election commercials

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.


Downtown Las Vegas

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.

Carson Kitchen

Downtown Las Vegas


Video Crew Positions

A guide to video crew positions.

We here at FiveSix Productions greatly value all the hard work and expertise that so many of our crew members bring to set everyday; from pre-production through the post process, our crews are the best. One of the character/work traits that we value the most is the ability for our team members to excel beyond the traditional, basic job requirements, and give more on set. For instance, our P.A.'s (Production Assistant in the U.S., Runner in the U.K.) may be asked to have basic knowledge in camera, audio, or footage management; while we don't typically ask our P.A.'s to do file transferring, some crews expect it. We have a great network of cinematographers, Directors of Photography, and camera operators, but some of our very skilled camera operators wouldn't go out as a D.P.; some crews/clients require that their "A Cam" or "Camera 1" operator is in fact, a D.P. Audio mixers and audio technicians are also two different things. An audio mixer may be expected to have a more thorough knowledge of audio, mixing, and maybe even the post process, where an audio tech may or may not have an advanced knowledge beyond the convention floor or basic interview audio. Also to consider, our grips, gaffers, and electricians occasionally find themselves on a set with a client from Philadelphia or London, where the gear may have different names. What we out west call our light dimmers, a gaffer from the U.K. most likely will call it a squeezer, so having a broad, extensive knowledge of your position will make the production run smoother.

From director of photography, to gaffer, audio tech, P.A., grip, producer, makeup, and the many other positions, we push ourselves to have the broadest and most extensive knowledge in our field. We at FiveSix Productions expect the best, and thus, we provide the best video production crews in Southern California and Nevada.


Cannon C300 MGM

It's so hot, we're on fire.

If you haven't noticed, it's been a little hot and flame-y out west lately. Our Long Beach office is bathing in a nice, thick cloud of smoke from all the fires in and around L.A.; and out in Vegas, well, there's a nice smokey haze blowing in from the coast, and it's probably 157° right now. That however, doesn't stop us from getting all dressed up, grabbing a C300, and walking up and down Las Vegas Blvd. for hour after hour of mid-day excitement. Now, one might think, "Why on Earth would you do that!?"; the answer: we love what we do, and we don't care about a little bit of heat stroke. We are expecting a little bit of a cool in Vegas, and are hoping our Southern California peeps get a little break from the fires soon; but, either way, we'll be cranking away at bringing you the best Las Vegas video production and best Long Beach video production we can.


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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.


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.

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FiveSix Productions is a Las Vegas video production company.


Filming the Future of Solar Energy

Renewable energy is no longer some crazy, hippie-concocted, science fiction, nonsense. No, no, it's real; and here in the desert southwest, we're all about it. From the mighty Hoover Dam, to the sprawling wind-farms in Southern California, and the hi-tech solar plants scattered throughout the Mojave, Great Basin, and Sonoran deserts- it's all the rage. Don't get me wrong, there's something special about looming Nuclear-cooling towers, and those gorgeous, billowing black clouds from "clean" coal, but all natural is just a bit more comfortable. We had the great privilege of working with the brainiacs over at the University of Nevada Las Vegas and their solar department; those smarties are hard at work making solar more productive financially, less destructive environmentally, and totally, totally popular amongst the "in crowd". Despite scorching summer heat coupled with the lovely Monsoon-season humidity, our Las Vegas video production team got the shots we needed to make a really terrific piece of cinematic magic.


FiveSix Productions Dishes the Rock

So, there's this association, an association of warriors, of giants, of men who can nearly fly... It's where hard men go to do hard things: ball out. The National Basketball Association is here in fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada for their annual NBA Summer League; a time of year when all the youngsters, fresh out of college, Europe, or a less than Lebron-esque rookie year get together for a little b-ball. We here at FiveSix Productions would love to take in some of the games, but instead, we decided it would be way more fun to work! So, we met half-way and created some cinematic magic for the NBA!

Now, while we pride ourselves on our rim-rocking, three-point draining, alley-ooping abilities, apparently my junior varsity coach did not see it that way; luckily though, we have a camera, and we have some lights, and we kind of know how to use them. We teamed up with some of our favorite clients and some of our favorite Las Vegas freelancers, and made some television with some of basketball's current and former legends. Jason Kidd, Jerry West, the Cubes (Mark Cuban), and more were eager to share their collective knowledge over two days at the Mandarin Oriental and Wynn Las Vegas. I can go on and on about all that they talked about, but you'll just need to tune in to your favorite NBA media sources for all the goods. I will however leave you with a couple photos to hold you over.

Next time you're in town, and are in need of the best Las Vegas video production company, even if Mark Cuban can't make it, give us a ring, and we'll knock it out of the park! (Wait, that's not right....) We'll put it through the uprights! (Wait... forget it.)


Pool Party!!!

What better way to celebrate on Labor Day weekend than by going to a pool party!? FiveSix Productions gathered some Canon C300s and our favorite SoundDevices 633 audio mixer, and headed over to the Foxtail Pool at the SLS Las Vegas. It was definitely a ruckus time as we soaked up the rays, and got down to the sounds of DJ Ikon, Tinashe, and our old pal, Charli XCX. Red Carpets, popped bottles, celebrities, and a lot of chlorine were all the rage this weekend, and gosh-darn-it, we were sad to leave it all behind; that's how life goes for us common-folk though. Well, we've got a full slate this week, so it's time to get back to it. Peace out, party people.

foxtailpool2


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.

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