Blue Sky Video Bloggings

2008-03-19T07:46:00.000-07:00

It's been two years since I posted my last blog. Many things have happened.

Stay tuned to get the inside stories of filmmaking, video production, post-production editing and running a small business.

2006-02-10T18:52:00.000-08:00

The WEVA community is gearing up for the 100 camera wedding shoot on Feb. 15, 2006. In addition to your standard videographer with a camera combo, there will also be micro cameras placed in the bridal bouquet as the bride walks down the aisle and another on the groom. There will also be a "flying camera" placed on a wire that will get a bird's eye view of the ceremony and reception. If you're picturing a circus set up in a church, that's not how this is going to be staged. The event is taking place at the Library Galleria in Sacramento. It's a large expanse of a room with a balcony circling the main floor. About 90% of the cameras will be on the second floor balcony covering the wedding in 360 degrees. The other cameras will be set up in traditional locations in the front and back of the room. Out of the way the proceedings.

Both my partner, Sue, & I will be there covering the event for the WEVA News Minute. For more on this record breaking event go to www.weva.com.

2005-08-05T22:01:00.000-07:00

The 15th Annual WEVA Expo begins on Monday August 8th. Blue Sky Video Productions has been hired to produce the daily video blogs for WEVA.com.

I've already have been producing the WEVA News Minutes which have featured news, info and product demos from 2005 NAB, Chicago HD Expo and Wired's Chicago Nextfest.

Producing daily video blogs raised the bar by requiring us to record, edit and post video clips in a matter of a couple hours.

Stay tuned

Bruce

2005-07-31T18:39:00.000-07:00

Video coverage of Chicago Nextfest 2005 has been posted to WEVA Industry News at weva.com.
This week's clips include a "Walk-Through" video screen, New Psssion for Power in Fashion and a Step into Panoscope's 3D World.

2005-07-27T18:45:00.000-07:00

Video coverage from Chicago HD Expo has been posted to WEVA Industry News.
We covered the new and the old. From a tapeless video card reader to how to store old video tapes.

This week's video clips include a close up look at Panasonic's 5 slot P2 drive and a helpful tip from the guys at The Tape Company on how to make your video tape last.

For more info watch our tip of the week. But, hurry, it'll only be up for this week.

2005-07-10T22:04:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was even busier than normal. Sue Lawson & I edited "Love Hurts!" as part of Chicago's 48 Hour Film Project (48hourfilm.com). Director Stacie Hawkins (Like A Woman Should) also co-produced & co-wrote "Love Hurts!" a comedy based on the guidelines set up in the competition.

Friday at 7:00pm, 22 teams were given a list of key elements that each short film must contain, and then drew a variety of genre from a hat. Genres that included, Mystery, Horror, Crime, Foreign, Mocumentary and Comedy.

17 teams, including ours, made the 48 hour deadline to qualify for competition. All completed film will be screened tomorrow at the Landmark Theater in Chicago.

2005-03-30T20:57:00.000-08:00

Blue Sky Video Production purchased piece of new technology this week. The Focus FS-4 is a portable hard drive that connects to the digital video camera and records video directly to the hard drive. The FS-4 is ideal for shoots that require immediate editing such as corporate golf outings that show the edited clips at the evening banquet or other special events where the video needs to be edited and shown the same day. It is just a matter of time before VHS and other tape formats are replaced by the FS-4 and other reusable disk drives.

2005-03-17T18:44:00.000-08:00

Career Exploration Day at CLC Technology Campus.
I got new insight as to why I got into this business. Seeing the excitement from the students at CLC Tech reminded me of what I was like in High School. These kids are working with technology that wasn't even possible 20 or 30 years ago. Cameras are getting smaller, laptops contain the power of a TV studio. Documentaries and even feature films are in the hands of individuals without enormous funding.

New innovations are being brought to the market every year. HD video is on the horizon of being the next common format. And as corny it as it sounds, the children are our future.

2005-03-16T20:43:00.000-08:00

Busy day today. In the morning I videotaped a funeral and in the evening and a panel debate of 10 candidates for assorted village positions.

In both cases audio was an issue.

Forthe funeral I was positioned in the balcony where they had a pair of Bose speakers set up. I was unable to put a mic on the priest or anyone else. In order to cover everyone I set a wireless on the podium for oner channel and placed a wired Shure SM-58 just in front of the speaker for the other channel.

The wireless covered a majority of the service and the SM-58 got the rest very well. The quality of the audio coming out of the speaker helped immensely.

The 10 person panel debate wasn't too difficult, after the 15 minutes spent trying to get the access panel to the audio system unlocked. Instead of setting up 10 mics or even 4 shared mics in addition to the mics already set up for the auditorium, I plugged a 1/4 cable into the only output source available and ran that into a wireless cube transmitter. I then mounted the cube to an unused light stand. The camera was set up in the center of the auditorium and the receiver had an unobstructed view ofthe transmitter. Once the candidates got the idea that they needed to usethe mic even though most of the people could hear them without the mic, everything went smoothly.

The cube comes in handy for taking audio feeds from existing systems. It can even take a line singnal in and transmit to a receiver that's plugged into a mic input to the camera.

2005-03-15T14:04:00.000-08:00

Lewis Carroll meets Shakespeare - aka Alice meet Julius.

"Beware the Ides of March!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun The frumious Bandersnatch!"

2005-03-12T15:36:00.000-08:00

WEVA (wedding and event video association) town meeting coming to Chicago on March 23rd, the same night as CHIFCPUG (Chicago final cut pro user group) elections.

2004-03-22T15:41:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Blue Sky Video Productions Blog Page.
Providing info on video production and website marketing.
Managed by Bruce Himmelblau
bruce@bsvp.com

2004-03-22T15:01:00.000-08:00

DVD Studio Pro seminar - March 27, 2004
Digital Bootcamp
Chicago, IL
for info contact bruce@bsvp.com

2004-02-01T12:56:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Blue Sky Video Productions weblog. The weblog will include information on professional videography and other points of interest.