Our friend Kate Singh is an artist when it comes to photography. She recently hosted a “Headshots and Happy Hour” at her Vancouver studio.
Folks could stop by, have a glass of wine, enjoy some great food, and get a free headshot.
Earlier in the day we shot some video for a business biography, and we stayed to capture some of the fun at the party.
If you missed out, be sure to make plans to catch the next one!
Some people have nightmares about performing in public. I don’t, because I decided I wanted to work in broadcasting at the age of four. Making plans to sing in public was never on the agenda.
In a list of “things I do well”, number one would be pestering people. I’m really good at that one. That’s the end of the list of things I do well.
Singing is something I do when I’m all alone. For instance, driving to the studios in the morning, I crank up the oldies and belt out the hits as a way to warm up my vocal chords. It works better than hot water, coffee, or any of the other tricks. The key is I do this when I’m all alone.
When I was on the air at the oldies station back in 1984, the studio speakers would be cranked up all the way, and I’d sing along with every record. It was great to be in a sound proof booth, getting paid to listen to great music.
Radio station parties tend to be really fun, as in….open bar fun.
This usually means some sort of trouble for me because:
1) the alcohol is free; 2) there seems to be an endless supply; 3) I become very happy.
As the last song is about to be played, Bobby Vee asks the radio station staff to join him on stage. The final number is “Rubber Ball”, and Bobby wants our help!
We’re given instructions to be his chorus, and we’ll all supposed to sing “Bouncy Bouncy” at the appropriate time during the song. Several beach balls have been passed around as props, but I choose to hang back a little and stand toward the rear.
The band strikes up, Bobby starts to sing, I’m feeling no pain what so ever, and that’s when the fun begins. You see, not only does alcohol make me happy, it also makes me forget that I’m not very good at most things.
When Bobby Vee recorded “Rubber Ball” in 1960, he sang his own high harmony part, which was dubbed into the final version of the song. During a live concert, he can only sing the lead part. That is….unless I’m on stage, standing directly behind Bobby Vee, with absolutely no inhibitions.
Maybe it’s the performer in me, maybe it’s because the show must go on, maybe I just plain forgot I was onstage. Whatever the reason, I begin singing the high harmony part, just like I’d done a thousand times in the studio.
Bobby turns around in disbelief to see who it is. For just an instant, I think that he’s going to stop the show and have me removed.
Instead, he grabs me around the neck, pulls my head next to his, and shares the microphone with me through all three verses, plus repeats the chorus several times.
The photo above is taken at the end of the song. (The late Les Sarnoff is seen sitting in the front row applauding.) We didn’t have smart phones to capture the performance in 1984. You’ll just have to trust me on this one…it sounded better than the record.
Every now and then I hear “Rubber Ball” by Bobby Vee on Sirius XM when I’m driving. I’m usually alone. I repeat the performance every time it’s on. But because I’m not really a singer, no one else will ever hear it.
Sure it was a little crazy, but so was it’s companion show “Green Acres“.
It seemed like every week, we could escape for a little bit to join Kate, Uncle Joe and those three gorgeous girls skinny dipping in the railroad water tank.
It’s a program you could watch with your children and grandchildren, without having to worry about something offensive being seen or said.
For that matter, why don’t we see the original version of My Three Sons?
This was a wholesome show that was on for so many years, we watched the cast grow up, marry, and have children of their own. Haven’t seen this show on TV for many years.
Mission Impossible aired on Saturday night, and it put you on the edge of your seat with every program. Not a lot of special effects, just a wonderful story line that was full of suspense.
In fact, I don’t think any of these shows had special effects. They were exciting, entertaining, and the writing and acting is what carried the program.
Would I watch Gomer Pyle USMC every week if it was back in syndication? I’m not sure. After all, it was kind of a one-joke show. But it made me laugh. When it came time for me to go through boot camp myself, I couldn’t help but laugh at the guys who were exactly like old Gomer. It wasn’t so far fetched after all.
Another favorite was The Bionic Woman. This was a spin-off from The Bionic Man,
and I don’t think I was the only one who had a crush on Lindsay Wagner. She was easy on the eye, intelligent, and let’s face it, her bionic body was built to last, and last, and last…
The special effects in this show were mostly slow motion clips of running, leaping over tall fences and picking up cars. A little corny, but we didn’t care, because it was Lindsay Wagner.
Do you remember Make Room for Daddy with Danny Thomas? Angela Cartwright was adorable, and then we watched her as a teen in Lost In Space.
Rusty Hamer played the son, and I honestly think his character is responsible for some of my smart-ass comments even today.
Marjorie Lord played a sophisticated wife and mother, and you just couldn’t help but adore her. She’s the real-life mother of Anne Archer.
Whether it’s royalty issues, or the rights being locked up by someone’s estate, it’s a shame we can’t see these programs again on TV. It was good television, and created during the beginning years of the industry.
I’m sure you can think of a bunch of shows too.
Today, I’m just not in the mood to watch Storage Wars for the 12th time this month.
The first time I watched Jerseylicious was at my oldest daughters house. My taste in television and movies is quite different from theirs. But, I was a captive audience and so it was “Jerseylicious” or work on a crossword puzzle. After about five minutes, I was hooked.
This show features a beauty salon / spa in New Jersey, and the “storyline” involves the employees and their ongoing bitchfests. But as a producer of video, I couldn’t help but notice that this wasn’t exactly a reality tv show.
There was one scene where a couple of girls are in the salon gossiping about another employee. The camera angle is from behind the counter looking out to toward the front door. The next shot, the camera angle is from the front door looking back to the counter, but in this shot, there is no camera or camera operator visible. Impossible!
Naturally if you are the average TV show fan, you don’t notice things like that. You’re watching the players, you’re following the story, you’re sucked into the show.
Reality TV isn’t reality after all….it’s just a step removed. And that’s not a bad thing, because it’s an entertainment program.
Am I entertained for an hour watching this program? Yes I am. I can laugh out loud watching it, and I can be absolutely entertained for an hour. Do I care that it’s scripted, or at least outlined? Do I care that the characters are not all licensed beauticians? NO.
This show has me on the edge of my seat as they drive trucks over a Peruvian road that was built for a mountain goat, not a truck.
During the last episode, Hugh was hauling a load of fireworks to a remote village for a celebration. He encounters several piles of agriculture debris burning in the middle of the road. “The farmers have all of this trash they have to burn, and there’s no place to burn it except the middle of the road” Hugh explains. So naturally he has no choice but to drive through the 12 foot high flames, hoping his load of fireworks won’t catch on fire in the process.
Really? This looks like a pile of sagebrush and sticks soaked in gasoline. Why would the farmers have to burn this in the middle of the road? Why are there so many camera angles? This fire should have burned out after 60 seconds, but this scene took a long time to set up, so what gives?
Then there is this family.
Not really that talented, except for Bruce Jenner, but his name isn’t even on the show.
They are famous for being famous.
Whether you like any of these programs or not isn’t important. Reality TV is less expensive to produce, compared to a drama or a sitcom.
As a producer, choose between Charlie Sheen at way over a million dollars per episode, or some up and coming talent who gets a few thousand per episode, and can be featured in endless re-runs for a fraction of that.
Your fan base will talk you up, and whether the audience loves you or hates you, they will think of you often and will watch your show next week just in case they may miss something.
It’s entertainment. It’s branding. Good press, bad press, it’s all attention being paid to them.
The Kardashians don’t really have anything to offer you. Yet their photos appear on a daily basis, and one or more of them are the subject of a news item every single day.
Advertising should work this well. How do you get people to think of you? What can you do so your customers will automatically think of you the next time they need something you have?
These programs are called “Reality TV”, but they are carefully crafted entertainment pieces that have blossomed into a big business. They sell DVDs, hats, T-shirts, coffee mugs, and 127 other products, all built around the show.
Create something entertaining for your website, and for your Facebook and Twitter pages. Keep them coming back for your next installment. You may not be as well known as a Kardashian, but you will be remembered if you keep at it.
A well done series of videos on your website featuring your business, or a particular product is one way to get started. An entertainment piece that will draw in your potential customer is a perfect example of how to promote yourself.
Need some ideas? We can help. www.OurProductionStudio.com
Fifth grade is an awkward age. For guys and girls, things are happening to your body you don’t quite understand. For me, it was the realization that my parents weren’t perfect.
Outside our door, a group of carolers were singing Christmas songs.My dad loved all kinds of music, and he was more than happy to open the door and enjoy the mini concert.
I was so excited to hear this wonderful music that had come right to our door! Dad reached into his wallet and pulled out a couple of dollars to put in the carolers collection hat. But as soon as they got their money, they stopped singing in the middle of their song and walked away to the next house.
“Hey! You didn’t even finish the song!” my dad yelled.
He slammed the door, and for the rest of the evening, the mood was dark and gloomy in our house, as my sister and I tried to become invisible.
All through the holidays, dad complained about the carolers. He couldn’t let it go. ”All they want is their damned money. I think we should dress you kids up in old dirty clothes and put you on a street corner downtown so people will give you money. If it’s all about getting money and ripping people off, we may as well cash in!”
I wasn’t entirely sure if he meant it or not. But I did have visions of standing on a street corner, scarf around my neck, standing next to my sister who would be holding a tin cup, hoping I didn’t run into anyone I knew.
After the holidays, life returned to normal, and dad stopped complaining about Christmas carolers. By next Christmas, I had forgotten all about the possibility of begging for money with my sister on some street corner.
Then, the sound of singing came from outside our house. The Christmas carolers had returned this year!
At that moment, I realized that my parents weren’t like Ward and June Cleaver, or Ozzie and Harriet Nelson. They weren’t like anyone’s parents I knew.
“Close the curtains! The carolers are here!” my dad yelled.
My mom bolted from the couch and ran straight to the big picture window we had, and pulled our curtains closed, while dad headed for the light switches and turned off our porch light AND the lights in the living room.
In an instant, our house was plunged into darkness, and outside our door, a group of carolers who were in the middle of a rousing chorus of “Hark The Herald Angels Sing” suddenly ceased singing.
My sister started crying, because she was terrified by the commotion.
I sat on the floor in the dark, fearing that my parents had gone insane, and wondering how I would possibly fend for myself once they were carted off to the mental hospital.
“Sons of bitches aren’t going to get our money and stop singing this year!” dad proudly proclaimed.
During the rest of sixth grade, I wondered if the other kids in my class knew that our house was the one who turned out the lights and closed the curtains on the Christmas carolers.
In fact, as time went on, and I entered seventh grade, I began to dread the thought of the carolers returning to our house. The stigma of being “that house”, and the whole idea of Christmas in general soured my enjoyment of the holiday season.
The days leading up to Christmas made me anxious and nervous, as I wondered if this would be the night the carolers would return.
The TV played in the living room, and whenever Christmas carols were featured on a show, I would have a moment of panic, thinking the real ones had arrived.
But that year, the carolers didn’t return.
Christmas came and went, but the carolers never ventured down our street.
They didn’t come the next year, or the year after either. In fact, they never returned.
Maybe singing Christmas carols door to door grew out of style after the mid ’60s. Maybe they stopped because of the way they were treated. Maybe word got out that my parents were whacked.
It’s been more than 40 years since the lights went out. I’m hoping that this will be the year that some jolly old souls with happy hearts and good voices will once again walk the neighborhood, and stop by our house to share some Christmas spirit.
I’ll be happy to contribute to the cause, just in case they do stop by.
But please, this year, finish the chorus for me, won’t you?
Merry Christmas!
We’ll be heading across the river to Vancouver, Washington to work on a video profile for Aevum Images Photography.
What’s especially exciting about this project is that the owner, Kate Singh is one of my high school classmates.
Kate has “the touch” when it comes to making a photo come to life. In a world where everyone who has a cell phone is now a “photographer”, Kate knows how to make her work pop off the page.
Facebook re-connected me with Kate a couple of years ago. In the years that had rolled by since high school, she had served time in the military, raised two children, retained all of her world experiences and settled down in Vancouver to start her business.
When I clicked on her website to do a little exploration, I was just amazed at her work. These aren’t just business head shots or senior photos, instead we’re talking works of art.
In January, we’ll load up our gear and head to downtown Vancouver to begin work on her story. The end result will be a “mini biography” about Kate and her business.
Are you curious about what she does? Check out her latest work: www.aevumimages.com
If you’re at all curious about how you can put a similar video on your website, we have a couple of ideas. http://www.ourproductionstudio.com/what.html
If there is some kind of road trip involved, I’m usually the first one in the car. The decision to go was easy, and if I went along, I wouldn’t have to stay at home and mow the lawn.
The featured artist was busy with her lecture / oil painting demonstration, while I sat in the back of the room so I could people watch. That’s when Susan came up to me and wanted to know if I would like to have a glass of wine.
Susan owns the Lawrence Gallery Wine Shop, located inside the main gallery, and events like this really give her business a boost. Instead of having the wine delivered to me at my seat, I followed her back to the wine bar.
We struck up a conversation, which led her to ask me what I did for a living. Once she discovered that I worked in radio and television, the conversation quickly focused on business promotion and websites.
Susan’s web domain name was about to expire, and she was not happy with the look of her webpage, or the price she was paying. I told her I could create an all new website for her, and host it through Our Production Studio. Within a matter of minutes, we shook hands on the deal, and we gained a new friend.
While downloading this raw footage, I kept envisioning a tv commercial for her website. What evolved was this short and sweet video that we produced over a two day period. It’s displayed on her website, and also on several social media sites.
Susan is just as warm and friendly in person as she is in the video. She isn’t our client, she’s our friend. We’re thrilled to play a role in marketing her Lawrence Gallery Wine Shop.
Check out her website at www.lawrencegallerywineshop.com
For ideas on what you can create for your own website, visit us at http://www.ourproductionstudio.com/ideas.html
It’s going to change a lot more in the coming months. Apple is working on the new iTV which may be on sale by summer 2012.
The Apple iTV is all very secret right now, but according to Fox News, “The TV set promised to be the first to seamlessly combine traditional TV with the Internet — allowing viewers to watch shows as they are broadcast by the networks, record them to watch later or tap into streaming video from the web, like Hulu, Netflix and YouTube.
This is really exciting news to me, because it opens the door for virtually anyone to produce and direct television programming.
In an earlier blog, I mentioned that it will also create a plethora of really bad videos as well. Everyone with a camera can be a “star” in just a matter of moments, so we can also look forward to skateboarding kids flying through the air, and kids jumping up and down singing along with the latest hit song.
Did you just finish a project for a client? Create a video news story about it and post it on your website.
Having a special sale? Create your own tv commercial and include it in your email blast.
The key to setting yourself apart from everyone else is creating a professional, high quality video.
You can’t just whip out your phone, take a few shots, upload it to the web and expect it will be viewed and shared by millions of people. Your business and your reputation are on the line each time someone watches your video.
We’ve all seen amateur video with a hand held camera and audio that sounds like it was recorded at the bottom of a well. It looks horrible, and it makes your business look bad too.
Avoid the temptation to rush headlong into making a video that could potentially do more harm than good. Create a video that looks professional, and gives the impression that your business is above the rest.
Would you wear dirty, torn sweat pants and flip-flops at work? Or instead, do you dress for success?
The same approach goes for your website and your videos. Those first impressions really are everything!
Ideas for how to create professional website videos are found at www.ourproductionstudio.com
Once your video project is complete, and you’ve saved your final mix, you still have some material that can come in handy down the road.
Let’s say you shot some video at a client’s office that will be part of a commercial presentation for their website. If you’ve been doing these kinds of projects for any length of time, you’ll know that shooting lots of B-roll is essential.
We always do the obligatory shots of the client on the phone, or the shot I really hate, shaking hands with the customer. But for something that goes beyond that, I like to get the client doing something with their hands. Have them walk to the bookshelf and choose a book. Take another shot of them walking back to their desk with the book in their hand, and another shot of them reading the book and turning pages.
Not only does this give you more material to work with in your video project, it’s just really interesting to watch.
A shot of someone setting their glasses down on top of an open book can be used for another video someday when you really need a cutaway shot.
We’re not seeing faces in these shots, just a closeup of hands turning a page, or jotting notes from the book. I save copies of these clips in a special file, and they’ve really come in handy on my projects when I need five or six seconds of something to cut away to.
I’ve used similar shots of scenic material for stock footage. The camera and tripod go on those little car trips when I just want to get away. I’ll shoot video of rain falling on leaves, or perhaps an orchard that is filled with blossoms. These clips have been used as stock footage for website video’s I’ve done for local businesses as establishing shots and transitions.
Don’t miss out on an opportunity to make your video do double duty for you. Save that B-roll material and keep a catalog of your shots. Soon, you’ll have quite a library of material that can be very handy for future projects!
An example of stock footage being used for one of my clients can be seen on our website http://www.ourproductionstudio.com/ideas.html
I recall being a young student listening to the advice of the day: “Don’t believe everything you read”.
This was a pretty confusing statement, because everything I had learned in school so far was based on the textbooks they issued. If I couldn’t trust everything that I read, what exactly should I believe? How do I know which statements are true?
Today, my trips to the library are infrequent, because my research is now accomplished using the internet. Which leads me to the same question…how do I know which statements are true?
A whopping 83% of readers believe this statement to be true.
So you can understand why I was a little skeptical when I read an article the other day that said the way we watch TV is going to change drastically over the next five years.
It’s an exciting and disturbing statement. Five years ago, trying to watch a video online was an exercise in frustration. The picture was less than excellent, and buffering caused the video to start and stop so much it was frustrating to even try to watch. Today I can watch high definition video on my laptop with ease.
If television watching is going to change, this is exciting if you are an independent filmmaker. You no longer need approval or creative input from the head of a network. You need an internet connection, and a way to let everyone know your show is out there.
If television watching is going to change, this is disturbing if you are a network or a local tv station. The choices for entertainment will be even more diluted. We could get to the point where the number of viewers to any one source will be diminished to a point beyond sustainability.
In 1965, there were three major networks. Bonanza was on Sunday night on NBC. If you didn’t like Bonanza, you could watch Perry Mason on CBS, or The Sunday Night Movie on ABC.
NBC was the winner of the time slot, but CBS and ABC still had millions of people watching. Enough to garner big prices for advertising.
If my television entertainment is going to change to a YouTube based model, I’m not sure I’m going to be thrilled. Every kid with a camera is going to be a TV producer. Programs of skateboarders launching from stair rails, and teenage girls dancing to the hit songs of the day will be bloating the servers of YouTube.
Every sleazy car salesman will think he is the greatest TV personality because he hawks his inventory on his own YouTube show.
Could this be our TV future?
I believe 79.3% of us will spend our time doing something else.
