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.