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.
Andrea - Showing At The Best Dam Short Film Festival
Studio FiveSix was selected to show our first short film, Andrea, at the Best Dam Short Film Festival in Boulder City. Andrea shows on Feb. 15th in the 8:15pm block of films. We're very excited to be included and are happy that our premiere showing is going to be in neighboring Boulder City. There was a good deal of work and planning that went into creating Andrea, mainly because it was our first narrative piece and we were finding our way through the process. Since then we have shot a second short film called Maybe Tomorrow that is still in post production but will be out shortly. We'll be at the festival this weekend so if you are there, stop by and say hi.
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!
Political Campaign Commercials: BTS
Behind the Scenes on local election commercials.
Every time an election season nears, our calendars fill up with plenty of campaign commercials. Sometimes it's someone campaigning for a local, "entry level" position, other times, someone is trying to move into the big-time in D.C. T.V. commercials are one of the most effective ways to get their message to voters. We turn a blind eye to our own political ideals, and do our best to create a commercial that will stand out.
Some commercials are simple, with just the candidate delivering a message to the camera. Other commercials may be much more elaborate with multiple locations, talent, and a huge crew. A great commercial requires all aspects to work together to tell the message. The right location, lighting, music, and pacing, are just as important as the script. Where it might seem like too much, we love bringing sliders, jibs, extra lighting, and cinema lenses. This can really help to create an amazing t.v. commercial, and wow the client.
If your Southern California or Las Vegas campaign needs a great commercial, look no further! We're a one-stop-shop for all your video production needs.
NBA Summer League at Intrigue Nightclub in Las Vegas.
NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.
Every July, "The Association" (the National Basketball Association), descends on Las Vegas, Nevada for the NBA Summer League. This eleven-day tournament gives teams the opportunity to evaluate their young players before the regular season begins in the fall. The action doesn't stop at the Thomas & Mack Center at UNLV, the event spreads all over town. FiveSix Productions had the opportunity, once again, to film two episodes of the television show Open Court at Intrigue Nightclub at the Wynn Resort. Open Court always provides an exciting shooting scenario, with unique challenges and experiences. We always love packing our grip van as full as possible, and seeing how creative we can get. Our staff and amazing freelancers did a great job, and we can't wait to do it again next year. If you need the best Las Vegas video production company, look no further than FiveSix Productions.
Gigantic, fire-breathing Praying Mantis!
Las Vegas, if you've ever heard of it, is a pretty neat place; there's nice weather, plenty of great out-door activities, lots of entertainment, and a really good cinnamon roll place on the west side of town called "Cinnaholic". There's also this wonderful and ... eclectic... little place called Fremont Street East, it's a magic place filled with a tapestry of things that hipsters like. I'm no hipster, but I say, to each their own; it's good those folks have something special. Anyhoo, FiveSix Productions recently got to do an early morning shoot on Fremont Street where "old Las Vegas" mixes with the new. There's iconic hotels such as the 75+ year old El Cortez, and a gigantic, fire-breathing Praying Mantis near the relatively young, Container Park. The old architecture, glowing neon, and local art that adorns the buildings, all mix together to create a great environment to capture some really beautiful images. For your next Las Vegas video production, consider getting away from the hustle and bustle of Las Vegas Blvd., and head on down to downtown and Fremont Street; and, hey, if you need a helping hand, give FiveSix Productions a call, we'll be happy to join you.
Ronin 2 - This will revolutionize your video shoot!
The Ronin 2 is here, and it's just as spectacular as it seems!
From the updated software to the significant redesign of the hardware itself, the quality, dependability, and precision are more than evident. DJI simplified the mounting and balancing process on the Ronin 2 by doing away with the lever locks and replacing them with fine-tuning adjustment knobs which are much more accurate and hold securely all day. The mounting base itself has been redesigned to be more stable and simple; included is a secondary, adjustable frame above the camera, adding even more stability and security to your camera and it's placement. The grip is no longer just the three handle system as in the first model; now, there is a full, circular framework for added control and stability, as well as "feet" on the lower, detachable half, allowing you to set the Ronin down easily and securely.
FiveSix Productions had the pleasure of taking the Ronin 2 out for a spin recently, and paired it nicely with the Arri Alexa Mini; the results were more than we could have hoped for. If your next Las Vegas video production finds you needing one or many smooth, moving shots, give FiveSix Productions a call, and we'll be happy to oblige.
Golden Knights' Engelland on Vegas Tragedy
FiveSix Productions got the opportunity to work with the Vegas Golden Knights.
This time, reflecting on the recent tragedy at the Route 91 Harvest Festival. Vegas Golden Knights' veteran defender Deryk Engelland sat down to talk about the fateful night, and how he and his teammates rallied to give back to their home. FiveSix provided gear and crew, and felt honored to be a part of spreading the message of support that our new hockey team is providing our city. While we are heartbroken over the events of October 1st, and offer our support and condolences to all those affected, we are glad that we can help shed light on the incredible people and organizations in Las Vegas that are working to rebuild and make us a stronger, closer community. If you're looking for the best Las Vegas video production company, look no further than FiveSix Productions.
Commercial Video Production
Our take on Commercial Video Production...
We've all been there, relaxing in our homes, watching the latest episode of Dancing With The... watching the latest episode of Trading Spaces... Chopped... Keeping Up With.... Damn. Okay. We've all been there, relaxing in our homes, watching football and feeding our pet bald eagle, George Washington Roosevelt Elway, and an advertisement comes on, and the blood begins to boil. How can some commercials look great, and some look like train wrecks!? I don't know about you, but one of my favorite activities when I'm in another town, is to watch local commercials, and totally rag on citizens of that town or city for how crappy their Chevy dealership spots are. You may think to yourself "Dang Jim, he's right; why does that crazy old guy from the car dealership/dentist/pawn shop keep making these horrible, commercials?" I'd rather spend 30-45 seconds having a snapping turtle go to town on my hamstring, than experience one more awful jingle being played over poorly lit, shot, and edited commercial about how "We're extending our Halloween Super Sale, and our prices on new and used Ford Pintos won't be beaten! Also, you can get a free root canal with every purchase, now through President's Day!"
There is a solution to this madness. Hire a video production company that knows what they're doing. A company with accredited, experienced, award-winning crew members who can take your precious advertising budget, and deliver the best possible product. We here at FiveSix Productions know just how important it is to make sure that you have an effective, visually appealing commercial. One that represents the product you work so very hard to produce. From the inception of concept through the final edit, our team will work tirelessly to deliver way above your expectations, on time and on budget, whether you're a startup making a local spot, or a Fortune 500 needing a national commercial. Whether in Las Vegas, Long Beach, or a far away land, FiveSix Productions wants to be your commercial video production company.