Filming at Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas
One of our most frequented Las Vegas video production venues is Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, Delano, hotel Four Seasons hotel, and the 2 Million square foot Mandalay Bay Convention Center.
This property is gigantic! In Mandalay Bay, there are 3,309 rooms, a huge casino floor, about two dozen restaurants, a House of Blues venue, a theater or two, and an events center that is a little smaller than MGM Grand Garden. Then, there is the Delano, which has an additional 1,117 rooms, all of which are a minimum of 750 square feet- so we end up doing a lot of in-room/suite shooting there. Delano has a couple of restaurants, one of which is at the very top of the hotel, and includes amazing views of the strip, mountains, city, etc. The Four Seasons is hidden, but a gem once you find it; it's really beautiful, occupying four of the floors of Mandalay Bay near the top, and then there are some meeting rooms, restaurants, and a nice looking lobby on the ground level. The best way to get to the Four Seasons is to simply valet there, but, if you want to push in from M.B., you need to head towards the pool/M.B. valet pickup.
Mandalay Bay is located at 3950 S Las Vegas Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89119.
Parking is easily accessed from Las Vegas BlVd and Mandalay Bay Rd., but we prefer Frank Sinatra Dr. Mandalay Bay is an MGM property, so everyone pays to park, including the new convention center parking garage. Pushing gear in easy, but you definitely get your steps in if you're parking at Mandalay Bay garage and going to the convention center.
The convention/meeting space is located on the south and southeast end of the property, and our friends at Encore handle in-house audio/lighting services. There’s not always communication between the client and the house, so make sure to bring enough power and audio cabling, just in case it isn’t always set. We’ve also gotten into the habit of bringing a lavalier kit, XLR turnarounds, XLR to 1/4 inch, and various other cables for when we run into various and differing audio boards, we’ll be set. This is one of the largest convention venues in the city, and an expansion was just completed. Biggest tip: parking is usually easy, but beware, when big conventions come in, the convention garage fills up really fast.
If you're in an oversized vehicle, there's an auxiliary lot across Vegas Blvd, just take Four Seasons Drive and go behind the Shell Station- kind of a pain in the butt, but hey, buy a smaller truck.
The most important item, however, is that there are two Starbucks. They are both really far from the convention center- the closer one, of course, has the longest line. The other is located near House of Blues... so, it's good to stop on your way.
BoardRoom Interview - Mike Hynson Part 1
Our interview with Mike Hynson is the latest release of our full interviews for Boardroom.
Matt Warshaw from Surfer.com recently wrote "Mike Hynson was the second-most polarizing 1960s surfer, behind Mickey Dora. Those who would kneel before Hynson and kiss the ring on his well-manicured hand were roughly equal in number to those who would've liked to see his privileged little ass get kicked from Windansea to Big Rock and back."
We kind of got that sense when our Orange County video production team showed up to interview Hynson, he was not one to mince words.
You can get your copy of Boardroom here and learn what these legends had to say: www.boardroomfilms.com
Caesars Palace Las Vegas: Tips from the Pros
Often times, we find ourselves working at one of Las Vegas' many hotels and resorts.
From convention and meeting spaces to restaurants, pools, and suites, there are numerous opportunities for videos to be shot. Whether big or small, we are always ready for a new adventure, and we here at FiveSix Productions would like to share some of our knowledge of specific properties. Today, we’ll talk about Caesars Palace.
Caesars Palace (it's the real Caesars Palace, but he never lived there- so, that's kind of false advertising), is located at 3570 S Las Vegas Blvd, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Parking is easily accessed via LVB just north of Flamingo, or, an easier way to beat the traffic on LVB is to take Frank Sinatra to Jay Sarno (west side, behind the Palace). Parking is free for up to 24 hours for Nevada residents (even folks from Reno!), and for everyone else, it's $10.00 per day. Pushing gear in is easy via the elevators, however, if you park on level 6 or higher, you'll be taking two separate elevators. Once in, if your heading to the convention center, you have a bit of a push past the food court and restaurant row (there are elevators by the pool and spa (at least you'll get your steps in for the day.). If you're heading to the Colosseum, or restaurant row, it's a quick push. If you're shooting in one of the suites in Octavius or Augustus, the villas, or wedding chapel... you may as well valet on that side- unless you ate too much pizza, and are looking to lose some weight. You’ll end up pushing gear through a variation of the lobby, casino, and/or restaurant row, but the folks at Caesars are pretty cool if you're not bugging the clientele.
The convention/meeting space is located in the center of the property, and our friends at Encore, handle in-house audio/lighting services. There’s not always communication between the client and the house, so make sure to bring enough power and audio cabling, just in case it isn’t always set. We’ve also gotten into the habit of bringing a lavalier kit, XLR turnarounds, XLR to 1/4 inch, and various other cables for when we run into various and differing audio boards, we’ll be set.
The suites are often used for interviews.
Sometimes we’ll use the room itself as a background (hence renting a visually attractive suite), and other times we’ll use a green or white screen. Space can be an issue, but just discuss that with your client ahead of time, and everything should fall into place. The ceilings in most of the rooms, and definitely the suites are not low in this property- so get that backlight up high!
This location has quite a few restaurants that are located near the Colosseum/Sports book, and there are a lot more in the Forum, so again, you may just valet if you're shooting in the forum.
Lastly… Caesars Palace is a huge property, but the folks there are generally happy to help however they can. Oh... most important: Two Starbucks (not counting Forum), one in the food court, and another by the elevators to the wedding chapel near Augusts tower. The one in the food court goes quicker than the August Tower one, as everyone grabs a coffee on the way out from their room.
FiveSix Productions is a Las Vegas video production company.
I Beat the Sun!
Today was a great day, it was a terrific day, it was the best day. Today, I got to get up at 3:30am to go to work. It's not often that I get to get up and be on set before the Sun comes up; and, it's the dead of summer... so, you know that ol' Sun is up and at'em! However, I wasn't the only one, no, no, we had two crews up and ready to deliver the best product that Las Vegas video production has to offer before any sane individual is awake. We were at the scintillating Neon Museum downtown, and out at the always beautiful, always voluptuous Lake Las Vegas. They say the early bird gets the worm... well, buddy, we can say for sure, here at FiveSix Productions, we've got worms.
FiveSix Productions is a Las Vegas video production and Long Beach video production company.
FiveSix takes on So Cal
We are excited to announce that FiveSix is expanding.
Time to bring on So Cal. Over the last decade, we have become a leader in the Las Vegas video production market. As we have grown, so has the demand for our services, not only in the local market but all over the US. We have been particularly busy in Southern California, including Long Beach, Anaheim and all of Orange County. Due to this demand, we are proud to open a new office in Southern California. The new office will operate out of Long Beach. With a full-time presence in Southern California, FiveSix is now better positioned to continue to create high-quality, creative and impactful videos over the whole of the Southwest.
Give us a call at 562-786-8456 or shoot us an email at longbeach@fivesix.com
Nevada Film Tax Incentive is Back!
It's been a dry three years here in Nevada- and not just the weather. For the past three years, Nevada has not had a tax incentive for local filming.
Ko Ricker, over at MovieMaker magazine, wrote a great article about the new film tax incentive, and what it means for all of Nevada. Ko mentioned a couple of the recent Blockbuster films: Jason Bourne starring Jimmy Kimmel's favorite actor, Matt Damon, and the Jammie Foxx thriller, Sleepless, that were (fully or partially) shot in and around Las Vegas Blvd. He also spoke about writer/director Robert Putka's latest micro-budget (sub $100,000.00) dramedy We Used To Know Each Other, shot in the Las Vegas suburbs. Beyond the films, he made note of the expansive desert locals, unique vistas that exist in places like Valley of Fire State Park, and the beautiful, mountain northwest in and around Lake Tahoe and Reno. I'll let you read the much better written article Getting Lucky in Nevada on moviemaker.com, and then it's time you get started on writing that Nevada based indie that's been stewing in your mind. Make sure to contact the Nevada Film Office for your permits, then hire FiveSix Productions as your Las Vegas video production crew, we're excited to show L.A. what we're all about.
Something to Make You Feel Microscopic
NASA, (Nebraska Association of Science Association- I think) isn't just fancy suits and zero-gravity pens, they're also in the picture takin' business, and cousin, business is a boomin'! This is a little late, but with all that government red tape, I'd actually say, this is right on time. Way back in 2015, before a single human set foot on the moon, NASA went and took their fancy ol' Hubble Telescope, and fired off 411 photos of our nearest, and dearest neighbor, the Andromeda Galaxy. They then took all those photos, and stitched them together into a beautiful tapestry, and came out with a 1,500,000,000 pixel photograph- the largest ever. To get a sense of how large, I urge you to watch this video full-screen, on the largest screen you can find- air play this puppy right onto your television. As you pan across the hundreds of millions of stars, take a pause every once an a while, and experience the full spectrum of just how dang big this photo is, and just how gargantuan the universe is, and just how itty-bitty you are. So, when you think "Man, I wish Starbucks wasn't so far way...", it really isn't. Oh.... hire us for your next Las Vegas video production or Long Beach video production- we're the best at it.
Hot Enough to Destroy Cameras
"Yay", saith the Lord, "Ye shall be struck down by the fires of the sun and the molten liquid of all the volcanoes of Earth, and I shall smite ye at the Linq in Las Vegas." This is a snapshot of one of our recent shoots here in Sin City. FiveSix Productions had the dubious pleasure of losing a whole lot of water weight, and some brain cells while shooting some exciting events at the Linq promenade and the backlot at Hard Rock Hotel. Even though there was little to no shade, we pushed our gear, and ourselves to the limit. There's a reason for internal fans in C300 Mark IIs, and a reason for bottle-after-bottle of refreshing H2O- it's so we can power through and deliver the best product we can. We were treated to some pretty cool art by renowned graffiti artist Guy Ellis (aka Dcypher) a dance tutorial by social media influencer Corey Scherer, and a concert by Flo Rida. There of course was more action, but I'm still tending to my sun burn, so, I'll leave it there, and go get some more aloe. If you find yourselves in need of the best Las Vegas video production company, and feel like making sure I'm tan till I'm 80, give FiveSix Productions a ring, and we'll grab our shades and sombreros.
