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.

Pebble Beach Concours D’Elegance

Our favorite images from this great event for car lovers. The Pebble Beach Concours D’Elegance held every August on the Monterey Peninsula. This event raises millions for charity each year.

The new Aston Martin

That is Jay Leno’s car!

Recent shoots we have been on

Moonrise Productions – Univ of Arizona Football vs Stanford

Atlantic TV/Al Jazeera – Iran Revolution Documentary
Stanford University
UC Berkeley

Atlantic TV/Intl. Rugby – Rugby History Documentary
Berkeley CA
St Helena CA
SF CA

A&E – Biography – Ed Kemper

CNNMoney.com/Fortune
Concours d’Elegance – Pebble Beach CA
Intel CEO Craig Barrett – Jon Fortt
Dell Latitude Launch

ATVI “Heroes Among Us”:
Monterey
SF
Sacramento

CNNMoney.com:
“Amy’s Kitchen” – Santa Rosa CA
“Diggler” – Fairfax, CA
“Monster Cable” – Brisbane CA

ATVI – LA “Heroes Among Us” Lodi Ca

Comcast Sports Chicago – Cubs Baseball

Got2Know

Rockk Video has an ongoing relationship to shoot segments for Got2Know which is a start up web site aimed at providing relevant life skills information to teens and young adults via 100% positive videos. We have shot a number of segments for them on how to become an author/animator/scientist/publisher and more.

CNNMoney.com

Recently we have been doing work for CNNMoney.com on shoots for their collaboration with Fortune magazine. Here are some links to the segments:
Electric Motorcycles
Google’s strategy tax

Google to store health records
HP revamps lab unit
The game of life
A preview of the videogame Spore, which lets users design a universe from single cells to solar systems.

CNN American Morning

Shot last week with them for a series of stories dealing with Asian American Month. The host for these stories was Yul Kwon the winner of CBS’s Survivor. Yul explored the roles of Asians in the media (film/TV) and college admission standards for Asian students in these shoots in San Francisco. Air date is mid May 2007

CNN International Future Summit

We helped shoot this event at Stanford University. It was a five person panel discussion hosted by Kristie Lu Stout which delved into the fascinating issue of online virtual worlds and the implications for our society. Air date is June 13th 2007 on CNN International

CNN Global Challenges with Host Daryl Hannah

We recently shot an episode of CNN International’s Global Challenges that focused on global warming. CNN brought in actress Daryl Hannah to host the show. Shoots were in Monterey CA and Vancouver Canada on this week long project.

Daryl was fun to work with and showed great promise as a show host. She is currently spending lots of time working on her video blog that deals with issues of protecting and preserving the planet. Check out her blog at www.dhlovelife.com

On the set of Corkscrewed (working for McWilliams Productions)- New Fox Reality Show

The producers of American Idol and other huge TV shows bought a winery with their hard earned cash. Then they found out things were not right in the wine business at thier new ranch(lost contracts, rodents, dead owls, and so on). So they decided to make a reality show out of their travails. They were a couple of very funny guys to interview.

Interviewing Jim Marshall (working for McWilliams Productions)(icon photographer for many years in rock and roll) for an upcoming documentary called “27″ which deals with the legends of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Jim Morrison.

The Virgin America launch of their new airplane nicknamed after the legendary SF band “Jefferson Airplane” . Gov Schwarzeneggar, Mayor Newsom, and Grace Slick on hand for the ceremony.

My other passion – soccer

I recently was the referee for a friendly game between the national womens team of Ghana and a local club team. That is me in the middle. I love soccer, playing, coaching, and refereeing.

Working with my son (on left) and Max (on right)

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