This Blog is Moving to a New Location

Image by cleopatra69 via Flickr Happily there are no stacks of crates full of VHS videotapes, books, kitchen paraphenalia, etc. This is a rather simple move to a new location for our blog.

Feel free to explore this site, as it still contains some valuable information. And then come on over to the new site: "Diary of a San Diego Video Production Crew."

C-ya there!

Mark

Related articles

• Where Are We Going With This Internet Thing? - by Patty Mooney (dbaentrepreneur.blogspot.com)


• Patty Mooney (pattymooney.wordpress.com)

What is ENG? - by Mark Schulze

ENG is an acronym for "Electronic News Gathering." It's a pretty broad term in that it could mean one person going out to collect news on a camera, or it could mean a larger crew with camera operator, sound person, teleprompter, satellite truck, etc.

In my case, it usually means that I will load the vehicle up with my camera, tripod ("sticks"), a monitor, cables, and sound and lighting, if necessary, and head out to a place where news is "breaking."

After the raging San Diego wildfires of 2007, I was tapped by PetSmart to videotape animals that had been evacuated or rescued. PetSmart's Pet Waggins delivered aid to these animals that were being housed at Qualcomm Stadium's parking lot. This little video takes you back to that moment in time.

One Video with Multiple Translations - by Mark Schulze

We recently had the opportunity to produce a video for AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science) that has been translated into several languages, about their online service for science reporters, called EurekAlert. I predict that as our countries continue to globalize economically, there will be a call for more videos of this type. We utilized green-screen interviews along with stock footage clips. AAAS is very happy with it, and so are we.

EurekAlert! Web Video from Patty Kay Mooney on Vimeo.

I Invented the Helmet Cam - by Mark Schulze

My wife, Patty Kay Mooney, recently "rediscovered" some "lost" video footage of me wearing the first helmet cam rig ever invented, while riding in a mountain bike race in Carlsbad, California in 1988. Here it is, and running at less than a minute, I hope you enjoy viewing the first-known helmet cam rig in action, in the 1980's. They just don't make Lycra bike shorts like that anymore!



Video edited by Patty Kay Mooney
Music: "Slide Show" by Silverleaf

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

A Video by Women for the World - by Mark Schulze

Image by cleopatra69 via Flickr

A volcanic plume of oil has been exploding into the Gulf of Mexico since April, unabated. This environmental disaster is the largest in my lifetime, and in the lifetime of all of humanity. In the course of such tragedy, we ask ourselves, "What can I do? I am only one person."

My partner, Patty Mooney, collaborated with a musician who lives in Florida, named Katherine Archer, to create a music video called "Black Black Blood." Katherine contacted Patty when she came upon Patty's blog, "A Diary Left Open," via a blog post called "BP is Blocking Photos of Dead Wildlife." In her Facebook message to Patty, Katherine said,

I somehow ran across ur blog while trying to find the REAL news, the pics etc. of dying wildlife. I live in Florida. I can tell you, I am not just upset and depressed over this, I'm scared. I'm a huge manatee and wildlife advocate. I am weary from lack of sleep, as many of my friends are--it's looming out there, heavy on our hearts and minds. To keep myself from completely losing it, I wrote a song about it and am pulling pics for a slideshow to go with it. It's getting wrapped up in the studio this week. I'd like to send you a copy when it's done. It's called Black Blood. I want to connect with anyone and everyone who can help get this song out there, who can use the song, who can help get the message out that our beloved gulf is dying. We need help. I want to connect with a non for profit, make the song downloadable on itunes, raise some money, consciousness, tempers--raise the roof. I want the real footage to get out there. There has to be a way. BP has no right. How dare they. How dare our government allow it.

Patty immediately responded by calling Katherine on the phone. The rest, as you could say, is "herstory." Patty edited Katherine's song into a music video that is now on Youtube, Vimeo and MySpace, getting air play and driving the point home to people that we all need to sit up and take notice of what is going on in our backyard. The planet's backyard.

Here's "Black Black Blood:"

Helmet Cam, Before and After - by Mark Schulze

As I have mentioned in a previous blog post, I am the inventor of the helmet cam. Back in 1987, I rigged an old motorcycle helmet with a camera and hooked it into a 3/4" deck (those who are younger than 30 years old will probably not know what I am talking about) and took this completely top-heavy rig down a few mountains, including the Mammoth Mountain Kamikaze in 1988.

Thought it might interest you to see that helmet cam piece and compare it to a recent mountain bike downhill run through a Southern California ride, about a month ago, using GoPro's helmet camera technology.

I wish this sort of lightweight and high resolution technology had been available back in the "olden times" but I am happy that I was involved, in my own small way, in forwarding Point-of-View footage gathering by way of helmet cam.

Here's the 1987 helmet cam clip:

Mammoth Mountain Kamikaze Downhill, 1988 from Patty Mooney on Vimeo.

And here is the clip from 2010:

Helmet Cam with Olympian Great, John Howard from Patty Mooney on Vimeo.