Super Happy Funtimes: Video Capture Setup Time-lapse

Ever wonder what it takes to set up for a video interview? Wonder no longer – here’s the entire setup, from start to finish, in a 30-second time-lapse video shot with a GoPro camera from about 2009.

ACTION ITEM: Look at it. Look. At. It.

Phillips 66’s Aimee Lohr On The Ease Of Working With Bill Rolland

One of my favorite clients (very professional but also funny and thoughtful), Aimee always appreciates that I look out for her interests, mostly by attending to every detail.

ACTION ITEM: I try to keep notes on every project, while it’s in progress, on what I may have missed or could do better. I find it keeps me on the track to steady improvement. Now you try it 😉

Test Fail

Boarding my aircraft at London Heathrow, scanning my boarding pass to get through the gate to the aircraft. Took like 10 seconds to do this (if you don’t think that’s a long time, try counting out 10 seconds with a line of hostile Group 2’s behind you) before the scanner let me through. Seems it was waiting for me to confirm that I was okay sitting in an exit row. Took 10 seconds to figure out the boarding pass scanner but I’m good to MacGyver the door in the event of a sudden loss of cabin pressure and/or engines afire emergency with hundreds of lives at stake. Yeah. Sure. I’m good with that.

ACTION ITEM: Count on me

There’s My Lucky Penny!

I peeled off my mobile phone case while hanging out Saturday in the airline lounge. Must be like finally getting a cast taken off – boy, was it nasty in there. I’m replacing the old one with this one. Prolly not the least bit practical but boy does it look keen.

 

Watch Me Disappear

We’re super excited at the debut of new facilities at local media powerhouse NCTV; in particular their newly-created green screen “cyclotron”, shown here with Executive Director Ramona Howard. Both my son, Andy, and I have memberships at NCTV and are eager to put these new facilities to the test. We may be shooting a green screen video test Friday – we’ll let you know how it works out.

ACTION ITEM: Stand by for the verdict

Greg Smith on working onsite with Bill Rolland

Greg Smith, Director at Cisco, describes why he uses Bill Rolland to shoot and edit onsite, especially at events where social media plays an important role.

ACTION ITEM: If you have an event that can benefit from posting videos in near real-time (and, honestly, which wouldn’t?), talk to Bill.

Less Is More When It Comes To Graphs

Very fun animated GIF – I was a bit skeptical when it started but totally sold by its conclusion. Watch, learn, and make better graphs

ACTION ITEM: Make your graphs as clean and simple as possible – this goes for any PowerPoint slide as well – remove as much as you can, then toss out half of what’s left

Off The Beaten Path Part 2: The Red Frog

The idea behind the “Off The Beaten Path” series were the many humble, out-of-the-way, inconspicuous bars, clubs, and restaurants we motor by every day without having the curiosity to stop in and check them out. We selected a starter batch of three (Dew Drop Inn, the Red Frog Bar and Grill and The Washington Hotel). Our host at the Red Frog, Randy Brock, showed us a rear deck for a shooting location that, though a bit cramped, worked surprisingly well as a shoot location. Here’s what the set up looked like…

…and here’s the result:

ACTION ITEM: Before you set up for your shoot, take a look around and consider every possibility

Off The Beaten Path Part 1: Dew Drop Inn

I was on a three-location whirlwind shoot-a-thon this past week creating a lifestyle series for our local newspaper The Union, working title: “Off The Beaten Path”. First stop is The Dew Drop Inn where we interviewed new owner and gracious host Lori Godfrey. Producer was Emily Rolland, Andy Rolland directed and will be editing, and Carson Hall ably served as Camera Operator. I was there for steady leadership and charm 😉 We brought, I think, three different camera platforms but the one we used in the dark environment of the barroom was the Sony a7S. I like this camera for its inconspicuous footprint; but also for its ability to reduce noise (that graininess you see in an image under low-light conditions), even at an ultra-high ISO of 16,000. Here’s what our two speakers looked like:

ACTION ITEM: Choose the right camera for the job

PHX Timelapse

The fam recently took a vacation to Flagstaff AZ (way more fun than it sounds), flew back home out of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. As our plane arrived Andy captured this short (18 seconds) time lapse clip on his iPhone.

ACTION ITEM: Look at it. Look. At. It.