Uncle Oscar
We here at FiveSix Productions, in little ol' Las Vegas, Nevada, have lofty dreams. Whether it's corporate interviews, the trade show floor, commercials, feature documentaries or more, we love and embrace our craft; we also love the passion and dreams of those pursuing Hollywood dreams! We support, encourage, embrace, and share the dreams of all those inspiring to always do and accomplish more in this awesome industry of film, television, and all else dreamers dare to dream. Enjoy the night fellow artists and dreamers. See you on set.
Spice It Up
Video seeming a little bland? Missing a little something something? Well, maybe it's time to spice it up with some awesome time-lapse footage straight from Las Vegas Boulevard! We sent one of our cinematographers out for a few nights to get the best of the Strip that he could, and boy did he get some righteous stuff. Check it out and the rest of our time lapse videos today!
Here are some samples of some of the footage we have filmed here on Las Vegas Boulevard.
BoardRoom Interview – Renny Yater Part 3
While Renny Yater prefers to maintain a low profile, he was featured in several surf movies during the early '60s, including Big Wednesday (1961) and Walk On the Wet Side (1963). And look closely if you happen to see Apocalypse Now, the 1979 Vietnam War movie starring Marlon Brando, Dennis Hopper and Robert Duvall. Duvall plays the part of Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore, who is filmed wearing a Santa Barbara Surf Shop t-shirt while on duty. He also has a Yater Spoon among his belongings.
While his son Lauran has been shaping for the Yater name since the early '80s, Renny still actively shapes today. A true living legend, Reynolds Yater has been positively influencing the sport of surfing in a cool, quiet manner for over fifty years. Although reserved, Renny will still talk surfing to customers at The Beach House in Santa Barbara. Owned by Roger Nance, the store has been Yater's retail showroom since 1991. www.surfnwear.com is The Beach House website, and you can find out more about Yater Surfboards at www.yater.com.
Below is our third and final segment of our interview with Renny. When you watch our film BoardRoom you can see how much of an influence he had on our story.
Think Outside the Box
Even when you think you've brought too much gear, and have items you'll never use for a particular shoot, there's always the chance unexpected challenges will arise. Last week, we were shooting a single talent, stand up, short script via teleprompter, and we were outside. The biggest hurdle seemed to be getting clean audio despite a busy roadway only fifty meters away, however, lighting ended up becoming a bit of a hurdle too. With the call time in the early afternoon, and photography not starting for a few hours later, we had to play with the sun sinking behind the nearby building. In order to incorporate a couple iconic resorts and the recognizable Spring Mountains in the background along with the busy local neighborhood, we were limited on adjustments we could make with camera and talent placement. A 6'x6' diffusion gave the talent a nice, soft wrap around light, but as the sun sank more and more, we weren't getting the fill light we were hoping for. Not having time to run power and do a proper lighting setup, our DP quickly had our 1-ton grip van pulled up to use as a bounce! The van is new, so it is still shiny and vibrant. This unconventional, but quick solution was just what the doctor ordered, and did a great job filling in light. We set up a small "video village" for the director in the back of the van, so it all seemed perfectly normal and convenient. Just goes to show, you never know what can be used as a great tool!
Awesome Music Video!
Our senior editor turned us on to a really cool music video by the masters of really cool music videos OK Go.
They shot the video on a Zero-G "vomit comet" over in Russia (Hi Putin, how's the invading and such?), and it turned out sweet.
Here's a really cool article about the whole experience: READ ME
There you go, have fun, and hooray for creativity.
BoardRoom Interview - Renny Yater Part 2
Born in Los Angeles in 1932, Reynolds "Renny" Yater started surfing when he was 14. He started building surfboards in 1953 at the age of 21, but not under the Yater name. From 1955 to 1957, he glassed balsa boards for Hobie Surfboards in Dana Point and then refined his shaping skills while working for Dale Velzy in San Clemente from 1957 to 1959. In 1959, Renny headed up the California coast to Santa Barbara. There, he opened Santa Barbara Surf Shop and trademarked the Yater Surfboards name.
When the surf market exploded in the '60s, many of the board makers rode the wave, taking full advantage of the booming sport. Despite his superb board-building skills, Renny chose not to. Rather, he deliberately kept his business small and local. Still, Yater Surfboards were preferred by such well-known industry professionals as Surfer Magazine's John Severson, filmmaker Bruce Brown and "Grubby" Clark, the founder of Clark Foam.
Here is part two from our interview with Renny Yater.
Hit the Boulevard!
Whether you're in Las Vegas at a convention, annual corporate party, award ceremony, or any other reason to hit Sin City (there are countless reasons to come!), video is a great way to capture the experience. FiveSix Productions can provide you with amazing videos in a variety of styles, scopes, and subjects. Green Screen? Yes! Convention overview? Of course! Full party/celebration coverage? Our pleasure! Commercial? One of our favorites! We can do all that and so much more; plus, we have awesome time lapse footage that can bring your video from "wow" to "WOW!". This is available to any client as a great add-on to your next Las Vegas video production.
Here are some samples of some of the footage we have filmed here on Las Vegas Boulevard.
BoardRoom Interview - Renny Yater Part 1
Reynolds "Renny" Yater was one of the first real commercial surfboard builders of the 1950s-a generation that really put surfing on the map. In the early 1950s, Yater shaped and fiberglassed his own boards. During the mid-5Os, Hobie hired him to glass his balsa boards in his Dana Point shop. In 1957, he moved over to Dale Velzy's shop in San Clemente where he began to shape balsa boards. His experience working with both of those industry icons gave us a unique in site in to the dynamic of the industry at that time.
Here is Part 1 of Renny's interview from our surf documentary Boardroom - Legends of Surfboard Shaping
Untether Your Production
High end film production demands consistent results, from both crew and equipment. I recently wrapped up a 5 week feature film shooting at various desert locations around southern Nevada. The production took place mostly out doors, so we experienced high temperatures during the day and low, near freezing temperatures during the night. It was a challenging shoot due to a low budget and a rather short schedule, shooting mostly available daylight during the short winter months.
F11 rentals supplied the production with a brand spanking new Sound Devices 633, with Sennheiser wireless Microphones. This mixer/recorder allowed us to record in a double system setup, thus keeping the sound department from having to be tethered to camera. As a DP, my camera usually ends up having so many accessories and cables hanging off of it, so the less things that have to be plugged in to my camera the better! The whole production was very fast paced, and most of the film is shot hand held. Not having to have a mixer plugged in to the camera really helps to keep the set moving. The equipment and service provided by F11 was second to none, the gear was well maintained and we never experienced any downtime due to the equipment.
Whats the one thing a director always wants more of? Time. During a typical day on set, saving a little time here and there can add up to an extra take, or an extra moment to get the lighting and blocking just right, or even an additional setup you might otherwise have missed. One of the easiest ways of saving time on set is making sure you have good quality equipment. With F11 there’s never a question that you will have the latest and greatest at your fingertips!
-Clayton Moore (www.ClaytonMooreDP.com)
San Diego - Taking Flight
David and I took a recent opportunity to travel to San Diego, CA. While our days were spent filming different locations around the town. We took some time in the afternoon to have some fun. For us that means cracking out the drone. We wanted to test out our updated X5 camera during sunset. With the X5 having an updated micro 4/3rds sensor we were anxious to test out the camera's low light capabilities.
We were pleasantly surprised with how the footage held up compared to our older X3 camera. Shot at ISO 100, the shot really held the detail in the water. The artifacting in the blacks, that we had come to expect in the X3, was greatly reduced. We did some shots with the D-log and ended up setting the camera to no picture profile. We were happy with the results but will need some more testing in the resolve bay to figure out the best workflow for our team.
Here is a quick H264 proxy from my phone. Looking good!