man – i love my p2 camera! more and more news organizations are converting their productions to solid-state acquisition, and who can blame them? HERE IS SHOT OF ME IN ACTION WITH THE 2000:
the hpx2000 is not only great for day-to-day ENG, it also performs well for special documentary uses. here it is working on a documentary last week (2 camera interview setup). shooting 1080i no less! 
enjoy your week everyone!
joe hoffman
every once in a while, you get a project that has so many unforeseen problems arise, you consider having your spouse hide all the sharp objects in your house. this business isn’t easy. it can be downright difficult at times. that’s why it’s great to have people you can count on. just want ot say thanks to JOSH TALLo and ROSS GERBASI of www.popcornisland.com – also thanks to DAN O’BRIEN from www.vividascent.com. cheers guys
shot recently with the sony z7u…i’ve used this camera much more frequently this year. many reality shows are using the camera because of the improvements made on this model over the hideous sony z1. major improvements to the lens, viewfinder and the overall function of the camera has made it a viable economical option to acquire hd 1080 footage at a price that beats the more expensive f900′s and hdx 900s of the world.
also did a shoot recently with the camera that started the tiny-camera craze : the panasonic DVX100. hadn’t used this one in a while, as most people are looking to increase the quality of their acquisition formats, but it worked great as i covered a charity walk. it’s lightweight and easy to operate, which made it hugely popular with beginner videographers.
here’s me smiling at the event. man, i needed a haircut :
last week marked the unveiling of the all-new 2010 Ford Taurus. I was there for CNBC helping them cover the event. It was great going to a auto factory where the story is not the last car off the line before the plant closes, but rather the very first of many. Being a a Detroit boy originally, I was always rooting for the big 3 companies, especially Ford. I own two fords. So it was heartening to see the resilience of the Ford company, when 8 months ago it looked like things might be over for them like they were for GM and Chrysler.
It’s great shooting p2 for news coverage. Have you ever been shooting a press conference, and that little warning light starts going off that you are about to run out of tape? yikes! all those little prayers i used to say for the speaker to stop talking and wrap things up so i didn’t miss anything are over. The p2 cam just rolls, and rolls, and rolls…
So this pretty much sums up our business. Yesterday, i was relaxing at home minding my own business, when one phone call changed my whole afternoon. What other job takes you from your chillin on your couch to kicking in doors with U.S. Marshalls looking for prison escapees? definitely got the adrenaline flowing! The nice thing about shooting for America’s Most Wanted is the cooperation you get from law enforcement. The show helps them locate so many fugitives they are willing to help you even when it could put the camera crew in danger.
i was wondering if i should have had a kevlar vest on, but no one offered. i should just buy one probably.
So one of the things we have been focusing on more this year is production of videos and graphics for the web. While our background has traditionally been in productions meant for broadcast on television, more and more projects are going to an even smaller screen, whether its your computer or iPhone or the new computer chip that is installed right into your eyeball. These videos have been made more efficient to produce by using our p2 cameras. Our HPX2000 and HVX200 are ideal for their versatility in collecting different formats (4:3, 16:9, SD, 720HD, 1080iHD, 24p, 30p, 60i etc). The ease in which our footage is imported to our final cut pro edit suites saves our clients precious edit time by not having to wait for tapes to digitize. We can literally hand our footage on hard drives to our editor and boom, we’re starting to log and assemble.
when i moved here from Detroit 3 years ago i had no idea the depth of the chicago creative community. you have columbia college grads, southern illinois grads, not to mention all those other midwestern transplants. i’ve been lucky to have some great shooting experiences in this town, and its no wonder i’ve put down roots here. chicago is a great city and there are a lot of talented people here. as my mentor bill kubota from KDN would say, “we’re lovin’ life.”
jaja
Happy 6th of July! I hope everyone had a few days to relax a bit and celebrate America, or as W would call it: ’merica. I was in upstate NY for July 1-3 on location with the prop stylist for pottery barn. you know those wonderful photographs that make all those tables, chairs, bookshelves, etc look soo good you must buy them when the catalogue comes in the mail? Well Jeffrey Moss plays a huge role in that and i was lucky enough to tag along with him for a couple days to the many places he gets his inspiration. We visited Eastfield Village, a collection of colonial era buildings that have been turned into a museum and workshop – very much like greenfield village at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn. We checked out the countless antique shops and a few old farms. And by old i mean about 450 years old, some of the oldest buildings in the country. A great chance for me to experience some of the history of our country before the 4th. The video should be on PB’s website in time for the holidays, so i’ll be sure to link to it when it’s up there. Thanks very much to close friend Jon Ellison, who fortunately for me was travelling to Costa Rica and couldn’t be a part of the shoot, but had the wits to match me up to take care of it for him. I enjoyed using his HVX200 and Miller Tripod… I used to shoot exclusively with a Gitzo tripod, and although they are a bit slow to set up, the range of angles you can get with them is unmatched. the Miller is the same style as the Gitzo, so that was fun getting to use it. Jon’s LitePanel on top of the HVX saved me from shooting in total darkness when we were touring those colonial buildings with no electricity! Crazy how often we rely on practical lighting to get proper exposure…Using bus-powered hard drives, i was able to transfer footage while we were in transit between locations, never had to put the shoot on hold while we waited for data transfer. not bad considering we shot almost 8 hours of HD footage the first day while having ONLY two 32gb cards! i was proud of that one. i can’t wait to see the results!
Joe Hoffman
busy lately – 3 days of shooting client testimonial and HR interviews for a client…the concept they came up with was great. we set up a roll of white seamless paper and shot 2 camera interview with some of their favorite clients. the white paper created the “infinity” look, and we spiced it up by having everyone sit in a unique chair. thanks to HMI associate Jon Ellison for handling the Kansas City portion of the shoot, and Mariana Perin for organizing it all (as well as stepping in as a second camera operator for the HR interviews.) I used a single source arri 1k open face light with a small chimera as our key light. Using one direct source as a key light really gives your interview subjects that nice “catch light” in their eyes. Using my Kino Flo diva lites i lit the white background to 100 IRE. I was a little concerned that the 2900k bulbs would give the paper a pinkish hue, which it tends to do on skin tones, but it worked flawlessly. Instead of a fill light or bounce card i wrapped the Chimera 1K around until it practically directly over the interviewer’s head. this gave the subjects a nice fall off in light against their look space. 2 edge lights and a backlight and that was basically the setup.
As I was leaving the shoot, everyone in the world was learning of the death of Michael Jackson. This meant a trip for me and my soundman Greg Quedens to Michael’s boyhood home in Gary, IN. Live remote coverage of the scene at his house for 2 days proved festive to say the least.
hot temperatures prevailed for the 2 days, and i got a little sunburn…time to get one of those hats that covers the back of my neck – even though it looks like you’re going fishing, it’s worth it not to look like a lobster.
Going to upstate NY later this week for what should be a fun and interesting shoot for a product designer for a large furniture outlet. He gets his inspiration from out of the way places, like vineyards, B&Bs, antique and salvage shops, etc.
hey there! Joe Hoffman here, welcome to hoffmanmediainc.com, the online parking spot for Hoffman Media, Inc. (duh!). Glad you found your way here. check out the other pages on the site, especially the Reel page, where you can see some examples of our work. I’ll be blogging from time to time about crazy shoots, new gear and gadgets, normal shoots, old gear, lighting techniques (do’s AND don’ts) etc!
We are the p2 people here in chicago, for all your tapeless workflow needs. (we shoot tape also though don’t worry!) we hope to hear from you!
cheers,
joe