good news: What I lacked in VO I made up for in B-Roll. I left two cameras set up in the back room for those lucky moments when I could get interview. Then I set up a third camera for B-Roll in the dining room on a Kessler Pocket Dolly, it's a three foot sliderthat is proving to be worth it's weight in gold for these smaller one man shoots.
Can you talk about the opening shot?
I think the B-Roll footage I was able to capture that evening in the dinning room was my favorite, especially the slider move of the young couple having dinner. I also used the slider for the opening shot of the sign out front earlier that day. The Pocket Dolly works great on it's own but mounting it on a tripod allows you to pan and tilt the slider moves.
When Parachute management called us for another video shoot, we were excited to be working with them again! Disclaimer: After we shot 3 music videos for them, I decided to buy their album. You should check it out too. They wanted to film a concert and capture a special duet with the band and co-headliner Kate Voegele.
So we called upon our best videographers in the Detroit and Dave Rondot stepped it up BIG TIME! Take a look at what Dave was able to do with very limited resources. BIG BIG BIG Thanks to Dave for doing an amazing job.
My favorite shot was the close-up on the bass guitar. I like this shot because it was a steady handheld shot with a follow focus that goes unnoticed. I also liked the close-up shot of the drummer that starts with the drummer in focus and ends with the drums in focus for the same reason although not quite as steady. How was the overall experience?It was enjoyable because shooting concerts is not what I normally do. It's always nice to shoot different things in different environments.
Ten hours, 2:00pm to midnight. When you go into a venue that has many concerns beyond you as a video shooter you have to get there early to get on everyone's radar and to make sure your issues are considered. Getting there early first of all got me parking very close to the entrance. This was helpful for both the haul in and haul out. If I had gotten there later I would have had to park a block or more away, had difficulty getting through security, and the crowd that had already assembled at the entrance.
The biggest challenge was to cover the full song with less than adequate resources. To get full coverage on a live event three cameras are generally considered necessary and of course three cameras would normally require three operators. On this shoot I had three cameras but only two operators. The other cameraman was in the process of changing lenses when the song started. So for the beginning of the song there was one camera locked off on a jib arm, and the camera I was operating had a fixed prime lens and being located in a balcony was also restricted in terms of camera position. But because I arrived early I was able to get some shots during a rehearsal which were used to provide the coverage needed. These were all the close-up shots on the keyboards, guitars, drums and male singer used for the beginning of the song. At some point during shooting I realized I had gotten about all I could with the camera in hand and from that angle so I made the choice to put down that camera and take control of the locked off camera on the jib. So, in the end it looked like a three camera shoot with three operators. The better scenario would have been to have the third camera down on the floor in front of the stage. I feel missing from the coverage was a close-up of Kate Voegele.