This was an early morning shoot and we were on location at 6 AM in order to get our work done before the aquarium opened to the public. Shooting was done in a number of locations outside the tank from the public viewing areas as well as from within the tank with our own diving videographer. The outside shots used the Sony 270 while the underwater shots used the Sony Z1U in a special dive casing.

Robert Nord worked the Sony 270 while Robert Titus, of Ocean Video Productions got the underwater close-up shots.

This will be a rather long project, not only due to the great detail necessary to explain and illustrate the procedures but the underwater working conditions that will require a number of shoots to complete.

Sony 270 setup for main tank shot

Volunteer dive crew and aquarium staff.

Somewhere within all the fish is a diver.

The rays feed right on the window and create a suction that pulls the food into their mouths.

Feeding this large grouper can be dangerous.

Watch your fingers! And your hand and arm!

Coral fish have to be fed small pieces of food sprinkled into the coral head.

A squeeze bottle full of worms is always a favorite.

A handful of chopped fish is very tasty too.

The herbivores like lettuce and broccoli.

More fish parts.

Expecting limitations for the working space as well as the large crowd, video was shot using the Sony PD150 mounted on a monopod. The client desired an SD DVD and with the low light capabilities of the PD150 it was the obvious choice for the job. Photography was done using the Canon 30D.

Karyna Martinez and Robert Nord also attended a rehearsal for the seniors and their parents one week before the actual program. The rehearsal is always informal and makes an entertaining video montage at the end of the DVD. Once again, Karyna did most of the video editing for this montage.

The pre-produced photo montages are shown during the live presentations on dual 9×12 rear projection screens. The screens and projectors were subcontracted through our friends at FBN Productions headed by Larry Barnett. Heritage Studios has worked with FBN on many occasions for over ten years and have always found them to be very professional.

For the actual Presents production Heritage Studios had Robert Nord as director, Michael McGready as Stage Manager/Photographer, with Jany Poitras, Karyna Martinez and Barbara Ishida as videographers. Everything ran smoothly, we even had time for dinner! The DVDs were delivered on time and the client was very happy.

Heritage Studios shot the event with three cameras, a Sony HVR S270U, a Sony DSR PD150 and a Sony DSR PD250. The shoot was done in SD. The PD150 was mounted on an Advanta-Jib to get the height needed to shoot over the large crowd. Since the program ran about two hours, the PD150 recorded to a Focus Enhancements FS4 DTE recorder. The PD150 and S270U both recorded to tape using Sony T184 tapes. Audio was recorded using on camera mics as well as direct from a DJ’s speaker. The only issue was that we could not gain entrance to the room until 3:30 pm and we had to be ready to roll by 5:00 pm so getting the screens functioning, cameras setup, sound checked and computer setup was kind of a push but the whole team got it done.

Another reason to get together was to celebrate Fina Bentley’s birthday. Happy birthday Fina! Fina Bentley works for Time Warner Cable as a field reporter, producer and editor as well as having her own production company, FLB Productions.

Friends and relatives gathered from all across the country to celebrate Steve’s birthday. A Scottish theme was selected for the party since Steve’s heritage is Scot. Kilt’s were distributed to those who were not properly attired and a Scottish Bagpiper appeared, entertaining everyone.

In addition to the general photography and prints, a printed album book was also prepared. These books are becoming very popular for significant events, vacations, etc. At least half of Heritage Studio’s photography assignments include books. They’re not just for weddings anymore!

The shoot was done using the Canon 30D.

The video was shot in HDV using two cameras, the Sony 270U and the Sony Z1U. The entire video was shot using a Sennheiser wireless microphone for sound. On the opening shot we used a self made dolly/tracking system to dolly into the subject on his introduction. A teleprompter from The Prompter People was used to provide the script for the intros and outro. While the 270U was mounted on a Bogen tripod, the Z1U was used with the Bogen Fig Rig. A new piece of gear was used in the shoot, The Lowrider. This is a custom contoured styrofoam pellet filled bag that is used as a camera support for a wide variety of situations where conventional camera supports are not suitable. A very versatile piece of equipment. Setup, tear-down and shooting took six hours. The final product was edited in Final Cut Pro using Apple’s ProRes 422 and output in standard definition, letterbox. This allows us to move to Blu-ray high definition at a later date without much effort.

Jared is a returning customer, Heritage had shot his wedding in 2001!

The project was shot on the Sony 270U. Mr. Smith was wired with our Sennheiser wireless system with a Shure wired lavalier mic as a backup. Another Sennheiser wireless system was used for the handheld during the question and answer session. Mr. Smith’s mic was connected directly to channel 1 while the others were mixed through a Mackie 1202 and fed into channel 2. We used our traditional gray mottled background and lit the scene with a Lowel 44 softlight. This is typically a same day edit situation and Barbara Ishida demonstrated her outstanding editing skills in editing the shoot and integrating an accompanying Power Point presentation to illustrate the speech.

Although we brought along a Marantz real time CD burner, there was no soundboard to pickup a clean track from the mics. We took the ambient sound from the 270 located in the rear which worked fine.

A nice little easy video job that edited together quickly. We’d all like to have one of these every day!

A delicious lunch was prepared by Delicia Castillo and Karyna Martinez. Jany Poitras baked a great carrot cake in honor of Robert Nord’s birthday! John Radu, Michael McGready and Fina Bently were also in attendance. Everyone had a great time enjoying the meal and one another’s company for hours.