I embarked on perhaps the biggest, busiest, and most exhausting shoot I've taken part in two weekends ago. I was one of the camera men for a reality show pilot that was shot in the Bronx and New York City. Lots of unnecessary waiting, as the case might be for most shoots, but the crew was awesome. Some of them I've worked with before on cheer leading shoots. Others I was working with for the first time, but they were very professional and helped out a lot (especially the guy who acted as the technical adviser). I did the bulk of my shooting out in the field so to speak, and I feel I captured some pretty good stuff (at least when the camera wasn't shaky or the weather wasn't too bad). I was the only guy shooting to tape (the other cameras used SD cards), and earlier today I finished logging all of the footage I shot (writing down what happened and when it happened over the course of eight tapes). I set my camera to continually run on regular time so myself and others could document when things took place.
I can't say much at all about the subject matter of the show, but the people we shot (the stars of the show) were very nice to us and accommodating... if not pretty overbearing. That's just personal opinion, as is me saying that this show wouldn't be something I'd watch. Of course, if the pilot gets picked up and I continue working on it, I wouldn't have to. Supposedly some people higher up are supportive of it, and some networks have expressed interest in the concept. We shot three days' worth of footage, perhaps enough for three episodes. There's going to be another crew meeting (we had three prior to filming) to go over the direction this first episode can take.
This pilot was done on spec, so there's no money in it yet. Provided it gets picked up, it should be pretty lucrative to myself and others involved. In the meantime, there's also the chance of me shooting more high school football games this fall, plus I owe it to myself to attend some local sports and shoot for my own benefit (making some kind of reel to show to potential customers).
Speaking of my own benefit, it's been well over a year, and I've posted the majority of Release The 7" to my YouTube page. The original DVD, however, is still available.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Two New Tools
My first blog in a long time; I've still kept busy (lots of cheerleading shoots in the spring, a full day of dance recitals to shoot two weeks ago), but there just haven't been any unique developments worth writing about. Now, I have a somewhat-minor entry about two things that would impact my work in a major way.
The first is a Sony Bloggie, a handy pocket camera I got in the beginning of the year. I initially received an Ultra HD FlipCam for Christmas, but it didn't work out of the box, even with different batteries, so I returned it. The Bloggie is nicer, more compact, and uses internal power. The silly name comes from some social networking features in its software, but none of that is compatible with Macs. Still, this camera allows me to shoot the spur-of-the-moment stuff on the go, and I can drop the footage and upload it online easily. Unfortunately, something this small doesn't allow for a lot of control that I'm used to, such as brightness and focus. I tried using it at another band party in Pennington last night (the last such one, as all tenants will have moved out by the end of the month and will set up shop elsewhere). The compactness came in handy for the close quarters, but being at the mercy of the poor lighting and shoddy focus for such a long time did me in, so I opted to just enjoy the show as is (it's also still a very hot area to showcase music during this time of year). I still took some footage early on to add to my growing collection of short videos on Facebook. The further adventures of the involved artists can be found at NefariousIndustries.com
The second thing? A new camera for professional use: a Sony HVR-Z1U. I bought it from a gent in Ardmore for a very good price (he has his own business in the field), and he threw in a Pelican-brand hard plastic case to use with it. He's had it for a year, but it's in excellent condition and works a lot like my own camera. It shoots in 1080i, so I've crossed over into the HD world after two and half years of doing camera work. It still uses miniDV tapes as opposed to a lot of similar cameras using SD cards, with a lot of features accessible through the LCD menu. My work should look a lot nicer now than it has before, and I've already put this camera and its wider frame to good use for my aforementioned dance recital shoot. I'll be using it even more in the near future for a big project that was cooked up last month, but I can't talk about that for a while. Overall, I'm feeling quite good professionally.
The first is a Sony Bloggie, a handy pocket camera I got in the beginning of the year. I initially received an Ultra HD FlipCam for Christmas, but it didn't work out of the box, even with different batteries, so I returned it. The Bloggie is nicer, more compact, and uses internal power. The silly name comes from some social networking features in its software, but none of that is compatible with Macs. Still, this camera allows me to shoot the spur-of-the-moment stuff on the go, and I can drop the footage and upload it online easily. Unfortunately, something this small doesn't allow for a lot of control that I'm used to, such as brightness and focus. I tried using it at another band party in Pennington last night (the last such one, as all tenants will have moved out by the end of the month and will set up shop elsewhere). The compactness came in handy for the close quarters, but being at the mercy of the poor lighting and shoddy focus for such a long time did me in, so I opted to just enjoy the show as is (it's also still a very hot area to showcase music during this time of year). I still took some footage early on to add to my growing collection of short videos on Facebook. The further adventures of the involved artists can be found at NefariousIndustries.com
The second thing? A new camera for professional use: a Sony HVR-Z1U. I bought it from a gent in Ardmore for a very good price (he has his own business in the field), and he threw in a Pelican-brand hard plastic case to use with it. He's had it for a year, but it's in excellent condition and works a lot like my own camera. It shoots in 1080i, so I've crossed over into the HD world after two and half years of doing camera work. It still uses miniDV tapes as opposed to a lot of similar cameras using SD cards, with a lot of features accessible through the LCD menu. My work should look a lot nicer now than it has before, and I've already put this camera and its wider frame to good use for my aforementioned dance recital shoot. I'll be using it even more in the near future for a big project that was cooked up last month, but I can't talk about that for a while. Overall, I'm feeling quite good professionally.
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