As Summer Draws to a Close - by Mark Schulze

It's been a great summer during which as you may have noticed, no blog posts were forthcoming from me because I have been either out on the waves, on my mountain bike, or on the soccer field. Sprinkle in a few video production gigs, and there went the Summer of 2010.

A very illuminating gig occured on the two days my partner, Patty Mooney, and I shot IMAG for the NABJ (National Association of Black Journalists). For those of you unfamiliar with the term, IMAG involves videotaping speakers or entertainers at a convention or auditorium so that the images are projected on large screens for the audience. A special guest of honor was Dr. Oz, who spoke about the ravages of obesity. One of the things he imparted was that your belt size should be at least half of your height, or your risks of developing the disease are far greater.

Patty and I spent our lunch our walking to Seaport Village where we met a former Marine named Joel who rescues parrots. He had about 15 of them on perches where people could come and get acquainted with them. It was very tempting to take one home, but we had to hurry back to the hotel to finish out the day for NABJ, and it would have been tough explaining about the little yellow guy on my shoulder.

Patty intends to write a blog about Joel and his rescued parrots at Soldiers Heart within a few days, so I encourage you to go there to learn more about his work.

Photographs by still photographer and video camera operator, Patty Mooney

Celeb-extravaganza - by Patty Mooney

My partner, Patty Mooney, compiled this slide show of celebrities whom we have encountered along the way on various video productions and interviews conducted via our video production company, Crystal Pyramid Productions. You may be able to recognize a face or two......

San Diego Comic Con Is Getting Closer - by Mark Schulze

You run into a lot of wild costumed characters at the San Diego Comic Con. These photographs were shot by Patty Mooney, our esteemed Audio Technician and Producer. We are all gearing up for this year's Comic Con, we have our passes, and we are ready to roll. By the way, for anybody who was not early enough to grab the worm, this show has been sold out for a few weeks now. Amazing, isn't it?

Kim Kardashian and Carmen Elektra at San Diego Comic Con 2008 - by Mark Schulze

One highlight for Patty Mooney (my wife and partner who plays Sound Technician and/or Producer on our video shoots) was an interview with Kim Kardashian and Carmen Elektra. Kim and I learned that we have one thing in common; she's Armenian and I am half Armenian. They spoke about their movie, "Scary Movie 4."

Pat and Oscars Give Away One Million Breadsticks - by Mark Schulze

A very interesting production gig occurred in 2004 when Pat & Oscar's, a local fast-food restaurant chain here in San Diego, decided to give away breadsticks, calling the campaign "Summer of One Million Breadsticks." Their mascot, as seen in the above photo, is one of the funniest mascots I have ever had occasion to videotape. A very personable breadstick, to be sure!

I shot a VNR (Video News Release) for Pat & Oscar's. What this entails is first shooting footage of an event (such as "Summer of One Million Breadsticks"). After the shoot, the videographer (me), drives like a bat out of hell back to the studio to edit the best clips into a five-minute reel that then gets messengered to all the big local news stations. You hope for a slow news day so that your VNR gets aired. This particular one was picked up by two of the stations and shown on both the 6 PM and 10 PM news segments. So that was a successful campaign for Pat & Oscar's.

Covering the San Diego Wild Fires

Covering Evacuees at Qualcomm - Photo by Patty Mooney

Our hearts go out to our "mates" in Australia right now, for they are suffering through some devasting wild fires. We can also commiserate, having been evacuated from our home once, and returning with relief to find it still standing. After suffering a drought for 20 years or so, we San Diegans are now used to enduring an elongated "fire season" every year now, from summer through autumn.

In 2001, Extra called on me to document footage of the evacuees at Qualcomm Stadium. Look at how brown the air is. The air is thick with burnt ember particles and face masks are

a must.

Good things eventually do sprout from the devastation, such as tender green shoots in the ground heralding new life, and people experience a new awareness and gratitude for what they have. We all continue to learn that this life is fleeting and it can all be gone - up in smoke - tomorrow.

Covering the San Diego Comic Con For a Decade

Me and the Klingon - Photo by Patty Mooney

Me at the Marvel Booth - Photo by Patty Mooney

My crew has been covering the San Diego Comic Con (Comic Book Convention) for a decade now. It has grown from a fledgeling convention of around a thousand participants to a huge venue with around 115,000 attendees. The Comic Con has become a Hollywood satellite featuring celebrities from A, B and C lists who come to publicize their movies and projects.


My partner, Patty, has written up a couple of blogs on this. To see photos and learn more, check out:

Week of the Hotties - Part One (the hot guys)
Week of the Hotties - Part Two (the hot women)

A Day With Apollo Anton Ono

Crystal Pyramid Productions' broadcast video crew shot a day in the life of Olympian, Apollo Ono, whom CW Now challenged to "dance on the water" on one of Bob Montgomery's jet-powered surf boards. Seen in the shot are Sound Technician, Patty Mooney, Director of Photography and Videographer, Mark Schulze, Apollo Ono and Bob Montgomery in his silver helmet. Working with Apollo Anton Ono was pretty cool. He's a very personable guy.