Have a plan!

We completed our video project with the California Disaster Mental Health Coalition (www.cdmhc.org).   This video will be the centerpiece for an upcoming CDMHC media campaign about disaster preparedness  from a mental health perspective. It’s not just about a checklist of things to have.

Our goal was to create something that was different  from other disaster videos we had seen before. It was a great project for our youth filmmakers to work on. They had not worked on a shoot like this before. Have a look at the final product. It’s never to early to begin planning your next video project so lets get started!

2012 Jumpstart

 

“When today’s customers visit a website, they expect to find a video. If it is not there, they notice that something is missing.”  - Brightcove

 

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Media Arts Center San Diego’s Video Production team is kicking off 2012 in high gear!

 

 

We started pre-production on a couple of video projects; an instructional video for our long time community partner the Environmental Health Coalition and a promotional video for the San Diego Latino Film Fesitval.  We completed production on a disaster preparedness video. We also delivered a series of short story videos for the Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians .

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While we stay busy with various video projects we always stay focused on our mission; Changing Lives Through Film. This week we trained youth how to use video equipment and storytelling techniques in preparation for the Martin Luther King Jr. All People’s Breakfast. These youth videographers will be documenting the event and conducting interviews with guest speakers and attendees. Later this month we will be taking youth citizen journalists to the La Jolla Playhouse to interview the members of Culture Clash at their upcoming show.  

When you work with us you are supporting our non-profit organization and supporting our youth based programs. 

Let’s get started! Contact us at 619.230.1938 or email anthony@mediaartscenter.org

 

 

 

The Buzzzzz!

We have been busy bees in the Video Production Department. This past month videographer Brian Myers was hanging with thousands of bees in full protective attire. Brian was doing a story on San Diego’s urban agriculture policies for the Speak City Heights project. The story will air this week on KPBS.

The team also finalized a script for a disaster preparedness video for the California Disaster Mental Health Coalition. The video will look at disaster prepardness from the mental health perspective. The team also delivered 5 personal short stories for client approval for Soboba Band of Luiseno Indians.

Here is some honey for you:

• 14.2 hours of online video were watched on average during the month of  December 2010 in the US.
• Webpages with video have a 50% percent higher chance of appearing on the first page of Google search results than text alone.Sources ComScorce US Digital Year in Review

Make 2012 the year to grow your video and social media muscle! We can help!  Contact me anthony@mediaartscenter.org or 619-500-6221.

Applause

Media Arts Center San Diego Video Production Services were happy to team up with the Center on Policy Initiatives to produce their 2011 gala video. The video centered on the personal stories of the honoress of the evening that made great strides in organizing their respective unions. 

We had a number of challenges to overcome, however,  restrictions with shoot locations and last minute interview subject changes could not prevent us from meeting our deadlines to deliver the project on time as promised.

I attended the gala event and was able to be there to listen to the crowd reactions. It was a great feeling to listen to the applause given during key moments in the video. 

At the end of the evening, I congratulated the CPI team for a very successful and well attended event. We received a bug thank you from them for the video and it is always a bonus to get a hug of appreciation from our customer. 

They have asked us to do some additional video work and that is always a good sign too.

 

Let’s start planning your next video…it’s never too soon.

 

anthony@mediaartscenter.org

619.500.6221

 

Video is the Medium of the People

We completed post production on a 30 second spot to promote the March of Dimes Signature Chefs Auction taking place on November 10, 2011. One of the elements of the project called for “baby footage.” Ideally, we would have liked to have original footage but due to time constraints we didn’t have that luxury. The client provided us with footage they had on a DVD but the footage was not the best quality. We worked through it and used what we had available. It was better to have it than not have it. We competed an English and Spanish version to be played on the web and television. Most importantly, our customer was happy and we met our delivery date.

Have a Look!

Contacts us! It’s never too soon to get started on your video project!

Anthony Vargas

Direct 619-500-6221 or email anthony@mediaartscenter.org

 

Special thanks to the Video Production Services team: Ryan, Brian, and Cheryl for taking the video from concept to completion.

 Cheryl is talking to the team about the different color corrections applied.

 

 

 

Collaborative Projects-SpeakCityHeights.org with KPBS, VoiceofSanDiego.org, Media Arts Center San Diego (VPS), AJA

 Speak City Heights is a media collaborative aimed at amplifying the voices of residents in one of San Diego’s most diverse neighborhoods, City Heights.Through reporting and multimedia projects from our partners—KPBS, voiceofsandiego.org, The AjA Project and Media Arts Center San Diego—the collaborative will help residents and policymakers frame a discussion about what constitutes a healthy community, its barriers and how they’ll overcome them in City Heights.

 Media Arts Center San Diego videographer, Brian Myers, followed the International Rescue Committee to a La Mesa backyard, where urban gleaners harvested citrus to take to the IRC food pantry. Watch the latest video and another featured on KPBS:

 

On the Rez for Foster Care

The MACSD video production team just returned from a multi day shoot in San Jacinto on the Soboba Indian Reservation. We are documenting personal

stories about foster care on the reservation and had the opportunity to hear many stories and meet some great people. 

Sign-up to get updates on this project and others like it. Call us today to talk about your video project!

Having a Vision

Media Arts Center Video Production Services team was capturing footage at the San Diego Concourse for another Greater San Diego Vision workshop event. The night before we were at the Jacobs Center in Southeast San Diego. Our partner, San Diego Foundation, tasked our team to capture footage of the events that can be used to create an engaging promotional video.

There are challenges to overcome when capturing video for this type of event. The events were both indoors and part of the agenda consists of a powerpoint presentation, therefore, lighting is not ideal. While the night time event offered no natural light, the Copper Room at the Concourse offered floor to ceiling windows the length of the room. You will notice from the photos that all but two were taken with the natural light source behind the camera.

One of the other challenges was to keep the video shots interesting. There isn’t much action taking place. The speaker stands on stage and behind the podium and the audience sits and listens. The scene changed later when group work began followed by the audience presentations.

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One approach is to use the pan and tilt camera technic. We also used different camera angles. We stood on a chair for some shots and placed the tripod on top of a table that was not being used. We also were waist level and looked up towards the camera subject to keep things interesting.

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By taking advantage of the space and creating the action, the production team captured some great footage for the promotional video.

Additional stills from the workshop at the Jacobs Center in Southeast San Diego.

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Behind The Plate

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Photos by Ryan Kuratomi

The VPS team is currently working on a video project, in partnership with the March of Dimes San Diego-Imperial Division, to promote their Signature Chef Auction that will take place in November. Although the March of Dimes has held this event in other cities, this will be the first for San Diego. Our video production team was brought in early in the planning process for the event, giving our team plenty of time in the pre-production phase. The concept for the video is to show off our celebrity chefs in the kitchen and highlight the important work done in the lab by researchers.

We recently had our first production day. Scouting the location prior to shooting and careful shot planning led to Brian getting some great footage of Master Chef of France and Marine Room Executive Chef Bernard Guillas. The best part of this type of production, at least for Brian, is enjoying the Master Chef’s creation.

Answering a Call for Help

A few months ago, I received a call from Melissa from the Center for Puerto Rican Studies in New York City. She explained that a documentary film was in production honoring the late Frank Bonilla, Activist, Teacher and Mentor to many. The documentary called for two interviews of individuals who lived in San Diego. The interviews were criticial for the documentary, however, they did not have a budget to fly a crew from New York to San Diego. They would be handling all the post production and we needed to provide raw footage. In order to keep cost low we arranged for the interviews to be done in our office. The challenge for us was to make sure we captured high quality audio and video that would be comparable to the other footage they had already shot. Additionally, we had to create a set that looked like an office in our studio.

This photo gives you an idea of the space.

We repurposed items in our office to create a warm office scene and set up our professional lighting kit. Take a look at how we transformed the space in the clip. The audio was captured using a seperate mixer. The audio you hear is from the on board camera microphone.

The client sent us a hard drive in the mail with a Fedex return envelope. They received the footage on time. They were happy. Just this past month they contacted us again to conduct an interview for another documentary project.