ISOpeg

Today was a fun day of shooting video and the beginning of the editing process.

The big trick in filming people is to make them as comfortable as possible.  Many of the people that come into our studio do not have experience in talking on camera.  Sure they have experience talking to huge crowds of people while giving presentations, but sitting in a room with nothing but a couple of people and a camera to stare down.  Not having others to play off can be a daunting task and not working off a script can only elevate the nervousness and tension. It isn’t their fault really.  It is not their job to be camera savy.  It is out job to make sure they are made comfortable and confident.

Aside from setting lights and sound, starting the camera, and coaching the talking heads, reassurance is needed.  Having to do several takes for a segment really isn’t a bother.  Thanks to digital production we can shoot all day and not have any wasted tape.  As long as you reassure the person that not everyone is able to be a one-take charlie.  Calming down the frustration and embarrassment some might feel after take 12 is all in a day’s work.  Telling them, “Oh yeah, we have had much worse in here”  and “don’t worry, you are doing fine”  comes with the territory.  And as you are saying this you quietly hope that you can do some quick enough dissolves to hide the face they made at the end or the rolling eyes - no matter how many times you told them to just hold until being told recording has stopped.

Putting the pieces of the puzzle together is where the real fun begins.  It is always a good day when the video will contains slides - like the one today did.  Slides help mask all sorts of odd visual cuts as long as you make the audio work.  This afternoon I slaved over a hot computer, well ok, it wasn’t that hot, prepping the clips and dropping them on the timeline.

A 45 minute shoot (for about 10-15 minutes of footage) is reasonable for the inexperienced, but when they don’t give enough time for a production meeting before the shoot day surprises can pop up.  The surprise today - aside from no script even during the shoot - is that they need the video to be ready for shipping on Friday.  This after we first mentioned on Monday we aren’t sure how fast we can turn it around thanks to a full schedule and only two bodies in the studio.  But everything is on schedule and on its way to completion.

Sure working in a studio can make life easier than shooting an event.  You have total control over the lighting, camera position, and the person in the spotlight.  But all that control only helps so much when you have people who are not only not used to the situation but also are not prepared.

Just another day in the studio.

Since I have been enjoying a relaxing flex day today I figured this was the perfect opportunity do a look-back on everything so far.

Where do I begin?  I know if I tried to cover everything in one post then I think chapters would be needed.  Well, let’s see what happens.

The one thing I am trying to get used to is having people support me instead of the other way around.  For so long I have been a tech with little back background support and now everything is different.  It is a nice feeling to know all I have to do is pick up the phone or drop an email and there will be a response.  I’m not one that likes to be waited on, and I’m not taking advantage of the situation.  I’m just happy that someone will stand up and make sure things are working like it should be.  With that said, I’m still figuring out who to turn to for issues and equipment needs.  I have my boss for office oriented needs and we (the studio) has a tech person we can go to for all our tech needs.

Of course being backed by different suppor people doesn’t mean everything runs nice and smooth, especially with dealings with paychecks.  Ugh.  I turned in all my paperwork for direct deposit and was looking forward to the first payday - who wouldn’t?   While I was in SC I received an email asking for my Direct Deposit form.  I immediately emailed back saying I already turned in the form but if I need to fill out another I can.  Later that day I received another email stating they have my form and everything was ok.  Ok, back to waiting for payday.  The day before payday I received a ‘live’ check in the mail.  Well ok, I figured the information wasn’t able to get put in the system early enough to allow for the first check to be deposited, no big deal.  Yesterday I decided to just double check that the form is in and the next check will be sent to the bank - I did so by replying to the email saying they have my form.  Surprise surprise the response was “We need your info to check and see if you ever turned in a form.”  Da hell?   Instead of going through all the different call sto HR let me sum it all up:

• We have the form and will put it in
• We don’t have the form because we thought we already entered it in the system and now the form is destroyed so please bring us the info again
• We found your form clipped to another person’s paperwork.

So now I am curious what will happen in a couple weeks when payday rolls back around.  Of course I don’t know how al this DD confusion is going to hinder me getting my reimbursement from the SC trip.  Typically reimbursements are processed through the system and is directed to the DD on file.  Hopefully if everything went through before yesterday - reimbursement - then I will just receive another check in the mail.

But, issues aside, membership does have its privileges.  Yesterday I went upstairs to pick up a delivery - a new lens for both of us.  Two AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G IF-ED.  This puppy has some nice clean glass on it and thanks to the constant 2.8 it is fast too.  Pair the 2.8 with the vibration reduction another potential 3 stops.  With the nice results with an ISO2000 the world really opens up with potential for images - especially when a flash isn’t an option.

Well, there is more to type but I think that is good enough for now.