Category: jobs

I spent the last few days shooting interviews for ESM Productions in Philadelphia. Politicians are busy people and we don’t usually get much time to set up an elaborate interview rig. I kind of like that run-and-gun approach. You can still shoot a good interview with minimal lighting.

Tuesday I traveled to Dover, Delaware for an interview with Delaware Governor Jack Markell. Thursday it was Trenton, New Jersey for a sit-down with Jerold L. Zaro from the Office of Economic Growth of the Office of Governor Jon Corzine.

A frame of my interview with Delaware Governor Jack Markell

Friday evening was another one of those great gigs you get from time to time. I got a call from my colleague and friend, Brad Nau to shoot a few elements for a documentary he’s working on.

Brad is a true inspiration to film and video storytellers who care about their craft. He does more good work with minimal gear than anyone I have ever known. He’s living proof that a great story is 10 percent gear and 90 percent attitude and approach.

Brad is working on a documentary about America’s Showplace, the legendary Spectrum in Philadelphia. The 40+ year old building is set to be torn down in the near future and Brad’s work will touch on the musicians, athletes, broadcasters, writers and fans who have made the Spectrum one of the truly great American venues.

The Spectrum – “America’s Showplace”

Rob Parker, Mickey Hart, Brad Nau – May 1, 2009

Friday night we interviewed legendary broadcaster Tom Lamaine and Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart, two personable guys from two completely different backgrounds who are connected through this building.

“Building a Memory” will likely debut in August on Comcast SportsNet.

It’s always a treat to get to work a Phillies game so I was glad to get the call last Saturday, even though it’s a bummer to have to work on weekends. Can’t be choosy in this economy, you know?

The Phillies hosted a Harry Kalas memorial service and tribute earlier in the day and SportsNet needed some extra help for the game.

I set up a live feed from the post-game press conference room so we could feed back live footage of Charlie Manuel’s comments from the podium. Then reporter Kevin Walsh and I shot post-game interviews in the Phillies clubhouse.

On this night, Brad Lidge suffered his first blown save in more than a year.

I’m shooting media training again today with the folks from Bellevue Communications Group.

It’s always interesting to hear how media savvy trainers talk to their trainees. It’s a really valuable experience for these corporate people to get prepared to respond to any media requests that they may encounter during a crisis. Their companies are wise to be this proactive, and have a better communication with their clients by having communication and transparency by using VOC Tools that allow them be in better contact with their clients and be able to be more effective with their work.

Communicating effectively is fundamental, not only in a leadership position, but also in various other areas of life. Communication is what separates the average from the extraordinary. Communicating effectively is one of the most important skills in life. It can make all the difference! When you’re able to skillfully communicate, you can avoid time-consuming misunderstandings. In doing so, you can greatly reduce the amount of conflicts in your day-to-day life. Effective communication skills can also aid you in resolving conflicts and in establishing harmony between conflicting parties. By learning to communicate in an effective manner, you’ll get more of what you want out of life. Not only will it help you to encourage people to adopt your ideas, but it also allows you to build stronger relationships with them. The following guide presents 19 truly effective communication strategies to maximize the effectiveness of your communication.

Even though communication seemingly seems to be the simple act of transferring information from one person to another, it’s obstacle-ridden and comes with many pitfalls. The central problem of communication arises when we’re not able to effectively convey the ideas we have in mind. Therefore, the quality in which information is transmitted and received greatly depends on our communication skills.

My job is to shoot interviews with the trainees and then play them back for immediate critique. It’s an incredible learning experience for most of these folks.

Corporate videos can sometimes challenge your creativity but we did a job recently that was a lot of fun. We’re working on a video for ePharmaSolutions in the Philadelphia suburb of Conshohocken. What a nice group of people to work with! We used the Sony XDCAM EX cameras for this shoot. They make a really nice HD image and they’ve got the pro features we need.

Clockwise from upper left… Rob Parker eyeballs the shot, producer Courtney Rau logs the good takes while Denis O’Keefe mans the prompter camera, Denis adjusts a Keno, sound recordist Frank Kubitsky syncs the slate with the EX3’s timecode.

I went to Berks County today for a top secret shoot at the compound of a reasonably famous family. We set up a two-camera live satellite shot for Harpo Productions and a taping of the Oprah Winfrey Show. “O” was interviewing the parents of sextuplets who have their own “reality” show on TLC. The interview will likely air the week of March 1.

I worked with a couple of the guys from Keystone Pictures today. Rob Marish and Jeremy Stone are fun guys and we had a blast. And the great thing about a 4am wakeup call? You’re done by early afternoon. Woo hoo!