Still stink at shooting lightning
Get asked by people starting out in video and photography: how do I get better?
Shoot with a purpose. Continue Reading…
The Art Of The Interview
Just got final approval on a video — a branding/anthem/promotional type — and as I was watching it this morning and critiqued my work it struck me what the most powerful element to the piece was.
The people.
Not the type of camera or lens I used. Not slick editing techniques or just the right background track. Not how well I graded the color.
It was the interviews.
Anyone can spot an insincere and generic interview subject – especially those of us that watch a lot of sports video. You can usually tell in the first response if there’s going to be anything of value in it, or it’s just filler.
As interviewers, it’s our job to pull the story out of the subject. To get to the emotion, the honesty – to get them to speak from the heart. Generally when you are interviewing someone, it’s on a subject matter that they’re heavily invested in. Something they’re passionate about. You have to find the way to get that out of them.
A few years back, during the Pittsburgh Penguins first post-lockout playoff appearance we were doing a series of commercials (actually they never ran because tickets sold so fast). I interviewed Sidney Crosby, Mark Eaton, Jordan Staal, and Jarkko Ruutu. I prepped them that I was going to be intentionally confrontational in the interview, and it wasn’t how I really felt.
My questions?
“This team is all skill and no heart or work ethic”
“This team is really just about it’s couple of superstars, and the rest of the team are just tagalongs”
“This team is way too young to even win a playoff game at this point”
“This team relies on Sid and Malkin, to carry them. Not really that hard working”
You get the picture.
Didn’t matter that I prepped them – they answered the questions with fire. The questions tapped into their passion, what they believed in. The answers were golden. Shame they never aired. Probably one of the best interview sessions I ever did.
Find what your subject believes in. When you interview, have a sincere interest in discovering what makes them tick. Convince them you need convinced. Make them forget they’re in an interview and think they’re in a conversation. Did a shoot with ESPN and Darren Pang with Mario Lemieux once, and Pang was masterful at this concept. Three questions in and Mario finally realized the interview started. The lines they used in the edit were the ones asked before he knew the interview had started.
It’s an art. An art that too many people fly through without much thought — just wanting to get through their list of questions. Don’t make the same mistake.
Last Call: CEC Construction Photos
My space on Picasa is starting to run out and I’m eventually going to be taking down all of the construction photos.
I have the album set as public, so if there’s any of these that any of you want, grab them now. Download option is on.
Cheers.
Conan Mocks Final Cut Pro X
You know it’s bad when such a niche product gets mocked on late night TV.
Yes, I know Apple has made a fortune with bold and game-changing product moves. But this one I just don’t get.
Completely blowing up a professional product that’s at the core of my livelihood is a lot different than a change to a device that I use to consume media.
One is for play and I can play along, the other is for my career and I won’t.
There’s always the Apple “we know what you want better than you know what you want” arrogance when they make a gigantic shift. This time I’m not so sure.
I’ll be sticking with FCP 7. And maybe it’s finally time to give Premiere Pro a closer look.
NBC Still Misses The Point
You would think after signing a record-setting national TV rights deal with the NHL, that NBC might think about, you know, actually helping to grow the game.
Think again.
While the Mayor of Boston cites logistical problems as the reason that there will be no viewing party at TD Garden for Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, you can’t help but think that the heavy hand of NBC Sports and Gary Bettman have once again have put the kibosh on viewing-party fun.
The question is why.
Of course the standard answer is that NBC and the NHL want every single TV rating point — or tenth of a point — that they can generate. Fair enough. (Although I’d like to know with how horrible the current NBC/NHL TV deal is how much it really costs anybody)
When you start doing the math on how many Nielsen-metered homes are in that giant Boston DMA, and then figure out how small a number of people in that DMA are attending a viewing party, the statistical odds of a member of a Nielsen family being at that viewing party with their TV at home not tuned to the game are minute. We’re talking pimple on a gnats ass minute. What’s more, who is to say that the people at the arena/lawn party weren’t going to be watching the game with friends or at a bar anyway? After all, you come to watch it on that screen for the community experience, not the quality of the image.
Which brings my to my point. After watching two and a half years of playoff runs on the big screen at the Civic Arena, I can say with confidence that there were thousands of fans who were either new Penguin/hockey fans or casuals who had their loyalty to the team and game strengthened by that community experience. The crowd was young and old, but mostly young. They weren’t the typical attendees to games, they weren’t season ticket holders. They were fans that loved hockey, and loved sharing the experience with other fans. They had a blast. And they came back. In droves. Their love for the game was enhanced by the community experience they had at those giant lawn parties.
Is that worth 1/10th of a rating point? NBC? Mr. Bettman?
The irony in all of this is that NBC cut away to a live shot of a large crowd in Vancouver watching the CBC feed of the game. I almost choked when I saw it. Twitter lit up from Pittsburgh fans calling them on it. As if their credibility wasn’t already in the sewer, that shot threw a couple more inches of sludge on top of it.
CBC, by the way, is very supportive of the viewing parties and letting their signal be shown. It’s no secret that they offered the Penguins free use of their signal when NBC denied the team the ability to show their feed during the games. Of course, draconian threats from Bettman — and to be honest if what I heard was even remotely accurate draconian is a kind term — put an end to those plans.
Versus and FSN Pittsburgh were also very willing partners, and with the new ownership situation I’m curious to see what happens next season. But in the past, both would send out signs and banners, posters and hats for the fans, and would put a camera operator down there and take shots from the lawn throughout the night. They got it. NBC? Not so much.
NBC is wrong here, and the commissioner of the NHL is on their side. Through discussions with high level league execs, it was unanimous that there was one guy that could fix this — Gary Bettman. He chose not to.
Why?
Why not strengthen the ties that bind young fans to the game? Why take such a negative PR hit for something that would have a negligible affect on TV ratings? Why punish something that obviously works for hockey?
NBC fails in this situation because they miss the main point: more ways for fans to come together and share their love the game of hockey is better for the overall health of the league. Which means more potential viewers.
Obviously, I’m not a fan of NBC. I feel that they’ve cheapened the game and haven’t treated it right. From the revenue share deal coming out of the lockout that all but killed any hope of re-signing with ESPN, to the Senators/Sabers/Horse race fiasco, to the anti-fan stand on viewing parties, NBC has been a poor partner to the NHL. But put the blame on the NHL for not stepping in to protect the game and the fans.
We probably won’t know what the real deal is in Boston. We just know that it’s another missed opportunity.
Wonder how the next 10 years will be.
Florida Panthers See Red
The Florida Panthers today announced “We See Red” as their new marketing campaign.
“‘We See Red’ is one of the most aggressive and fitting marketing campaigns this franchise has ever had,” said Panthers president & COO Michael Yormark. “Red represents passion, desire, commitment and aggressiveness and that’s exactly the type of team GM Dale Tallon is building here in South Florida.”
For SCF: My favorite “run through a wall” video
With the Stanley Cup Final upon us, I wanted to break out my favorite motivational/run through the wall video.
I don’t know who writes these anthems for Versus, but man they do a great job. And I would love to write a script for this guy one day. I don’t care what about, I just want to write something kick ass that he reads. Maybe my voice mail message.
What makes these Versus promos so good is that they take a no apologies approach to get the message across. And it’s genuine. How many people fail at that? Afraid of the language, afraid of the tone. Afraid to make something with this much impact.
I remember the heartbreak of losing the in the SCF to final to Detroit before we won the next year. Feel exactly the way he does about second place.
Really enjoy these every year. Sure hope NBC doesn’t screw it up.
Tampa Bay With On-Ice Projection
Nice little feature here on the on-ice projection being used at the St. Pete Times Forum.
While we ended up buying our projectors, we did use Dangers, Inc for the first home opener out of the lockout for some still imagery.
Personally, I love the on-ice stuff, although it can definitely be a burden on the creative team if you are making changes every night (which we did at the Penguins). The folks in the low seats miss out a bit on the total experience, but from lower-middle level up it’s great.
Other Places
