Portrait: Sy Safi
April 24th, 2010 § Leave a Comment
Here is the image of Sy Safi, manager of GCCM Construction Services, LLC, that will be appearing in the upcoming issue of Green Building and Design. The magazine is doing a feature article on GCCM and how their use of green building techniques is saving customers money. For this photo, I met Sy at one of the GCCM project sites. We did a variety of shots against different backgrounds. Since we were going for a black and white final photo, we did some test shots with different color shirts to make sure there was enough separation between the shirt and his skin tones. I also wanted to put him against a lighter background since his sweater was darker in value.
I shot the original picture in color with a Canon 40D, EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM, Speedlite 580EX II flash on-camera. I then brought it into Lightroom for post-processing.
VIDEO: Production for Construction Management Company
April 23rd, 2010 § Leave a Comment
I just completed work on this video for GCCM Construction Services in Louisville, Kentucky. Sy, the company owner (featured in the video), wanted to highlight the installation of rooftop HVAC units at one of their large construction sites – a major milestone for the project. We decided on an approach very similar to an HGTV style show. I had Bob Villa in mind while planning out the different shots.
On the day of the shoot, I arrived on location with my Panasonic DVX100b camcorder, Audio Technica AT897 shotgun mic, extra batteries and tapes, and headphones. This was designed to be a fast, ENG-style production since the construction work would be going non-stop. We had limited time to get the shots because once all the HVAC units were on the roof, the crane would stop running! I started shooting B-roll of the facility, trucks, and crane, then grabbed some shots of the owner introducing the project. Then I jumped back to capturing B-roll of the crane unloading some HVAC units from a truck bed. Next, we went up to the roof and I shot more B-roll of the crane and one of the units being lowered. Then Sy stepped out in front of the unit to talk about what was going on, and we finished up by interviewing one of the lead contractors from the HVAC company. Sy also demonstrated how the roof material is installed. In all, I shot around 40 minutes of video.
Back at my editing workstation, I captured all of the video in Adobe Premiere and started cutting. First I culled through the footage and organized it according to type: Sy 1, Sy 2, B-roll, etc. I also marked my favorite takes. Then I started laying some clips into the timeline, starting with Sy’s clips. Next, I inserted the music track so that I could align shots to the musical beat. With a little pushing and pulling of clips, I was able to edit the piece down to the final version you see above this post. I also did all of the sound editing in Premiere.
I didn’t use any fancy equipment for this project (and yes, I love my DVX100 and still use it extensively), only what I felt was necessary. Having less equipment on hand allowed me to move quickly and efficiently through the construction site, all while wearing a hard-hat.
Low-Budget Inspiration
September 20th, 2008 § Leave a Comment
Here is some inspiration for all low-budget filmmakers:
Part 1/3
Part 2/3
Part 3/3
