An Interview with Doug Holgate, Aerial Cinematographer

May 14, 2013 by 2 Comments

 

There are times when a well orchestrated shot with a certain vehicle or a particular actor is just what you need to make your production hit the mark. But a one-day shoot with just the equipment and a pilot, director and camera operator can easily run upwards of $30-40,000, and not every production budget has room for such a big expense.

To give you an example, our recent East Coast shoot including cities like Boston, New York and Washington DC ran well over a quarter-million dollars. Artbeats prides itself on offering an affordable alternative – the stock footage aerial. We do the planning and permitting, use the best equipment for the job, hire the most qualified and talented camera operators and pilots, do all the processing and take all the risks. Then we bring you incredible, quality footage as low as $299, a fraction of the cost of an aerial shoot.

Console

Recently, I spoke with Doug Holgate, a renowned Aerial Director of Photography with a long list of credits including Thor, Soul Surfer, Lost and Survivor. We’ve had the privilege of working with Doug on numerous occasions, taking advantage of his experience, expertise and enthusiasm to pull off successful shoots to provide our customers the very best in aerial footage. Here’s what Doug had to say.

Filming runs in your family – your dad, Frank Holgate, is credited as Aerial DP on an impressive list of films. When did you discover that aerial photography was what you wanted to do?

My father gave me my first job 28 years ago as a film loader on the film Iron Eagle. It was shot in the Valley of Fire outside Las Vegas. I got to fly to location in a Cessna Aerobat with Art Scholl, a famous aerobatic stunt pilot who later died during the filming of Top Gun. We worked for two weeks shooting from helicopters and airplanes and I was hooked.

Tyler mount

Using the Tyler mount while filming Lost

After that first enticing experience, how did you work into the industry?

I began by assisting my dad. He specialized in using the Tyler Mount, a mount that required you to remove the helicopter door and sit with your legs dangling out the side of the helo, physically looking through the camera viewfinder, holding the camera like a machine gun.

I gained experience by assisting other guys. While working on Colors, the film starring Sean Penn, we were shooting in Watts and the DP was Haskell Wexler. I had a lot of down time so I started helping Haskell’s assistant, Scott Sakamoto. One day he asked me if I would like to take over as his second assistant. I jumped at the opportunity and ended up working on three features with them. It was a pleasure to work with Haskell. He is a brilliant, Oscar-winning cameraman and just a wonderful human being.

I then decided to become a Steadicam operator and took one of Garrett Brown’s early workshops in Philadelphia. I bought a used rig and operated it a bit. At that point in time a lot of guys were jumping in as Steadicam operators so I steered back toward aerials and started shooting when my dad retired.

We’re glad you did.

Spacecam

Spacecam

Tyler mount

Tyler mount

Gyron

Gyron

What major innovations have been made in mounts since you started?

I cut my teeth shooting the Tyler Mount back when the gyro stabilized mounts were first being used.
I got a chance to work with the Wescam, the first gyro stabilized system, and then began using the Spacecam.

The biggest innovation is in gyro stabilization. The new gyros depend on fiber optics, not mass. These are lighter and the stabilization is much, much better. Newer cameras, the Red and Alexa for example, allow use of these gyros on systems like the Pictorvision eclipse, the Gyron, Cineflex and Shotover. There are some fantastic systems out there that contain amazing technology, each with its own features, and that makes my job incredibly fun and interesting.

Gyron

Gyron, ready for takeoff

eclipse

Following closely with the eclipse

Wescam

Hovering with a Wescam

Note from Artbeats: Many people don’t realize the value and importance of stabilization. Below is a comparison of raw, hand-held vs. gyro-stabilized footage, both captured on the U.S. East coast.

What’s it like working with different types of DPs?

Each project has its own set of challenges and probably the biggest is getting inside the mind of the Director or DP so that I can deliver his vision through my skills and experience. I have to figure out, often times through a discussion, hopefully accompanied by a story board, what exactly is needed for this person’s project.

What’s your favorite project?

Whatever one I am lucky enough to be working on! I like working on everything. I think one of the greatest joys of my profession is the diversity of projects I get to be involved with. I can finish a feature film, do aerials for the World Series, go search for meteorites in a blimp filled with JPL scientists, then film the launch of the Space Shuttle. I just never know where my next project will take me, and I like that.

Thor

Doug shoots a scene from Thor

Radar system

Radar system test for the Mars Lander

What was the most dangerous flight you made?

Probably in Alaska. We had been flying all day through inclement, freezing weather. Stopping in the middle of nowhere, the pilot would walk down the road and disappear for half an hour, only to reappear driving an old truck with a fifty gallon drum in the bed filled with jet fuel. We would pump some fuel into the helo and get on our way. It was getting late when we began crossing a frozen bay filled with icebergs. About half way across, I asked him where the life vests were. The pilot sort of looked over out of the corner of his eye and replied, “It’d only prolong the agony.”

What do you like best about your job? Are there certain aspects you especially enjoy?

I really, really enjoy the creative process that goes into bringing a shot to fruition. Every step of the process is exciting in its own way, and this goes for features, TV, commercials or stock footage. The initial phone call, lining up my pilot, camera system and technician, talking with the director, showing up to help with the system install, traveling to location, waiting for all the elements to get prepped and into position, working through the steps to make the shot work, making adjustments – every step has its own challenges and satisfaction.

Looking over the charts

Looking over the charts with pilot Rob Marshall before heading from New Jersey to Boston

Prepping with technician

Prepping with technician Eric before shooting Washington, D.C.

Flying low

Flying low to capture the Pentagon

What part of the process is the most frustrating?

Because each aerial camera system has its own nuances, there is an appropriate tool for every job. I think the most frustrating thing is being forced to use a camera system that is not optimum for the shot you are trying to achieve. This happens at times because the production company has booked a system without consulting me. I can always seem to make it work, but the frustrating part is knowing how well the shot could have worked if I had been able to use the correct equipment.

Checking lenses

Checking the lenses with Phil Bates before shooting 3D aerials in L.A.

Arri Alura

Arri’s Alura, ready to go

Note from Artbeats: A perfect example happened during our East Coast shoot. While Arri’s Alura 18-80 was perfect for shooting NY, Philadelphia, and Boston, we needed a little more reach for our time in Washington DC. We switched to an Optimo Angenieux for that leg of the shoot. Doug and Phil were happy with that decision, and the results speak for themselves.

If you could shoot anywhere/anything and money wasn’t an object, where/what would it be?

I would love to shoot Machu Picchu. I have visited it and think I would enjoy seeing and shooting it from the air.

How is shooting for stock different from a scene for a feature?

When shooting stock you are grabbing moments as they present themselves. You plan for them the best you can, but a large portion of it is opportunity and instinct. Shooting for a feature, on the other hand, is more orchestrated, depending on the specifics of the scene. Most of the time it is controlled. You are holding traffic, shooting a specific subject in a planned sequence, and the variable is whether the subject is a person, vehicle or aircraft. Also, shooting a scene for a feature you hopefully get more than one take. This gives you a chance between takes to tweak things and adjust timing to improve the shot. Timing is usually the most critical element, especially when working with multiple vehicles or aircraft. It is like an orchestra with everyone – the pilot, myself, the stunt drivers or pilots working together. It is an exciting feeling when it all comes together during a shot! There are times that these moments happen during stock footage shoots; although not controlled, elements come together to create beautiful pieces of film. The light angle is just right on a certain building or cliff edge, things just line up right and you are at the right altitude and heading. When shooting stock, you rely more on light and angles to create images that are pleasing. It is a collaboration among the pilot, myself and often times a director. It is vital that we are all on the same page. We need to adapt to different situations and adjust things very quickly as some of these magic opportunities happen only one time. If you miss them, by the time you get the helicopter turned around and back in position the light has changed and the magic is gone.

Is it somewhat satisfying to be producing some of your own content?

Shooting stock footage has been a process learned through spending a lot of flying hours with Phil Bates and Artbeats shooting cities, highways, the southwest, the Hawaiian Islands, lakes, rivers, swamps – you name it, we have shot it together. I learned from him what works and what doesn’t for stock footage. Taking that knowledge and going out and shooting with the confidence that it will be useful for someone’s project is very rewarding, and I hope that the footage I offer through Artbeats meets a need.

What do you see as the biggest advantage of aerial stock footage?

Often it is cost prohibitive for a filmmaker to fund an aerial shoot for their film, but the other side is that aerials really open up a film, adding immense production value. Stock footage provides filmmakers with a very cost effective way to add huge value to their project.

Slippers

Good luck charm

I know that flying day after day confined in a helicopter can be grueling, but I’ve heard you have a little routine that makes it a bit “cozier.” Care to share your secret?

Slippers. They’re great! I call them my “shooting slippers” and wear them all the time. They are comfy and keep my feet toasty! They are sort of a good luck charm as a lot of my best shots have been done wearing them.

 

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    Shooting Stock Outside Your Comfort Zone

    March 6, 2013 by Leave a Comment

     

    By Francois Arseneault, Contributor to the Artbeats FootageHub

    I enjoy shooting stock, doesn’t really matter what it is, though some subjects are more interesting than others. Mostly I like the idea of the “road trip,” ah yes, loading up the SUV and hitting the road, all with preplanned locations, of course. I’ve taken dozens of road trips over the past 26 years, maybe even hundreds. Some just a short one day jaunt to the countryside where opportunities abound. Others, grueling 18-21 day trips over thousands of kilometers, with varying degrees of success. We’ve traveled across Canada and to Panama, South America, Cuba, Oregon, California, New York, Washington DC, Chicago and many other places. The camera has been over my shoulder nearly everywhere. A good travel insurance policy and some common sense go a long way, but so too does a friendly smile; it’s gotten me into more places than anything else.

    Francois

    Francois at Acropolis, Athens, Greece.

    This past Fall, my wife and I decided to take a little bit more than a road trip (okay, a vacation): a two week cruise to some of civilization’s most important sites in the Mediterranean. Now, usually I’ll get approval for and permissions to shoot when necessary; however we’re talking about Egypt, Greece, Turkey and Italy. Not very likely as the rules and bureaucracy are endless. After a few inquiries I came to the conclusion that the cost and the time were not worth it. Time to go to plan B and go under the radar. Sure, it’s risky, but if you’re careful and respectful things usually work out. Or at least I thought so. I packed the Sony NEX FS700 after stripping it of the rykote equipped Sennheiser and brought along a beanbag as a tripod was not going to be suitable. It attracts way too much attention. No matte box, just the camera and a spare lens: a  Tamron 10-24mm for those sometimes surreal wide angle shots. Time to play tourist.

    Rome is a wonderful city to visit with so many opportunities to get great shots in the public areas. I never shoot in museums or art galleries, just sling the camera over my shoulder and enjoy the history. However, being crowded and busy meant I employed the beanbag on whatever steady object I could use. Two thousand year-old architecture can be quite photogenic. The city is rich in stock shot opportunities.

    Next stop – Egypt. Having never traveled here, meant all was new. Be safe and book the tour off the cruise ship, this way everything is guaranteed… maybe. I asked our guide about my camera, would I have any problems with it, and he assured me there would be no problems. A six hour bus ride later and we arrived at the pyramids. Amazing! But then the local souvenir salesmen arrived, flogging all sorts of cheap Chinese made trinkets. It didn’t matter what direction you went, they stood in front of you. We had a very limited amount of time on the schedule and I was getting frustrated. I was finally able to get a few shots. I didn’t give it much thought, but there were only DSLRs amongst the tourists, not a single video camera save a few older consumer HD cameras. Clearly, a few tourists were quietly shooting video with their 5Ds and D800s. Hmmmmm. It didn’t take long before a plainclothes police officer stopped me and demanded I pay a 900 Egyptian pound fee to take video. I politely stated that I wouldn’t pay, indicating I was told I could shoot video by my guide. He promptly escorted me out of the site. Seemed the rules could be interpreted differently. We were joined by two more uniformed officers, as they escorted me back to my tour bus my wife was more than a little concerned. It turns out, as my guide explained to me a little later, that the camera was too professional and since the revolution things have changed. The next day I had to pay “fees” elsewhere in Egypt just to have my camera with me. It seems they just didn’t like the look of it. Despite these issues, I still pulled off some establishing shots and decent b-roll.

    FA-FH105-27

    One of Francois’s beautiful shots from the Artbeats FootageHub on artbeats.com.

    I ran into a similar problem in Istanbul a few days later, in fact, and had my camera seized for about five minutes before I assured the staff of the cultural site that I wouldn’t even turn on the camera. As I learned, the problem with a guided tour in some of these places is that even though you may not have any intention of shooting footage in a particular site, you have no choice but to take the camera with you lest it disappears from your vehicle. The authorities couldn’t care less that you’re on the tour and are simply passing through. As a tourist, it can become almost onerous to bring any camera on a tour. I did manage some shots though: architecture, skylines, people and anything that caught my eye. Athens, Mykonos, Ephesus and Venice were no problem at all and were wonderful places to get great footage.

    Summing up, big cameras have always attracted attention, but now with certain less-than -democratic countries in turmoil, authorities are taking a dim view of pretty much any camera. Egypt, specifically, could become much riskier to do any camera work in the future as will nearly any Middle Eastern nation. The next time I travel to some of these countries, I’ll probably just take a DSLR and do the best I can with it.. It’s just not worth the hassle to use something larger. Lessons learned.

    Francois Arseneault is a freelance shooter/editor, with over 25 years experience in the field and is based in British Columbia, Canada. His footage is featured in the Artbeats FootageHub.

    View all of Francois Arseneault’s footage featured on Artbeats.

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      Storage Wars: The Search for Inexpensive Yet Reliable File Storage

      January 31, 2013 by 2 Comments

      Bob_2013By Bob Hayes, Artbeats Director of Technologies

      Here at Artbeats, our storage needs are a little different than might be customary for a video production house. We don’t do much long form editing and we don’t need 450MB/s to several editing bays. What we do need is massive, reliable online storage available across a LAN via AFP, NFS, and SMB. Easy enough to do, but it can get very expensive very quickly if you aren’t careful.

      The safety and availability of your data and your backup strategy is insurance, pure and simple. And just like house or car insurance, it requires a cost to benefit analysis in order to decide what you need and how much money you should spend. In an industry like finance or health care where the security, availability, and government regulation of the data are all very high, you will probably spend a lot more money up front ensuring the reliability of that data and the speed with which you can restore the data in the event of loss. If you lost critical data, how long can you withstand the non-availability of that data? Nobody wants to deal with lengthy downtimes, especially when it’s revenue-generating data. However, sometimes the relatively small possibility of that catastrophic event occurring outweighs the front-loaded money you must spend in order to get the peace of mind that comes with knowing you can restore your data in a matter of minutes or hours (at worst), versus days or even weeks. This is the kind of analysis that IT managers make all the time, and we place bets on the outcome. Exactly like insurance company actuaries do.

      P1010792

      At Artbeats, we recently had a situation where we simply needed more server space for data that was important, but not absolutely mission-critical. Essentially, if this data disappeared one day, it was already duplicated elsewhere and we would be able to recover back to where we were within a matter of days. Perhaps not the most optimal situation, but one where we decided we could spend less money than we might spend in other situations. In the storage arena, there are high-end RAIDs with lots of great features and mind boggling prices and there are lower end solutions that may or may not do the trick, and then there’s a good selection in the middle—massive storage for a relatively moderate (but still fairly expensive) price. We decided on a lower end solution, one of the “lowest” that we’ve ever done. I’m not going to mention specific manufacturers for a variety of reasons, but a little Googling on your part and you should be able to figure out what brands I’m talking about.

      We thought we knew right away what we wanted, but after some research we changed our minds on our initial choice of vendor. We ended up with a box that is quite different from anything we’ve used in the past. It’s a self-contained network attached storage (NAS) device that also supports iSCSI, complete with built in server daemons for a variety of purposes, most of which we’ll never use. (We just wanted file servers.) This box cost us about $1000. I had some misgivings because it’s not rack mountable and has very limited redundant uptime capabilities, not to mention it’s made with a lot more thin plastic than I would usually like. But I have to say, I’m impressed with what we got for the price. It has eight SATA drive bays that support drives up to 4TB, a very smart RAID system, and it’s expandable to eighteen bays. Plus, it’s quiet—scary quiet. If it wasn’t for all the blinkenlites, you wouldn’t even know it was up and running by just looking at it. Network throughput is sufficient for simultaneous After Effects renders from four or five machines with no noticeable issues due to network bottlenecks. That’s all we wanted of it.

      We populated ours with eight 3TB drives, and we decided on some of the cheapest drives out there ($140 each). So, for about $2200, we got 18.75TB of usable storage space in a hybrid RAID-5 setup that will withstand the failure of one hard drive at a time. We have a standby cold spare on hand, and that’s enough insurance in this case.  It took us about an hour to completely configure it, plus an overnight RAID build. I haven’t done anything to it or even looked at it since then, and it’s been six months. Go ahead and price out 18TB of storage from an enterprise level vendor (usually with names of two or three initials) and you’ll see why we went with this particular item. For this job, it was a great way to go.

       

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        Merry Christmas from Artbeats

        December 21, 2012 by Leave a Comment

        Christmas_Facebook

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          Filming Driving Plates: We’ve finally arrived!

          November 13, 2012 by 2 Comments

          We are happy to officially announce that the first of our Driving Plates footage is available for download on artbeats.com.

          We’ve captured some of the most amazing footage, and there’s still much more to come. Watch our Driving Plates Demo Reel and see how valuable this footage is, and get a sneak peek at what’s coming soon.

          Image Above: Shot at an upward angle, this skyline image is called a reflection plate, a vital ingredient to making a driving scene realistic. The reflection plate is placed as a semi-opaque layer on the windshield and hood of the car, accurately depicting a mirrored reflection of the scenery overhead. The reflection plate is available in both the 5-Angle and 9-Angle Driving Plates sets. A 5-Angle set also consists of four panoramic (wide) views shot from the front, back and sides of the car. A 9-Angle set is filmed in two passes down the same section of road. With this type of set, you’ll not only get the front, back, sides and reflection plate, but also the three-quarter left and right views from the front and back of the car.

           

          Image Above: LA’s Fashion District is just one of the many locations we captured in our Southern California shoot. In fact, we shot all over Los Angeles, Pasadena, and Santa Monica during the day, evening and night to give you even more options. So you can put your characters on the same stretch of road at different times, depending on the storyline.

          Image Above: Driving plates aren’t just for city dwellers. We braved the scorching desert heat so your actors can stay cool and comfortable in their “car”.

          Image Above: Taking a break to move the cameras on this beautiful stretch of wooded highway. We’ve captured all different types of terrain during our travels through Oregon and California, as well as industrial areas, bridges, marinas and residential neighborhoods. Most can double as locations in your area.

          Image Above: The Pacific Coast Highway makes the perfect backdrop for your drive along the coast. This footage, which is coming soon to our website, is featured in both northbound and southbound sets. So whether your characters are coming or going, the ocean will always be on the correct side!

          Image Above: Whether your story calls for a leisurely Sunday drive through the mountains, a weekend camping trip in the woods, or the impending arrival at a haunted cabin, the Redwood Highway is a spectacular setting. This was one of our favorite locations to film.

          You can purchase individual angles or an entire set of driving plates. Everything featured on our website is available for immediate download. Be sure to check back often for more driving plates sets.

          What Driving Plates locations would be helpful for your productions?

           

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            Filming Driving Plates: Traversing the Speed Bumps

            October 22, 2012 by 2 Comments

            After months of testing, and even more months rigging the car, we were ready to hit the road for our first driving plates film shoots. As with every first-time venture, ours was not without its problems. In fact, it seemed that our first shoot in Portland, Oregon was the “Murphy’s Law” of film shoots. Anything that could go wrong, did go wrong…from our GPS dying the minute we hit the city, to remote trigger problems, to card reader failures, to overheating, and everything in between. But as you know, “difficult to shoot subject matter” is our middle name. So we pressed on and got some terrific footage.

            Our second shoot took us to Southern California and a multitude of incredible locations. This shoot was both a learning experience and an adventure. Some of the locations require that we arrange for police escort for the day. This poses a challenge when the focus of the shoot is to capture the scenery and traffic all around the car. What good are driving plates if every scene shows the car being tailed by the police?! We did get one great shot of the squad car “pulling us over”. No way were we going to pass up that opportunity! Of course it wasn’t quite so opportune the next day when we got pulled over for real because of the rig. Seems even if you have all of your permits in place, it doesn’t mean you won’t still have to jump through more hoops once you’re on location.

            Heat was definitely a factor on this trip, as well. Turns out we chose one of the hottest weeks of the year to traipse around California. It’s not often we find ourselves playing nursemaid to the cameras with icepacks, but fortunately we were able to keep all of the equipment functioning properly by being proactive in dealing with the heat.

            We had some peculiar experiences on the shoot as well. Our Caddy was quite often mistaken for the Google car. Go figure! And we were once stopped by a group of protestors who walked out into the street as we drove up, blocking our way and swarming the car while chanting and waving their signs. We’re still not sure what they were protesting!

            So, what have we learned so far? Because of triggering problems, the RED One isn’t ideal for this type of shooting. Instead, the Scarlet is a much better choice. Running a car with five cameras and monitors takes a lot of power and creates a LOT of heat, so the car must be rigged with at least one extra battery. Bring more media storage than you think you’ll need, because there’s always one more shot you wish you could have gotten, if only you’d had the storage space. And, the best lesson we can pass on is to know the laws of the city and state you’re filming in before you set out.

            All in all both shoots were very successful. The footage is spectacular and we were able to capture a wide variety of locations, at different times of day and night. It’s true we started out wondering how we would ever make it through all of the twists and turns and giant potholes in the road. But in the end it was definitely worth the effort.

            Have you ever had a film shoot that got off to a rocky start and ended with amazing footage? We’d love to hear your experiences and how you overcame those speed bumps!

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              3D Morphing Superman Logo a tutorial by Maltaannon

              October 10, 2012 by 4 Comments

              Maltaannon created this new tutorial featuring Artbeats footage as the background cityscape with a cool morphing 3D Superman logo. He uses After Effects and ShapeShifter AE by Mettle.

              Learn more and watch the tutorial on Mettle’s website.

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                Filming Driving Plates: Before the Cameras Roll

                August 24, 2012 by 1 Comment

                Artbeats is getting a new perspective on shooting POV footage. 

                Artbeats is committed to bringing our customers footage that is difficult to shoot, and has high production value. Over the years we’ve received numerous requests for “driving plates”. We also recently spoke with the production staffs of several well-known network television studios and the consensus was the same; they need driving plates and they need them now!

                So what are driving plates? A driving plate is the moving scenery seen through the windows of a vehicle when the actors of a television show or film are “driving” somewhere.

                As we began researching driving plates footage, we discovered that very few companies sell footage that is shot simultaneously from every window of a car. In fact, those that do provide driving plates use only one or two cameras, making multiple passes down the road. Later, each view must be matched up by the production company and made to look as if shot during one single driving sequence. This can be a very difficult process because each pass will have different action, whether it’s traffic, pedestrians, or the location of the sun. Now that our research was done, we set out to tackle driving plates in true Artbeats fashion!

                View from the inside of the car traveling down the interstate with the cameras rolling. 

                Diane & Annette ready the Scarlet & Epic cameras on the custom mounting system for a drive through the streets of Portland, Oregon.

                We started out by testing different cars, mounting systems and cameras. We needed a smooth ride, a car that rode lower to the ground to allow for realistic height when the cameras were mounted, a mounting system that wouldn’t jeopardize our stabilization, and low-profile cameras that offer a high enough resolution for editors to select and crop to fit a particular scene.

                The round metal plate, attached to the rail system, allows the camera to be rotated at different angles without having to be detached each time.

                Scarlets attached to the back of the car to shoot the three-quarter angles.

                After months of testing, we settled on a 1996 Cadillac DeVille and had our own specially designed mounting system built. We chose an older car specifically for its heavier body, which had to be drilled through to attach the mounts. A monitor rail was built into the dash, and a heavy-duty specialty inverter was included to handle the extra electricity needed to run the five cameras, laptops, monitors, and switches. The electrical system also had to be totally waterproof, with cables and wires running through the body of the car and under the seats, rather than externally.

                The control center for the cameras.

                Phil uses the touch screen monitors to adjust camera settings from inside the car.

                We also chose RED’s Epic and Scarlet cameras. Both are high quality, low-profile, and very light-weight. An entire 9-angle set of driving plates can be filmed in only two passes down the road, which greatly reduces the time needed for matching up the views in post production. The Epic and Scarlet also provide the wider resolution needed for those situations when a second pass isn’t possible.

                Stay tuned as we take you along on our journey of shooting driving plates. You never know, you just might see the Artbeats camera car on the street in your city!

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                  Artbeats Volunteers at Camp Millennium: Filming A Summer Camp for Kids Dealing with Cancer

                  August 10, 2012 by Leave a Comment

                  By Diane Barrows, Artbeats Executive Assistant to Phil Bates

                  Artbeats has been privileged to be a part of a great industry for over 23 years. We’ve made a commitment to giving back to the community, not only through monetary donations, but also in sharing our time and resources. For the past few years, we’ve had the opportunity to volunteer as the official film crew for Camp Millennium.

                  Camp Millennium is a camp for kids who are dealing with cancer in some way. The camp runs a full week and there is no cost to the camper, as it is entirely funded by donations. I’ve been privileged to join Artbeats president, Phil Bates, in capturing footage and creating a DVD that replays the fun the kids experience during their week-long escape.

                  At the beginning of this shoot, we accepted the realization that we could not control the place, time of day, lighting, or action taking place. We would not be able to say, “Take two” to much of anything except the kids’ personal introductions, and we would not have time to fiddle with camera settings, lenses or such. So, our first obvious choice was about equipment. We chose a Sony EX-1s, a lightweight tripod, and a FigRig to make hand-held acceptably stable. We took a reflector, a zillion cards,  batteries, and a drive on which to copy the precious footage.

                  Camp M is currently held in the mountains directly above the beautiful Umpqua River in Southern Oregon. A windy dirt road makes its way up to large terraces where a gym, pool, playground, and eventually cabins and cafeteria are nestled among giant fir trees – beautiful surroundings that make for exhausting shooting as you rush up and down hills so as not to miss any activities going on at each location. The 95+ kids participate in swimming, archery, horseback riding, a ropes course and giant zip line, judo, recreation games, art, skits, a day of water games, a dance, campfires and fun meals, and a whole day is devoted to a marathon field trip that includes a trip to the movies, McDonalds, a day of Olympic style games, bowling and pizza. The shooting day begins (after prep, that is) at 8:00 am and ends whenever the last activity for the older kids winds up, usually around 10:30 or 11:00 pm.

                  The trick was to change our mindset from shooting stock video to capturing not only participation in the events, but the anticipation, struggle, joy, trepidation, fun, frivolity, and precious, tender moments that flow out of a week centered on these kids’ camping experience. Being alert at every moment for the little scenarios going on makes you aware that there is a camaraderie among kids with a common problem. They encourage each other to get on a horse or swim across the pool, shout for joy when a timid jumper finally lowers himself off the platform to zip down the hill, and stop dancing to sit with their friend who needs a treatment. They routinely visit the nurses’ station for meds, sometimes with their counselors who are previous campers themselves. They hug, sing, and cry with empathy over the death of friends, relatives, or fellow campers; are enthusiastic, silly, and appreciative. They make kind and appropriate fun of their cool counselors who are always “on stage” and model a looking-for-the good attitude. And, imagine this: they act like, well, kids.

                  It’s these moments that you can’t “do over,” so whether it’s magic hour lighting or pouring down rain, these snippets in time must be captured for DVD posterity. Our first year at camp, the staff told us numerous stories of campers who have to spend time in the hospital, often in lengthy stays, and how they watch their Camp M DVDs over and over, reliving a time when they just had fun with their friends. The DVD serves not only as a chronicle of the year’s activities, but a reminder of a week of escape. That knowledge fuels our dedication to retelling the camping story – to give them something to remember, relive, and look forward to.

                  This year, we brought our RED Epic camera along, as well. We limited its use for all the reasons we stated, and daily rain further limited the plan because we just didn’t want to deal with keeping it safe and dry. But a savvy camper/budding film student spotted it, recognized what it was and drooled heavily, encouraging Phil to take advantage of a couple of fun opportunities to bring it out for some slow-motion trickery. One day a downpour brought rain overflowing the cabin gutters, and several older kids volunteered to let the streams of water hit their faces. He also caught a walloping belly-flop by a counselor who created an enormous splash in the pool, and brought the camera out again during the games for events like parachute launching and sack races (races in slow-motion? That’s an oxymoron.) Another day a young animal-lover begged Phil to film her “snail circus,” and recognizing this important gift from a child, he dutifully set up a camera and filmed her lovely snails, up close and personal, much to her delight. But the coups de gras was the short introduction to the Epic camera and some on-hands experience for that budding student, a moment he’ll never forget. And neither will Phil.

                  What Artbeats hopes to give the campers of Camp Millennium is a fun-filled, tender, hilarious DVD shot and edited by a professional cinematographer who adjusted his focus for a week and who truly cares about a bunch of campers he may never see again in this life.

                  Somehow the many adults who generously donate their time, effort, energy, and money to a worthy cause create a week of joyous escape for those to whom life has been unfair. What does Artbeats get from our donation? A new lens through which to appreciate the world, and you can’t put a dollar figure on that.

                  Learn more about Camp Millennium.

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                    Storm Chasing from the Air

                    July 9, 2012 by 1 Comment

                    By Phil Bates, Artbeats President & Founder

                    Weather is an important subject for Artbeats, especially storms and severe weather, which are popular subjects with our customers. We’re always looking for innovative ways to capture the drama of large supercells, and even a tornado if we can find one. Our latest effort is a relatively new idea we call Aerial Chasing. Storm chasing is typically done in a vehicle firmly planted on the ground in relative safety, but has limitations such as bad roads and obstacles like trees, hills and buildings that make capturing good images so challenging. Taking the concept of chasing storms up into the air where those limitations don’t exist has rarely been done (and never with a high end film camera) and is a dream for storm chasers, yet poses its own set of challenges and risks. Dangerous hail, wind shear and extreme turbulence all require serious consideration. The FAA recommends that small planes stay 20 miles away from thunderstorms, and flying into a storm can easily destroy a plane in minutes (imagine no visibility, vertical winds and tennis ball sized hail), so we approached this idea with extreme caution.

                    The GPS display shows our position relative to the storm.

                    Last December, storm chaser and weather expert, Skip Talbot approached me with an idea to aerial-chase storms this May, the height of tornado season. His pilot, Caleb Elliott, is an extremely experienced commercial pilot, flight instructor and storm chaser.  As the time approached, we worked up a plan to meet in Kansas City, setting aside five days for chasing with a rented Cessna 182 to fly close to and film tornado-warned supercellular thunderstorms.

                    Caleb Elliott, Phil Bates and Skip Talbot in front of the Cessna 182.

                    Caleb Elliot preparing the flight plan.

                    Skip Talbot using radar to forecast in real time (now-casting).

                    My biggest concern was not the safety issues, but how to shoot stable images from a small plane in the turbulence near a storm. Acquiring a gyrostabilized system was not an option in this case, so after taking several test flights and trying various hand-held and mounting configurations, I settled on using a monopod wedged between the seat and the door, with foam rubber cushioning all of the contact points. The RED Epic camera was small and light enough for this setup. Our tests showed that a CANON 24-105 Image Stabilized lens gave the best focal range for this application. I knew that rolling shutter and vibration could still be a problem so I shot 5K format at 96fps, then stabilized in post using After Effects, with the extra frames to blend/hide the vibrations. Not a perfect solution, but good enough for this shoot which we considered a big experiment.

                    Flying towards typical storms in clear air, the plane would bounce with turbulence from thermals coming off the sun-heated fields beneath us. Fortunately, the anvil of a thunderstorm casts a large shadow, especially when you are on the east side of the storm in late afternoon. The shadow cooled the ground and gave us steady air with no thermals.  This is not to say that there was no wind; the updraft of a supercell thunderstorm creates a hefty 60mph wind that was constantly pulling us toward the storm’s core. Fortunately, our plane could fly twice that fast, so anytime we wanted, we could escape fairly easily.  We found that if we stayed under the anvil within 2-5 miles southeast of the storm’s core, the air remained steady and was free of rain and the destructive hail we were trying to avoid.  Skip was in the back seat monitoring the storm with radar and feeding the pilot with distances to hail cores and updrafts. If we found turbulent wind shear, we simply turned back to the smoother air we had just come from. This method kept us safe, yet we were close enough to see the violent storm structure looming close and large out our windows.

                    Despite the relatively smooth air, shooting the storm through an open window of a Cessna was a fairly chaotic experience. The lens protruded outside into the 100mph wind, which was so strong it was constantly trying to twist the focal length ring on the lens. I had to use gaff tape to hold it and the focus ring in place, but even then, the tape would buckle under the extreme forces. The vibrations would loosen the quick-release plate which required me to pull the camera off and tighten every minute or so. In order to keep the strut and wing out of the shot, I had the pilot carefully position the direction of the plane and lift the wing.

                    During the five days, we chased three different tornado-warned supercells in North Dakota and Kansas, and got some amazing footage. Although we didn’t get the coveted tornado shot, we did shoot some interesting structures including this mile-wide rotating dust storm:

                    We had to abandon the above storm for fuel after two hours of shooting. Wouldn’t you know, the storm produced a tornado 15 minutes after we left!

                    All in all it was an exciting, fun, albeit tumultuous shoot. In the months to come Artbeats will be producing a selection of this footage and making it available on our website.

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