MultiMediaVideo

This is a PSA we produced in January.

Besides the fact that it’s very unusual for a PSA,  this is the first project we completed from start to finish with our new camera:  the Sony FS 100.

You may have heard some of the hype about the incredible quality of the video coming out of high end DSLRs  (still cameras that shoot video).  We have one  (a Nikon d7000) and the quality is in fact incredible.  But it is difficult to work with;  it has the form factor of an SLR, the audio has to be recorded externally and matched up to the video in post-production, and it is very challenging to hold the camera in any type of way.

The FS 100 from Sony has the same high quality sensor and imaging as the SLR cameras, with the form factor and features of a more standard cinema video camera.

The result:  amazing 1080P film like image quality, and the ability to shoot in a more conventional (flexible) manner.

Also in the mix:  lenses.

The FS 100 takes traditional classic lenses; the kind they don’t really make anymore.  We just happen to own over a dozen legendary Nikkor lenses from our days in still photography  (thank goodness I didn’t sell them!).

Now we have legendary optics coupled with a state of the art camera and over a quarter century of experience.  Check out the result below.  Some of this video was processed to look bad (like a flip camera), and much of it is shot in a strange party light.  Until recently, you couldn’t even shoot in this type of light.

More to come later.

And check back here often, we plan to post all of our interesting videos here as we wrap them.

The recent death of Penn State legend Joe Paterno got me thinking.

Front page coverage in all the papers including USA today gave perspective on his status. But I had a good deal of personal experience with Joe Pa (as he was fondly called). We covered Penn State for one of the big satellite sports networks. I was with Joe at press conferences, at the NFL Hall of Fame, behind the scenes at the stadium, and even on the field.

One thing I remember most was from the first Penn State game I covered. I already knew to get shots of Joe.  He ran onto the field with the team, and somehow ended up standing in the middle of the playing field taking in the pre-game spectacle. Since the game hadn’t started yet, I saw the chance for a great shot.

I went up to Joe Pa, held the camera down at my knee level looking up at him, I then did complete 360 degree walk around of Joe looking at at the packed stands. I knew I had a great shot.

But what I thought was this:  he had to be aware of what I was doing. I was 4 feet from him bending over with a camera going in a circle around him.  There’s no way he didn’t see me. Yet, he knew I was getting a great shot, and that people would see it.  So he let me get the shot, and it did get seen on national television. More than once.

The thought that gives me pause is this: how much of his legend was due to a savvy  understanding and use of the media, and how much was him, his teams, and the record?

In this hyper media-saturated era, that is a question we may never know the answer to.

Jeff

Stay tuned for more videos and thoughts in this spot soon.