Content Marketing & Film Resource

4 Tools My iPhone Will Never Replace

Ian Barrett May 17, 2016 Production Gear, Gear Blog, film Gear Leave a Comment

I write a lot about gear and production for a couple of reasons:

I love the topic
We travel quite a bit and we always have to be prepared no matter what, no matter how long the shoot runs, and I like sharing the gear decisions that have been galvanized during field production.

We are huge fans of technology and of course we all have smart phones. They are a godsend for production. Smartphones keep us connected and they provide amazing assistance with specialized apps. You can use your smart phone for almost anything.

But…that's not always a great idea.

Here are four tools my iPhone will never replace:

#1 A GPS:

We love Waze for navigation, but it has its limitations. For example, the longest trip you can take with Waze is 500 miles. And there limited points of interest available, too, which means when you are looking for a gas station or restaurant unless you google the address you are out of luck. Also, you'll need to be in an area will cell coverage as opposed to GPS which uses satellites, in most cases this isn't a problem, but some of our shoots take us well outside cell phone coverage.

But the biggest set back occurs when you get a phone call during your drive. Your navigation and your contact will talk to you at the same time. Worst case, you'll miss a turn or an important piece of information. Best case, you'll be annoyed.

I use a Tom Tom standalone GPS. I program my entire itinerary into the device before I start my trip. When I land and get my rental car, I already have the hotel destination and all my locations loaded and ready to go.

Best of all it's hands free. I'm not using valuable battery life on my phone on an extended or unexpected drive to a location.

#2 A Watch /Chronograph:

It's funny to me, but it seems that nobody wears watches anymore, especially college kids.

At MediaBoss we require our interns to wear a watch on set and that's because we don't allow talent or crew phones on set. They can cause interference with microphones and the inevitable "I swear I turned it to silent!" can ruin the best take of the day. Not to mention, "I was just checking my texts" and the middle of the scene phone-drop. The risks are just not necessary.

A simple, inexpensive watch with chronograph and lighted numbers is an amazing asset. It keeps everyone coordinated and also keeps crew from taking hands off gear or cameras for time checks.

Speaking of time checks, watches are also great when the pushy PR person tries to cut short your 5 minute celebrity interview by 2 minutes. By the time you get your phone out to argue, they are already walking off the set.

Having a watch has saved me from that situation more than once.

#3 A Flashlight

In a pinch the flashlight function of your phone is great, but it's not ideal for extended use.

It drains the battery and takes away the use of one of your hands, making you less useful especially during load out.

At night or in a club, you'll need both hands free and a powerful long-lasting light.

There are a million options, but I like a smaller flashlight with variable intensity and a clip that I can hold in my teeth (gaffers tape is helpful here.) Another option is a headstrap mounted light, which we also keep in our grip bag, it's a great tool in those situations.

#4 A Multi-Tool w/Knife

I know. Smartphones don't have knives. But that's the point. I can't tell you the number of times our crew has saved the day because we have a knife or multi-tool. I never go on set without one.

Whether a screw needs tightening or a thread needs to be cut off somebody's wardrobe, your phone is completely useless.

Sometimes we rely on our smart devices too much.

It's always the little things that hold up a shoot and by being prepared you can do a better job keeping the gremlins at bay.

As always, everything goes in a backpack which goes on every shoot, everytime.

Obviously, we bring more gear than that - a lot more - but these are a great start.

Production Gear Gear Blog film Gear

What to Take When You Can't Take Everything: Travel Production

Erin Hayes April 12, 2016 Video, Travel, Travel Production, Gear Blog Leave a Comment

When we go out on a shoot we always like to be prepared for anything. That means good pre-production and bringing a lot of gear to the location. So it's not unusual to see a cart loaded like this:

We brought the little rig for a little 12 hour shoot, no big deal. :)

A photo posted by Ian Barrett (@i.barrett) on Oct 3, 2015 at 8:50am PDT

At MediaBoss we also fly internationally to produce shoots for our clients. That presents a unique challenge. How do we keep production values high, but travel efficiently? So, the goal is to take THIS gear and...

MediaBoss Flyaway Gear

...and fit it into THIS bag:

MediaBoss Gear Backpack

The first question might be: Why not hire someone in the market to shoot the video? And the answer is simple. Consistency.

Subtle aspects like composition, lighting, mic placement vary greatly from crew to crew. Unless you have a working relationship with a company, you can't guarantee a consistent result. It's too big a risk us to take, especially when we know we are only going to get one chance to capture the footage.

So, when that 'one shot' opportunity for a testimonial with a CEO halfway around the world presents itself, we need to come prepared.

Inside this small camera bag is 22 pounds of video production gear that we use to provide the highest quality shoot that we can fly with in the overhead bin of a jet. In a lot of ways, it's a back to basics approach using the most reliable gear, with the most consistent results. We'll provide a gear list of about 50 items that we always bring when we can't bring everything.

MediaBoss_Travel_BackPack

First off, we pack our compact and reliable Canon 5D Mark IIs with matching Zeiss 50mm prime lenses. These give us beautiful images and excellent low-light performance. With two cameras, we can do a standard 2 person interview or a A/B camera set-up on the subject. This latitude gives us the most options in post, especially with long interviews. We also bring a Canon 24-70mm and a Canon 22mm lens for additional shooting options.

Next up are the tripods. On a shoot like this one person has to run the entire rig, camera operator/producer/audio/director, without tripods we'd be sunk. Also to save space - and weight - we need lightweight aluminum ones. These usually go in our checked luggage while flying. On the ground we attach them to the camera bag so everything we need is in one compact space, easily portable and available on the day of the shoot. Generally speaking, fly away gigs include a lot of quick set-ups and strikes over a short period of time. We don't get the opportunity to tweak too many things. On any other local gig, we'd have a camera operator and audio/PA at a minimum for even a small shoot.

Audio is critical. In a situation where we have to mic more than a single person we need a separate multi-track recorder. This allows us to monitor and control both sources at the same time. Running primary audio directly into the cameras is not an option for us. Enter the reliable Zoom H4n, a mainstay of our location production since it was first introduced. We also use Sennheiser 100 G3 wireless lavs for audio because we need to mic both host and talent. We also need to be prepared to move quickly from location to location, which makes hardwired mics a no-go. Finally, as a fail-safe backup, we bring a Rode VideoMic Pro shotgun mic. We place it on the camera closest to the talent and send that audio directly to that camera.

MediaBoss Audio Gear

For lighting, we need to rely on a good light source for quality and consistency. So on the way to a shoot we always keep an eye out for a quiet corner with a good base of lighting. We augment what we have with a simple LitePanel LED and a small collapsable bounce (which is also great for single person stand ups in daylight).

When it comes time to roll, we break out the iPad which has an excellent Production Slate with timecode and a TelePromter App for on camera reads. The Production Slate also allows us to take notes in the app and email them to the editor.

Those are the basic, must-haves. But most shoots require us to bring something else to the table. Because of this, we never leave without GoPros, time lapse gear, a mini-slider, Canon G-15 (for quick pick ups and production stills) and of course an iPhone. We also bring a host of clamps and a back-up lav and recorder. This saves us in the case of an emergency like the sudden addition of on-camera talent or the need to capture an additional audio source.

It's important to note that, everything we need to shoot is in the backpack on the plane as a carry-on. Even a lost luggage scenario would not stop a MediaBoss shoot. In that case we'd stop by any camera store and grab a pair of cheap tripods and we'd be good to go. This is critical and absolutely company policy on our very frequent, 'turn and burn' shoots. i.e. Boston to San Francisco and back in the same day or Boston to London and back in 30 hours. Yup, we do that. As our Creative Director, Ian Barrett, says, 'that's Rock and Roll'.

By the way, he's the guy we sent to India to do our latest shoot. Here he is directing somewhere a bit more local...

We shot a fun project with some extraordinarily talented people this week. Here's a shot of one of our final scenes. #setlife

A photo posted by MediaBoss Television (@mediaboss) on Nov 15, 2015 at 4:26am PST

Our abbreviated gear list is attached. Hope you enjoyed reading this, feel free to ask questions or share your comments.

Gear List

Click Elite Backpack (discontinued):
Manfrotto 60' compact tripod
Manfrotto 60' compact tripod
Lasolite 18" reflector
Canon battery charger
Canon battery charger
Canon 5D Mark II "A"
Canon 5D Mark II "B"
Lens cloth
Canon 24-70mm
Zeiss 50mm "A"
Zeiss 50mm "B"
Rode VideoMic Pro
Seiko Chronograph
Leatherman "Tread" Multi-Tool
Rode lavalier mic
Zoom H1 Recorder
Edelkrone Slider One
Edelkrone Flex Tilt Head
GoPro with mounts
20. Zoom H4n Recorder
Camera bracket
(6) Canon Batteries
Business Cards
Camalapse 4 panoramic head
LitePanel Micro Pro w gels
J-Lab J5 ear buds
Vello V-Rig bracket
Friction Arm with clamp mount
Manfrotto ball head mount
Mini tripod
Canon 22mm "pancake" lens
32. Sony NP 970 Battery
Sennheiser 100 G3 Wireless Lav "A"
Sennheiser 100 G3 Wireless Lav "B"
(8) AA Batteries
(8) AAA Batteries
(2) 9v Batteries
iPad Air w/Apps
Asus Notebook Computer
Moleskine w/ mechanical pencil
Seagate 500 GB backup drive "A"
Seagate 500 GB backup drive "B"
(4) 32 GB SanDisk SD cards w/ case
iPhone 5s
(Not Pictured) Bose QC15 Headphones

Checked bag/Carry On

1. Accessory case

2. Canon G15 and Charger

3. Multi-Card reader

4. Power cables (assorted)

5. Anker 1300mAh Battery

6. Anker 40w 5 port Charger

7. 6' AC stinger

8. Rigid 5 outlet extension

9. Sony NP charger

10. iPod mini

11. Bluetooth speaker/charger

12. Laptop power supply

13. Insignia power adapter/converter

Additional Resources:

Guide to Hiring the Right Production Company
- The Future of Episodic Television: A Working Producer's Perspective
5 Reasons Why I'm Not Rushing to 4K Resolution
5 Video Production Trends for 2016
5 Terrible Ways to Spend Your Video Marketing Budget

Video Travel Travel Production Gear Blog

4 Lighting Tips You Shouldn't Shoot Without

Erin Hayes May 14, 2015 Creativity, Production, Content Marketing, Gear Blog Leave a Comment

4 Lighting Tips for Great Video

Occasionally, you may not have the luxury of hiring a professional production company to shoot your video for you. Maybe there's a last minute opportunity to interview a star customer and there isn't time to schedule a crew (though you should still give us a call to see), or maybe there's a syngeristic moment that presents itself at a trade show. Or maybe, you want to do something creative after work and shoot a web short.

Whatever it is, you'll want to make it look as good as possible.

So you should go out and buy a top-of-the-line video camera for these moments, right?

Wrong.

The key to great video is not the camera. It is the lighting.

What?

Yes. It's the lighting that can make or break a video.

Are you familiar with a guy named Stephen Spielberg?

Don't get us wrong; we aren't arguing that he shoots with cheap cameras.

He absolutely does not.

But his films' distinct looks have everything to do with a man named Janusz Kaminski. Kaminski is the Oscar-winning cinematographer who has been behind every Spielberg film since 1993. His lighting is world-renowned and emulated by the best in the business.

In fact, you know that incredible shot in True Grit - the shot that introduces Jeff Bridges's character for the first time in the court house, backlit and bathed in sunlight? Cinematographer Roger Deakins credits Kaminski's influence for that scene. (Read more about that here).

Now, we're not proposing that this blog post is a master class in lighting, but we do have 4 practical lighting tips that will help you shoot a great looking video. For our visual learners - check out our SlideShare below.

http://www.slideshare.net/MediaBoss/5-lighting-tips-you-shouldnt-shoot-without

No. 1: White Balance, Please.

Please white balance. Forgetting this simple step can ruin a video right out of the box. No kidding. Clients ask us to 'fix' their self-shot footage every once in a while and many times we are able to accommodate this request. But if they did not white balance before shooting, the process becomes tricky. And costly.

How to White Balance:

First, RTFM.

Then, keep a plain white card in your kit. If you forget your plain white card, see if you can grab a piece of blank printing paper somewhere.

Point your camera at the white card and then press your camera's white balance button you read about in the manual.

But, what if my camera doesn't have a white balance?

If you are using a single chip HD camera then you have no control of the white balance settings because it's on full-time auto. But don't fret. There are ways to make sure you are getting the best out of your camera. Just make sure you are dealing with only ONE type of light at a time.

Open the shades and turn off the flourescent lights and you will have the control you need. If you're shooting in a windowless office with Fluorescent lights, make sure you turn off any desk lamps. The desk lamps are most likely Incandescent lights and Fluorescents and Incandescents do not mix well.

No. 2: Use the Sun.

Because, sometimes the best things in life are free.

The first major source of light is also the best source of light. The sun has a full spectrum of light and it renders color well.

A Few Tips:

Position your subject one of two ways:

Film them with the light shining directly in their face (if they are comfortable and don't need to squint too much), or film them at an angle so that one side is hot and one side is not.

Try not to shoot at noon. The shadows come from above and are difficult to get rid of. Early morning and afternoon has softer light with a more golden tone and fills your subject better.

No. 3: Add an External Camera Light.

When the lighting comes from a source above, like a gym or an office or outdoors at midday, a camera light is excellent for filling in the annoying shadows that appear on your subject's face.

There are literally hundreds of different options. We like our LED light panels, but there are less expensive options. You can find perfectly adequate external lights for $30.

No. 4: Use a Light with a Stand

A light on a stand is an important upgrade to your production rig for a couple of reasons.

1. They give brighter light over a larger area

2. They allow you to move the camera angle without moving the lighting set up.

Bonus Tip:

Take care to isolate your light sources.

i.e. Close or open your shades, turn off office lights, etc.

And Remember:

When you mix light, your primary source needs to be the brightest!

We hope these tips help you out on your next production. If you think we missed something important, let us know in the comments!

Creativity Production Content Marketing Gear Blog

Gear Blog

4 Tools My iPhone Will Never Replace

What to Take When You Can't Take Everything: Travel Production

4 Lighting Tips You Shouldn't Shoot Without

4 Lighting Tips for Great Video

Content Creation Blog

4 Tools My iPhone Will Never Replace

#1 A GPS:

#2 A Watch /Chronograph:

#3 A Flashlight

#4 A Multi-Tool w/Knife

What to Take When You Can't Take Everything: Travel Production

Gear List

Checked bag/Carry On

Additional Resources:

4 Lighting Tips You Shouldn't Shoot Without

4 Lighting Tips for Great Video

No. 1: White Balance, Please.

How to White Balance:

No. 2: Use the Sun.

A Few Tips:

No. 3: Add an External Camera Light.

No. 4: Use a Light with a Stand

Bonus Tip:

And Remember:

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