PVH , Phillips Van Heuson, was given the task of creating a series of Olympic swimmer-inspired videos for Speedo’s new water-version of crossfit exercise and equipment, called “Speedo Fit”. PVH’s Director of Production and Content, Nick Cucci hired Bob Sloan to employ his vast underwater video experience, while Jeff Landie handled topside part of shoot and ran a crew of over 10 people that included a grip truck. Three Canon C300s were used, 1 in an underwater housing and 2 on the pool deck, along with a Canon 5D Mark III to capture exercise techniques, and film feature interviews with current swimmers on the US Olympic team heading to Rio for the 2016 summer games.
Breathe LA Fashion Show Promo
In April we produced a video for the Breathe LA organization of Los Angeles. Shot with two Panasonic Varicams and edited back at Sloan Productions in San Diego on our high definition non-linear edit system by Bob Sloan. Photographers were Jeff Landie and Jim O’donnell. See the video below.
Intersport – Surfer’s Healing
Director of Photography, Bob Sloan shoots while Lauren Salituro of Intersport conducts an interview with Danielle Paskowitz of Surfers Healing, A Foundation for Autism. Lauren’s feature will air in the CBS Program “Courage in Sports”. Intersport is a long time client of Sloan Productions, relying on us for their many varied projects from commercials and promos to programming for their network shows.
Corporate Video Production
To produce effective corporate video it’s important to understand all facets of a company or organization; it’s products, clients, business model, strengths & weaknesses, and most importantly it’s mission. By understanding a client company in depth, it is then possible to craft each project from an accurate and supportive perspective.
Getting it Right the First Time
Sometimes we only get one chance at a shot and must predict what will happen and how to shoot it. During filming of a Video News Release for a local shopping mall a motorcyclist rides through a (simulated), plate of glass. Bob is to the left of the scene and has also set up a low angle un-manned camera to double the footage of this one-take shot.
Buying a Blu-ray DVD Player for Christmas? What you need to know.
It looks like $225 is the price point for the holiday season and several manufacturers are committed to that entry-level price making them very attractive. However, I really recommend spending a few dollars more to get a player that is firmware upgradeable so you will continue to get all of the cool new features being added to this technology. (Tip: Look first for a player with an Ethernet or USB port and then double check the specs). By doing this you will avoid purchasing another player next year to replace this one. Another strategy; Hey it’s Christmas! Get this one now and put it somewhere else in the house next Christmas when you upgrade to the latest and greatest one. As we have seen all along, more and more features will be available soon. (The manufacturers know that too…).
What is a Blue-ray DVD
Blu-ray, also known as Blu-ray Disc (BD), is the name of a next-generation optical disc format jointly developed by the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), a group of the world’s leading consumer electronics, personal computer and media manufacturers (including Apple, Dell, Hitachi, HP, JVC, JVC, Mitsubishi, Panasonic, Pioneer, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, TDK and Thomson). The format was developed to enable recording, rewriting and playback of high-definition video (HD), as well as storing large amounts of data. The format offers more than five times the storage capacity of traditional DVDs and can hold up to 25GB on a single-layer disc and 50GB on a dual-layer disc. This extra capacity combined with the use of advanced video and audio codecs will offer consumers an unprecedented HD experience.
While current optical disc technologies such as DVD, DVD±R, DVD±RW, and DVD-RAM rely on a red laser to read and write data, the new format uses a blue-violet laser instead, hence the name Blu-ray. Despite the different type of lasers used, Blu-ray products can easily be made backwards compatible with CDs and DVDs through the use of a BD/DVD/CD compatible optical pickup unit. The benefit of using a blue-violet laser (405nm) is that it has a shorter wavelength than a red laser (650nm), which makes it possible to focus the laser spot with even greater precision. This allows data to be packed more tightly and stored in less space, so it’s possible to fit more data on the disc even though it’s the same size as a CD/DVD. This together with the change of numerical aperture to 0.85 is what enables Blu-ray Discs to hold 25GB/50GB.
Sony’s Blu-Ray Disc Tecnology Wins the Format War
What are High-definition DVDs?
High-definition DVDs will make watching movies at home even better. With far sharper images, better sound and more features, high-definition will greatly improve home entertainment. There are two formats of high-definition DVD: Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD.
What is the difference between HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc?
HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc are two formats of high-definition DVDs, which will greatly enhance home entertainment. Both formats offer far sharper images, better sound and more features than standard DVDs.
About the decision
Sony’s Blu-Ray has finally won the battle of the high-definition DVD formats with Toshiba announcing it is to axe its rival HD DVD technology. Toshiba announced that after a thorough review of it’s strategy, the company has decided a swift end to the format war.
The two formats have been battling for the growing high-definition share of the £12.3bn a year global home DVD market. Sony has had the upper hand for some time because its PlayStation 3 games console has a built-in Blu-Ray player. Sony has sold more than 10m Blu-Ray units while only about 1m HD DVD players have been sold, mostly in Japan.
Last month Warner Bros, the world’s largest DVD producer, announced it would only release on Blu-Ray, while Disney, MGM, Sony Pictures and Fox have also dumped HD DVD. In addition, Wal-Mart has committed to selling only Blu-ray discs.
What this means to you.
It is my opinion that this will open the gates for producers to produce High Def content and release with the confidence that they are in the accepted format which should promote sales.
Consumers win because they can now purchase a player, (Blu-Ray), with the confiedence that this format will be around for a long time. (At least until the next big technology is accepted and released…).
In a world and industry where formats are multiplying like wildfire, this is a big deal.
HOWEVER…
The current state of Blu-ray for independent producers deal with the hefty licensing fees if we want need to replicate our titles. For the latest information on this, go here: http://www.blu-raydisc.info/faq.php
ESPN E:60 Bullcam
ESPN needed to capture a full High Definition shot of a bull charging the camera for their new show E:60 and we love a challenge. Bob designed and built a custom mount to protect the camera and facilitate the shot. We used an Iconix miniature HD camera fitted with an extreme wide-angle lens and recorded on DVC Pro HD. The shoot was in Northern Mexico and was produced by E:60 producer Yaron DeSkalo.
Fear in the NFL
Antonio Gates of the San Diego Chargers hams it up for the camera and ESPN producer Martin Khodabakhshian during production of elements for ESPN‘s weekly Countdown show and a feature about “Fear in the NFL”. See a sample of our sports production work in the screening room.
