I love snow days. They disrupt the expected and shake up creativity. On Feb 3, 2012, Denver and the surrounding areas was rocked by 12-18 inches of snow. Cabin fever rose everywhere… so did creativity. Like any artist, I had to release this inspiration, and it came in the form of a video. Having recently picked up a Sony FS100, I decided it was the perfect camera (due to the S35 sized sensor and 1080/60 frame rate) for the job.
Ergonomics on the FS100 are something to be simultaneously admired and hated. It doesn’t have the comfort of a prosumer camcorder or a DSLR… it’s somewhere in the middle. But, on a good note, the camera does strip down to a reasonably small size, allowing for some high tech weatherproofing
The ziplock bag worked a treat. Camera was absolutely dry despite the heavy snow. NICE.
The AVCHD codec held up surprisingly well in the conditions. Small snow particles moving quickly in front of a nest of twigs and dead branches might be disaster for some cameras, but the files look fine, even at 1080/60. Sadly, this online version doesn’t do the original files justice. Enjoy,
This is the first blog post in a series of x blog posts
Amongst the varied types of projects I work on, I have the pleasure of working with a diverse group of corporate clients on a regular basis. Each client has different takes on the type of content they prefer to use. Some relying heavily on photos and graphics, others are interested in shooting relevant b-roll, some want stock footage, some want staged material… the list goes on. But the cornerstone of most corporate videos is the interview. It is a simple, fast and (deceivingly) easy way to deliver information, add personality and emotion to a message, and engage an audience interested in your topic. The interview permeates many varieties of video, so it is absolutely critical for producers/videographers/filmmakers to master the it. I’ve spent the last 6 years shooting professional video content of all types, much of that interviews, and I’d like to spend the rest of this post sharing some of my best practices I’ve learned and discovered along the way.
There are a few necessary conditions for an interview to really take off.
1. They have to be comfortable
2. They have to be passionate
3. Sometimes surprise
4. They have to be honest
If these conditions are in place, we have the opportunity to capture some great stuff. So the interviewee is there in front of the lens… They’re now at the mercy of the questions. There are no hard and fast rules here. Sometimes the simplest yes or no question can lead to an intimate insight. Often, a well phrased and relevant question falls flat. If you have an infinite budget and time, it’s best to do a heck of a lot of research on your interviewee, the subject(s) they’re speaking to, the context they’re talking in, etc etc. It’s immensely helpful to meet beforehand. A phone conversation can do the trick, but I’ve learned that you can’t replace a casual face to face. My goals in these early meets tend to vary depending on how media-ready the interviewee is and the type of content we’re after. On a recent documentary project for a non-profit, much of the project centralized around the hardships that the interviewee had experienced. We spent 3 days getting to know each other before we shot the video. The emotion and vulnerability that was expressed in that interview is what really sells the story. Yet it wouldn’t have been emotionally possible without making the investment of time with the interviewee, building trust and ensuring that I was treating the hardships with the required attention.
In corporate videos, there often isn’t much time to establish a relationship with the interviewee. Instead of days or hours, some instances only allow for minutes before the camera begins to roll to develop a bit of repor. The attention has to shift to becoming acutely aware of who I’m speaking with and their role before stepping foot in the room. Seems like such an obvious point, but it’s surprising to see how many interviews I’m a part of (maybe just shooting, not organizing) that are missing this piece.
Occasionally, I’ve run into the situation where another interview needs to be taped (or captured…) last minute. No prep, no meets beforehand, just start rolling.
In the next blog post on this series, I will be discussing specific questions I try to ask for almost every interview.
James Drake is a Colorado DP living in Denver, Colorado and shooting beyond. He’s shot for broadcast television, short and feature films, commercials, and more.
2011 Reel
James owns a Red Epic package, a Sony EX1R, Canon DSLRs, and various other cameras and is familiar with many more.
To see a list of what James has been working on recently, click here.
Save Our Youth is a mentorship organization based out of Denver Colorado. They do amazing work.
This has been one of my favorite projects… EVER. Working with Jorge (the star) has been a real treat. He was brave and shared his story so that others may be interested in helping kids in similar situations.
From their website, saveouryouth.org
Save Our Youth transforms the lives of at-risk youth through mentor relationships providing the skills for success in educational, emotional, and spiritual development.
It begins on the coast of California, finally ending on the East coast in Georgia.
2605 miles.
10 states.
Zach Crees is a burn tech and surgical assistant inspired by stories like Don’s and will ride his bike across the US to raise funding and awareness for burn survivors starting July 2011.
This video features Don Keller, a triumphant survivor of a fire that has found inspiration through cycling.
You can give to the Burn Unit by visiting this link
Shot on the Canon 5D Mark II with Technicolor’s Cinestyle picture profile.
Our original goal with this documentary was to give a voice to the Haitian mothers who don’t have a very loud political voice but have stories that need to be heard.
Watch a short portion of the upcoming documentary:
However, in light of the recent and tragic earthquake in Haiti, Nate and I have shifted our focus towards capturing the evolving developments.
Back in November, we spent 2 days at For His Glory Orphanage. For His Glory is called a kresh, meaning all of the children already have parents waiting for them in the US. The process to adopt these children takes a lengthy 2 or 3 years, so the children stay in Haiti until all of paperwork has been completed. Nate’s family is adopting two little Haitian girls from this orphanage, which we got to meet and hang out with back in November.
After the earthquake, the orphanage was stranded with no food and water for 5 days. The orphanage put a sign on their roof so the many helicopters flying overhead would notice. The sign said something along the lines of, “We are an orphanage and need help”. This led to news coverage from fox news.
During this time, Nate’s family has been constantly worried about the children because contact with the orphanage after the earthquake has been rare. So rare in fact, that they learned that they were evacuating the children from the orphanage from watching Fox News. After a string of developments, the children from the orphanage were granted humanitarian evacuations to come to the US to their expectant US families. This is great news for the adopting families!
The battle isn’t over yet. Adopting families now face their newest obstacle: paperwork. The children were supposed to be in the US Friday, which didn’t happen because of immigration problems. Haitian paperwork has always been notorious for having problems, and to compound the issue, much of that paperwork is now gone after the earthquake. So the children sat in the airport.
Hours later, the red tape was cleared and 32 children were on their way to the Orlando, FL on a donated United flight. Nate was able to find out that children would be landing in Denver near midnight on Saturday January 23. Both of us were ecstatic to have first hand news, so we called up our Haitian friend Neil, who speaks Creole, and made our way to DIA.
Upon arriving at DIA, we were informed that the flight had again been delayed and wasn’t expected to arrive until 4am. We waited around for a while, and by 12:30am, the flight hadn’t left Orlando. It was silently understood that the flight wasn’t coming for a while.
We went home discouraged, more for the kids than for our video coverage. Early the next morning, I received a phone call from Nate informing me that the children were landing at DIA around noon on the 24th.
A Haitian girl takes her first steps in cold Colorado Air.
Wrapped in a blanket, a young Haitian girl walks towards her adoptive US family in the nearby terminal
The three of us, Neil, Nate, and I, hustled over to DIA to find 4 news teams, the Denver post, and some other media affiliates. Things seemed to be going the right direction. After managing to convince the Denver Police Department that our lack of “news” credentials wasn’t a security issue, we were able to get onto the landing strip. Minutes later, the plane landed, and slowly but surely, Haitian children, some bundled in blankets, were taken off of the plane.
Five children were immediately rushed to the hospital, though we didn’t get any details on what their conditions were. Many of the other children came off of the plane smiling, some waving, walking towards their new life in America. Unfortunately for us, the media was restricted to the landing strip, so we didn’t get any footage of the kids reuniting with their US parents.
After more than a week of trauma, a young Haitian is carried towards her adopting US parents
Freedom at last! Almost… Nate just informed me that the adopting parents and children have yet again been detained at the airport for failing to fulfill some paperwork obligation.
As the story continues to develop, we will do our best to follow it and understand it.
Our original goal for the documentary has been pushed to the background with all of these new elements to our story. Because we were in Haiti in November, before the earthquake, we are in a unique position. We captured the difficult life of Haitians before the earthquake. The last few decades have been extremely hard on the Haitian people. Political instability and nonexistent infrastructure prevent the country from escaping the notorious cycle of poverty. Haiti will be in the media spotlight for a while, but as with all disasters, the aide eventually decreases and the world “forgets”.
Once the media spotlight moves on and the aide begins to decrease, our hope is to take the footage from before the earthquake and reveal to the world how bad things were. Our message is simple, we don’t want to rebuild Haiti to what it was. This terrible earthquake is the ultimate chance for partners to stand with Haiti and see lasting, necessary change.
180 is a ministry dedicated to breaking the chains of addiction in the lives of men. 180 is an effective and comprehensive Christian faith-based solution to life-controlling drug and alcohol problems to help men become healthy individuals and productive members of society.
One of a series of videos I was hired to put together for ATA Clothing, a company with the motto “Express Yourself, Change the World”. They do just that by selling t-shirts that relate to each organization. The 180 shirt will be coming out soon on ATA’s website, ata-clothing.com
Shot on the legendary Canon 5D mark ii.
The Snowmass Balloon Festival. Totally cool experience in the stunning Colorado Rockies. I was privileged to go shoot this piece and absolutely loved the experience. Save the date next year, this is a festival worth going to!!!
Shot on the Red Epic.
I have some killer “night glow” footage that I will post (sometime soon).
From SoxPlace.com,
“SOX PLACE is for you…
the gutter punk, the train rider, the homeless youth,
you who just need something to eat,
you who just need a safe place to crash
Whether you’ve been on the street for
one day or one decade,
SOX PLACE IS FOR YOU”
ATA Clothing, ata-clothing.com, is selling Sox Place tees to support this great organization. They have something called the “100% program”, meaning they give 100% of the profits to the organization. Awesome.
A quick piece about an abandoned farm in Eastern Colorado.
This video is a part of my exploration in using wide lenses for video on the Canon 5D Mark ii. The majority of shots in this piece were shot on a 17-40mmL Canon lens. As you can see in the weeds, the DSLR does NOT like fine details. Aliasing is everywhere. It hides behind compression on the web, but the original h.264 files.
Biggest lesson learned: anything close to the camera (5-10 feet, with a few exceptions) is usually excellent shooting material, anything further needs to carefully considered and probably shot on a different camera.
The ziplock bag worked a treat. Camera was absolutely dry despite the heavy snow. NICE.
