Skip to main content
Category

videography

Jan 13
Love0

Breast Cancer Video for Large Insurance Company

By Canon 5D Mark 2, HDSLR Video, Masqueman Photography, videography
As DLSR video becomes the norm, regular photographers like me are called upon to generate video content for clients. While there can be some cross-over in the equipment used to make videos and still photos, I found myself having 2 sets of specialized gear including cold and hot video lights, high-end audio capture gear, and even a teleprompter. Skimping on any of those items can result in a less than professional looking (and sounding) video.

I was asked by Munich Re to create an interview style video to explain the complex nature of breast cancer, how treatments have changed over time and mortality rates. This is not a typical company promo… and it is also proprietary information so I cannot share the final product.

However, I can show stills pulled from the video to show the lighting and composition. We decided to use multiple camera angles to add interest to the 30 minute video. I recorded the host, James Swinton,  asking questions in a wide angle view first. Then I repeated the question set as closeup footage. This gave me the option of changing viewpoint during post-production.

Afterwards,  the expert guest was given several takes to explain his complex medical data. Dr. Lund is a master of medical-speak taking high-level medical and insurance terminology and blending them seamlessly into an easy-to-understand info-dose. Complex charts and graphs were used to explain the key topics and were composited during post production.
I told Dr. Lund that I would not want to play Scrabble with him since every word would be at least 10 letters long. 
Mar 30
Love0

Promotional Video for the Psychology Department of Agnes Scott College

By Agnes Scott College, Andrew Hughes, Jennifer Hughes, Psychology, Video, Video DSLR, videography
My wife is the head of the Psychology Department at Agnes Scott College, a women’s college open since the 1880s in the city of Decatur, Georgia. They are currently redesigning their web site and each department was tasked with developing a promotional video. This is a pretty tall order for many people who do not make videos all the time. I offered my services to help my wife out, but I wanted to approach the project from a photographer’s point of view.

(UPDATED) See for yourself below or click here to watch it on YouTube if the video does not play for you.

I am not a video professional per se. I consider myself a photographer who is sometimes tasked with making videos. To me, still photos and moving video are worlds apart that require different equipment, techniques and most of all editing time on the back end.

The plan was simple and necessitated by the fact that I would only have about 10 minutes with each ASC student who was going to appear in the video. I would take a variety of still portraits of each student and then make a recording of their prepared statement of “why I like the Psychology Department”. To simplify this, I had a mic hooked right into the Canon 5D Mkii that I was using. This kept the recording with the person’s images so I could easily combine them later in iMovie. Yep, Apple’s consumer video editor.

This approach worked well for several reasons. First of all, I am better at taking portraits than making video so I decided to stick with my strengths. Another reason is that taking portraits can be much faster than making video. The students would have had to memorize their text and multiple takes would have been required to get the perfect performance. That can barely be done in 10 minutes with professional speakers, much less regular folks.

My wife and I wanted there to be a consistent theme throughout the video to tie everything together. I used a picture frame that read “Why I Like Psych” that would appear in every scene. Each student was also named in the video to make it more personal.

The students that participated did an excellent job, and I believe that they show the diversity and independent spirit alive at that school. Agnes Scott College is a unique school, and I got the feeling that the women who go there love it.

Feb 11
Love0

Promo Video for a World Class Glove Corporation

By Graphic Works, Showa Best Glove, videography

Creating promotional videos for clients is a creative process that we really enjoy at Graphic Works because it uses every artistic skill that we possess. This particular video was built for Showa Best Glove’s annual sales meeting, and for later use on their web site.

This project was a true team effort involving several people. I wrote the basic script and storyboard with some tweaks from my boss and the client. Then we sent the script to a professional voice talent to record. He nailed it on the first take.

From there, custom graphics were created for different scenes, and other audio and video assets were gathered, including some last minute footage shot by the client in their manufacturing facility and other scenes recorded with the Canon 5D Mark 2 DSLR.

The last stop was in the hands of our in-house video editor, David Struve, who pushed the concepts from the storyboard even further making the final video better than I had envisioned it. We all added small details to improve the final product.

Like Hannibal from the “A-Team” used to say…
“I love it when a plan comes together!”

Nov 20
Love0

New Employee Video Made with Canon 5D Mark 2

By Canon 5D Mark 2, Video DSLR, videography

One of our long-time clients asked up to film a welcome speech aimed at new employees. We created a portable set in an office with noisy AC vents and interstate 285 within viewing distance. This room was our only option so we went with it. High ambient noise can cause issues when trying to capture clean sound, even with good mikes. Our solution was to shoot the speech and then record some ambient dead space on the tape. Then we filtered out the AC unit and traffic noises in post production by isolating the sound waveforms.The film was created using a Canon 5D Mark 2.

Oct 12
Love0

Racing by Candle Light

By Canon 5D Mark 2, Karting, racing, videography

My coworker, David Struve, loves speed. As you can see here, he is quite a hooligan. I remember that told me that he learned to drive like this from his grandma. Rumor has it that his whole family has been in jail for extreme speeding or street racing at one time or another. Anyway, you get the picture…

As part of his probation and promise to keep his racing off the streets (ha ha), he participates in a  a racing league at a local indoor karting track every weekend. See www.procupkarting.com for details. Last season he won top honors in his class, and this season he looks to win at the next level up.

The karts that they use are not your average bumper cars either. These things corner, accelerate and wrestle you during a race. Helmets, gloves, rib protectors, racing shoes and neck braces remind you that you can get hurt if you make a mistake. The course is tight and technical and has every kind of corner you can imagine. It’s good fun and you can do it too at Andretti’s Indoor Karting & Games in Alpharetta, GA.

Dave is also the web master for the racing league  and was telling me how difficult it is to get good video and photo coverage in the dark warehouse where the races take place. I asked him if I could try out my Canon 5D Mark 2 and Canon 7D’s video capabilities during a race to try to get some good promotional footage for him. He agreed.

When I arrived, I found that he was not exaggerating. My light meter indicated the perfect exposure was at the low edge of the limits of hand held photography: ISO 6400 at a 15th of a second at an aperture of F2.8. Take my word for it… that is extremely dark to try to capture clean stills and video without blurring.

Still, the Canon 5D Mark 2 was up to the task, and we got some useable footage from the event.. to be posted later after it gets edited. Stay tuned…

Sep 06
Love0

R&L Tree Experts Web Site and Photography Project

By corporate photography, videography, web site design
Atlanta Tree Removal - R&L Tree Experts

 
As fate would have it, I woke up one morning last week to discover that the 60 year old oak tree in my front yard had split almost right down the middle and was hanging together by a thread. This was very depressing because my family loves this tree. It was one of the first things that we would see in the mornings and one of the last things we would see in the sunset. I had taken many portraits in front of it and now, sadly, it would have to be cut down.

After calling 5 different tree removal companies in Atlanta, I was surprised that I was not getting any call backs. Don’t these companies want my money? By pure luck I was driving home when I saw R&L Tree Experts working in a nearby neighborhood. I asked them to give me a quote and they came early that evening. Their estimate was fair, and they were willing to do the work the very next day. This was great because the tree was very unstable and could have easily fallen on my house.

They did a great job the next morning, and I even had them remove some humongous pines that were dangerously leaning over my house. I would recommend R&L Tree Experts to anybody in the Atlanta area who needs tree removal service.

Talking to the owner, Romel,  I found out that they did not have a web site and I offered to make them one. These guys had built their business on word-of-mouth and referrals only, but it was time to modernize. These guys were genuinely nice people, and I really wanted to help them.

Part of the design project was to take photos of them performing various tree removal duties. I also wanted to make a simple time-lapse movie showing them removing a tree. We helped them with the marketing of the site by writing the text and came up with a final web site that I think will serve them well in the Atlanta market. You can check it out at www.RLTreeExperts.com.

From a personal point of view, I like the fact that I can offer my clients photography, video, web design and graphic design services under one roof. If that’s not versatile, I don’t know what is…

May 24
Love0

Canon 5D Mark 2 Web Commercial for ReNu Finish

By automobiles, automotive products, Graphic Works, ReNu Finish, videography

When a client needed a demonstration video for his car restoration product, I did not hesitate to use the Canon 5d Mark II. Hollywood has already embraced this DSLR video technology for movies, television and commercials. Considering the relatively low entry cost for full HD quality, it is easy to see why.

The product demo was filmed on a used car lot where we found the a very weathered 10 year old vehicle to show how ReNu Finish restores plastic trim to its original factory finish. The best thing about this product is that one application can last up to a year, unlike some of the silicon spray products on the market.

The video was a group effort with me shooting the raw footage, Chase Walker providing the voice over with music and David Struve at Graphic Works editing the clips.

This product should soon be available at many major retail auto parts stores and department stores. For more information visit www.medsproducts.com.

Sep 03
Love0

Video for a wedding, a Baptism and a 3 First Communions

By Atlanta, EuroFotoVideo.com, Lituanian community, Religious ceremonies, underwater video, videography

Lituanians know how to pack many events into one big church service, and I was asked by my friend Paulius of EuroFotoVideo.com to be his videographer for a day. Usually, he and his brother, Justinas, take photos and video at these events, but Justinas was out of town. We recorded a wedding, a baptism and a 3 first communions in the span of a couple of hours.

To make matters more challenging, the services were not in English and this was the first time for me using their pro video camera. Paulius was able to give me cues from across the room so I knew when to move in for important moments. This on-the-job training was invaluable.
It was a great fun, and I felt like we were preserving important memories for the families involved. Talk about cramming a lot into one day.
Close Menu