Disney, the Entertainment at its Full Expression!

Recently I just visited Orlando, FL with my family for two reasons: 1.) My graduation from Full Sail University and 2.) Visiting Disney World. For me it was not the first time visiting Disney World, neither for my family, I just really love being there and being entertained by so many things they have to offer. Just in case you didn’t know, Disney is also owner of ESPN and abc network. Just by knowing this is why I named the title of this blog “Disney, the Entertainment at its Full Expression!

Well, if you visit the parks, you know you will be entertained from the moment you get into the park. Something that I learned a few years back that amazes me, is the fact that Walt Disney was able to entertain kids and grown-ups with his TV show and animated movies. This was probably the best legacy he could have left for their family and the people who work at Disney. The creativity, artistic scenarios, music and the engineering behind and the imagination play a big roll at the parks. Everything is so well done that I can’t imagine people not having goose bumps when watching the fireworks show at the Magic Kingdom like I did. Or the memories and feelings that I experienced while watching the Fantasmic show at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Disney is MAGIC! One moment you are an adult, the other you are the kid you were when you watched Pinocchio or Sleeping Beauty or the movie Fantasia, yes the one where Mickey is the sorcerer and wears the blue hat.

My kids had a blast at the parks, not only them but also the four grown-ups that went with them: my wife, my mom, my cousin and my self. Something that caught my attention was that not a single person was bored at any of the parks. The reason why, is because of the entertainment offered at the parks. Disney not only was able to provide entertainment through the screen, but also was able to provide the experience of being entertained and live the experience.

The highlight that I got from this experience was that all dreams can come true, you just have to fight for that dream, even if you think is a small one. After all, everything started with a mouse.

From Canon XH-A1s to DSLR Canon 5D Mark III

As a video production entrepreneur I think this subject is worth to be talked. I started professionally shooting video back in 2009 when I got me first professional video camera, a Canon XH-A1s. This camera is a mini DV tape camera capable to shoot in HD. The video quality is great and I’m able to shoot in different frames per second as well. For a few years I debated on changing from a video camera to a DSLR, until I was able to use one.

The DSLR I started working with was the famous Canon 5D MarkIII, and I was very impressed with the results. Some of the reasons I wasn’t sure about using a DSLR for video were that I didn’t have any filters like I di with the video camera, I didn’t have XLR connections for audio, and the amps of the microphone built in the 5D Mark III are not that great. So if you are planning on changing from a video camera to a DSLR camera think about what kind of production are you going to do, because yes a DSLR is cheaper than a professional video camera, but then you have to buy more equipment to get the best results of your DSLR making the price very close as if you get a professional video camera.

I am very impressed with the definition and quality of video this Canon 5D Mark III has. The size of the sensor is better for a low light condition than my video camera. To me that’s very important because now I’m going to be able to give a better product to my wedding customers. The video will not look grainy in those dimmer light churches or locations anymore. Plus now I am able to provide another service instead of only video, pictures.

Like I said before, before you change or if you are not too sure about what to buy between a professional video camera or a DSLR, look at what type of production you will be doing and if at the end you are going for big productions then I will recommend a video camera but if your productions are not going to be that big then go with a DSLR, in this case I recommend you the Canon 5D Mark III.

If you can afford to have both cameras, then why not getting a RED video camera and a good DSLR like the Canon Mark III! For now, is up to you what you like better, the best advice I can give you is to get your hands wet with different gear and equipment before you make a decision

Starting a New Business?

For this blog I decided to talk about Steve Blank and ChuckBlakeman. Steve Blank is an entrepreneur that now is teaching entrepreneurship to graduate and undergraduate students at U.C. Berkeley, Stanford University, Columbia University, Caltech and UCSF. In 2012 he was listed as one of the “Masters of Innovation” by the Harvard Business Review. He was the keynote at the National Governors Conference. In 2013 Forbes listed him as one of the 30 most influential people in Tech. In June of the year, he won the 2013 Silicon Valley Visionary Forum award and in the same month him and his wife were honored with the 2013 Northern California Environmental Leadership award.

Chuck Blakeman has started eight different business from the ground up, but it was not all wins, there was some mistakes made but fully recovered from them for a big turnovers. Blakeman is an internationally acclaimed speaker averaging more than 100 speaking engagements and workshops per year. He has featured in Entrepreneur Magazine, CNNMoney.com, NYTimes.com, other online magazines and small business blogs throughout the U.S., Australia, and New Zeland. His vision is to live well by doing good, and this statement is true afte knowing how his company Crankset Group operates. Crankset Group works with business founders and leaders around the world to help them make more money in less time and get back the passion that brought them more to make money.

It is very interesting on how Chuck Blakeman sees the unimportance of a business plan. He says most of the plans ask the question how can we get from where we are to where we want to be. I found his strategy of asking the same question for a short-time of period rather than for a long of period, just because of what he says in his article “life happens, and once westart moving, life starts messing with our plan”. For Blakeman the questions needed to be asked for the future in a long-term are “why”, “where” and “when”, that way, once you know where you want to be and when you ask the question again “how do I get from where I am to the next step?” To me this is brilliant.

Steve Blank says that business plans are not ideal for startups. The business plan was created for large companies and not for startups. To be more clear on this subject, a startup is not executing a series of knowns like a large company. Instead of a business plan, Steve suggests a business model for a small business or a startup. The business model describes how the company creates, delivers and captures value. The benefits of a business model according to Steve, is that allows agile and opportunistic founders to keep score of the Pivots in their search. So if you are planning on starting a new company I will suggest to look more into a business model and the best way to do it is by clicking here.

 Manuel Obregon

References

http://steveblank.com/about/

http://chuckblakeman.com/

http://chuckblakeman.com/2012/8/texts/how-the-worst-most-asked-planning-question

http://steveblank.com/2010/01/25/whats-a-startup-first-principles/

http://steveblank.com/2010/05/17/no-one-wins-in-business-plan-competitions/

Creating an Epic Video

Creating a well produce video it is not as easy as some people think it is. It takes time, planning, creativity, imagination and visualization since the moment you know what your next video is going to be. One of the best things I can share with you today is to imagine how you want your video to look like as the end product.

If you are working on a marketing video, think about how can you be attracted to a product or service that other customers may want, and how the owners of that business sees his services or products. You want to attract the audience to what they are watching.

Here are some techniques you might want to apply on your video.

1.     Creative Intro: This is where your video comes alive and if the video is well produce you will engage your audience. During the first 20 seconds of the video you want to have different types of shots from different angles, and with different movements. To make some interesting shots you might want to use a dolly, a slider or a crane to impact your audience as well as the business owner you are making the video for (If is a marketing video)

2.     Footage: For you to be able to create a good video you have to play with your gear. If you are shooting a video in one room with four walls try to get as many angles you can. Find the corners of the room to create a bigger illusion of the room if it is too small. Place your camera near different objects in the room to make it more interesting, for example set your camera near a stapler, and then gradually change your focus point on your camera and show what is behind that stapler. Just be creative and use your imagination.

3.     Music: This concept is key. You really don’t want to use an action theme music if you are making a video about a spa. If you are shooting video about a Spa, your music selection should be a relaxing soothing music. Your music selection is very important and creates the mood of the video. So be very careful when selecting music.

If you follow these three steps you will be in the process of creating an Epic Video. For more tips on how to create EPIC videos, keep an eye on this blog. One blog a week might help you or others on their video adventures.

Camera Focus Techniques

      When it comes to shooting a video or a photograph you always want to center the attention on a subject of preference. This subject or object can be focused or out of focus depending on your story telling. That is why is very important to know when to focus and when create a focal effect on your shots.

     Let’s start from the basics the first thing you have to know is that if you are shooting on automatic the camera will choose your focal point. To avoid this, you can change from auto focus to manually manipulate your focus point. It is important to know that the continuous focus from a video camera is very different from a DSLR camera. If you are shooting video with a DSLR camera you can use different modes to have control of your focus such as: Program (P), Shutter priority (Tv), Aperture priority, (Av) or Manual (M). Any of these modes on your DSLR will let you choose your focus point.

Depth of Field:

You probably heard about depth of field as well when it comes to focusing a shot. Depth of field is the range of distance that appears acceptably sharp. The depth of field varies on each camera lens, aperture and focusing distance. This is when you see your subject focused and the background looks blurry. Then, you can also manipulate your focus making the background sharp in focus and your subject out of focus. This effect is commonly use in films and TV shows to direct the audience’s eyes to a certain point of the shot.

                                       *Click on the image to direct you to the source

Achieving a good focus point:

The best way to achieve good focus is to zoom in as close as you can to your subject, adjust the focus ring until it looks very sharp and then zoom out and frame your shot. If your subject is a person, the best way to do it is to zoom in all the way into the person’s eyes; this will give a sharp image to the person and will make your shot look very sharp.

Even though you can manipulate your focus manually in production, you always have an option to add effects in post-production. For this you will need a software that can add some blurry effects in the points you select on your shot. As a camera operator and editor I tried to do the focal effects in production so I don’t have to add time in post-production. Now, you might feel more comfortable adding the effect in post, so if that’s how you feel, go for it.

Avoiding Common Mistakes In Video Production

            Sometimes when making a video we think too much about the idea or the story that we want to tell that we don’t catch those little mistakes until we are in the editing process of the video. When making a video, we want it to be awesome and have the best shots we could ever take, but sometimes we forget about some details in our production. Some examples are; talents or objects out of focus when we needed them to be focused, poor lighting techniques, color does not look like what it was in reality, and other people or objects that we didn’t want in our background. To avoid these mistakes here are some tips you can use for your next video production.

1. Focusing your shot. Before you press the record button on your camera, make sure that your talent or object in the picture is completely in focus. This will create a more “eye appealing” look to the audience. If you are shooting a talent or actor, make sure to zoom in all the way, on the talent’s/actor’s face looking for the eyes and make focusing on the eye to have the most detail possible in the shot. This will make your talent or actor stand out in the picture. Do the same thing if it is an object that you are shooting, like a product for a commercial for example. Sometimes, we see out of focus shots, but that is a technique depending on how you want to tell a story.

2. Lighting techniques. Your light is one of your best friends when shooting video. The lighting in your video will set the mood for the audience. If you are making a happy movie make sure your shot is bright enough to show that emotion. If your shot is dark, it could create confusion on the audience and make the movie, or video less attractive. Use your light in your favor. Here are some charts provided by tubetape.com on how you can light your subject with different light set-ups:

3. White balance your shots. Every place has different types of lights. That is why it is very important that your camera is set with the right white balance. Some cameras have two white balance functions that can help when you are shooting a scene that starts indoors and ends outdoors. The camera usually shows an A and B switch. You can white balance indoors on A, then step outside, switch the button to B and white balance outdoors, that way when you move from inside to o utside you can just move the switch from A to B and you are ready to go. Keep in mind that every camera is different, therefore make sure where your white balance settings are and where the button is located. To white balance properly you can always buy a white balance card or you can always use a plane white sheet of paper, that works good as well.

                 

4. Look at the entire picture in your camera. I have seen a lot of shots where there are undesired people or objects for a specific shot. I have also made those mistakes when I started making videos. Sometimes we are so excited that we are getting the shot we want but we don’t pay close attention to what the background is. This can affect or completely destroy that great shot we had. Make sure that you are constantly looking all over the place in your viewfinder for those undesired objects in your shots. You don’t want to go to your post-production software and find out that your shot was ruined by a light stand that you were using to light your subject. If you are using a boom mic, make sure that is not in the picture as well, unless you are making a parody or want to create something funny then do it. Otherwise make sure you are not showing any of your equipment in the picture.

Now you are set and ready for your next video. Keep in mind before you are starting a video, that you are well prepared, have a check list for everything you need before jumping in the car to go shoot your video and just as your camera focuses make sure you are always focus on your project, that way you will not run into any of these common mistakes.

Branding Yourself

A lot of people are wondering how to get recognized in the world, community, country or any other place in the globe. Branding yourself is just like branding a product. You have to set a goal and define your attributes so you will look different than your competitors.

There is a process to successfully brand yourself and make you noticeable and attractive to either customers or even to future employers. Here are the steps to follow to brand yourself.

1.     Define your goals: Be specific in what you really want. You have to really set your goals before branding yourself. This will help you to have the job that you have been wanting or the job that meets and exceeds your expectations. Is it becoming a magazine editor? Is it to be a Film/TV Producer? Maybe, it is that you want to be an Artist Manager. It doesn’t matter what your goal is. You have to be clear on your goals and where would you like to be.

2.     Research: A good way to learn how people have made it through in the Entertainment Business is by doing a research. What did people have to do to be able to have the job that you want? It is good if you know your competition and learn from them as well. Knowing your competition will give you advantage on how you can be different from them, and you can apply different strategies that make you look different and more appealing. Another thing about knowing your completion is that you can learn from their strategies and what they are doing to brand themselves.

3.     Determine your attributes: What do you want your brand (in this case you) achieve? What do you want people to associate you with? When people see  your brand, how are they going to identify you from the rest? In which area of a market you want to be known?

4.     What is your current estate? Social media is a good and powerful tool and it could be really good or it could be really bad. To use social media in your favor it is a good idea to make a review of all your social media and if needed, do a clean up. You don’t want anything that could make your image bad. By this I mean any written material as well as any images that can make you look unprofessional. A good example of this is having pictures of you drunk or you holding an alcoholic drink when you want to apply for a family oriented show per say.

5.     Create your plan. Social media is a must for branding yourself. However, keep in mind that you have to include aspects about yourself as a product. Everything comes into play; how you dress, how you communicate, how you are among other people, etc. Include what makes you amazing and differentiates you from the crowd and competition.

6.     Mange your brand. This is it! How you want people to perceive is very important. Your pictures in social media make them look just like how you really look in person. Your tweets or comments make them about the interests you are in within the industry you want to work for. If it is your own business that you are branding, it is a good idea to talk or post about what is what your business does. Always keep in mind that your posts are accordingly to how you want people to perceive you and your business.

References

http://www.forbes.com/sites/lisaquast/2013/04/22/personal-branding-101/