A fun short film "The Maternal Triangle"
We really enjoy filming, we had a down Sunday from filming and editing. What did we decide to do? We made a few phone calls to friends and asked if they wanted to do a short film. The friends were Playboy model Tilly Mcreese, Penthouse Model Zoe West and Detalus/house of card actor Elliott Lyles. It’s cool when people just want to do stuff for fun. We shot this short film and edited in four hours (Elliott actually drove from Atlanta that morning and was running behind..lol). It was funny because I kept blowing up his phone asking “where are you? where are you!!???” He never let me know that he was driving up from ATL until he arrived, wow I felt bad. I love working with these guys as they know there stuff and everything was complexity off the cuff. Cool Beans. Take a look at the pictures and watch the short film. It’s cool, fun, and funny. It was written by my Boy and neighbor (ironically) Caryle Chalmers.
Watch and Enjoy the film at the bottom!
Overview;
The Maternal Triangle written by Carlyle Chalmers. A man is introduced to his girlfriend's mother only to find he has unknowingly been dating the daughter of his ex-lover. Old feelings begin to resurface when he reencounters his old flame. With House of cards and Werewolf Actor : Ellitt Lyles, Playboy Model Tilly McRess and Penthouse Model Zoe West. Directed by MJR.
The Maternal Triangle Short Film from MJRVisuals on Vimeo.
ENG or Electronic News Gathering.
ENG or Electronic News Gathering. We recently won a contract to provide weekly ENG service for a international news channel. I always talk about our “workhorses”; the c100s show how truly versatile they are. We have filmed short films, features, commercials and now broadcast material. Amazing!
The first week it was stressful, as we shoot either breaking news or scheduled interviews. Just learning the flow of the production was interesting. We meet with the producers weekly, receive the schedule of interviews, go to location, film, edit and return a finished product (actually 3 products) same day.
Now when your a boutique video production company, boutique means small and understanding time is critical is extremely important. The news agency is a contract and we still shoot commercial, conferences, film, etc but this is truly an interesting experience and something that we will expand on in the future. See some of the photos below!
Malcholm - mjrvisuals.
Video Production Instagram
The key to marketing on social media platforms is knowing your audience and where they spend their time. For example, Pinterest has a mostly female demographic, and Twitter leans more toward men. For today, were going to talk all about Instagram.
Instagram launched in October of 2010 and was created by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger. It was quickly acquired by Facebook in April of 2012 for 1 billion dollars, back when the platform only had 100 million active users. Recorded December of this year, Instagram has over 300 million active users.
Instagram set itself apart, initially, with its polaroid picture model. Pictures that users take are square like a polaroid picture, which is unique since mobile devices take pictures in a 4:3 aspect ratio. Along with this unique aspect, crowds flock to Instagram for the filters. Users can snap, edit and create their own unique photo and feel like professional photographers with just a couple touches. Now, Instagram has expanded its capabilities to video, as well.
So, who and what is on Instagram? The Instagram demographic is approximately two-thirds women and one-third men, and sources say that most of them are under 35. Popular uses of Instagram include food photography and travel photography, but of course, it is great for anyone who loves taking and creating unique photos.
If you're just getting started on Instagram, there is no need to fret.
One great thing about Instagram is that you can upload photos, along with taking them in Instagram. You can put an Instagram spin on any photo!
When you're marketing on Instagram, the key to efficiency and relevancy is in the tools that you use. Luckily, there is an extremely selection for all of your needs, either at low cost or free.
Tools like PicMonkey and Canva help you create your picture masterpieces and add text overlaying to communicate a message. To measure your photo and video success, you'll need an analytics platform, such as iconosquare.com, which also has a variety of other capabilities for Instagram. When it comes to discovering what images and hashtags are popular for your audience, you can use a tool like quickagram.com to find recently posted and popular photos, based on hashtags, and then head over to Tagboard to claim ownership of your hashtag. If you're unfamiliar with hashtags, they can be used to describe an event, interest, brand, fad or another descriptor.
One of the most underutilized capabilities of Instagram is video. Experts say videos will be utilized in 2015 to catch the short attention span and fit a long message in a short amount of time. There are also free tools that speed up videos to squeeze even more into that short period.
If you're interested in utilizing video for Instagram, contact MJR Visuals to head up your video project today!
Producing News for Broadcast
We recently secured a contract to film for a international news agency. Weekly we are on location filming breaking news and highlight news to then record, edit, produce and send. Amazing. This week we covered the MLK wreath laying. It was great to be able to interview the Homeland Security Security (one on one and no that is not me in the picture) as well as the Mayor - very cool. I like doing extra things and since I started as a photographer I decided to take pictures as well.
Blippar - Print Advertising reloaded?
One business has drastically changed advertising and customer relationships - Blippar, an augmented reality mobile app and advertising platform.
According to the app's description in the Google Play Store, Blippar is the world's leading augmented reality and image recognition app. In the Play Store, it has achieved 500,000 downloads, but it may have some kinks to work out, according to some reviews. Its average review rating in the Google Play Store is 3.2 and 3.0 in the Apple Store. Nevertheless, this app is reaching new levels.
Gone are the days when QR codes appear everywhere we go. Welcome to the future - blipping. Blippar defines the word blipp as "the action of instantaneously converting anything in the real world into an interactive wow experience."
Blippar and advertisers team up to give app users movie trailers, videos, 3D animation, exciting games, virtual photobooths, exclusive content, chances to win prizes and more.
For advertisers, Blippar offers a chance to give customers more than what meets the eye and a chance to strengthen customer relationships. For users, Blippar offers an interactive shopping experience, by transforming regular products and displays, and in turn the "normal" shopping experience, whether it be in-store or online.
More than a mobile app, it is a new age information system. It is a great way for people to connect with and get to know their favorite brands and businesses. I believe that this is just the beginning of exciting new possibilities in advertising.
I invite you to check out the company’s website - blippar.com and go to their YouTube channel to see some of the amazing blipps created by some of your very favorite companies, publications and more. Your tablet and mobile devices are now a passageway into a whole new dimension.
Video blipps are one of the many ways that you can connect with your customers on Blippar. If you are interested in learning more from a dynamic video production team, contact MJR Visuals today.
MJRvisuals is a video production and media solutions company. We provide creative and imaginative visuals solutions for your marketing and advertising projects.
Wedding Trends
Whether your wedding is this Spring, Summer, Fall or Winter, it’s no longer 2014, so don’t get stuck with last year’s trends. They are all over Pinterest, Facebook and every other social media platform.
To make sure you’re kept in the know, here are some trends we are seeing for 2015:
Drama
In 2015, bigger is better. Bigger flowers, larger displays and more decoration. LED-lit signs, ceiling decorations, and more. No empty spaces will be left behind.
Creative Drinks
Do-it-yourself and create-your-own drinks continue to be hot. Traditional drinks will always have their place, but in 2015, wedding guests will enjoy innovative cocktails and drink stands that stray away from traditional wedding classics.
Themes
Themed parties are a blast, so why keep the themes out of one of the biggest parties of your life? Create a once-in-a-lifetime experience for you and your guests with costume contests and themed decorations.
What’s your favorite trend for 2015 so far?
Make the moment special with Wedding Videography by MJR Visuals. Our goal is to make your special day last a lifetime. Contact us today to learn more about our services.
Aputure AL 528 W LED Light Review
Today I am going to review the Aputure AL 528 W LED Light.
Why am I reviewing this light honestly because when i’m location and I run into other videographers they alway ask me, hey where did you get the light, Does it get hot, are they heavy, does it flicker, and how much does it cost? I normally have to reply in short concise singular words, Amazon, no, not really, nope, and cheap. When I do a review I like to talk about the function-ability of the product, I always say I’m self financed but I say that because I want you to understand that before I buy anything I read reviews, look at the specs and gather as much information as possible before I lay down any money because equipment is hard to purchase regularly and I understand that. Before buying these LEDs, I looked at a number of similar products. They ranged from the higher end models to the lower end models. What I was finding out is that LEDs that were more expensive were possibly a better build but offered the same light exposure while LEDs that were on the lower end tended to have less exposure and at the same time be less durable. The Apture 528 LED was perfect for me. I do a lot of on location or run and gun style shooting. I of course shoot corporate interviews with them but I have shot music videos, short films, broadcasted commercials, I have even used them for green screen application that is currently running on air. I found that the usage of these are actually limitless, well almost don’t shoot super slow motion because they do flicker with the higher frame counts.
Lets jump into it, Aputure lists these LEDs as being 9.4 inches by 7.5 inches by 1.3 inches and they weigh 1.2 pounds. They come in a black carrying case that holds of course the light with a shade, the wires and a tripod adaptor. The unit turns on with a switch and it tells you the percentage of power it’s using for the LED. That’s enough on specs any more detail you can find it out their web, war you can’t find is, dose it work. Pluses for the light is it’s extremely portable. It comes with a decent looking black bag that can hold the light and it’s tools, there is even room to put some extra stuff in there just in case you need it. Aperture gives you the option to run the LEDs off of ion batteries . Now there are other LEDs that allow you to run off one battery but with these you do need to use two batteries per light but that’s a small price to pay for the longevity. In any case I would rather have to much power then not enough. I have used it on batteries alone for up to 6 hours with no issue. You just have to make sure that the batteries are completely charged and that’s another great thing about this light it shows you the charge power you have left before it goes out. The light gives you the option of mounting either horizontal or vertical which allows you to change the shape of the light being emitted. Is it bright. Yes. When using it for a two person interview I have a three light set up and have the ability to set my camera be it the DSLR or Canon c100 at a 160 or 320 ISO respectively with a 5.6 aperture. No shadow no dark spots. . I do have 8 of them just because of the versatility and the price point make it a great investment for the mobile videographer….