Bud Light Film Crew #18

Being that this was my final video for the BLFC, I really wanted to knock it out of the park, but as you can guess based on the intended tone of this sentence, that didn't happen. I think everybody would agree the results are underwhelming. I keep telling myself it's not the first or last videos in the series that matter but rather the ones in the middle. My personal favorites are April 2007, November 2007, and February 2008, but I'm happy with a bunch of the others too. Many of them are unpolished and chaotic, but that was the original design. That's what made them fun to work on: I could experiment and play with them knowing that mistakes were acceptable and could be hidden with the editing or blatantly included with much consequence. Even with that method in mind, the pieces just didn't fit together this time.

I had too much faith that I could make this video work without putting a lot of effort in. To my defense, there were also a number of things working against me. First of all, nobody, including me, bothered to organize the shoot. I had no plan going into it. I didn't know what the event was all about and neither did the new hosts, and nobody was there to direct us. That's why their questions were so off-the-wall. Also, the rain outside caused a last minute change in location. What could have been a scenic golden hour outdoors became a drab and dreary indoor setting, not helped by the fact that my on-camera light's battery ran out of juice halfway through. Sometimes a poorly executed shoot can be saved with some sharp editing, but there just wasn't enough time for that.

Regarding the new hosts... I like two out of three of them a lot and think they have a lot of potential. They're more charismatic and out-going than most of the prior hosts we've had, but those qualities don't entirely make up for inexperience. These are simply regular people we found at the bar and talked into trying out. The original candidates were voted down to six, and then only three of them showed up for the final part of the contest so they got the job by default. I fully expect them to do some good hosting in the future, however. Two of them are compulsively watchable, even though a lot of their stuff ends up on the cutting room floor. Theresa was a train off the tracks, but fun to watch. Matt kept it in line, but I still had to cut one of the three interviews he conducted because the interviewee was a drunk intern for the magazine we represent. It was a bummer to lose that footage.

I will feel left out not being involved with the next video, but then I think about how it will be held at the Starboard in Dewey Beach and how I already shot two videos there, and I remember how nice it will be to work on projects of my own choosing again. My passion for the BLFC has been fading for a while. My lack of it was probably the biggest reason the last video feels like a failure.

The best part of the June video is R's cameo near the end, followed by a cameo by our friends S&Q. If you remember, S&Q are the stars of my upcoming "Fake Empire" music video, so it seemed fitting to transition between projects with a shot of them.

Enough talking... check the video out here: www.BudLightFilmCrew.com

Bud Light Film Crew #17

Check out the May video: www.BudLightFilmCrew.com

This one looks a little different from the others. I didn't shoot anything new for it but rather used footage from the last two months as well as some bicycling stock from last year's Grand Prix. The editing was really quite simple, which has been the trend lately. These things don't take me as long as they used to, and that's a good thing because I'm trying to find time to spend on other projects.

All of the money I've made with my video work has now officially surpassed everything I have purchased for my hobby in the last two years. This either means I'm going to start turning a profit from this business or start buying more things. I can tell you already it will probably be the latter. In fact I started already with a new shoulder mount and UV lens filter. I'm also in the market for a shotgun microphone that I can attach to the camera or a boom.

I like having this extra little bit of income to play with. I can spend it without feeling guilty for subtracting from the family savings, plus, it's easier to spend money when you enjoy the work it came from.

Bud Light Film Crew #16

This video is a step forward in the evolution of the series. I'm considering it the first official Bug Light video recorded with my new camera. I used it for the January video too but that was before I knew what I was doing, so it doesn't count. No shooting was required for the February video since it was just a re-edit of earlier footage (although I do consider it my crowning achievement of Bud Light work done with the old camera). And I wasn't involved with the March video, other than to lend out the camera, so that doesn't count either. Now, finally, we have the April video. The quality -- the detail, the color -- is outstanding, even at the lower, web-friendly resolution. The camera is capable of so much more; I'm not even shooting in HD yet.

Okay, that's enough about my love affair with the camera. Check out the video:

www.BudLightFilmCrew.com

It came together relatively quickly and easily. Most of my effort went into trying to accurately capture the personality of the eight host candidates in a matter of only a few minutes so viewers can vote for the best person for the job. With the exception of the opening sequence, I kept the editing unobtrusive, which is important in a video where the content takes priority over style. The opposite will likely be the case in my upcoming music video, where the plot is beside the point.

Bud Light Film Crew #14

I have some renewed enthusiasm for the BLFC after a phone call with the producer the other day. He told me the video's page has been consistently in the top three most visited pages on Out & About's website. So I guess some people out there are watching these things. We're not talking millions, but it's still a big audience for me.

Do your part to help contribute to the hit counter here: http://www.budlightfilmcrew.com/

I'm really proud of this one. It's sort of a montage of montages from the previous videos, yet it feels fresh and definitely breaks from our usual formula, mainly because it has a different purpose: We are promoting a search for new on-camera hosts. I'm curious to see what the tryouts will look like (American Idol-esque, perhaps?), but I'm not really in the loop on that. I won't be able to shoot the first of the two tryouts because of our upcoming vacation. Another guy is going to cover it for me. But I'm not exactly bothered by taking the month off.

A friend from work did the voice over in the video, and I think it sounds great. It's nice to have made that connection. You never know when you are going to need some professional sounding voice work.

I've been talking with a guy about another, documentary-style project that he wants me to shoot and edit. Right now we are aiming to do it in HD. That will be my first. If we go through with it, we'd have to edit at a studio since my home computer doesn't have the necessary processing power. Also, this might just be talk, but he's telling me this project will be aired on local cable. Again, we're not talking about millions of viewers, but if I can get something to air on any kind of broadcast TV, that would be very cool.

Bud Light Film Crew #13

I know, I know, I know. I said I was done with the BLFC for a while so that I could work on other projects (and so that I could take a break), but when I got an email to do the January video and heard that nobody was able to fill in for me, I didn't want to leave the producer up a creek. It was not easy to fit into my schedule since I was going to be gone for such a large chunk of December, but I ended up shooting the video the weekend before we left and editing it after we returned on New Year's. I purposely didn't shoot much footage in order to save editing time, and the effort was successful -- it took me about a third as long to do as usual. I also used my new camera, and anything it captures ends up looking great, with a lot less effort than before, so I had that going for me too. The only downside was that it was raining the night of the shoot, and I didn't dare bring the camera outside to get some shots I would have liked. I might have been more daring with the old one.

The fact that the video came together so fast is reassuring. Maybe I can keep doing these for the money, if nothing else. My passion for them is fading, and my friends and family have probably stopped watching them because -- even I'll admit -- they are becoming repetitive, but hey, I feel better about buying equipment when I have this little bit of extra money coming in. If I do one video, there's a new shotgun microphone, just like that. Actually, I need to finish paying for the camera first.

As usual, here's the link: http://www.budlightfilmcrew.com/

Bud Light Film Crew #12

http://www.budlightfilmcrew.com/

I probably should have cut this month's video shorter, but since it's going to be the last one I do for a while, I wanted to make it a little extra mega. So ends a full year of Bud Light videos; my next project will be to compile them on a DVD and shelf 'em. I'd like to say the videos improved a great deal over the course of the year, but honestly I think the first one remains one of the best. #4 is probably my favorite, however, just because of the sheer energy and craziness of the St. Patrick's day party that we managed to capture. #6 is easily the worst of the collection, but I blame that on the fact that I didn't personally shoot it (I'm pretty arrogant when it comes to this stuff, aren't I?). #8 and #11 are solid videos, especially in their revised/extended forms (now available on YouTube). Speaking of YouTube, #3 is the most watched of my videos on that site, with 1,155 views, probably because it comes up on searches for the Rock/Paper/Scissors Bud Light commercial that aired during last year's SuperBowl. We don't have a way of counting the number of video views on the Out & About website, but the guys there tell me the Bud Light page is relatively popular.

I'm looking forward to having a few months off from the monthly assignment. My new camera is in the mail! I'm going to need some time to learn how to use it. I'm also going to be switching to a newer version of Adobe Premiere for editing, and there might be a learning curve attached to that as well. All in all, my palette will be expanding in 2008. There will hopefully be some opportunities for commercial work, so that I can finish paying for this camera, but what I'm really looking forward to is doing something more creative -- something that tells a story, something that is, maybe, nice to look at.

Bud Light Film Crew #11 - Censored

The shoot for the November video was our wildest one yet. It took place at the tailgating event before a University of Delaware football game, and the college kids there were wasted. There were times when they erupted into melee, spraying beer everywhere, throwing full cans in the air, dousing their friends. One gentleman took his pants off and attempted to get on camera. Everybody was willing to chug a beer... for a free beer. Unfortunately (and understandably), Bud Light and the university do not want to be associated with over-consumption, so my first cut, which included some of the craziness (but purposely not all of it), was rejected. I had to remove 20 seconds, perhaps the heart of the video, in order to appease the censors. That was painful for me. I have decided to restore some of the footage in the version that will be on my compilation DVD and possibly on YouTube after a while. Watch out for it. Until then, you can see the censored version here:

http://www.budlightfilmcrew.com/

Bud Light Film Crew #10

I was in Madison for work again last week, which kept me from posting a blog entry (sorry, diehard readers) and made it more difficult to finish this month's video in time. But it did get done and posted: http://www.budlightfilmcrew.com/

This one is notable for bringing Kim back as a host. You may remember her as the extremely intoxicated girl from our St. Patrick's day video, who showed up again briefly, and even more funnily, in last month's outtakes reel. I hardly recognized her when we met for the latest shoot. She was completely sober this time and determined to redeem herself in the eyes of the friends who discovered video #4 online and gave her a hard time about it. In all honesty, the drunk Kim brought more humor and playfulness to the job than the sober one. But no offense to her; she did some fine, if more conventional, work here.

It's funny--the film "crew" seems to be shrinking. For this video, it consisted of me and the two hosts. Don't get me wrong, I like having the freedom to do what I want with the video, but I do miss having somebody there to help line up interviews, corral our very social hosts, and generate ideas for questions and lines. I usually keep my eye in the camera's viewfinder the whole time, and that takes up enough of my attention to not be able to prepare the content, especially since we make it up as we go. The raw footage for this month's video was lacking in both content and technical accomplishment as a result of trying to focus on both (or neither). Some months we have a surplus of good stuff to use in the final cut; this time I had to stretch what we had and hide some of the problems behind the editing. In the end, the video turned out better than I expected, but it's not our finest work.

I've been questioning the future of the BLFC lately. We'll definitely finish out the year, but is the magazine going to want to continue these into 2008? In some ways it would be a relief to be done with them. I would appreciate the extra time to work on my own personal projects (I still want to make that one web video that changes the world of web video forever). But I also hate to close the door on such a fun gig, especially when I'm on the verge of buying a new video camera and will want the chance to show off what it can do. Maybe I should lobby to replace the Bud Light work with CityLife News Team videos. I put one of those together earlier this year but was unable to commit to doing them regularly. Agreeing to a year of these videos would be a good opportunity to gain more professional experience. Then there's always the possibility of me giving full-time videography a shot, in which case I would want all the work I could get. I'd probably need a video gig for every day of the month. We'll have to see what transpires in the coming months.

Bud Light Film Crew #9

Check out the September video when you get the chance: http://www.budlightfilmcrew.com/

You'll see we didn't shoot anything new for this one. It's a collection of unused material from the previous videos. That might sound like a lazy way out, but it actually ended up being more work than usual because I had over five hours of footage to sift through. Technically I could have started compiling something like this months ago, but we didn't decide to do it until it became too late to plan another shoot. Plus, I got so busy with my day job that the only time to edit I had was late at night when I finally put my other work away, and by then I was in a daze from staring at a computer monitor for way too long. So this might be another video that I continue to tweak when I can devote more time and attention to it.

Bud Light Film Crew #8

The August video is up: http://www.budlightfilmcrew.com/

The Starboard is a fun place to shoot. The people actually like us there. That's the biggest difference between this video and the last one--during the shooting of the previous video, we'd walk into the bar and everyone would shout "Miller Lite rules" or yell at me to shut my camera light off or put their hand over my lens. Maybe it's all in the timing; we need to get to the bar after everyone loosens up but before they get so sloppy drunk they forget all their manners. Unless we decide we want to explore the darkness of human nature in a future video, we need to get that right. We did at the Starboard, both times we shot there. It also helps that our host Jeff Reed is some kind of local celebrity at this place. He was in his element.

The strength of this video is the vibrant color we gained from shooting in daylight for the first time. The weakness is that it could use some tightening up in the editing. No matter how much time I have to work on these things, they always seem to get rushed out the door at the last minute.

One more thing... I was unable to use any of the 20 minutes of beer pong footage I shot. Apparently Bud Light doesn’t want to be associated with the game. I'm not sure why. Maybe they chose rock, paper, scissors as their drinking game and Coors got beer pong. All I know is I was forced to leave out some dynamic shots that would have added some action to the video. Maybe they'll make it into the director's cut.

Bud Light Film Crew #7

Sorry I'm a little late with posting this month's video. I've been vacationing in Minnesota for the last week. We'll be back on Sunday. I'll try to report about the trip some time after that.

The lighting in the video looks better this time. However, there are still some problems with the overall flow... I also had to stretch my cover shots rather thin... and I was a bit rushed when I made the graphics... but I'm not going to write about those things because R wants me to remain positive on here. Let's just say the video is a fine addition to my catalogue. At least this time I can take credit for all of the mistakes since I was able to do the shooting and editing myself. I must say, I continue to get quite a kick out of working on these things.

I need to get back to my vacation. Check out the video here:
http://www.budlightfilmcrew.com/

Taking the show on the road

We spent the weekend a couple of hours south of Wilmington in Dewey Beach, DE, a small town notorious for its wild summer bar scene. You may have witnessed a bit of the madness in the April Bud Light video, which took place at the most popular bar there, the Starboard. We did a double shoot in Dewey this weekend, capturing more drunken craziness that you will have the opportunity to see in July and August.

On Saturday night we followed a team of professional surfers around to a series of bars where they greeted their fans and signed surf boards (although, to be honest, hardly anybody knew who the surfers were). During mid-day Sunday we revisited the Starboard for what they appropriately call "Suicide Sunday." I've never seen so many people intoxicated at 1:00 in the afternoon (but the 4th of July in my hometown has come close). It was difficult to get any intelligible interviews, but I still think the August video is going to look great. It was our first day-lit shoot so that should at least distinguish it from anything else we've done.

It was a good weekend. R and I got some beach time, went out for some excellent Japanese food, and had a free place to spend the night only a few blocks from the water. Now we're home -- work is off to a busy start, and I need to set aside some time to edit.

Bud Light Film Crew #6 - editing only

Remember last month when I was upset with the opening shot in BLFC #5 and I promised softer lighting in the next video? You can forget all about that. This month's video looks like it's on fire, and not in a good way.

I didn't shoot this one. I had other plans that night and was not at the shoot. I just attempted to edit the footage I was given, some of which was too dark, most of which was too bright, and about a third of which had no audio.

No offense to the guy who did shoot it. He accidentally had the exposure on the camera opened all the way up. I should have verified that the auto setting was turned on before lending him the camera.

We had originally tried to reschedule the shoot so I could be there. We got together the night before (a Tuesday) and shot 10 minutes of footage at a nearly empty bar in Trolley Square before realizing it wasn't going to work. Our idea was to profile a bartender on his last night of work, but everything we tried fell flat. The lesson learned: If we're going to shoot during the week, it needs to be done in the college town of Newark. That's the only place in Delaware with life after 9pm.

I'm not posting a link this month. If you do want to check it out despite my warning, you probably know how to find it on your own (hint: the link is the same every month).

Next month the film crew returns to the beach. We're going to shoot the July and August videos on back-to-back days over one weekend. Expect good things.

Bud Light Film Crew #5

See it at the usual place: www.BudLightFilmCrew.com

I'm upset about the opening shot. By the time I roll into the close up, Chris' face is way washed out. The camera light I have been using on these shoots restricts me from getting too close and too far from the talent. In this case I obviously got too close. And there was nothing I could do about it in post-production. The funny thing is, I've had a new light with a blue-tinted filter that would help diffuse it (and cool off the color temperature), but I haven't been able to use it yet. I bought it back in March, but it has been sitting in my closet since then because up until yesterday I didn't have an adapter needed between the light and battery pack. The backordered item finally came in, so next month I'm promising better, softer lighting.

Then there's the other thing... the guys from Bud Light noticed a Miller Lite poster in one shot on a wall behind the drummer. I've had to cover up logos for other beer brands before (hopefully you haven't noticed), but this one was particularly tricky because the logo is behind the drummer's moving arms/sticks. Unless he happened to be shot in front of a blue screen, there's no way I could insert something behind him. Cutting the shot wasn't an option either. It anchors the second half of the video because it's one of two shots where the band member you see is actually playing the music you hear. So what I ended up doing was place a few squiggly lines over the poster. They are over the arms/sticks too, but the lines are thin enough so that they are not very noticeable. It's the best I could do on short notice.

The video isn't as much of a stand out as last month's, but I like it. It's another one that came together fast. I went with my gut feel on the editing rather than stressing over every frame and second-guessing each cut. What it loses to roughness, it gains from the carefree, less-calculated vibe it has running through it. I think we really captured the essence of rock 'n' roll here. Maybe this is a step toward me making more impressionistic Bud Light videos. Wait, isn't that an oxymoron?

Bud Light Film Crew #4

My latest video is now posted at www.BudLightFilmCrew.com. I'm happy with the way this one turned out. It actually came together very quickly and easily. I did most of the editing one night when I couldn't sleep. I got out of bed around 11:30 and by about 3am the video had taken shape. I spent a few additional hours on it when I was more awake, but it still took the least amount of work out of any of the videos yet. I even had chance to create the new opening sequence, using Adobe After Effects for the first time. That program is going to open up a lot of possibilities for me. One last bit of trivia – do you recognize the song that plays in the video? It was featured in The Departed. At least my video has something in common with an Oscar-winning film.

Paddy's Day

Cool picture taken by R, eh? My ultra talented wife accompanied me on a trip to Dewey Beach over the weekend and assisted me with the latest Bud Light Film Crew video shoot. We covered the St. Patrick's Day celebration at the Starboard Restaurant & Bar. A guy from Bud Light set us up for the night with a room at a house a few blocks away from the bar. Free beer and no need to drive home was an ideal situation for us to let loose after the shoot, but it didn't happen. We gave up drinking for Lent, you see. It has been a difficult sacrifice. I think next year I'll give up chocolate instead. So R and I kept it professional and watched the hosts of the video get toasted instead, which actually happened before the shoot. I'll be doing my best to remove their slurred speech from the interviews during the editing process. The video should be all right. Picture it: the usual horde of rowdy youngish people yelling into the camera... only this time... they're wearing green.

Bud Light Film Crew #3

The first thing you'll notice is that we have new hosts this month. It is a film crew after all, so there may be some shifting in the personnel involved from month to month. Our original hosts, Traci and Jeff, couldn't make it to the shoot because of an impending ice storm, but they will likely be back again in the future. Everyone seems to like their replacements, however, so we might mix and match them a bit. So far I'm still in charge of shooting and editing, but as the CityLife schedule gets more hectic I may have to occasionally give up my role as well.

This is our longest video yet, and I had the shortest amount of time to edit it, so take that for what it's worth. I could probably spend the rest of my life making adjustments, so maybe it's good I had a tight deadline.

I hope you have a good set of speakers attached to your computer because if you can't hear Queen's baseline, there's no point to watching it. Here you go:

http://www.budlightfilmcrew.com/

Bud Light Film Crew #2

My second video in the series is now posted at

www.BudLightFilmCrew.com

You'll see it follows a similar format to the first one (intro -> montage -> interviews), but I guess that's because the format seems to work. There will be chances to mix things up in the future. My main goal this time was to get the job done more efficiently than the first time. I shot less footage (18 minutes versus 52) and didn't spend as much time on the editing. As a result, the final product looks less ambitious than the first, but I think that's okay. Nobody said these were supposed to be the next Godfather films. I'm pleased with the final product though. It has a spontaneous, spur-of-the-moment feel, yet enough polish to make it very watchable.

Bud Light Film Crew debut

The first video in the monthly series I am shooting and editing for Out & About is now available on the magazine's website. Check it out here:

http://www.out-and-about.com/BudLight

This will, without a doubt, be the most widely seen video I've made up to this point, so I'm pretty excited about it. It's also the first video of mine to face the censors. I had to remove a few shots that were deemed family-unfriendly. As you can still see in the video, it was a rather wild bar scene and definitely a lot of fun to shoot. I'm looking forward to the next one.