RED Epic Dragon: Epic Camera
The RED Epic Dragon is FiveSix Productions' most powerful and capable camera offering. With the update of the sensor, this camera really delivers on an incredible level. One of the most notable features of the new sensor is its ability to provide amazing detail and incredible native exposure that eclipse 35mm film in both latitude and image density. The almost unthinkable 16.5+ stops of dynamic range allows your DP to really spread their wings and create visually stunning scenes; even at ISO 2000, the image is clean enough for cinematic or publication presentation. The Epic Dragon is fast! The new sensor enables Full Frame 6K at 75fps, 6K 2:4:1 at 100fps, and below 6K, all the way up to 300fps (300fps is at 2K). This camera isn't just for motion pictures; at 6K Full Frame, you're getting a 19.4 Megapixel image- so, you can take your individual frames, and make amazing stills, or shoot specifically for the single, still image. Beyond these facts and figures, there is a plethora of other upgraded aspects such as improved color, capability of 3D (with appropriate hardware), and more. So, all that said, if you want the best of the best, shoot with us and our RED Epic Dragon.
Fun New Places, Bright Smiling Faces
FiveSix Productions always loves shooting in new, exciting locales... even if we've shot there before, give it some time, and we still get stoked. Recently, we got to fist-pumpin', and hit the night club Hyde at the Bellagio, here in Vegas. With banging tracks, popped bottles, and great views of the Bellagio fountains and lagoon (as well as some beautiful people), we did our camera and audio thing, and got to recording all the decadence. Yes, nothing short of an early appearance by Travis Barker would make this evening better. Till next time, my fellow club-goers... deuces.
BoardRoom Interview - Dick Metz Part 3
Here is a nice write up on Dick Metz from the Encyclopedia of Surfing.
Well-traveled surfer, retail magnate, and surf culture preservationist from Laguna Beach, California; cofounder of the Surfing Heritage Foundation. Metz was born (1929) and raised in Laguna Beach, to restaurant-owning parents, and started riding San Onofre with local surf kingpins Peanuts Larson and Hevs McClelland at age seven. The easy-going and aimless Metz earned a bachelor's degree from Santa Barbara State College in 1953, was drafted for a seven-month stint in the army, briefly enrolled in graduate school in Hawaii, then returned to Laguna Beach in 1954 where he tended bar, ran his father’s liquor store, and repaired surfboards.
In 1958, restless and unencumbered, Metz set off on a three-year around-the-world journey with stops in Tahiti, Australia, Southeast Asia, India, and South Africa. In Cape Town, he befriended a young John Whitmore—later called the father of South African surfing—and connected him with California surfboard builder Hobie Alter, helping to seed Cape Town’s nascent surf scene with high quality equipment. Upon returning to California, Metz captivated longtime friend and filmmaker Bruce Brown with stories from his travels. A few years later, while in South Africa shooting The Endless Summer, Brown looked up some of the contacts Metz had made on his globetrotting voyage.
In 1962, Alter tapped Metz to run his new surf shop in Honolulu; the store was an immediate success, and Metz found a career in retail. Over the next few years, he cofounded the successful beachwear shop Surfline Hawaii with Dave Rochlen, opened Hobie retail outlets on both the West and East coasts of the mainland, and started ice cream parlors and liquor stores with McClelland.
Along the way, Metz collected hundreds of vintage surfboards, many of which had been owned by big-name Hobie team riders in the ‘60s. In the early 2000s, in part to preserve his board collection, Metz teamed with Newport Beach’s Spencer Croul to found the Surfing Heritage Foundation, a San Clemente, California-based nonprofit museum and surf history research center.
Visit www.boardroomfilms.com for the complete movie.
Seeing green during NAB 2016
Every year we are asked what our favorite booth at NAB was. The truth is we haven't been there in years. It always winds up that we have our corporate green screen setup at some location other than the convention center. This year our crews have taken over the Venetian for the week. While we do love paying $40 for parking and fighting thru crowds of 100,000 people, it's probably better this way, if we were at NAB we would be doing some serious window shopping.
FiveSix Listens to Movie Stars
Recently, FiveSix Productions had the opportunity to work with our neighbors to the north again, this time, on a fun project at Omnia, inside Caesars Palace. We lent our audio mixing skills to some television folks from upstairs, who were looking to interview some movie stars. We mixed and mingled, and did our best to not look star-struck, as the likes of Susan Sarandon, Nate Parker and Aja Naomi King from the upcoming "The Birth of a Nation", Keanu Reeves, Dave Franco, and others mingled with us common folk. One of our favorite interviews was with director Roland Emmerich and Jeff Goldblum, who enthusiastically spoke of their new film "Independence Day: Resurgence" and spoke in French of Liam Hemsworth and his dashing-good looks.
After a few liners outside by the famous Caesars Palace fountains, we were all wrapped up, and ready to go send our tweets and texts bragging of our company that evening. Until next time, ciao... oh, and have your people call my people, we'll do lunch.
DJI Universal Controller
FiveSix Productions employs the use of a variety of DJI tools, including the Ronin, the Inspire 1, and the Osmo. While we love them all, and appreciate all that they do to add to our production, we do have a suggestion for the wonderful folks at DJI:
To use the Osmo and the Inspire 1 areal drone, simply download and utilize the DJI app on a mobile device such as a smartphone or tablet, easy enough; this is great for ease of use and access, but is a killer of phone batteries. How are we supposed to holler at all the sweet honeys while flying drones over the Delaware river, if our phone is quickly dying on the Inspire remote? (Real example.) We have what we believe is a great suggestion for a wonderful solution. DJI should develop and sell a phone sized device that exclusively works with DJI tools. The device would be about the size of an iPhone 6 or Galaxy S7, so the screen is nice and big, but not so large it can't fit in the provided holster. The device would be Bluetooth compatible, of course connect to the internet so as to download the latest updates, and would come factory ready to all the applications and software needed to run the parade of dope DJI products. Best of all, with only the task of running your DJI items, there can be plenty of space for a big, long-lasting battery, and it would run super fast because it has just one purpose in life. We can only speculate that if this device cost just a couple hundred bucks, they would sell like hotcakes!
We're not software or hardware manufacturers, and simply are thinking out loud, but hey, dreaming is what dreamers to best. So, DJI folks, there's just one of our many dreams that we wanted to share with you as if we were sitting on your therapy couch. Thanks, friends.
FiveSix Rocks with Legends
Over the past weekend, FiveSix Productions had the opportunity to rock out with some true legends. Slash returned to Guns n' Roses, along with a few other past and current members to rock out and celebrate the opening of the brand new T-Mobile Arena, here in fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada. We were welcomed to the jungle where we manned our trusty Canon C300, durable Sound Devices 633 audio mixer, and favorite Schoeps microphone with wind muff, and helped capture interviews of all the eager fans before and after the show. Don't cry, because despite the occasional "November" style rain, we had patience and got some great footage. Mr. Brownstone and the Rocket Queen had us knockin' on Heaven's door, and when it opened up, we found our way to Paradise City where the grass was truly green, and all the girls were pretty. After we took in a bit of the show, we got back on the nightrain, and got to work talking to all the satisfied fans about the ruckus event. Just before the sun rose, we were on our way home where we could get some rest and let our ears stop ringing. If you find yourself needing the services of the best video production company in Las Vegas, let me tell you, sweet child o' mine, we've got you covered. Keep rockin' friends.
BoardRoom Interview - Dick Metz Part 2
Surfing Heritage Founder, Dick Metz has lived an amazing, exciting, and charmed life! Aside from establishing one of the greatest historical surfing institutions in the world, Metz had a hand in numerous surf-related ventures in his storied past. From early travels to Africa, Polynesia, and beyond, watch as Metz relates his tale that went on to inspire Bruce Brown to create the greatest surf film of all time, The Endless Summer. Learn about the early days of Hobie, Clark Foam, Surfline Hawaii and Jams, and more. Like a real-life Forrest Gump, Dick Metz has had a hand in creating some of surfing's most iconic brands, topping it off with the creation of Surfing Heritage!
We recorded this interview for our film BoardRoom at the SHACC in which Metz gave his firsthand account of his world travels and more.
BoardRoom was filmed by FiveSix Productions, a Las Vegas video production company.
Interview conducted by Robert Bell.
Directed by Markus Davids
Executive Producer : Robert Jax
BoardRoom Interview - Dick Metz Part 1
Dick Metz, Board Member and Founder of Surfing Heritage and Cultural Center, has supplied the vision for the SHACC and the initial funding. Central to the mission, Dick is donating his extensive surfboard collection, and bequeathed his estate to the Foundation. Dick, who grew up in Laguna Beach as a buddy of such notables as Hobie Alter, Reynolds Yater, and Hevs McClelland, is himself a pioneering figure in our sport and industry. As the driving force behind Surfline Hawaii and the Hobie Sports retail chain, and as the traveling surfer who cross-pollinated a fledgling South African surf scene with Hobie and Gordon Clark in California, and suggested to Bruce Brown that he film for The Endless Summer in South Africa, Metz has changed the course of surf history. Now, his goal is to preserve it.
Produced by FiveSix Productions a Las Vegas video production Company
Interview conducted by Robert Bell.
Today In Film History
On this day in 2013, legendary movie critic Roger Ebert passed away due to complications with cancer. Ebert was one of the best-known and most influential movie critic in the country, and perhaps around the world; along with Chicago Tribune film critic Gene Siskel, and then fellow Sun-Times columnist Richard Roeper, Ebert gave a combination of thumbs up and/or down, and 0-4 stars for hundreds of films a year. Roger Ebert spent 46 years reviewing movies for the Chicago Sun-Times and over 30 years on public access television with the aforementioned, fellow critics. Like him or not, agree with him or not, Ebert, along with Siskel and Roeper, were our first line, and most trusted to deliver our first look into each of the new Hollywood releases. It was reported that Roger Ebert watched over 500 films a year, and reviewed nearly half of them- that's dedication to your craft. These days, with an overflow of critiques and opinions from social media and other online sources, the classic film critic is a refreshing reminder of simpler days when we trusted our few news and information sources, for better or worse. Until next time, happy filming.