But nowadays, HD is the buzzword that is pretty much on everyone’s mind.  On the shoot or in the edit the question is always, “Is it HD?”  And of course, like everything in this business, there are a gluttony of flavors of HD video.  There’s 720p, 1080i, 1080p, … then you’ve got your frame rates:  23.98, 24, 29.97, 30, 59.94, 60 … and is it field-based or frame-based?

Not to mention the cameras … how about the EX-1 or the EX-3?  The XDCam or the HDCam? How about a Zi8 or a Canon 5D?  Or better yet … how about my iPhone?  It shoots HD, too.  (sorry RED, can’t mention you since you’re 2K or 4K)

But what makes the world of HD so much MORE confusing is the fact that our entire world has adopted the term “HD” or “High Definition” in the marketing and selling of various products … some very interesting and unique products at that.

Before getting into the list, I would first like to perform a writing ‘no-no’, while irritating all of my past English teachers and professors, and quote a definition from Webster.  The definition of High Definition according to him:

There it is … as simple as that … it’s a TV thing.  So why then have so many adopted this term to help sell their products?  Do they really think slapping HD on their products will make them more appealing?  Are their products better because of it?  Well, let’s see if any of the following products are more appealing to you than their SD or ‘standard definition’ counterparts.  A few minutes on the web and here’s a short list that I found.  There is:

HD Digital Radio, High Definition Audio … close to video at least

How about High Definition Wax for your car?  Not bad in a crash …  High Definition Roofing Shingles?  High Definition Rubber Tiles for the floor?  Or an HD Door? HD Paint for your walls?  There’s even High Definition Sports Turf Paint!  Talk about home field advantage …

HD is also big in the make-up world … HD Nail Color, HD Mascara and HD Powder … they do use make-up for TV, so I guess that’s OK …

There’s HD Sunglasses, HD Lasers and HD Fireplaces.  There’s HD Signs, HD Body Nutrition, HD Packaging and HD Heat Transfer Labels … there’s even HD FolkArt!

Any buyers out there?  And that’s just the short list … I’m sure there’s a lot more and if you find any, let me know …

For now, suffice it to say that HD is here to stay, not just on TV, but everywhere you look …

Crystal Pix was the post-production facility for this one hour original documentary narrated by Academy Award winner Philip Seymour Hoffman and co-produced by WXXI and Eastman School of Music.

Restoring a Masterpiece: The Renovation of the Eastman Theatre premieres Tuesday, June 1 at 8 p.m. and again at 9:30 p.m. on WXXI-TV (DT 21.1/cable 1011 and 11).

Restoring a Masterpiece: The Renovation of the Eastman Theatre, co-produced by WXXI and Eastman School of Music, is a one-hour documentary that captures the fascinating story of the Eastman Theatre and documents its recent restoration. Narrated by Rochester native, actor and director Philip Seymour Hoffman, the film includes historic photographs, film, and video – including live performances from the Eastman School of Music and the RPO among others.

Restoring a Masterpiece: The Renovation of the Eastman Theatre was edited by Crystal Pix

Rochester’s Eastman Theatre was built as a silent movie theatre in the years just before “talkies” changed the entire movie going experience. Yet “The Eastman,” as it is known locally, fulfilled a vision to be a center for arts and culture for the City of Rochester. It became home to a prominent music school and philharmonic orchestra. It launched careers, hosted stars, and stood the test of time. With its major renovation completed, the new Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre is poised to be a jewel in the crown of a new downtown Rochester.

Shot in high-definition, the one-hour documentary showcases the intricate renovation of a building that is itself a work of art. At the same time, it tells the story of the intertwined histories of the Eastman School of Music and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO), and demonstrates how a building can have a new life in the restoration of an historic downtown.

Production funding for Restoring a Masterpiece is provided by The Pike Company, PAETEC, Louise Epstein, and Keith and Betsy Wilson.

http://explore.paychex.com/

Recently, Paychex came to us with an idea for a video that needed to play within a new microsite that they were launching.  Actually, it was 3 videos, 2 of which needed to play simultaneously.

The first video was a short introduction video that required 1 shot only … a man in a chair sitting next to a big graphic, who then proceeds to get up and move toward the camera, crossing the graphic and ends up head to toe on the left side of the frame … a big shot, for sure.  To accomplish this, we of course, needed green screen, but also a big space to shoot.  We chose to shoot at the new Young Lions Studios, with the help of Mammoth Production Packages for the RED camera equipment and some studio lighting.  It was great space to accommodate the opening shot and had plenty of facilities to keep all the crew, agency and everyone comfortable and happy (thanks, Alex!)  Dan, the main character, walks you through the intro video and the rest of the site.

Young Lion Studios' Largest Stage

The main video consisted of Dan, who is now Chair Dan, looking at Dan, himself, in an inset video window.  There’s interaction between Chair Dan and Dan and 2 Paychex representatives.  Again, green screen, with a ‘wall’ that the characters can lean on.

Chair Dan looks at ... well, himself!

Needless to say, it was a great job, a lot of fun and a great end product … of course, thanks to everyone on the Crystal Pix and Paychex team and a special thanks to The Talent Group for making it happen.  Check out the site:

http://explore.paychex.com

The Paychex Gang: Matt, Ashley, Scott, Joni and Darlene

Tracy Moran hard at work with the RED camera

Okay, so we had some fun!

In this age of airport and airline security, it can be difficult to gain the full access you need to shoot a product video on an airplane with all the crew, equipment, lighting, talent, extras and props that you need.  So what do you do in that scenario?  You create the interior of a 737 yourself (with the help of many others).  Anne Mills from our office found the seats and the walls … a refurbishing company that has a bunch of airplane parts.  Then, Chuck Moran and Eric McMaster put it all together at Powerhouse 27 Studios (thanks, Carol!) in Rochester, NY.

Terri Cubiotti from Mason Selkowitz Marketing brought in all the talent and props for the product video, the iGo Portable Oxygen System, which is small to fit underneath the seat in front of you on an airplane (and yes, it’s FAA-approved).

A 1/2 day of production and some post-work and you’ve got yourself a first class airplane video (of course, I think our airplane had a bit more leg room than your standard airline).

http://www.igopoc.com/images/stories/flash/airlinevid.html

Crystal Pix partnered with Matt Ehlers at Eggwork Productions to do the writing and Eric McMaster at McMaster Productions for production support.

What followed were a few crazy days of brainstorming, writing, shooting and visual effects to create the final pieces. Here are a few behind the scenes pictures from the production as well as links to the final videos. Enjoy!

Behind the Scenes of the Western Shootout

Western Scene prior to Visual FX

Creating the Egg-Timer Clock Tower

Setting up the Dining Room Scene for Romantic Montage

Glueing props into place for the Hospital scene

Airport Scene prior to Visual FX

Setting up the opening dolly shot for the Horror scene

See all the entries at: http://www.youtube.com/360365shorts#p/c/D00028754991CD04

One of my favorite documentaries was The Human Experience, a great concept film about two young brothers trying to find their place in life.  Another film, shot close to home was Pound Cake, written by and starring Troy Hall and Kevin Logie, plus many other great actors (including Kathleen Quinlan and Jay O. Sanders).  Definitely a laugh-out-loud type of film and since it’s set in Buffalo, NY in the 1980′s … how can you go wrong?

Of course, the main reason we were there was to showcase our documentary, Signs of the Time, which was very well received by a crowd of over 100 people.  We also made it to the Final Four of nominations in the category of Best American Documentary.  Though we didn’t walk away winners, we felt pretty good about our experience in Rome and I look forward to the opportunity of making it back there again.  Thanks Harry and Laura!

So with the help of Matt Ehlers from eggwork.com and Brian Aloisio’s ProTools expertise, here’s our pitch…

If you like it please vote on the Atom.com website and tell all your friends.

If you think it sucks and it’s the stupidest thing you’ve ever seen…well you might be right, but… just watch it alot of times anyway and tell all your friends. Just forget to vote.

We’ll see in the upcomings weeks how we did!

Anne, Rob, Jim Hughes, and I all played together on a team against Ray, Don, Caroline, and Dave Conyer. They reluctantly gave us 6 strokes as we were playing a scramble format match. If you ask me, this was clearly unfair. Despite the fact that I play in the Crystal Pix golf league, I have an abysmally high handicap as do Anne and Jim. This of course didn’t stop me from declaring to everyone that my group would reign supreme. The way I see it, if it’s gonna be a competition there may as well be trash talk.

A photo of the whole gang from the 2nd hole.

The day started off well…

I got to the course on time. Mr. Hughes brought the fixins for the coffee. And, we were dead even as we headed off to start on hole 2.

Then we played a sport called golf…

My first shot of the day actually went backwards because it ricocheted off a tree. The rest of the day went largely in this fashion. Anne was hitting home run balls off the tee so we managed to escape largely unscathed. But alas, the course at Greystone proved to be too much of a challenge for our golf skills.

The highlight of the day was having birthday cake on the tee at the 6th hole. I can’t say that I’ve ever done that before! As we came around the corner from hole 5, I actually thought that we had caught up to Ray, Don, Caroline, and Dave. I was anxious to see them hit off the tee there because it was the closest to the pin hole. Much to my surprise the actual reason they were still there waiting was to sing happy birthday to me! A big thanks to Katelin Ryan and Adrienne Cavallaro for arranging to have the cake waiting for us at hole 6.

A photo from the 6th hole with cake!

Despite the fact that it felt like it was 110 degrees and we were playing golf, we all had a great time at the tournament. I think we can all agree that we had an even better time afterwords eating dinner and participating in the silent auction. We’ll certainly be lined up and ready to go next year.

For the record:
We lost by 3 strokes despite having been given 6 strokes and purchasing 16 mulligans. At least the mulligan money went to a good cause.

Corn … miles and miles of corn.  The plane’s 200 feet off the ground and I still see corn.  Yeah, you guessed it.  There’s a lot of corn in Iowa.

But anyways, our documentary, Signs of the Time hit the road with it’s first out of New York State film festival, the Hardacre Film Festival of Tipton, IA.  Don Casper (the director of Signs of the Time) and I went to check out the films, meet some filmmakers and enjoy some great Iowa hospitality (there was a lot of that!)

We even had a couple hours to check out the Bob Feller Museum.  Bob grew up in Iowa and since he was in our film, we thought it was appropriate to visit.

The festival, run by Will Valet and an incredible staff had about 30 films within 2 days at the classic Hardacre Theater.  We met the filmmakers behind two of the documentaries there.  Joe Wilson’s Out in the Silence challenges us to close the gaps that divide us as a human race.  Pride of Lions is a story about Sierra Leone, a country and its people brutalized by an 11-year civil war, as they look to move beyond their scars.  Both films had a great story to tell and they did it well.  Box of tissues, please!  Not for me … for Don.

On a lighter note, we saw a great feature, Breaking Upwards … with a cast that directs, edits and writes their own songs!  That’s Indie production!

Signs of the Time was also well received by the audience and there was a Q&A session after the film.  It’s always great to hear people come up to you and say, “You know, I’m not really a baseball fan, but I really loved your movie!”

Hardacre is just the beginning of a long list of festivals that we’ll be going to this summer and fall.  I hope they’re as enjoyable as this one in the heart of corn country.

By the way … I never did get any sweet corn!