To Facebook or not to...?

Facebook has it's fans and it's detractors. I am both. My personal Facebook page is not my favorite place to hang out because I actually prefer face to face interactions  and activities - gasp!

The same goes for my business life. It's part of why I love doing video - I get to meet great people and go to interesting places.Yes, good old fashioned reality that isn't a TV show - going places, doing things, experiencing life in 3D (no glasses necessary.)

However, in business, as in life,  Facebook has it's place and can be a great way to connect to other people, businesses, and organizations. Here is  our Facebook page still in infancy (feel free to connect!)

Now, by organizations I mean places like non-profits, those amazing entities whose only mission is to do good things - for motives other than making a profit - WOW! I confess that these are some of my personal favorite clients and collaborators and I find non-stop motivation and excitement when creating a video project with a committed and generous bunch of folks like that. Below is an example. 

Working for the Maine Philanthropy Center,  I was asked to take an amazing written piece and bring it to life. It was written and performed by Mark Swann, Executive Director of Preble Street in Portland, Maine. What does his organization do? They "create solutions for homelessness, hunger, and poverty." Now that is work worth crowing about - on Facebook or anywhere else for that matter.

What I do for a living may not be as impressive as all that, and I do try to run my business for-profit. However, I am quite proud of this one and get enormous satisfaction in knowing that in some small way I have contributed to such a lofty mission. Here is the video we created together. I hope in some way it helps people and I also hope it finds a way to connect me to other dedicated folks, working to create good in the world. And yes - I also posted it on Facebook!

It's All Right to Cast Pearls Before Swine

Ok, so that's a pithy name for a post that's really about planning A.K.A. pre-production for video - no, wait, don't go - it gets interesting, really.

For a recent project about agriculture practices, I took some time to head out to the farm before the upcoming shoot and it reminded me of the paramount importance of pre-production. Even though the farm project was on a limited budget, I took one of our precious budgeted hours to scout the location. I brought along the DSLR camera to grab some stills and quick video shots while the farmer showed me around.

This simple act accomplished two things: first, I had some beautiful stills and some cover shots in case they were needed later, second it helped me to pre-visualize for the day of the actual shoot which would involve not one, but two farms, and countless shot set-ups.

The above pig shot isn't very inspiring, nor did it make the final cut of the project, but it helps me to demonstrate an important point; planning is everything. Although a lot of great imagery can come spontaneously from being in the right place at the right time, no good film or video ever came out of a lack of planning. Let's face it, no amount of planning ever ruined an otherwise perfectly good project whereas the lack of planning has ruined the execution of countless great ideas. To say that pre-production is more important than actually shooting video is not really an overstatement.

That one hour I spent on-location before our appointed shooting day saved my crew, my client and the talent TIME on the day of the shoot. Since we charge by the hour, time really is money. My client may not even know it, but this was a key part of how I got their project done within their tight budget and tight timeline.

Another fantastic bonus was that it spared everyone a lot of stress. Because I knew the lay of the land (and the pigs) as well as the desired content ahead of time, problems that would otherwise arise on the day of shooting and have to be resolved on the spot and under the gun (with everyone staring at me for an answer NOW) could be pondered and solved beforehand.

On the day of the shoot I could be more relaxed instead of more rushed and that would rub off on the client and on the talent. Imagine this...on the day of the production we all actually enjoyed ourselves! We had time to be creative and get all the content needed to make the project a success. THAT is what pre-production is all about.

Doing your video production right means doing your pre-production right, and that means that you will always produce high quality work...at that point, whom you cast it before hardly matters.

Tight Spaces

Recently we filmed with our friends at Woods End Laboratory in Mount Vernon, Maine. It's always interesting to set up all our gear in tight spaces. The soil lab is a great place to work though, because they keep us on our toes. Once we set up the camera and lighting there are plenty of soil test steps to get through.

In fact, every location shoot provides its own unique challenges and problems to solve, which is why I love what I do. It is never ever boring and I am always learning something new. This time I learned about CO2 respiration in soil and compost. Here are some stills from the day..and then the end result. Enjoy!