After the NBA Finals, I didn’t get much of a break.  I got to work some Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fights for HDNet.  The first fight took place at the American Airlines Center, 2 days after the Mavs held their victory parade.  The main fight was aired on Showtime, but the weigh-ins, prelims and a lot of other content was on HDNet.  For the weigh-ins, we built a stage in AT&T Plaza.  The truck was just around the corner, so the setup was pretty easy.  The Texas was heat getting bad, though.  We had temperatures near 110!  Fortunately, we got to go inside the next day for the fights.

After the weigh-ins, we packed up the truck and moved it to the loading dock at the AAC.  I was surprised that we didn’t park the truck there to begin with, since there are plenty of I/O panels in the plaza.  Nonetheless, TV trucks are unpacked and repacked daily, so this was not really different.

The second HDNet fight I worked on this summer was called Sharkfights 17.  It was a bit smaller of an event compared to StrikeForce.  The venue was Dr. Pepper Arena, in Frisco, Texas.  Like a lot of small venues, there is no panel for the TV truck to plug into.  This means that everything is home-run from the floor to the truck.  As I recall, we did have one of our 500ft cables go bad about 2 hours before the first match.  It was a scramble to run another cable before airtime, but we got it done.

At the end of August, I got hired to be a camera operator on a high school football package.  For eleven weeks, I shot football games for All Saints School in Fort Worth.  It was a small, 4-camera setup, running out of a large van.  We had two channels of replay and we ran everything on fiber optic cable.  Our broadcasts were streamed online via the booster club website.

Over the summer, my roommate got me involved with The Variants, a web-series being produced by Zeus Comics in Dallas.  I came on board to help them with lighting.  I ended up ultimately taking over as their DP, but I will get into that more in another post.  For the episode, “Roll for Initiative”, I was the gaffer.  We had to do a fair amount of green screen work for the episode, so I had to be careful with shadows, hotspots and fabric wrinkles.  We shot most of the episode outside, which made the lighting a little easier, since we could use bounce boards and scrims to control the sunlight on our actors.  Some of the shots near dusk turned out great!  For the indoor scenes, I got to experiment with soft lights.  The scene was basically a table with the characters sitting around it.  I wanted it to have a central light source look, similar to when you see people playing poker in a backroom on TV.  The dolly shots really looked nice in both locations.

I will do a more detailed post on my work with The Variants at another time, but for now, you can watch Episode 4 here.

It’s hard to believe I haven’t updated my website since May! What’s been happening? Well, the summer started out with the NBA Finals, in which the Dallas Maverick’s defeated the Miami Thrice Heat.  For Games 3, 4, and 5, I worked for NBA-TV at the American Airlines Center, in Dallas, for their international broadcasts.  Like the World Series, the games were broadcast in multiple languages and had separate announcers for the various networks that were broadcasting in other parts of the world.  I arrived in the television compound two days prior to Game 3 to help setup.  ESPN had already been there for the previous rounds, so some of their trucks and equipment were still in place, however, being that it was The Finals, more and more stuff was brought in.  By the time the 3rd game started, there were 10 production trucks in the compound.  That’s not including the 2 mobile power trucks and 12 office trailers that were brought in to handle network and NBA staff.  Naturally, space in the compound was a commodity.  As we setup, it became a dance between ESPN, ESPN 3D, and NBA-TV to lay down cabling and get equipment around the facility.  The real challenge came after Game 5, when it was time to strike everything.  After all of the gear was packed up and most of the trucks had rolled out of the compound, it was time to pull all of the cabling that was run down the tunnel, into the arena.  By my count, there were just over 100 cables to remove.  It took twenty of us about 6 hours to wrap all of those cables.  It may have gone faster, but many of the heavier cables had become intertwined, so it made separating them difficult.  Also, the crew was very fatigued after working in 95°-and-up temperatures all week.  All in all, it was a successful show.  I wish I’d had a chance to check out ESPN’s 3D setup, but I’m sure I’ll get another chance soon.

Going through my pictures from June, I just realized that we squeezed in one Arena Football game during the NBA Finals.  The playoffs had already preempted multiple Vigilantes games this season, so they were adamant about sticking to their originally scheduled game with the San Jose Sabercats.  Unfortunately, the game took place less than 24 hours before Game 3 of the NBA Finals.  This required a partial strike of everything on the basketball court, so that the AAC crew could roll out the turf and configure the seats for Arena Football.  It also meant an early call time the next day, to put everything back in place for a basketball game.  For the Vigilantes game, I was down on the field, helping Jeff Cuales, the hand-held camera operator for Comcast Sports Net Bay Area, get shots of the teams’ benches, replay angles, and locker-room interviews.

Somewhere in between those NBA Finals games, I found myself at Cowboys Stadium for the CONCACAF 2011 Gold Cup.  Having worked with Jay Richards before on his camera jib, I was hired to setup the jib and assist the operator from Univision.  We built the jib behind the goal in the west end zone, so that we could get great replay angles on scoring attempts and corner kicks.  What made things interesting was that the camera operator, Roberto, was from Mexico City and did not speak any English.  I learned a little bit of Spanish in high school and college, so I was able to communicate just enough to get what he needed.

To be continued…

It’s been a busy 3 months since Super Bowl XLV.  In that time, Jim has been shooting reality television, ballroom dancing, horseback riding, and working at the NBA Playoffs.

In late February, Professional Bull Riding came to Arlington and Jim was asked to take part in shooting a reality show pilot, based on the sport of Mutton Bustin’, which features 6-year old kids riding sheep in a similar fashion to bull riding.  During the event, Jim set up an 18ft Triangle jib, ran POV cameras in the staging pen, and shot interviews and b-roll of the wool riders.  Below are some pictures from that event.

Next up, Jim got to use the Kessler Crane for a large-scale wedding at the Dallas Hyatt Regency.  The event was a Persian-style wedding with nearly 1000 guests, many of whom crowded the dance floor for hours of traditional dances.

As Spring turns into Summer, that means that NBA playoffs are in full swing.  The Dallas Mavericks played the Portland Trailblazers in the first round and Jim got a court-side seat working for TNT in the audio department.  Before the game, Jim helped set up the audio equipment in the locker rooms, press room, and the broadcast table on the court.

In early May, Jim traveled to Weatherford, Texas to shoot a horse trials event.  On the first day of the event, Jim shot riders and their horses competing in an event called, “Dressage”, where the rider demonstrates their ability to command their horse.  On the second day, Jim worked with several other camera operators to shoot a mile-long cross country event.

For the very first time, a Super Bowl was hosted in North Texas.  It was only the second to be hosted in the Lone Star State.  With the large capacity of Cowboys Stadium and the storied franchises of the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers, the NFL expected a Texas-sized event.  As with every Super Bowl, the week leading up to the big game is as big of an event as the game itself.  During that time, media from around the world gather in the host city to watch the teams prepare, as well as observe the slew of former players, celebrities and other dignitaries arriving to watching the big game.

For the week, Jim was hired by NFL Network to participate on the network shows being presented from the Super Bowl XLV Media Center, in Downtown Dallas.  This included NFL Total Access, The Coaches, and The 2011 Hall of Fame Announcement Show.  Early on in the week, Jim and a small crew of video utilities built up the main set on the first floor of the media center, followed by setting up the stage, in the second floor ballroom, for The Black Eyed Peas press conference, and running video lines to the smaller press conference rooms on the third floor of the building.  On Wednesday and Thursday, NFL Total Access and The Coaches were broadcast from the main set.  During those shows, Jim worked with the Steadicam operator, as he navigated around the media center looking for bump shots to use in and out of commercial breaks.  On Friday, Jim and the crew moved all of the cameras and equipment upstairs, to the ballroom, and set up a 10-camera shoot for The 2011 Hall of Fame Announcement Show that was to air Saturday night.  During the Hall of Fame show, Jim assisted one of the hand-held camera operators, who was getting shots of guests waiting in the green room and Hall of Fame inductees entering the building.

On the heals of being a part of the TBS production crew for the American League Championship Series, Jim just wrapped up with MLB-International at the 2010 World Series.  While the television broadcast in the U.S. was produced by FOX Sports, the event was aired via Major League Baseball International in over 200 countries and in over 15 different languages.

During this series, Jim was responsible for setting up video and camera equipment, in addition to assisting the camera operators during the games.  After the last out in Game 5, Jim was down on the field, helping the hand-held camera operator and stage manager get shots of Giants fans and interviews with players.

You can see Jim standing at the high first base camera position in this panoramic photo at MLB.com.

Baseball in late October is a bit unusual in North Texas, but the Rangers have finally broken the trend.  This past week, Turner Sports (TBS) hired Jim to assist with the broadcasts of the American League Championship Series games from Arlington, Texas.  Since this was a playoff series and it was to be broadcast to a national audience, it was a very big show.  Turner rented two production trucks, an edit truck and an office trailer, in addition to the stage built in center field.  They ran 10 hard cameras, 2 hand-helds, 1 RF camera, 1 jib,  7 robotic cameras, 1 Skycam, 2 X-MOs and an aerial camera on a small, single engine airplane.

On this project, Jim was responsible for setting up video equipment in the announcer’s booth,  installing several runs of fiber optic cable from the trucks to the stage in center field, and coordinating between the RF camera operator and the RF video technician.  During the games, Jim backed-up the RF camera operator and he worked with the hand-held operators to quickly assemble a camera platform in the infield for the post-game award ceremony that took place after Game 6.  Following this series, Jim was hired to work at the World Series for MLB-International.

GameStop, the world’s largest video game retailer, has been rapidly growing their brand in recent years.  During that time, they have been developing practices and standards to implement throughout their stores.  Part of that strategy has been to produce short, in-house videos to supplement the hands-on training that GameStop employees receive.  As with any company, there may arise a need to address harassment issues in the workplace, and with a company the size of GameStop, a proper video training program is essential.  By the time Jim stepped on board, the development on a harassment training video was already a year into the making.  At this point, Jim was brought in to utilize his graphic artistry and DVD authoring expertise, as well has his attention to detail.

The project had a few distinct requirements:

• Identify with GameStop’s brand and culture
• Include seamless, interactive menus with multiple choice and true/false questions and answers
• Have a minimum total run time of 2 hours, to satisfy labor laws in 4 different states

Jim quickly developed a graphic scheme that complimented the colors and feel of GameStop’s stores.  He designed animated transitions for the DVD menus and worked on the logic that would allow for seamless navigation on the DVDs.  Jim also edited quite a bit of the content and was heavily involved on the late-night shoots with the cast and crew.

The project was completed ahead of schedule, thanks in part to Jim’s work, and it was first shown at GameStop’s Annual Store Managers’ Conference at the end of August.  By the end of the year, the program will roll out to over 5,000 stores and an estimated 50,000 employees will be trained using the Respectful Workplace Training materials that Jim helped develop.

Jim now has a new tool in his kit.  With the Kessler Crane, he is now able to get more unique shots and angles.  Having one of these cranes on your shoot can really boost the quality of your production.  For example, if you were doing a how-to video and you were making something with your hands, a crane can get that much-needed overhead shot.  It’s also great for showcasing landscaping or architecture.  A sweeping shot of entrance to a property can add that extra bit of class to a project.

Another great use for a crane is during live events.  They can get terrific shots of audience members as well as amazing images of performers and speakers.  Recently, Jim was asked to operate the Kessler Crane at a charity concert in McKinney, Texas.  The video below is an excerpt from that concert.  You can see some of the types of shots a crane can get in the video.

The kit is available in lengths of 5.5, 8, and 12 feet. It also includes a motorized pan/tilt head with remote. Jim will be making this available as an add-on with his services. Please contact Jim about availability and pricing.