Story Time
Oh, hello, I didn't see you sitting there. I was just watching an interesting video about story telling, and how Pixar does it so well. Please, take a few moments to enjoy it, and then do as I'm about to do, and start from scratch on all your screenplays. (Oh, thank you to the nice folks over at NoFilmSchool.com, for their story about this video.)
The NFL in Las Vegas
FiveSix Productions loves Las Vegas, it's our home, and so, we have a lot invested into this city. We certainly have been excited to see the growth in the time since we've been in existence, and also, in the past two or three decades. Las Vegas has been, and most likely will continue to be one of the quickest growing cities and metro areas in the country for years to come. So, with all this said, we are anxiously watching all the events unfold regarding the proposed 65,000 seat stadium that will potentially host the Oakland Raiders franchise. Beyond the NFL, sources continue to state that professional soccer, rugby, specialty sports, and large music events will also be held here. That all equates to more job opportunities for the film and video worlds- which is great for us, and of course you, our Las Vegas video production friends here in town. We would love to hear from our friends and counterparts here in Vegas, and beyond, what do you think about the stadium, the Raiders moving here? Would you rather have the tax money go to the see the convention center expanded? Some food for thought going into the holiday weekend.
War Time!
On this day in 1977, Star Wars (the absolute original, Episode IV: A New Hope), opened courtesy of 20th Century Fox, and Mr. George Lucas. 20th Century gave $9.5 million to this project because of the success of Lucas' previous film "American Graffiti", in '73. From Tunisia to Death Valley, and Alderaan and the Death Star, a cast of unknown players made a sci-fi epic, epic and legendary.
Released in only 42 theaters originally, Star Wars soon spread across the nation, and globe, profiting $100million by summers' end (2nd only to "Gone With the Wind", if inflation is considered).
From ILM (Industrial Light & Magic), Lucas Ranch, the revival of the sci-fi genre, the mega-inflation of marketing and merchandising, spin-offs, competing films and television shows, and six of ten oscars on Episode IV- there is no doubt about the influence of this film.
So, that's what happened today- thirty-nine years ago- but forever in our minds, imagination, and hearts.
BoardRoom Interview - Dick Metz Part 4
Here is the final segment from our interview with Dick Metz.
Purchase your copy of the film at www.boardroomfilms.com
For those unfamiliar with Dick, here is his write up 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 co-founded 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.
FiveSix Productions Walks the Magenta Carpet
Over the past week, FiveSix has sent crews to the T-Mobile Arena, and around the Vegas Strip for all the festivities surrounding the 2016 Billboard Music Awards. From rehearsals by the likes of Fifth Harmony and DNCE, to international television channels covering the show, to the red (well, magenta) carpet and beyond, FiveSix shot like we were playing "Duck Hunt" on the original Nintendo. We had the pleasure of fully immersing ourselves in the show from start to finish, and really felt like we got to experience the enormity of such a show. We always appreciate our clients that come to town and allow us be a part of such fun events and festivities, and we always try to deliver on our promise of quality and dependability. If you're in need of Las Vegas video production services, give us a shout, and we'll be happy to try and give you more than you thought possible.
Side note: we are definitely, not the type of people who put the gun up to the screen for accuracy... unless there's a chance we'll lose. If you'd like to play (not on company time!) go here: http://www.duck-hunt.org/
FiveSix Returns Some "R"s
Last week, FiveSix Productions found a large amount of unused "R"s, that's right, the letter. We too thought it was strange, but we knew just what to do with them. We took them to Boston, Massachusetts, where they're constantly having to say words without them! We were shooting with one of our favorite clients anyway, so we thought, throw them in with the cameras and lights, and let's do some charity work.
From the Boston Common to Fenway Pahk, we retu-ned so many aws, we felt wicked smawht. We even had the chance to visit some of the smawhtties ovah at MIT, wheh they weh doing math, with big numbahs. We weh also able to check out some historical (that R was still in Boston) sights and have a beah at the Sox game.
So, hopefully now that Boston has all their "R"s back, they will be happier than evah. (Oops, maybe we gave them one too many.)
FiveSix Objects!
FiveSix has been getting in the spirit of the season recently. Which season, you may ask. Why, the election season, of course. When we're not trying to make America great again, we're working with local governmental type figures who are trying to get elected, or stay elected into various governmental offices. So, we went to court to help a Las Vegas judge, try to get reelected. We objected, were overturned, asked for continuances, and were ultimately held in contempt for being too awesome, as we shot on our glorious Canon C300 Mark II. With slides, pans and tilts, and glorious depth of field, we did our Las Vegas video production thing, and made some Hollywood magic out here in Sin City. So, until next time, you stay classy; we're going to go study for the bar exam.
Happy Seis de Mayo!
Feliz Seis de Mayo! Today is the day we take a moment to celebrate the sixth of May, or 5/6. We pay homage to the film and video gods by taking a day to give thanks and praise for all that we have in this motion picture world of ours. What better way to engage in such frivolities than by cleaning our lenses, tightening screws and bolts on our stands, re-wrapping xlr and stingers, organizing sandbags by size and weight, and clearing out error messages from our Avid- I mean... discussing new plug-ins for Avid. There's nothing we love more in life than fourteen hour days on set, but even we have to take a day to reset, recharge, and celebrate all that we've been given. Worry not though, we never say no, so should something come up, or should we get that spark in our eye, maybe we can squeeze in a half day green screen or two. Here's a toast to all you film makers out there (even you, audio department (sorry, F11 Rentals made us type that)), thank you for all you do for us, we hope we can bring a smile to your face.
On This Day in Film History
On this day in film history, "Spider-Man" starring Tobey Maguire, and directed by Sam Raimi, became the fastest to $100 million in Hollywood box office history. Previous films such as "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" and "Star-Wars: The Phantom Menace" had taken five days to reach that mark, "Spider-Man" took only the weekend. However, as the Greek philosopher Heraclitus philosophized, "The only constant is change." (that may not be a direct quote, but that was that dude's mantra); both "Spider-Man" sequels and "The Dark Knight" would all break that record. "The Dark Knight" would go on to do more than $150 million over opening weekend. So, boom, there you go, a little trivia that you'll never use. Now, enough of this, you've got tequila, cerveza, and tacos to attend to. Fiesta!
FiveSix Makes It Through Mondays
We here at FiveSix know that everyone occasionally contracts a case of the Mondays. So, in order to combat such things, we like to look at the brighter, more beautiful side of these twenty-four hours. Here we have a wonderful video by some very talented fellas, Keith Kiska and Kyle Rhoderick, who spent four years creating this visual feast. So, tell the boss we said it's okay, and let your spirit come back to life over the next few minutes. If you're really needing a break, grab a coffee and read this interesting article about the process of making the video. Enjoy.