Video Production Company Cincinnati | Cinevita Films » Gear Review

Slow Motion | Video Production Company

bradenjobson — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 17:07:32 +0000

Art is continually evolving. The art of filmaking is evolving faster than it ever has before, almost to the point of being difficult to keep up. We continually strive to keep up with the technological advances, as well as industry trends and the needs of our clients. One of the ways we have done this recently is by investing into a high speed camera.

Slow motion Cinematography is a new tool that we can use to tell stories. Slow motion introduces a new perspective on how we view ordinary movement. When you slow a movement down by 20x what our human eye is used to viewing, it opens up a whole new perspective and really captures your attention. The applications for slow motion cinematography are endless. To put it plainly, everything looks amazing in slow motion. Our video production company has decided to invest into this new form because our clients want to advertise their products and services with a new perspective. For example, we can use slow motion for a machining company and watch metal shavings slowly peeling away off of a metal lathe, or watch sparks slowly disperse off of a welder. The example shown here uses slow motion as a poetic way to show the movement going into soccer that you normally wouldn’t be able to appreciate because the action happens too quickly to appreciate.

As with any innovation or new trend, it should be used in moderation, and along side other techniques. At the end of the day, its a tool to help tell a story, but its not the only tool.

Cinevita Films is a Video Production Company based in Cincinnati Ohio. While we are based in Cincinnati, OH, Cinevita Films is available to take our Video Production services worldwide.

Time is Money | Video Production Company

bradenjobson — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 21:29:29 +0000

Whenever I help out other people on shoots, it absolutely amazes me how much time is wasted. I will show up, and it may be 2 hours or more before we start to shoot anything. A large portion of that time is wasted messing around with getting gear setup. While, it does take time to prep gear, there are plenty of ways to make this process go faster so that you can get shooting faster. The biggest way is investing into gear that is portable, and quick to setup. Kessler Crane is our goto company for anything related to camera motion. The biggest reason is that it only takes 1 person to setup and operate their equipment, and while we always have several people on crew during shoots, the extra speed makes a big difference. A traditional dolly can take 45 minutes to an hour to setup (painful), I can have our Kessler dolly setup and ready to go in less than 2 minutes.

I’m very excited about their new Kwik release system. No we are able to have a quick release to all of our cranes, dollies, etc, which makes setup and tear down time signifiicantly faster. For example, to screw on a revolution head onto a slider, and then switch from that to a tripod head would take 5-10 minutes. Now it takes a matter of seconds to switch.

We use quick releases on every piece of gear possible now. We also really love the zacuto q mounts and zamerican arms.

I can confidently say that this approach saves hours every day, which means more shots accomplished and happier clients.

Time is money.. don’t waste it.

Cinevita Films is a Video Production Company based in Cincinnati Ohio. While we are based in Cincinnati, OH, Cinevita Films is available to take our Video Production services worldwide.

Springfield Regional Medical Center TV commercials

bradenjobson — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 21:30:36 +0000

In March we worked with Genessa Health Marketing and Hafenbrack Marketing to produce three TV commercials to promote the Springfield Regional Medical Center. We filmed over the course of two days in a variety of areas around the hospital. Hafenbrack Marketing came up with the concept and wrote the script as well as did all of the editing, we were simply hired to shoot the piece. The two days of shooting went really great and we were able to accomplish a lot. In the end, we shot two 30 second TV commercials and one 15 second commercial. Below are the videos. Hafenbrack Marketing and Genessa Health Marketing are credited for both the concept and the editing.

The commercials can be seen here:

SRMC – Reason I’m Here TV – Doctor Focused

SRMC- Reason TV- Patient Focused

Cinevita Films is a Video Production Company based in Cincinnati Ohio. While we are based in Cincinnati, OH, Cinevita Films is available to take our Video Production services worldwide.

Cinevita Films works on ABC’s new Drama “Nashville”

bradenjobson — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 16:06:30 +0000

I was honored to get a call from Kessler Crane to head down to Nashville to help Rodney Charters with a motion control shot for ABC’s new drama “Nashville”. Rodney Charters has DP’d the series “24″, “Dallas”, “Shameless”, ”Charlie’s Angels” and much more, so it was a huge honor to get to work with him.

Rodney was given the difficult task of shooting a motion control plate of a cheering crowd on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry during a live performance between a commercial break. The commercial break only lasted 120 seconds, so we had to carry out our rig, get our shots, and get off stage in under 120 seconds so that we wouldn’t interrupt the rest of the concert. The Kessler motion control system is the only system that is lightweight and fast enough to be able to stay under that time limit. That’s not to say this was an easy task. I don’t think I slept at all that night after I talked with Rodney about the 120 second limit. I decided that lasers would be the fastest and most accurate way to line up out shots. I figured out a way to fasten lasers to the Cineslider and the pan and tilt of the revolution head. In total we used 4 lasers. These lasers had to be securely fastened, because we weren’t going to be shooting the actors until 2 weeks later.

Before the concert we spent time lining up and programing our shot. We would place markers on the floor of the stage as well as on the cineslider for placement of the track. If I remember correctly, in total we shot in 5 different locations around the concert. The center-stage shot was the only shot we had a 120 second limit for, the other 4 locations we were able to take more time with.

For the on-stage shot, we waited until the last chord of the song before commercial break, then we ran out with the rig, lined up the 4 lasers, returned the cart to the starting position, and within 30 seconds we were ready to roll. During this time an announcer would inform the crowd what we were doing, then he would direct them to stand up and cheer. We took the next 60 seconds to get several different takes, we recorded 2 different moves and we were able to get both takes. In the last 30 seconds of the 120 second limit we picked up the rig and carried it off stage as the performers were coming back on stage. We were all very hesitant about how it would work, but running off that stage there was such an adrenaline and rush that we were able to do what we thought was impossible. We then spent the rest of the night shooting different shots around the Grand Ole Opry.

Two weeks later we came back to shoot with the actors of “Nashville”. We had put down our laser markers and covered them with clear packing tape so they wouldn’t be scuffed up. Green screen was placed over where the actors were standing, and we filmed the same shots as before. The two shots were composited together to show the screaming crowd of a Brad Paisley concert cheering for the “Nashville” actors.

Gear wise, we used a 3ft Kessler Cineslider with the Revolution Head on the Kessler K-pod. We had two oracle controllers that were fastened to the cineslider using Zacuto Zamerican arms. We used a 100 series motor on the Cineslider.

We also spent a week shooting second unit shots around Nashville. We were given a list of shots and we took a similar but smaller setup around ton. The Director wanted movement in every shot, so we used the kessler setup on almost every shot. For this portion of shooting, the crew consisted of just me and my wife Heather.

The Trailer to Nashville can be seen here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mB9WHtAv7ts

examples of these shots can be seen at :09 and 1:15

The Season Premiere is Wednesday October 10th at 10/9c

Featured on KesslerU

Cinevita Films is a Video Production Company based in Cincinnati Ohio. While we are based in Cincinnati, OH, Cinevita Films is available to take our Video Production services worldwide.

Adding camera movement to interviews

bradenjobson — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 03:36:47 +0000

Featured on Kessler University

The Kessler Cineslider and Revolution Head is a very versatile system. Most people use this system for timelapses, but I’ve been using them mostly for live movements, and ever since I started using this motorized system, I never want to do any camera movements without it. Motorized movements are so much smoother and more precise than anything you can do by hand. Dolly shots have become way overused in the last few years, in my opinion, but what is very difficult is a subtle dolly. It amazes me how easy it is to create the perfect slow dolly move with this system.

One of the biggest reasons why I bought this system is to use during interviews. Normally you wouldn’t add movement to an interview shot, as it would be distracting, but since this system can move so subtly, it really adds a unique flare to interviews. I program the Cineslider to slowly dolly left and right, and as it dollys left, the Revolution Head pans right creating a parallax, almost 3-dimensional movement. It looks as if the background is slowly moving around the subject. If used properly, it really grips your attention, and almost seems to emphasize everything the person is saying. It can also be used faster, to create a more dramatic effect. I’ve seen this done on dramatic documentaries and it works quite well.

This system is actually very easy to set up. You can program the entire move with only one Oracle Controller. You will need a Crossover Cable to be able to use the pan function on the Revolution Head. Also, I recommend using the 100 series motor for the Cineslider, as it is the perfect speed for this application and is also very quiet. I can program the moves at home, and once I arrive for the interview, it only takes me less than 10 minutes to get setup. All I have to do is measure out the distance from the camera to the subject to stay consistent with the recorded move, return the camera to the starting position, and then press go. Its really that easy!

UPDATE: A few people have asked me if this system would work with the Pocket Dolly, so I gave it a shot. I used the same system, including the same camera rig, which is about 11 pounds. Including the 10 pound revolution head, its definitely past the recommended weight limit of the Pocket Dolly, but I was very impressed with how well it worked! There was very little flex in the pocket dolly when center mounted using the Kessler 100mm ball mount. HOWEVER, I definitely recommend using the Cineslider over the pocket dolly for this much weight. Also, I don’t have a motor mount for the Pocket Dolly, and I know that the motors respond differently for different sliders, so I’m not sure what motor I would recommend for the Pocket Dolly.

I plan to do a follow up video using the Kessler Turntable rather than the Revolution Head. The Turntable has a lower center of gravity, so it will be more stable, and more manageable. Also, you can then add a fluid head on top of the Turntable to help with reframing.

Feel free to leave comments or questions!