“Living and Working in…” regional tourism videos
Last summer I had the pleasure to work on this series of videos for Northern Adirondack Board of Realtors. It was also a chance to work with my former colleague Kari Hoffman, who was the Producer on these. The idea was to highlight what select towns in the region are like to live and work in for potential home buyers. We shot the vast majority of it, but some select shots were supplied by ROOST. Kari did the rough editing in FCPX to flesh out the story lines, then I did the final edits by adding music and effects, B-roll and all graphics etc.
“Grace Guitarz” promo video
Nothing I like better than making a promotional video for a small company doing great things! Grace Guitarz is just such a company. It consists of two people (and their dog Bullock) making world class guitars.
Tom and Tracy are some of the nicest folks you could ever hope to meet. They converted their old garage into a wrokshop and formed GRACE GUITARZ. Their work is impeccable and if you get some time check out their website for some more information and high resolution to their work.
This was filmed over almost 8 months of time, thus the winter and summer footage in the same short video! Sometimes it just takes a while to make it come out just right. We were waiting for one of their house concerts in the summer to really show that they eat, sleep and breathe music!
For those who are into production details, I used my Canon C100 for the interviews shooting in Clog profile. Then I used my Sony A6300 shooting at 120fps for the broll. This allows for those super slow motion shots seen throughout the film. I think slow motion is sometimes overused lately. However, I felt it really showed the detail and craftsmanship of what they were doing. I noticed things when playing it back in slow motion that I just didnt catch in real time. The bits of dust coming off the sanding block, the particles floating in the air during the cutting of the wood… all microscopic details that show when you can alter time!
Plants are cool, too! (NEW EPISODE)
It was back on the road this summer to shoot a couple more episodes of our plant show! This time we went to the central part of Pennsylvania. These are always so much fun to make. It’s a chance for myself, fellow producer Tim Kramer and host/producer Chris Martine to get back together. We all used to live in the same area when we started this series, but now Chris and Tim have moved away. Getting to see them and make these programs is like getting the “band” back together again!
Here is Chris’s explanation of what this video is about from YouTube:
“Many off-roaders think conservationists are all “tree-huggers”… and many conservationists think off-roaders are all “tree-killers.” But somewhere in between there is a sweet spot where forests are appreciated and cared for. In the case of the Anthracite Outdoor Adventure Area (AOAA), that sweet spot might even help to reinvigorate a local economy.”
We met some fantastic people making this one including a kindred spirit in Lance Schwartz who makes his own videos for ATV Rider magazine! He is in the video and was loads of help, and fast became a good friend!
Animals may get all the love on TV but……Plants are cool, too!
Timelapse video with the SONY A6300
Had some time this summer to shoot some timelapse cloud formations in the Adirondack Mountains. All the original footage is shot in 4k, but I edited it in an HD timeline so i could add some pans and zooms without losing any quality. I didnt use an intervalometer to do this in still photo mode, (triggering a picture every few seconds) instead I just recorded for 10 minutes or so and then sped it up in post. I like this way as I can control the speed of the clouds better and it looks smoother to me when it’s all edited.
Epic Great Camps in the Adirondacks!
Been having the honor and pleasure of shooting some fantastic camps/homes in the Adirondacks that are for sale. My friend Nick Politi of Merril L. Thomas Inc. asked me to shoot some of them. The first two here were just set to music.
This third one however the owner agreed to be interviewed for a more documentary styled video.
I hope you enjoy them and if you decide to buy one from seeing it here first…I’d be more than happy to come stay and film some more! 🙂
More Cumberland 12 Movie Theater policy videos!
These are always fun to make! This summer we made three new policy videos for our local movie theater. These run before the movie and are a lighthearted way to remind people to not bring in food, be annoying with your cell phone etc.
My friend and colleague Todd Brunner and his family were again used as “the annoying ones”. I also had many friends, neighbors and some theater employees help to fill out the crowd. Everyone was trying to keep from laughing as Todd and his antics are quite hilarious! The manager has said he has seen real results from the “Dick and Mary” spot we created last year, with fewer people talking on their phones during the movies. That’s always great to hear!
More Commercial work
I’m not the best at keeping up on showing examples of my commercial work. It seems like they get made, then it’s off to the next video project, with little thought of using them for my own promotional purposes. For those of you coming here to check out examples of commercials that I’ve done, here are a few. I’ve been doing all the commercials for Curtis Lumber (18+ locations in NY and Vermont) for the past several years. First up is two testimonial spots (actual customer interview and comments, not scripted at all) one for Kitchen Design and one for Deck Design that features a video jib or boom. Then a spot that is scripted about hardwood flooring with their spokesperson. She’s wonderful actress from the Albany region, Rachel Jenack. The fourth is an example of a scripted commercial from actual contractors, each reading a line that connects to the next to form a completed thought.
Next is a fun little spot for Pro-Care Hearing. We wanted to make a hearing aide commercial but didnt want it to be doom and gloom and talk about what people can no longer hear but instead be positive by having people say what they LOVE to hear!
Finally here is a spot I wrote, produced and shot and edited for RotoRooter in Plattsburgh. I worked with Charley Tagliarino of Growtrends in Plattsburgh. He lined up all the talent. You may recognize one guy in this and the ProCare hearing spot!
When the Cold Wind Blows-Scenic video
Shot this a few months ago but forgot to post it! Was having fun shooting snow falling at 120 frames per second on the SONY A6300. When played back at 24fps, or normal film speed, you get very smooth 1/4 speed slow motion. This was shot out at Pt AuRoche state park near Plattsburgh, NY.
4K video production!
I’ve been waiting to get into 4K video for a little while now. Not that my clients were asking for it, but that I LOVE technology and always try and stay on the front line of it. I shoot and sell nature stock footage as well as make scenic shows that run on PBS. It was a natural fit to start shooting nature in 4K. The price to get into it was always quite steep. However leave it to SONY to bring the price of entry down. Their mirrorless cameras have been all the rage and the Sony A6300 has some of if not THE best 4K video out there. And it is under $1k!
Did I mention it is downright TINY!! This is a camera that can easily be popped into a backpack and hiked around without causing any back issues. I have added a few accessories to it but overall, this little baby can sure shoot some amazing 4K video!
This video also features the Edelkrone Slider Plus with Action and Target modules. (all seen below) I’ll do a full blog post on that soon as it truly is amazing at what it can do!
Check out this video out in 4k if you have the connection speed. (Click play, then where it shows a little wheel with HD in lower right corner, click that and select Quality then 2160p, then zoom it up by clicking the square in the far right corner).
Interviewed on TV for “Heart’s Delight”!
I was fortunate enough to be asked by Thom Hallock to appear on the program “Mountain Lake Journal” and discuss my documentary “Heart’s Delight: The Story of William H. Miner”.
I got my start working at this station in 1990. Its the PBS affiliate in Plattsburgh, NY and started as “WCFE” then became “Mountain Lake PBS”.
We taped for about 35-40 minutes and it was cut down to about 13 minutes. I am clearly better behind the camera but was happy to be able to discuss the program and William Miners life and legacy. The segment below starts with the program trailer, if you have seen that already, you can skip to around the 3 minute mark.
An interesting behind the scenes note, I was just diagnosed with a herniated C6-C7 disc in my neck and was in a lot of back pain. It really hurt to just sit still so that’s why I am moving my arms so much! That, and I am of French-Canadian decent! Enjoy.
Cumberland 12 Cinemas
I made some spots for Cumberland 12 Cinemas recently. Three that will play on local cable TV and one that is a policy spot for playing before the movie about cell phone use. They were a lot of fun to make. As the budget was tight, we had to get people to be in it in exchange for a few movie passes. My friend Todd Brunner and his wife Jodi and daughter Tia were the perfect family to be featured in the policy spot. Todd has done some acting for TV shows like NYPD Blue when he lived in NYC and he ad libbed most of his “annoying chatter”. One thing I really wanted to do was an homage to GOODFELLAS, when they freeze Ray Liota laughing and continue the voice over. It worked out well here too!
Other spots included this one for their birthday parties they offer at the cinema. My neighbors were perfect candidates for this one and they helped secure other family and friends to be in the “party” as well. The challenge here was to shoot it all while the theater was open, thus we had to do the red carpet scenes inside the same room where the birthday parties take place. I changed the lighting for the red carpet shots to look more dramatic, like at a movie premiere, even having the back light appear in the scene. In reality it’s the same room as the other party scenes. Finally using 120 frames per second as a shooting rate made it all look more glamorous when played back in slow-motion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc4OAJ3ZuAM
The theater does 10am shows on Wednesday for just $5! Not second run films but whatever is currently playing at the time. I thought a clever way to promote this was with a 1980’s theme as that is what a premium ticket used to cost back in the 80s! Again, the talent was some friends and neighbors. They really embrassed the theme and went all in with the look of the 80’s including big hair, spandex and a fanny pack and mullet!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVsi6rTLjU0
Finally we wanted to do a spot that promotes the C12 “Experience” of their large curved screen, surround sound and 3D!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjdroBgNK1Q
Overall, we all had a blast making these and it’s fun to go to the movies now and see them up on the big screen!
William H. Miner documentary preview
I’m happy to present a “coming soon” preview trailer for my next documentary called “Heart’s Delight: The William H. Miner Story”. I’ve been working on this off and on for almost 3 years now! It’s a passion project of mine and I’m finally done with all the interviews and am entering the writing/editing phase. It’s a massive undertaking as William Miner had a very complicated and “rich” life!
More to come for sure but for now, please check out this short clip. Narration by my friend Greg O’Brien.
Merrill L. Thomas Inc. – Company video
This is a video I worked on for adworkshop in Lake Placid (an advertising and marketing agency). They did all the concept and producing and directing, I was the videographer and editor. It’s nice to be a part of a team for projects like this one. It allows me to really focus on the shooting, and what is the best way to tell this story visually. I used a variety of cameras on it, my main camera the Canon C100 for the majority of it, but also set up a second camera for the interviews, the Canon 7D DSLR camera. I used the GoPro on a handheld gimble and the Inspire 1 for some aerial shots.
Editing is always a hidden craft, but it’s really driven by finding the right music. I usually piece the narrative together first (on this project from a script supplied by adworkshop), then find the right music to give it energy and convey the mood. That then drives all the edits of the cut away footage or Broll as we call it in the industry.
Check it out! Merrill L. Thomas Inc. is a great company and I am happy to get to know them better working on their video.
Adirondack Autumn (2015)
It’s been a slow to start but quite spectacular autumn here in upstate New York. I love this time of year and try to get out to shoot as much scenic footage as possible. Many years I have big projects and hard deadlines that keep me from driving around the mountains during the roughly one to two week period when the leaves are at peak color. To me peak color is when there is still some green trees mixed in as well. Enjoy this short video of the footage I collected this year.
DJI Inspire 1 – New quad copter!!
I recently acquired the DJI Inspire 1 quadcopter for shooting aerial video and stills.
It’s an awesome platform to shoot from. As you can see the camera is built in and sends a full HD signal down to the remote so you can monitor the shot from an iPad. It can shoot 12MP stills and 4k video! It is also bigger and heavier than the Phantom model I was using before and that means more stability in the air. The camera is gimbal stabilized too so the footage is rock solid. The range is also very impressive! In the video below, the last shot is of a train and I was over 3000 feet away at the furthest point. This video is all made with shots from the first day I flew it and is more of a test video than anything.
Jumping the K120 – Lake Placid, NY
What’s it like to fly through the air at 80 miles an hour off a 120m tower on a pair of skis? It’s something I always wanted to know! The ski jumps in Lake Placid have always dominated the landscape since they were built for the 1980 Winter Olympic Games. I’ve been up to the top a few times covering corporate events up there, but was never fortunate enough to see it being used. The smaller 90m is used year around, but the 120m takes a lot of effort to get up and running and just one 45 degree day can melt the ramp surface. With the warming temperatures of the last decade or so of winter, it hasn’t been open…..until this year!
A friend of mine is a ski jumper and mentioned I should come get some shots of it in use. Luckily the technology of video has come so far so fast that there are now some new tools to show this sport in a way that wasnt possible just a couple years ago.
I just received my new DJI Inspire 1 aerial drone and its the perfect flying platform to get super stable shots! Couple that with the incredible GoPro action cameras and we were in business! I hope you enjoy the video, its the closest many of us will ever want to get to going off a massive ski hump like this!
“Divine Discontent: Charles Proteus Steinmetz” documentary EMMY nominated!
This is a documentary I produced with Bruce Carlin. We tried for 7 years to get funding and finally managed to secure a grant to get it made. Our good friends at wmht, the PBS affiliate in the Albany area was the presenting station for it to the PBS system. It is now airing across the country! We decided (and at the suggestion of Dan Swinton of wmht) to put it in for a NY regional EMMY award. That’s a tough market as it includes all of NY City and NJ! So we are up against MSG, Yankeeograpy docs etc… It was announced last week that it has been nominated in the BEST DOCUMENTARY category! Winners will be announced on May 2nd.
Here is the promo for it:
And here is the open to the show and a round table discussion we shot at Mt. Lake PBS with Thom Hallock for Mountain Lake Journal. The narrator is none other than Kate Mulgrew who is best known as Captain Janeway on STAR TREK VOYAGER and as Red in ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK. She was a delight to work with and added so much to the finished production.
The entire documentary can be viewed here:
“Songs to Keep” PBS documentary wins EMMY award!
“Songs to Keep” is a Public Television documentary about the life of Marjorie Lansing Porter. She was a collector of Adirondack folk music in the early 1900’s. Marjorie would go around and actually record musicians singing to preserve the songs which were handed down from generation to generation. The program won a regional Emmy, and I had the pleasure to be the videographer on it along with Daniel McCollum. It was produced by Paul Larson at Mountain Lake PBS.
One of the highlights was getting to videotape Kevin Bacon and his brother Michael perform “My Adirondack Home” at their studio in NYC.
I’ve worked with quite a few well known celebrities over the years and these guys were a couple of the nicest! Very generous with their time and cooperative to give us “one more take” for the music video portion of the shoot. The song is super catchy, just click the link below to see this section of the show. (The scenic shots from this section were also mostly mine -except the aerial- including the misty road shot which is actually my driveway)!
Schrader & Co. Construction Services TV Campaign
I was contacted to do some TV commercials for Schrader & Co. recently. They had seen my work for the Parade of Homes tour I shoot in the Capital Region and liked my style. They wanted to have a classy looking ad that represented what their company is all about. We discussed it and decided on doing some testimonial spots for them. Getting actual customers to talk about their experiences working with them. I live over two hours away from the locations for these shoots, so we decided to do them all in one marathon day of shooting! While busy, everything went off without a hitch and the interviews resulted in some great comments. It can be tricky to edit down a 10 minute or so interview to just :30! You have to have the company name in there, then tell the “story” of dealing with Schrader & Co. and have it all fit into a 30 second TV commercial.
Here are the three different spots, keeping the logo and theme music the same in each helps make them part of a campaign, instead of just three separate commercials.
Bear’s Den TV Commercial
It’s refreshing when you can work on a commercial that is intended to be “silly”. This commercial was produced by adworkshop. I did the shooting and the editing for it. They had the bear costume shipped in from China! We shot it out of sequence, doing the store shots first when they were less busy in the morning and then the river shot last in case the costume got ruined (which it didnt, but did take a day or two to dry out)! There are several of these, each one has a humorous end tagline after the logo.
…more photography!
We went camping recently at a very secluded 18,000 acre hunting camp in the upper Adirondack Mountains. I always get up for the sunrise when we go camping. 80-90% of the time, it’s either cloudy or just not much color. Well this time it did not disappoint! The color and clouds were spectacular. I was shooting both video and still pictures so there was flurry of activity for about 8-10 minutes during the peak color. This is a panorama I stitched together in Photoshop from 3 different shots (I then cropped it slightly for better drama):
CLICK IMAGES TO SEE LARGER!
This is one that is closer and a single shot.
Shooting in RAW is definitely the way to go so it can be dialed in afterwards in post! I also used a tripod and set it to a 2 sec. timer shot so there is no shake in the camera from triggering it.
This is one from the next morning, again a panorama stitched together from 3 shots:
…and a few more!
Short film “The Country Life”
This is a collection of clips for a documentary I am making on William Miner of Chazy, NY. He was a philanthropist from the turn of the century who made his fortune in the railroad industry. He developed a state of the art farm in the early 1900’s that still is functioning today. It will be a historical documentary on his life that should be completed in late 2015. These clips were shot with the Canon C100 and recorded on a Ninja 2 recorder. Shot mostly with the Tamron 70-200 F2.8 IS lens. I love that lens for getting telephoto shots! It’s tack sharp and very fast and clear at f2.8.
This is a slower paced short, to match the feeling of a lovely country farm in the heat of summer. Pour a glass of cold iced tea and enjoy!
“A Simple Beauty” Scenic nature film
This is a collection of some recent scenics I shot for stock footage sales. I recently got the Tamron 70-200mm F2.8 IS lens. Its $1000 cheaper then Canon’s 70-200 and the quality is excellent! I’ve used both and I cant tell a difference in the video! Plus…its black and looks like it’s a part of the camera better then the white model of Canons. That white can reflect more in glass when you are shooting and just looks….weird! Almost all the shots are with this new lens, with a few Tokina 11-16mm F.2.8 shots in there as well.
Anyway, all this was shot on the C100 and recorded on a Atomos Ninja 2 at 24p. The overcranked shots of the water was shot at 60i (Shutter speed of 120) and retimed in FCPX 10.1.
Nothing ground breaking here, just wanted to test the lens in the field and figured I’d make a little film instead of a “test clip” reel.
pfproductions 