If my camera could talk

Playboy Special Editions - Mizuno Shoot                                                  

Beth - Brunette Age 21

Location - Encino, CA

10:48am - We got to the location after having to deal with some heavy traffic on the 405 fwy. It was bad near LAX.  For the first time in 2 years Linda (the producer) called VDO to see why we weren’t there yet.  They were getting ready to do the test shots.  Fashion show time as Mizuno says…. 

As soon as we got there we unpacked and went to the first set-up which was in the backyard around the pool.  This house is owned by a family with several homes that we have used for filming locations. This house has been featured in quite a few adult videos so I tried not to think what might have happened on the lounge chair we were about to use in the first set-up. 

Beth was cast in a shoot for Playboy.com in Atlanta.  She then came to the Columbus, Ohio Playboy Casting Call.  (See Post for Playboy Casting Call in Columbus, Ohio) She has a nice even tan, no tan-lines. Has a girl next door but could have been a cheerleader in high school vibe about her look. 

Luckily they were still setting up and the fashion show hadn’t started.  After getting some snacks in the kitchen it was time for test shots.  She put on 3 outfits before Mizuno found what he liked. It ended up being a 2 piece bikini.  

11:50am - The angle of the shoot was facing the sun so for video we could only shoot certain angles behind the scenes.  Beth didn’t seem to be nervous and looked like she couldn’t wait to be here.  This is good because it’s so much more enjoyable shooting the models that are eager and enthusiastic about the work.  She was a little tight in her movement in the beginning but loosened up as we continued to shoot.  We shot this set up for 30 minutes. We shot the video pov (point of view) footage between stills.  Beth was pretty comfortable in front of the video camera and gave me some nice looks.  VDO told her to move like she did at the casting call and to look into my lens…..nice….

12:55 - Lunch is served.  Here we find out Beth is from the Midwest and this is her first time to Los Angeles and she is trying to see all the landmarks while she’s here. This conversation dominates lunch as everyone has the best idea of where to go since we all live here.  Turns out Leigh and Beth were trying to figure out what to do together before she left. Leigh picked her up from the airport and will drop her off at her hotel.

Today’s Playboy Lunch was provided by Chin Chin’s. VDO had  a chicken salad and some sort of deep fried shrimp dish….he didn’t like his selection for lunch…oh well….

After lunch we scout the second set up.  Red Bull time!

Mizuno decides to stay in the pool area and Richard begins to set it up.  Second set up is at the pools edge and it features a  red velvet heart-shaped couch.  Some of you voyeurs might have recognized this couch from the movies I spoke about earlier.  

3:10 - Beth wore a black suit for this set up. I filmed her walking into the set and Mizuno proceeded to get the stills on her.  This set up went a bit smoother because Beth found a comfort zone with the couch and the way she was posing with it.  All angles were available to me for video so we got some nice coverage with close-ups and wide establishing shots.

Beth was now really getting into it and feeling comfortable. Sometimes the models feel free and open and sometimes you don’t know why they decided to show up. Beth was on the free and open end as she hit some really nice poses for the stills.

4:15 - We decide to shoot the last set-up also around the pool but this time Beth would be getting wet.  We were going to use a brand new hose in the shot but we couldn’t find a spout close enough to the pool.  The hose at the location had the end cut so we weren’t able to extend the hose.  Richard finally had to tape the hoses together with grip tape and it worked, with no leaks. Leave it to Richard to try, and figure it out.

4:50 - We begin shooting the last set up of the day.  This time Beth is standing next to the pool wrapped in the new hose.  She is wearing a stark white bikini outfit with no shoes.  The hose is white with a blue pin stripe on each side.  The ground around the pool is sprayed down to make the cement look sexier I guess and we are ready to shoot.  The sun is now coming down for some great lighting while Beth is posing with water spraying out of the hose she is wrapped in.  The shots look amazing and Beth works hard to hold the various poses.  She is eventually out of her bikini on the cement with the hose rolling around into different poses. Beth has finally lost herself in the shoot and we get the best pictures for the day.  I shoot her pov from all the poses and have her lie on the ground while posing and moving for video.  We ended up with some great video and it was a wrap. 

6:15 - We drive off to the traffic on a Friday afternoon at rush-hour.  Slowly moving along the cellphone rings.  VDO had just bought his blue-tooth device because of the new law in California starting on the 1st of July.  It was Leigh and she said VDO drove passed Beth and her and they were yelling and honking but he didn’t even look at them.  I wondered what the other people in traffic must have thought seeing them do this on the freeway.  What would they think if they knew how we had spent that day at work?

Lenso

Finally we arrived at BWI Baltimore Airport at 9:30am. The only worry now was if the hotel would allow VDO to check in early. The event starts at 4:00 and we have to be there about 2:30. If VDO can’t check in early he would have to go to the event without any sleep.

Luckily we were able to check in and VDO slept until 2:00. He called for a taxi and left for the show.  This Nightshift event is being held at Fedex Field where the Washington Redskins play football.  VDO has no idea where we are but he was told that its about 20 minutes away. 

The taxi driver is a young man in his early twenties.  He was ethiopian with a huge afro,skinny and a big smile. He was really cool and talkative. VDO asked how he can get a taxi back to the hotel at the end of the event at 11:00pm. Yonaton said there won’t be any taxi’s around that area at that time.  He said that it is a bad area that is known for robbing taxis. Yonaton was robbed twice from people he picked up near Fedex Field. VDO begins to wonder how he is going to get back to the hotel. 

Yonaton says that if VDO calls him he will come out to pick us up.  VDO wasn’t sure if he could trust Yonaton but we have no choice. 

The event was really slow.  There wasn’t a line at all and the weather wasn’t helping with rain waiting to fall.  At this event VDO was shooting alone.  Our job was to shoot the next segment for the National Guard, a model feature, and a car feature.  So off we went to make our rounds and say hello to everyone.  

The National Guard booth the first stop to check in.   The National Guard had made some upgrades to the booth and it looks nice.  They added more flat screen tv’s and some more graphic signage.  Another feature was a camera to show what is going on at the booth on all the TV screens. They also unveiled there new semi truck.  It is nice and they let me and VDO go up on top to get some cool overhead shots of the Freestyle MotoX demo.

Next stop was to see the homegirls at NOS. Alicia Whitten who was just on the Cover of Dsport Import car magazine June 08 and Corissa Furr who is all over the place in all the import car magazines.  They were in there white NOS pants and matching top and looking great as usual.  We chilled for a while and caught up when Corissa came over and we said our hellos.  Corissa was rockin some pink high tops…..loud….

The NOS drift track was huge. It looked pretty nice to drive on.  We first shot the drift demo as the crowd started to come in. Got some nice shots and then it started to rain.  

Went and shot the National Guard clip and people were still doing pushups in the rain.

Got a lot of shots of booth activity and interviews soldiers about recruiting. 

There was only 1 MotoX demo because of the weather. There was also not very many people at the show due to rain. All this added up to not a very good show in comparison to other Nightshift events.  

We couldn’t do the Car Feature so we shot a lot of Drifting.  The drifters were able to continue in the rain and it was pretty cool to see them take advantage of the easy slide environment.

The Models at this event were not up to par for a normal HIN sponsored event.  This left a lack of that sexual energy the models can provide for the mostly testosterone crowd.  Excitement level was pretty low.  

The rain left me and VDO under cover.  We got as much as we could considering the circumstances.  VDO had only slept for 3 hours in two days.  The night came to a slow end and it was finally time to leave.   

VDO called Yonaton and he said he was on his way.  We went to front of the parking lot facing the Fedex Field sign.  Corissa called and said she just drove by us and asked if we needed a ride.  VDO told her a taxi was on the way, hopefully.  15 minutes later Yonaton showed up.  He took us to a drive thru and got us back to the hotel safe and sound.  Yonaton told us he has set clients that work for the government that rely on him for all of their rides.  Lucky for us that Yonaton was the one who took our call.

TIme to sleep……The Laker game is on tomorrow!

NIGHTSHIFT - LANDOVER, MARYLAND 

The flight was leaving LAX at 1:30pm.  I brought the DVX100 camera because it is smaller and it is easier for travel.  We got on the plane and not 5 minutes into boarding the captain comes on to tell us the flight was going to be delayed. It seems the storms over the midwest caused all air traffic to re-route south through Texas.  Captain said it would be possibly 2 hours before we would take off.  We were allowed to leave the plane but he said to stay close to the terminal gate because if for some reason we get cleared for take off early, he would have the plane up in the air within minutes. 

People with connecting flights were starting to stress realizing they wouldn’t be making it on time.  I knew we wouldn’t make our connecting flight in Philadelphia so I cancelled the Hotel in Landover and went to the gate to get a ticket booked for the next morning at 7:45am from Philly to Baltimore (BWI).   Sure enough it was 2 hours before we were in the air.

On the flight I kept myself busy editing the model clip featuring Alicia Whitten.   We landed in Philly at 12:00 midnight local time.  As we de-boarded the plane VDO’s name was called and they handed me a piece of paper with my boarding pass stapled to it for 7:45am.  On the piece of paper we had information about a Hotel that would give us what they call a “distressed” rate.  We would later learn what they really meant by distressed.  

After going to get the bags and realizing that they were on the way to Landover, of course nobody told us that, we went to get the shuttle to the hotel.  Afer 30 minutes the Shuttle finally shows up and tells us that the Hotel is located in New Jersey. A 20 minute shuttle ride passed downtown Philly finally gets us to the hotel. 

“DISTRESSED HOTEL” - So the hotel was a Quality INN.  I don’t know where the quality was but it definitely was not “inn” this hotel.  It was 2:00am now and the clerk at the desk was a middle eastern man in his early sixties.  Also behind the counter was what looked to be his nephew.  He was probably 21 or so.  He and the shuttle driver who happened to be black were talking behind the desk.  Annoyingly the nephew was trying to act like he was from the “hood” with his wannabe ghetto slang.  This didn’t help the situation.  

The clerk tells me the shuttle leaves for the airport every hour on the hour and we had to be in the lobby 15 minutes before it left in order to claim a seat.   Let’s see our flight is at 7:45am and we have to be there 2 hours before by 5:45am so we would have to take the 5:00am shuttle. That means in the lobby by 4:45am! I asked for he 4:30am wake up call and paid my discounted “distressed” rate of $80.00 for 2 hours in the Hotel.   

 Of course the Hotel only had smoking rooms available.  I entered the room thinking I would get at least 2 hours of sleep.  Upon entry I realized that $10 dollar crack addicted hookers wouldn’t conduct business there.  It was disgusting. Like don’t look down at the floor, you don’t want to see whats down there.  The walls were stained the fixtures were exposing the electrical, shavings of the walls lined the floor and the smell was exactly what you would think of a smoking room in a bad hotel in the middle of June in the humid temperatures of New Jersey.  I decided not to shower.  I washed off my face and without thinking grabbed a hand towel to dry my face from the 12 hours travel day.  The residue of the smell the hand towel left on my face was dispicable.  I could only think of the smell being similar to that of when I would play pick-up basketball at the park against a guy with horrible body odor.  He happened to be middle eastern, (many of my friends are from the middle east and we have discussed the smell, it seems some odors are indicative of their origin and can be associated by culture so don’t start calling me an “odorist”  or something)and it was apparent he didn’t notice his own odor.  

The disgust from the discovery of this smell being rubbed into my face brought me to a slight gag.  I wet my face again and l used a shirt in my backpack to  dry off.  I laid down on top of the bed, clothes on, and longed for sleep.  I layed there for 2 hours and not one bit of sleep.  I just told myself with all the traveling that I do this was bound to happen sometime and that it will soon be over.  I just had to get to the airport. 

4:45am came and I made it to the lobby and the crowd of people also waiting for the shuttle had that look on their faces like we had all experienced the same trauma of having to stay the night at this hotel.  We got on the shuttle and made our way to the airport.  

I realized this trip started on Friday the 13th of June……

VDO

CRAIGSLIST - IS THIS REAL?

It started when I was posting ads to hire a few cameramen for a sporting event I was filming.  As I checked the posts on one of the particular sites I saw  an ad from a photographer who was looking for a videographer.

 Although I was posting my own ad to hire some shooters (videographers) for my own production company I had always wanted to hook up with a working photographer because it would be regular work (hopefully) and I knew that there was a growing need for video content to accompany all of the print and text that was online at the time.  

A new website called youtube.com had just launched and in the industry it was starting to spread that anyone would be able to put their videos online easily and for free.  This was the beginning of a new form of video production.  

So I shot over a quick response to the ad that read something like this:

 ”Hello,
  My name is VDO and I am a videographer.  I have a
 Panasonic - DVX 100.  I would be interested in
 shooting for you.  You can see something I shot on 
 a trailer at the following site. I am
 punctual, professional, and reliable. If you have any questions please contact
 me. Thanks for your time.

Most of the time when you respond to these ads you never know what to expect, from no response to some wanna be producer trying to get you to work for free because “it will be good to have on your reel”  YeahRight!

So I usually just don’t expect anything, its just easier that way.  

VDO