Losing all my blogs

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Oh no

SO This will be short sweet and to the point. I lost all the blogs I was following. How is it that I can no longer follow the people I want because google decided to take away reader. Now I can't follow any of the people I was recently follow and whats worse, how can I find new people to read. This is leading to something I have been thinking.. moving the blog

Maybe starting over

I have been thinking of ways to bringing the business into the 21st century. So far my business has been by word of mouth and has been good but now I need to take the next step. I notice that a lot of the website building sites have also a option to blog. The problem is that you have to use their blog site if you want the blog and website to talk to each other. I would really like this, and truly believe that you can't separate the two. Whoever I choose to build the site with my blog will sure to follow.

Don't worry

I will give everyone ample amounts of time to get used to the transition and will post on both blogs until I believe its time to shut this one down. Also the business is building c-stands using PVC pipes. Once these are done and if they work I will post for everyone how we did it and the pipes you will need to make it work.

"To change the world you must first share your story."

Lights and green screen

What I have learned today

One of the things I learned tonight is properly lighting your green screen. It's amazing how we will pay so much attention to our subject but totally forget about our background.
Another thing I have learned is that you want to have a shallow depth of field. You want to have your subject in focus but not the green screen. By doing this you are taking away any visible creases. And finally make sure your green screen is non reflective. If the green screen is reflective then you create the chance of making a hot spot on your screen.

Tomorrow

More fun with green screens.

Monday Mondays Mondays

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Mondays are more like , Well Mondays

I can not understand why but on Mondays. I just can't seem to get the anything rolling. I still need to put up the footage from this past weekend and still need to look up green screen and how to properly use them.

You can't just put someone in front of a green screen

Have you ever really thought about this, you can't just put someone in front of a green screen. There are simple rules one must go by so he or she can get the best out of there screen.

1. Lighting. I don't care how you spin this you need the proper lighting. You can not just put a green curtain up with just normal lights and expect that everything will go fine. You need to light your subject properly to get the best results.
2. Shadows. Have you ever notice that in every TV show, on the face of the earth, they have the couch in the middle of the room. Why do you think that is? Well its simple, light casts shadows and if you had a couch to a wall you will see hard shadows on it. So the best answer is to move the couch and eliminate the shadows. Its the same concept for green screens. I have read that one needs to be at least 8 feet away from the screen to truly eliminate the shadow. But you might be in a room that is just too small to move around. So my advice would be to play with the lights until you can get the shot you need without the shadows. I was once doing a photo shoot with some models and the room we were in was extremely small. The green screen was on the wall and the lights were actually right on the models. The lights may have been about 2 to 6 feet apart.  While this made the room very hot and hard to move around, it was ideal for using the green screen. These pictures came out amazing by the way. (Don't hate the picture, it is from a still frame on my GL2. It was made to film not take pictures.) 

There are many more rules to this and I will post them as I read more about the editing part later. 

"You can only change the world after you have shared your story."

This week events

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Coming up this week

This week I will be adding some fun footage of potatoes guns and me swinging a golf club. If your first question is why then my friend you are in the right place. I will be introducing some camera techniques as well as do's and don't of camera law. I will also be experimenting with the green screen. I have put this off because I need to do some homework before diving into it but the co-owner of the company insisted we try it out. I will be posting any tips I find on working with a green screen and put up the footage we do later.

Thank you 

Also thanks for all the positive feed back with the promotional video I did for Evergreen. This lets me know that I am on the right track to making this company work. So please keep the comments rolling and I will see you next time.

"You can only change the world after you have first shared your story."

Steadicam in progress

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Steadicam ... oh what fun

So I started playing with my homemade steadicam. (Yes folks for $40 dollars you too can make a wonderful treat.) On my first go round I notice that my camera is off balance. I notice this because I could still see me walking in the video. Normally a properly balance steadicam will have a glide feel to it but mine didn't. So I did some research and notice a few people suggested that you would need about 5 pounds of bottom weight to counter the top weight. So I went to the store and bought some plates. Side note the lady at the register didn't have a smile on her face until I mention the steadicam. I think I made her day. Later, I had to film a dancer. I was originally going to just tripod the event, but when I arrived at the proper location, I notice I only had the steadicam.

Oh no, what do I do

It's that awkward moment that you realize this could go very bad. I mean I had only practice with the steadicam once, that morning, and had not finish fixing it. Well, I did what any madman will do. I slapped another 2.5 pounds on the bottom and pray to God that this works. So we get to our first destination and decide to shoot at a bridge.  I find out that the camera is not going to move and I will be getting a long shot of the dancer. Well here is the problem. The steadicam is meant to move, not to stand still. So I prop my knee up and sit the camera on it. My knee acts as the ground and this takes away all the shakes in the camera. The whole routine is only 5 minutes so I can easily hold this position until he is done. Now on our second video, which is only a one minute long is in an empty parking lot. The problem is I have nowhere to prop my knee. This shot will have to be done... steadicam style. So I pony up and made this work. Since this was not a long shot I kept my dancer in the middle and tried to not move too much. I did notice though as I was moving the picture was getting better and better. By the end of the dance I was making laps around my dancer. Now under normal circumstances I would not have given him the footage but we shot ED WOOD style. ( I mean shoot once and do no retakes, his choice not mine) And he needed the footage right then and there, so he took out his laptop and immediately downloaded the material into his computer. He then watch some of the footage and like what he saw. We then talk about the next dancing event and I now have another gig for May 18th.

What is coming up next week

Next week I need to start working on the website. I need to start putting up more pictures and footage. Since I just got home and went straight to the computer I can't show the steadicam shots but I can show a video I did a while back. I hope you enjoy.

"You can only change the world after you first share your story."

trying something new hope you like

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Moments like these:

The next few days I will slowly be adding videos to this site so people can see some of my work. This is my most recent project.

If for some odd reason this doesn't work please comment and I will see what I can do on my end to make this video work.

Good News

I have found my new name for my company. No I will not reveal it here but soon enough. I want to start making the website and start making my portfolio more accessible so I can share it at anytime and anyplace.

Changes coming up 

I am thinking about adding ads to the site. This does mean I will be writing more and making changes to the blog that will make everyone happy. But I would like your thoughts on this too so leave a comment and I will get back to you.

"You can only change the world once you have shared your story."

stayin busy

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Wow

Well I have to first say I am sorry for not being on here lately. I have been super busy with some projects and learning how to properly color correct imagines. In the next few days I will post some videos I have been working on and tell some secrets I have learn about color correcting. I am using Final Cut Pro X so to all the adobe fans, sorry I won't have any helpful tips for you.

Tomorrow

I will go into detail about the frustrations of renaming my company.

"You can only change the world after you first share your story."