Go Green, the Essante Way

Essante Worldwide, a company known for their organic and natural alternatives to many popular products, recently came to us to produce a new video advertisement for them.

Founded in 2009, Essante Worldwide has quickly become an industry leader in natural products, offering a wide range of chemical-free household items to consumers.

For this shoot, we used two hosts: Sandy Kim, a local actress, and Kim Gregory, an actor from Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Our Scottsdale office served as the backdrop for this shoot. This was our first time using our new 500- and 1000-LED lights. The greatest benefit of these lights is that they produce virtually no heat, which, especially in Phoenix during the summer, is a huge benefit.

We also used an attachable teleprompter. This piece of equipment attaches onto the lens of the camera, reflecting the text on a piece of paper onto glass in front of the lens. Because this is simply a reflection, the camera does not pick it up, but you can read it perfectly from in front of the camera.

We had twelve on-screen portions that we needed to film, along with several lines of voice-over. To start off, we filmed the portions where both personalities were on-screen. Kim and Sandy had great chemistry together, making their portions together both easy and fun.

Ben decided to play chemist and filled a beaker with anti-freeze to use as a prop.

After filming their two scenes together, we recorded just Sandy’s on-camera scenes…

…with Ben stepping in to give her direction.

After we finished Sandy’s few on-camera shots, Kim stepped up to deliver his.

The last part of the shoot was recording the voice-over segments. Using the same setup as the on-camera scenes, we recorded the talent reading their lines as video, and will then extract the audio from those to use in the final product.

If you’d like us to produce state of the art video advertising for your product or company that will be seen by thousands of online viewers, drop us a line at 480.240.9270

Forest Highlands

We recently returned from the beautiful golf community of Forest Highlands, located in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Forest Highlands is a 1,100 acre community featuring two golf courses and clubhouses. This was one of our several trips up to the community to get footage for a video for their website. While Scott and Jerry got footage on the ground, Ben was soaring up above in a helicopter getting some beautiful aerial shots.

Scott and Jerry started off the shoot by getting shots at a children’s golf camp that was occurring. For this specific shot, we used a piece of equipment called a jib. When mounted on a tripod, the jib works like a crane and is able to smoothly move up and down while keeping the focus of the shot the same.

We also used a piece of equipment called a slider. Once the camera is mounted on it, it is able to move slowly and smoothly from side to side, creating a really sleek effect.

After getting some more outdoor shots, we returned to the sales office to film interaction between a customer and a realtor, before heading to the clubhouse to shoot our testimonial. We interviewed the CFO of Forest Highlands using a double-camera setup to allow us to create more interest when we edit the final the product.

One of the most exciting parts of the shoot was heading out onto the golf course to get some fantastic action shots. Using the jib once again, we were able to get some incredible shots of golfers teeing off on one of the community's most magnificent holes.

On the green of the same hole, we used the slider to get some shots of the golfers putting.

After we were done on the course, we drove over to the clubhouse to get some shots of the many delicious meals offered there. The chef was kind enough to cook up some food for us to use, and we spent some time dabbling in culinary photography.

We’re headed back up to Forest Highlands to get some more footage at their Fourth of July festivities, and we’re excited to see how the final video turns out.

If you have real estate that you'd like to capture on video, drop us a line at 480.240.9270

A Visit to Show Low

We just got back from a fantastic two-day shoot in beautiful Show Low, Arizona. Our client was Laurie McCain, one of northern Arizona’s top realtors, who was looking to provide some videos on her websites to highlight both herself and the area she sells in.

We started our trip at the vivacious private golf community of Torreon. Located just outside of Show Low, this 13-year old development is built right into the forest, offering views of the trees as far as the eye can see. The community is highlighted by its two golf courses, expansive clubhouse, and a wide range of amenities including a pool, family center, and equestrian center, among many others.

Laurie was an absolute delight to work with. Upon first entering her dual-purpose office and house, we immediately felt perfectly at home. Her staff was also fantastic, doing everything they could to do what was best for both us and them.

We filmed Laurie’s on-camera portions, featuring her discussing both Torreon and the White Mountains area along with some words about her own business history.

Next, we visited one of the people we would be using for a testimonial. Using the fantastic trees-as-far-as-the-eye-can-see view from her backyard, the shot came out great.

After that, we hopped in Laurie’s golf cart for a full tour of Torreon. She drove us up and down every road with Ben and Scott stopping often to hop out and grab a few pictures.

The next morning, we headed out to Torreon before the wind picked up to get some aerial photographs with the Draganflyer X6 drone helicopter. Designed as an unmanned aerial photography drone, the X6 is capable of taking photo and video remotely and wirelessly.

After cruising around the community, and stopping many times along the way to get aerial footage, we were almost done for the day. Our final stop was later that evening, at the Orchard at Charlie Clark’s steakhouse, where we got footage of an old-fashioned cowboy party.

Currently, the footage is being edited together and the project is making good progress. The trip was great, and we can’t wait to have the final product completed.

If you have real estate that you'd like to capture on video, drop us a line at 480.240.9270

To see more pictures from the shoot, be sure to check out our Facebook page.

DAC 2011 Was The Place To Be!

This past weekend, we traveled to sunny San Diego to film a video for the Design Automation Conference (DAC). For the past 48 years, DAC has been the premier event for the design of circuits, electronic design automation, and silicon solutions.

We started the trip by capturing shots of the Dodge Rock n’ Roll Marathon, an event with many DAC participants.

The next day, we woke up at the crack of dawn to drive to the beautiful San Diego Convention Center to spend the day filming the conference.

One of the highlights for us was using a new piece of equipment called the Glidecam HD. Unlike most camera stabilizers, the Glidecam HD is not harnessed to the body and is completely hand held. Because of the extra mobility that this provides, it is possible to achieve a much wider range of motion than traditional stabilizers.

We spent the morning getting a mix of footage from the showroom floor, educational sessions, and interviews with both exhibitors and attendees of the conference.

After a full day of shooting, we got right to work editing the video for presentation at the keynote address the following morning. As the crowd filed into the hall, our video was shown on the main screen. Altogether, it was a great trip and a great shoot.

If you have an event that you'd like to capture on video, drop us a line at 480.240.9270

Check out the video here: http://vimeo.com/25006852