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.
Storytelling through Post Production #storytelling #postproduction #editing
One of the most challenging, if not the most challenging aspect of editing/post production is telling a story. Story telling doesn't start and stop with the writer and his or her screenplay, it is an integral facet of every department, from camera, to audio, wardrobe, makeup, direction, etc. From beginning to end, no matter the scale or scope of a project, whether it's a film, television show, commercial, instructional video, etc., storytelling is the core element. This fact resonates especially true in the world of post production. The order of shots can be reorganized many ways to achieve very subtle or very drastic outcomes. The choice of music and sound effects, along with the placement of these elements has an equally dramatic effect (ask Dog&PonyShow). The pace of the edit, the placement of music, the order of shots, the type of shots, and a plethora of other factors go into determining the final product, and telling the specific story.
Editors and instructors Larry Jordan and Norman Hollyn give a very interesting and informative guide through the world of post production and how important story telling is. One of the cool notes from Larry Jordan is the "rule of thirds" as it relates to editing. The rule states that every shot effects the shot before it, after, and of course, the shot itself is a factor. Pretty simple, but a great philosophy to keep in mind. He has two books that his partner Larry Jordan said were worth checking out: "The Film Editing Room Handbook" for beginning/novice editors (such as myself), and "The Lean Forward Moment".
So, watch the awesome video, check out Larry and Norman's website: www.2reelguys.com, which is an amazing resource for filmmakers (such as nofilmschool), and, keep on learning and growing!
There's a P in Pterodactyl
I often wonder what goes through the mind of an editor or graphic designer when they see the word Pterodactyl. It's a fairly common word really, most people learn it when they're children; and though it's an odd, almost Greek-looking word, I feel it's recognizable enough. Still, there is something almost mystifying about an editor and graphic designer's ability, or, should I say, lack there of, to spell even the most common words. Before I appear morose or offensive, I would like to say that I believe these folks are intelligent, creative, and capable of wonderful on-screen-text, if only they just believe. I spent many an elementary year struggling with the subject of spelling, the laughter and pointing fingers only drove me to be more diligent in my studies, as well as utilize the resources of "spell check" and of course, a dictionary.
This inquisition into the unknown finds it's genesis in an instance when I was beseeched by a superior of mine to email any written material to editors and graphic artists to minimize grammar or spelling errors that so oft find their way onto our screens. I, in the most gallant fashion, shot an inquisitive and most likely, befuddled look, to which the response was: "Editors and graphic artists can't spell, that's why there is copy and paste." Shakespeare himself couldn't pen a more beautiful explanation; I felt as if I was listening to a concerto by Mozart, or gazing upon a Monet or the statue of David itself. I vowed from that moment to not only follow through with the advice, but also, to explore the origins and reasons behind the phenomenon of editor's inability to spell well. I would encourage everyone to do the same, as well as offer their help to anyone in distress.
My best recommendation for a place to start is, Mr. Merriam and Mr. Webster- masters of their craft. Also, keep in mind friends, even our once great and prudent leader, President George Bush Sr.'s Vice President, Mr. Dan Quayle, had trouble spelling at one time or another.
Modular Videos Cut Future Costs, #videoproduction, #corporatevideos
So, how do you make a video last, make it stand the test of time and show an incredible ROI. You make it so that if one part of the video happens to become obsolete for any number of reasons, let's say due to upgraded product, new location, new spokesperson, a closure, a renovation or anything else, that portion can be simply removed and the gap closed or that section replaced. What am I talking about? Modular videos.
A video that covers more than one product, service, location, idea, training technique or whatever, often times are built so that it is very difficult to replace something if it changes. Do we need to get the host again to say something, do we need to hire talent to repeat a new process, do we need to go in and maneuver shots around all over the timeline to cover up something that is no longer there. All of these issues are time consuming in post production and thus are expensive changes to make. Often times the expenses don't justify the small change and the video ends up being left as is without the poor visuals or information still reaching the consumer of the video. There's a simple solution, these longer videos should be set up and shot as modular pieces. In this fashion, when something isn't right, it's a simply lift and splice together and the web video is back up on-line without the poor information. Then, with the video up and running, there is time to decide how to best replace the module that was taken out or if it even needs to be replaced.
FiveSix has been tasked to do a few of these and it's a great way to run a video that is supposed to stay relevant for long periods of time. The video is treated like a dozen small videos strung together and the replacement is so simple that it barely takes any editing and thus any resources. So don't let anyone talk you into a lengthy video without discussing the ability of making it modular, they're just trying to pad the change requests when they come in down the line.