Shooting in Hi Def – Sony PMW EX3 XDCAM

Many clients these days are moving over to shooting in HD and as you may know there area variety of formats to utilize these days including those which shoot on tape, flash memory, and now optical disc. But one of the very affordable cameras that is very popular right now and yet which can produce great HD video is the Sony PMW EX3 XDCAM HD camera. This light weight Sony camera can shoot in full 1080p HD onto SxS Express memory cards. It also can mount different lenses so you can have flexibility if you need it for various shots on your project.

Rockk Video can shoot your HD video project here in the Bay Area using the Sony EX3 HD camera. We have the ability to transfer the digital media to your hard drive on location, on your memory cards on the shoot, or create a back up media for you after the shoot is complete. Very flexible and versatile.

Here is some of the product info on this camera*:

The PMW-EX3 compact camcorder with an interchangeable lens system incorporates three ½-inch type Exmor™ Full HD CMOS sensors, each with an effective pixel count of 1920 x 1080, delivering stunning-quality HD images in 1080P, 720P, and 1080i HD resolutions. A rich variety of features for creative shooting are incorporated into this camcorder such as “Slow & Quick Motion”, which is also commonly known as “over-cranking” and “under-cranking”, selectable gamma curves, slow-shutter, interval recording and the Picture Profile™ feature. Additionally, the PMW-EX3 offers a convenient remote-control and multi-camera operation capability, which allows use with high-end camera systems.
? Compact camcorder with an interchangeable lens system,
allowing use of 1/2- and 2/3-inch type lenses*
? Three 1/2-inch type Exmor Full HD CMOS Sensors, each with
1920 x 1080 pixels
? Professional manual focus and auto focus operation
? Slow & Quick motion capability
? 3.5-inch type** color LCD viewfinder
? HD-SDI output, down-converted SD-SDI output, i.LINK (HDV
stream) input/output, analog composite/component output
and USB interface (USB 2.0)
? Built-in gen-lock input, timecode input/output and remote
control interface for multi-camera operation

Here is some product info on the memory:

The SxS PRO Memory Card
The SxS PRO memory card adopted by the XDCAM EX series for recording is an ultra-compact nonlinear medium that uses flash memory, and is based on the SxS™ memory card specifi cation. The SxS PRO memory card achieves an extremely high data transfer speed of 800 Mb/s*, allowing users to quickly transfer recorded footage to a compatible PC or nonlinear editing system.

Contact us today to schedule your HD shoot in the San Francisco Bay Area or Northern California area.

source: sony

Science Stories for NSF

Shot three feature stories for the National Science Foundation recently. Not many stations or networks are doing science these days so it is nice that NSF is doing a fine job of putting out good science videos.

Worked with producer Marsha Walton on these stories. She is an old colleague of mine when we both worked at CNN.

Frog Research

Universe Quest

G4 – Fire Arts Festival

Fire Arts Festival Coverage for G4’s “Attack of the Show

The Crucible is an Oakland, CA based organization that teaches classes in blacksmithing, welding, glass blowing, and a whole host of other interesting industrial arts skills in a way that is nothing like your old high school shop classes. They do it with flair and with style. Each year they put on a couple of fund raising events to keep the doors open. One of the is the “Fire Arts Festival” where they take over a ten acre parking lot in West Oakland and basically let fire roar. Artists bring their sculptures and art work that literally breathe fire and show them off for an adoring crowd.

It makes for quite and evenings entertainment. G4 came to town for this years show for a segment on their “Attack of the Show”. We lived fire with their host Blair Herter who even dared to swallow fire on camera….

This was a Beta SP (Ikegami HLV55) shoot for this client.

From Solar to Science to Fire to Style

It was a busy few days of shoots last week for Rockk Video as it was one of those times when all the shoots happen in a space of a few days.

Monday began with a shoot for Blue Turtle Roofing documenting their install of a cool roofing system for a client in Santa Rosa CA. They were installing cool roof shingles and a solar attic fan that can reduce summer home temps by as much as 17 degrees. Should make a big dent in energy costs for this client. Then it was off to BR Cohn Winery to shoot stand ups for our wine program. Great day in the wine country as temps were high and the breeze was just right.

Tuesday brought the first of three days shooting stories for the National Science Foundation web site. We started off in Oakland at the ASA Academy summer program for girls where they teach wonderful science curriculum to young women. The camp consists of mornings in classroom getting hands on education about astronomy, computer game building and more and afternoons spent on science field trips.

Wednesday was frog day. Over at SF State researcher Vance Vredenburg is looking into the extinction of frogs and particularly the problem of frog populations dying off in the Sierras of California from a fungus infection. This problem could be reflective of our global climate change issues and what we are doing to the Earth. We shot in his lab and then out in the field as he gathered samples in a pond east of SF.

Thursday we hopped over to UC Berkeley to do a story on researchers there who are building small helicopters in the lab and creating new algorithms to figure out the thorny issues of collision avoidance in air traffic control as well as flight control innovations.

Then came the fire.

Literally.

The Crucible is an Oakland based organization that teaches classes in blacksmith, iron work, glass blowing, wood working and more. Industrial arts taught in a cool way and not the dorky way of high school classes. Every year they put on a fund raising show called the Fire Arts Festival. They set up in a ten acre lot in west Oakland where artists can come and shop off their best fire breathing, turbo charged sculptures and performances. It is a wild night of music, fire, art, and creative folks. You have never seen anything quite like it. The image below is of the installation called the . They literally shoot liquid propane into a fire and with fans creating a vortex of wind they sculpt the fire live and from only a few feet away from the incredibly hot flames. We were shooting for the G4 network show called “Attack of the Show”.

G4 Talent – Blair Herter

Friday we wrapped the week up with two shoots that featured style and comfort. A business shoot at the Hotel Vitale, a boutique hotel on the SF waterfront owned by Joie de Vivre Hospitality entailed interviews with the CEO about his use of psychology techniques to better his employee relationships and hotel ambiance. Then it was off to shoot stand ups for KaylaCookson-dot-TV, the cooking and food show for college students and young adults. We shot stand ups and broll at a local farmers market in Oakland CA to illustrate the bargains to be had if you shop wisely.

Web Video – Blog Talk Radio

New Blog Talk Radio Show scheduled for Thursday June 11th at 11am PDT. Join me as I interview Dave Kaminski.

Dave and I will be discussing web video production, techniques and tools as well as how people are using web video to make money these days. Get some good tips and strategies to energize your web marketing!

Dave is a veteran web video guy who teaches folks how to do web video and educates them on how to make money for their businesses using video. It should be an entertaining show.

Check out Dave’s site: http://www.webvideouniversity.com/

Tune into the show at:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/DigVid/2009/06/11/Dave-Kaminski-Web-Video-University

Ixia Video – Customer Partnership

Spent two days shooting green screen interviews and Broll in Silicon Valley for LA based production company 5th Density headed by Darwin Foye. Their client Ixia was producing a video to be played in their trade show booth in Las Vegas this month that highlights the partnerships they have with key server technology companies from around the world.

We spent the first day setting up and shooting five green screen interviews with Ixia clients at their Sunnyvale office. The second day was spent shooting Broll at each of the five companies featured in the video. Ixia is a leader in IP performance testing.

The shoot was done in HDV using our Sony Z1 HDV camera. We rolled tape and transferred video directly to hard drive during the shoot for posting using Final Cut Pro. Nice smooth work flow.

Willie Crawford Seminar-Orlando Florida

We just got back from four days in Orlando Florida shooting a very exciting business seminar held by world famous Internet Marketer Willie Crawford. Willie turned fifty last week and to celebrate the event he held a three day long Birthday Bash with some of the top marketers in the business coming to speak and celebrate his birthday in style.

Rockk Video was brought in to shoot the entire event and do the post production on a series of DVD’s for Willie. In addition we shot interviews with each of the top marketers at the event for a special DVD product to be released by our company. This product will feature insights to business success from marketers who have achieved success and know what it takes to make it.

Here is a list of some of the terrific presenters at the seminar:

David Preston
Lynn Terry
Mark Hendricks
Felicia Slattery
Ron Davies
Laura Fenamore
Sam Crowley
Dr Ron Capps
Shel Horowitz
Rob Canyon
Kathleen Gage
Kevin Johnson
Stephen Pierce

Here is a clip from Willie’s Birthday Roast (coming soon)

And how about a testimonial from Willie himself for my services:

The Birthday Boy

Edge of Discovery – CNN

Recently we worked on several pieces for the CNN series “Edge of Discovery” with producer Jennifer Wysocki (you have to check out her show that she is developing).

This one was about the underwater planes developed by a very smart guy out here in California. Check it out.

DigVid – Video Production – Blog Talk Radio Show

Rockk Video is proud to announce the launch of its new online radio show called “DigVid” that will be airing on Blog Talk Radio. The internet allows us to communicate in so many new and interesting ways. With BTR we can host a show from our office and feature interesting and knowledgeable guests from the world of video production who will give insights and creative tips to you the end user of digital video.

FIRST SHOW ANNOUNCED!

Thursday February 19th 3pm PST
Guest: Neil Alford – video producer
www.neilalford.com

Come and join us for this show. Click Here.

Listen to this show here.

Topics to be covered in our coming shows:

1. HD video production
2. Web video production
3. Using web video to increase internet sales
4. Communicating with customers via video
5. Essential tools
6. Chats with NLE pros
7. Top digital pros grilled for their secrets
8. Video Gear – what to buy and what not to buy

Twist and Shout To End 2008

Well a nice week to end 2008 for Rockk Video Productions. We spent two days this week shooting for our UK client Twist and Shout Communications as they prepared a corporate video for McAfee. Their creative director Jim Shields was jumping on a short turnaround request from McAfee to produce a key video for their Annual Kickoff event. We shot on our Sony Z1 camera in 1080i HD at locations in Santa Clara, CA and Mission Viejo, CA. We worked with location director Robert McCollum who is based out of Texas. While we were shooting in warm Southern California Jim and crew were over in freezing Warsaw Poland shooting the other interviews. Robert and I were happy to be in California. (Not to mention the easy availability of good Mexican food)

Shooting on the Z1 was done in conference room environments with white backdrops, which as you know can be challenging but it was part of the look for the video so we used the backlight feature of the Sony Z1 and let the backdrops blow out while maintaining solid exposures on the faces of our interviews.

Next up is more cooking videos for a new membership cooking web site that will debut in 2009 and is aimed at young adults and college students.