New F11 Rentals Las Vegas Studio Cyclorama - Open for Business
The studio cyc game in Vegas isn’t the easiest to navigate, especially for out of town productions that don’t know the offerings. Sure, there are some decent places but most are too small for many productions, don’t deliver on amenities or are out of the way and not convenient for talent or crew. That’s all changed with the opening of F11 Rentals Studio Cyc. This newly built stage offers a 3 sided cyclorama, 26’x35’x36′ with 18′ tall clearance. The stage offers free wifi, a secured yard with 12×14 rollup door and ample parking. The conditioned stage is open for business at this time and will continue to upgrade it’s offering with new makeup/wardrobe space, green room, lofted production overlook and state of the art lighting grid, all of which are coming soon.
The space is large enough to accommodate vehicles, multiple talent productions, photo shoots, music videos and various types of large rehearsals for the entertainment industry. The F11 network speed runs on fiber and offers plenty of upload and download speed for live streams productions. The studio is situated next to the airport and is conveniently located not far from the strip. To make things even more convenient F11 Rentals is one of the largest production rental houses in Las Vegas which makes it easy to add gear to any shoot in the studio before or during the shoot itself. They also offer crew to fill out any production needs.
This studio, now open, will soon be the premiere cyclorama stage in Las Vegas and it’s exciting to finally have a space of this quality in the city. Contact F11 to arrange a visit if you’re interested or to go their site to book it in 2020 or beyond. This studio has the FiveSix stamp approval.
Shooting in a Green Room - No, Not that type of Green Room!
Corporate video production can have it's challenges. One of these challenges is locations as we don't often get to choose where we shoot. If we're lucky, we get a scout day or pictures of the location we're supposed to shoot in or we've been there before and already know what we're walking into. In these cases, we are prepared with the correct lighting and grip set up to make everything look great. But sometimes we go into a location blind as to what we'll be working with. At these times it's best to bring a versatile lighting set up because sometimes a green room is exactly that.
Recently in Las Vegas, we walked into a room where the windows had such a strange tint on them that all the light coming into the room was an eerie green in color. These were large floor to ceiling windows and there was no time or enough crew to gel them accordingly. Luckily we had brought four Litepanel Gemini 1 x 1 LED panels. With these lights we were able to dial in the amount of green to match the light coming in from the windows and then after that, it was simply white balancing the Canon C300 Mark II cameras accordingly. The room, despite looking eerily haunted, looked perfect on camera and the subjects, instead of looking sickly, appeared vibrant. It's a simple technique but would have been much more difficult to pull off without the right tools. It's one of the things FiveSix is known for, everything turned out great in a less than ideal situation. Effective video production is about being prepared, even if you're tossed into a glowing green room.
Render This - New Mac Pro Arrives at FiveSix
Sometimes you just need a little extra power to spice things up in the office. Here at FiveSix Productions, we've been running a few different workstations for some time now, a couple mac trashcans from awhile back and a couple newer imac pro machines. But with the new Mac Pro out, we decided our Edit 1 Bay could use an extra boost. So far so good. We run the Adobe Creative Cloud suite working primarily with Premiere Pro and After Effects but also DaVinci Resolve for some color correction. This machine takes on video editing, real time 2D and 3D graphics creation and powers through the renders at a much better click than its predecessor, but I should hope so for the price tag. We didn't load it up with all the extras and purchased most of the additions from outside of Apple, though we did opt for the afterburner card to help with quick encoding. We're only a few weeks in but our editors can surely tell the difference.
There isn't much else to say. We've cut a commercial, half a dozen corporate videos and a short film so far and haven't had any issues. We'll update soon once we've really put it to the test and have some hard data of our own to report. Until then, happy cutting!
Feeling Mighty
We have been enjoying our new MYT Works slider.
We work on a large variety of video productions so we've had to outfit ourselves with a number of options when it comes to camera movements. We have sliders from Edelkrone, Cinevate, Kessler and Dana Dolly. While these have been great, our commercial productions have required a slider that can support large builds. Enter the MYT Works slider. The MYT can handle our Alexa Mini commercial setup, built out with cine primes and all the wireless accessories you can imagine. The magnetic dampeners ensure smooth movement from end to end of the slider.
New Canon 5D Mark IV!
Canon 5D Mark IV.
The Canon 5D Mark IV line of DSLRs from Canon is one of their finest product lines. The newest edition is the 5D Mark IV, and it definitely doesn't disappoint. Our 5D Mark II was a great camera, and we definitely had some amazing times together, like that one-time lapse we did, or that time we took a bunch of great still images. Alas, the gods didn't see fit for us to be together forever- as it was stolen away by a thief in the night.
We found the courage to put the broken pieces of our hearts back together, and upgrade to a 30.4 Megapixel full-frame CMOS sensor, with a DIGIC 6+ image processor. Our fingertips have found warmth on the 3.2" touchscreen LCD monitor with 1.62m-Dot resolution. We have found renewed purpose knowing that the Mark IV records DCI 4K video at 30fps, and provides 8.8MP still grabs.
The Mark II definitely left a hole in our hearts, but, with time, the Mark IV can perhaps fill that void with its awesomeness. It's already on its way to film in the beautiful and mysterious state of Michigan, childhood home of Dumb and Dumber co-star Jeff Daniels. We hope we can be a part of your next Las Vegas video production and Long Beach video production soon.
Downtown Las Vegas Shines
Earlier this year, FiveSix Productions teamed up with some of our good friends here in Vegas, to highlight some of the great spots in this wonderful town. One of the best (and most delicious) locations was Carson Kitchen in downtown Las Vegas. Carson Kitchen, if you STILL haven't found your way there, is a creation by Las Vegas' hometown favorite Chef Kerry Simon and restaurateur Cory Harwell. They created an eclectic and fun urban eatery in the old Carson Hotel space just a few blocks from Fremont Street. The food is amazing, the menu is ever changing... and, I think I'll go there this weekend.
Getting back on track, we had the pleasure of doing a quick shoot there, breaking out some of our favorite gear, such as the Arri Skypanel and Schneider Cineprimes. Backed up by some of our best and brightest staff and freelancers, we did our thing, and came out with a really great product. (Oh, and I may have stuffed my face with some of their rainbow cauliflower (a must try!!))
So, for your next Las Vegas video production, give FiveSix Productions a shout; delicious food appreciated but not required.
Nucleus-M Follow Focus
We definitely felt like kids on Christmas Eve, as we waited for our Tilta Nucleus-M follow focus system to arrive. When it did, oh boy, were we excited! This thing is amazing. The kit includes three motors to drive focus, zoom, and iris; all of which can be daisy chained off the same power source. There is a handheld unit that can control all three motors simultaneously, or, two handles that can be mounted to a shoulder rig or our amazing DJI Ronin 2.
The Nucleus-M features multiple functions including programming start and stop points, calibrating lenses without hard-stops, 1000' transmission range, and more. This product is definitely an essential component of your next Las Vegas or Long Beach video production shoot; and will give the DP/camera op so much range and flexibility. Contact us today to book your next Las Vegas video production, and make sure to ask about including the Tilta Nucleus-M with our amazing Schneider cine-primes.
New shoulder rigs coming soon!
Every once and a while, you get that spark of imagination, the creative juices begin to flow... and suddenly, you have created something totally righteous. That's just what we're doing here at FiveSix Productions. We realize that to expand and improve upon what we can offer to our clients, and to continue to push the limits of what FiveSix Productions is capable of, well, we need to never stop expanding on our gear and skill sets. That's why we're building a pair of sleek, dynamic, and versatile shoulder-rigs that will allow us to push beyond what we've been able to do with our older shoulder rigs.
Now, don't get too excited, we didn't opt for the edition with the sparklers and mini-fridges, but we are pretty sure these will work just as well. Coupled with our new Tilta Nucleus-M follow focus system, and our upgraded power-distribution solution, anything from our Canon C300 Mark II's to our RED Epic Dragon will be set free. We are excited to announce that our new DJI Ronin 2 will also benefit from our Nucleus-M follow focus system, and between that and our shoulder rigs, series of sliders, jibs, and tripods, we've completely set our photography free.
Make sure to ask about our new shoulder rigs and DJI Ronin 2 when booking your next Las Vegas or Long Beach video production project with us.
Do this before filming in Long Beach!
Do you have a project, big or small, that you're planning on filming in Long Beach, CA? The very first stop you should make... after Starbucks... so, the very second stop you should make before you advance one frame of celluloid, is with the Office of Special Events and Filming, within the Long Beach City Manager's Department. Here, you'll find a staff of friendly, knowledgable, and hard working folks who know everything there is to know, regarding filming your project in the city. From permits and fees, insurance requirements and city-services like blocking traffic, public, and all the like, they're the folks who can make it happen. Absolutely every aspect of your project will be covered, whether you're a freshman at CSLB or perhaps you're a fella' named J.J. Abrams. Save yourself a headache, and possible tickets/life-imprisonment by going here: the official website of the Office of Special Events and Filming. If you have any other questions about shooting in the LBC, or heck, even need crew and gear to shoot your epic tale of the early life of Snoop Dogg, reach out to us, FiveSix Productions, your favorite Long Beach video production company.
This Will Save Your Video Shoot!
This is going to hurt me more than it'll hurt you: clean, usable audio is as important as a great image.
I know... I know... that was rough. We all know that the audio department takes a little "guff" on set; and, justifiably so. I mean, those guys and gals are usually the best looking, smartest, and coolest on set; how can the camera department not get jealous? Well, I say, let's let egos and tempers cool, and discuss a vitally important subject that needs to be addressed. Recording audio into the mixer along with the camera is the smartest and best way to ensure a successful video shoot.
Ever since The Jazz Singer went and messed everything up for us, people are just gaga for "talkies". Now, there have been some brave and stalwart warriors who have tried vigorously to get audiences to let go of their desire to have audio and dialogue, but it's been in vain. This said, we must live with this nuisance and trudge on, begrudgingly or not, and give the people what they want.
The best tools to do that with, especially with the video productions we find ourselves part of in Long Beach and Las Vegas, are the Sound Devices 664 and 633. These recorders are compact, lightweight, and functional! The 664 offers six XLR inputs and six additional mini-XLR inputs, for an astounding twelve isolated tracks, left and right mix tracks, and two additional output tracks to send to the second camera, or your grandma, or whoever. The 633 meanwhile has half of that, with three XLR inputs, three mini-XLR inputs, left/right mix and two additional outs to donate to charity. The great thing about these mixers is the ability to control and direct which audio sources you send to which tracks, and then what you do with those tracks. If your camera operator is a "DP" (last I checked, a DP doesn't operate a camera, they're too busy lighting the scene) and they don't care to watch audio levels in their cameras, you can be sure to have a perfectly mixed isolated track to hand over to post. While the "DP" will swear it's not their job to do their job, and they totally mess something up, giving your in-camera mix a crunchy or hollow sound, you know that you did yours and delivered excellent iso tracks.