Essential HDSLR Gear: The Rode Stereo Video Mic

Mar 30

Essential HDSLR Gear: The Rode Stereo Video Mic

[Alrighty gear heads. Erik here with a continuation of the series of posts where I elaborate on the gear that I consider essential for my video job here at CJinc. I previously discussed how the Zaucto Z-Finder helps me guarantee the visual quality of my video, and in this post I'll explain how the Rode Stereo Video Mic ensures that my BTS footage will have respectable sound too. Perhaps more importantly though, how it allows... read more ›

Mar 29

Diary of a Shoot Followup — Ask Your Questions + Snapshots of Carnage

As a followup to my last 9 "Diary of a Shoot" posts where I scribbled the play by play as well as my thoughts each night in a blog post, I thought I'd wrap that up with two things. 1. I want you to be able to ask questions that I did not address in my posts. There were hundreds that I didn't get to. I'm... read more ›

Mar 28

Diary of a Shoot, Day 9 – That’s a Wrap!

Up at 4am. Walk out onto my deck in the cold dark air and look up. Stars. It's on. We're gonna get this. 5am call time rallies the cast and crew. We're wheels up at 6am. Convoy of 6 SUVs heading to meet the snowcat for a lift to the top of Telluride Resort with all our gear.... read more ›

Mar 27

Diary of a Shoot, Day 8 – Shut Down Again, Extend the Shoot

When I say shut down. I mean. Shut. Down. Another day of zero pictures, zero footage. We have a few crucial shots to get in the can before we can leave. I'm talking 'must have'...so we're not messing around anymore. It's do or die, but today it just wasn't happening. The beauty of shooting in a studio is that... read more ›

Mar 26

Diary of a Shoot, Day 7 — Rollercoaster Ride

From cloud 9 to the basement. Yesterday's epic adventure whipped a 180 again today... If yesterday was chocolate cake, today was chopped liver. Reason being, we were completely shut out. Blanked. Skunked. As in zero photos, zero video footy. Didn't even get the camera outta the bag. Mother nature can giveth, but she can also... read more ›

Mar 25

Diary of a Shoot, Day 6 — Doesn’t Get Much Better Than This

I've been doing this stuff for a good chunk of my life - the only career I've ever had. And so when I'm talking about the quality of a day--the light, the crew, the shots, the vibe--I've got a fair bit to compare it to. Thousands of days on set. That said, today ranks pretty high on my list of epic days.... read more ›

Mar 24

Diary of a Shoot, Day 5 — Epic Turn for the Better

Hallelujah, what a turn of fate. Awoke this morning at 6:30am to a sky chock-full of gently falling flakes and 6 inches of fresh snow on the ground and trees. What earlier this week looked like a burned out ski town in late May, now looks like mid February again. Mother nature has hit the full... read more ›

Mar 23

Diary of a Shoot, Day 4 — Weather Is An Issue

It's now day 4 of this project. But it's the first shooting day. And shooting day 1 of any campaign, film, or project is always full of excitement, anticipation, butterflies. Doesn’t matter if you’ve done it 1000 times or only 10. Our shoot day 1 had another rather friendly call time of 8am. Breakfast... read more ›

Mar 22

Diary of a Shoot, Day 3 — The Devil is in the Details

This morning's work work was fun and not too hardcore. An 8am call time & roll out. We scouted our remaining locations for shot details--all of them are reasonably close to where we are staying. We're now comparing all our locations to creative briefs and earlier notes/findings on specific locations. Much of the work today is referred to as "tech scouting". That's a more... read more ›

Mar 21

Diary of a Shoot, Day 2 — Mother Nature is Boss.

In case you're dropping in on this post out of context, you should read yesterday's post and things will all make sense. In short, I'm doing daily 'diary' entries while working on a campaign for REI in lovely Telluride, Colorado in hopes of shedding some light on what photographers and directors types like me actually do on a... read more ›