Shooting in a Green Room - No, Not that type of Green Room!
Corporate video production can have it's challenges. One of these challenges is locations as we don't often get to choose where we shoot. If we're lucky, we get a scout day or pictures of the location we're supposed to shoot in or we've been there before and already know what we're walking into. In these cases, we are prepared with the correct lighting and grip set up to make everything look great. But sometimes we go into a location blind as to what we'll be working with. At these times it's best to bring a versatile lighting set up because sometimes a green room is exactly that.
Recently in Las Vegas, we walked into a room where the windows had such a strange tint on them that all the light coming into the room was an eerie green in color. These were large floor to ceiling windows and there was no time or enough crew to gel them accordingly. Luckily we had brought four Litepanel Gemini 1 x 1 LED panels. With these lights we were able to dial in the amount of green to match the light coming in from the windows and then after that, it was simply white balancing the Canon C300 Mark II cameras accordingly. The room, despite looking eerily haunted, looked perfect on camera and the subjects, instead of looking sickly, appeared vibrant. It's a simple technique but would have been much more difficult to pull off without the right tools. It's one of the things FiveSix is known for, everything turned out great in a less than ideal situation. Effective video production is about being prepared, even if you're tossed into a glowing green room.
New Canon 5D Mark IV!
Canon 5D Mark IV.
The Canon 5D Mark IV line of DSLRs from Canon is one of their finest product lines. The newest edition is the 5D Mark IV, and it definitely doesn't disappoint. Our 5D Mark II was a great camera, and we definitely had some amazing times together, like that one-time lapse we did, or that time we took a bunch of great still images. Alas, the gods didn't see fit for us to be together forever- as it was stolen away by a thief in the night.
We found the courage to put the broken pieces of our hearts back together, and upgrade to a 30.4 Megapixel full-frame CMOS sensor, with a DIGIC 6+ image processor. Our fingertips have found warmth on the 3.2" touchscreen LCD monitor with 1.62m-Dot resolution. We have found renewed purpose knowing that the Mark IV records DCI 4K video at 30fps, and provides 8.8MP still grabs.
The Mark II definitely left a hole in our hearts, but, with time, the Mark IV can perhaps fill that void with its awesomeness. It's already on its way to film in the beautiful and mysterious state of Michigan, childhood home of Dumb and Dumber co-star Jeff Daniels. We hope we can be a part of your next Las Vegas video production and Long Beach video production soon.
It's so hot, we're on fire.
If you haven't noticed, it's been a little hot and flame-y out west lately. Our Long Beach office is bathing in a nice, thick cloud of smoke from all the fires in and around L.A.; and out in Vegas, well, there's a nice smokey haze blowing in from the coast, and it's probably 157° right now. That however, doesn't stop us from getting all dressed up, grabbing a C300, and walking up and down Las Vegas Blvd. for hour after hour of mid-day excitement. Now, one might think, "Why on Earth would you do that!?"; the answer: we love what we do, and we don't care about a little bit of heat stroke. We are expecting a little bit of a cool in Vegas, and are hoping our Southern California peeps get a little break from the fires soon; but, either way, we'll be cranking away at bringing you the best Las Vegas video production and best Long Beach video production we can.
Filming at Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas
One of our most frequented Las Vegas video production venues is Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, Delano, hotel Four Seasons hotel, and the 2 Million square foot Mandalay Bay Convention Center.
This property is gigantic! In Mandalay Bay, there are 3,309 rooms, a huge casino floor, about two dozen restaurants, a House of Blues venue, a theater or two, and an events center that is a little smaller than MGM Grand Garden. Then, there is the Delano, which has an additional 1,117 rooms, all of which are a minimum of 750 square feet- so we end up doing a lot of in-room/suite shooting there. Delano has a couple of restaurants, one of which is at the very top of the hotel, and includes amazing views of the strip, mountains, city, etc. The Four Seasons is hidden, but a gem once you find it; it's really beautiful, occupying four of the floors of Mandalay Bay near the top, and then there are some meeting rooms, restaurants, and a nice looking lobby on the ground level. The best way to get to the Four Seasons is to simply valet there, but, if you want to push in from M.B., you need to head towards the pool/M.B. valet pickup.
Mandalay Bay is located at 3950 S Las Vegas Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89119.
Parking is easily accessed from Las Vegas BlVd and Mandalay Bay Rd., but we prefer Frank Sinatra Dr. Mandalay Bay is an MGM property, so everyone pays to park, including the new convention center parking garage. Pushing gear in easy, but you definitely get your steps in if you're parking at Mandalay Bay garage and going to the convention center.
The convention/meeting space is located on the south and southeast end of the property, and our friends at Encore handle in-house audio/lighting services. There’s not always communication between the client and the house, so make sure to bring enough power and audio cabling, just in case it isn’t always set. We’ve also gotten into the habit of bringing a lavalier kit, XLR turnarounds, XLR to 1/4 inch, and various other cables for when we run into various and differing audio boards, we’ll be set. This is one of the largest convention venues in the city, and an expansion was just completed. Biggest tip: parking is usually easy, but beware, when big conventions come in, the convention garage fills up really fast.
If you're in an oversized vehicle, there's an auxiliary lot across Vegas Blvd, just take Four Seasons Drive and go behind the Shell Station- kind of a pain in the butt, but hey, buy a smaller truck.
The most important item, however, is that there are two Starbucks. They are both really far from the convention center- the closer one, of course, has the longest line. The other is located near House of Blues... so, it's good to stop on your way.
FiveSix Productions Uses Protection
Don't be a fool, wrap your tools: great advice that we here at FiveSix Productions take seriously. We utilize a number of great products to store and transport our various tools and pieces of gear; from Cinebags for our cameras, to Pelican and SKB for our tripods, Dana Dolly, and DJI products. One of our favorites for custom designed cases is Jason Cases in Durham, North Carolina. Jason Cases utilizes only the best products, and while they have predesigned cases, they are the best at customizing any case to fit your exact needs. We are huge fans of this for our kits that have a lot of separate pieces that can get lost, or pieces that are fragile. Their quick turnaround time ensures even if you're a Las Vegas video production company like us, you'll have your order very quickly. So, next time you need a durable, custom case, reach out to Jason Cases, and they'll get you set up.
Stoked For The New Year!
Now that the holiday decorations are put away, the confetti has been swept away, and the last of the sparkling cider has been sipped, it's time to get back to the fun and adventure that is Las Vegas video production! One of our favorite times of year is the winter and spring, as it brings great trade shows like CES 2017 to town. The fun doesn't stop at trade shows though, now that the kiddo's are back to the class room, mom and dad are back to getting some work done, and that means we have work too! We're excited to see what the new year will bring us, and we sure can't wait to reconnect with all our great clients and production contemporaries, as well as meet some new faces. So, don't hesitate to reach out for any project you need help with, and we will see you on set, real soon!
Best Shoot Ever!
We had one of the best shoots ever a few days ago! It's hard to tell which shoot is our favorite or the best, but this one really holds weight! We got to spend the day with round after round of amazing dogs! We were shooting the last day of a week-long convention over at the Venetian, and for no other reason than dogs are amazing, the hosts of the show brought in wave after wave of therapy dogs for the tired convention goers. These dogs certainly served their purpose, as the attendees, clearly exhausted from a week of hard work, perked right up with big smiles and renewed energy. Now, I'm not going to lie, I myself took a moment or five to stop by and get some shots of the pups, and I may have gave a head scratch or two. Again, it's so hard to pick our favorite shoot, but if you bring furry friends, it certainly moves you ahead in line.
FiveSix Goes Clubbing
Fist pump? Break dance (is that still a thing?)? Neon glow sticks? Twerking? Recently, FiveSix Productions had all that and more as we hit the club. We had the distinct pleasure of mixing, mingling, and shaking our money makers at The Sayers Club in the SLS hotel. With crafty cocktails, delicious eats, a performance by Charli XCX, and even an Etch A Sketch and digital graffiti artist (amazing), we had a blast. It wasn't all fun and games, as we had a job to do, but with a stellar crew, dressed to impress, we knocked it out of the proverbial park. All we can say as we head on to our next shoot is: Yo DJ, drop that beat!
The Osmo Has Landed
The amazing, and totally righteous DJI Osmo handheld stabilization unit has arrived- and boy are we pumped! As I told you before, the Osmo takes handheld video production to a whole new level. With a 3-axis stabilization system for a 4K camera, you can be sure to get brilliant, smooth video, walking, running, driving on a bumpy road, wherever. While the DJI Ronin is useful and game-changing in it's own right, the Osmo gives you smoothness and stability in a much more compact and easy-to-use, easy to operate device that can fit inside your pocket (if you have big pockets).
The camera is the same camera that comes on the DJI Inspire drone, and it's been nothing but wonderful and has impressed us with each use. We can't wait to get it on set and continue to broaden our horizons. Hi ho Silver, away!
Dusty Sensors!
While shooting with our Sony A7S in Chicago recently, we ran into a bit of bad luck that was in fact, also a bit of negligence on our part. We shot all day with the A7 on and off the Ronin, using an external HD monitor as much as possible, and still managed to miss some dust that was living on the sensor. With a camera like the Sony A7S, which is mirrorless, the chances for alien objects to make contact with and stick to the sensor are much greater than that of say a Canon 5DMark ii.Unfortunately for us, we didn't notice the issue until that evening while reviewing footage. Luckily we were able to acquire the correct cleaning materials for that sensor and now include it with all our camera packages. So, lesson learned, and we were able to rebound with a great day two!