Chevron employee being interviewed by George Spyros with DP Rob Featherstone monitoring the recording.

DP Rob Featherstone breaks down the shoot…

For our recent Big City Pictures shoot we were presented with a little challenge. The assignment was simply to shoot several “screen test” interviews of potential representatives who would appear on screen on behalf of Chevron. However, we simply felt that setting the subject against the standard out of focus plant or blurry window would do neither the subject nor our film making interests any justice. For example, this shot on the right which someone did for another Chevron project in the very same room with the subject in front of the window.

On the day of the scout we looked at several locations on the corporate campus. We were met once more with the disparity between what seems like a great location to shoot an interview and the reality of the demands of video shooting; namely the depth and breadth of the location that is required for interesting composition and lighting.

Today’s conference room has an enormous table that is hard wired for communications and cannot be moved. In addition, these particular conference rooms had windows but the windows had seams in them so they did not provide an unobstructed view of the outside. While these affects are perfect for a conference they are an obstruction to composing a frame for an interview.

So wondering what to do we noticed there was one wall that was translucent in nature and took on an unusual appearance when we put lights upon it. We determined that shooting into this glass wall would provide a more compelling backdrop than either the potted plant option or the outside view.

The frosted, glass wall from the outside looking in.

As the final project is to be projected on an enormous screen, we wanted high definition video. George loves slow motion so also wanted a camera that could shoot at variable frame rates. The camera that met our demands and was available was the Panasonic HPX 500. We also wanted to work with selective focus so the standard zoom onto the 2/3 inch chip was out of the question. We added the PS Technik Pro 35 adapter and a set of Arri ultra primes to the order. We rented this equipment from Chater Camera in Berkeley, California.

Here’s the 85mm Arri Zeiss Ultra Prime:

And this is the 135mm Arri Zeiss Ultra Prime:

Achieving the look of the background proved a little tricky as the key light was highlighting the seals between pieces of glass in the wall creating two, bright white vertical lines on either side of the subject’s head. We needed to blend the values of the background and key so that they would match and blow out into white. Also, we needed to carefully position the camera and set our stop to create just the right amount of shallow depth of field so that the vertical lines would disappear into blur.
___________________________________________________________________________
Our lighting package consisted of small hmi’s that can be plugged into house power and a couple of kino flos. We left the lights and camera day light balanced as there was a fair amount of ambient light (especially with regards to the translucent wall).

The key light was a joker bug 800 with a medium chimera with 2 layers of diffusion and an egg crate. We supplemented this with a 2 foot four bank kino flo from below the lens. For fill we used a 4 x 4 bead board and the back edge was a 4 foot four bank kino flo.

To create the effect on the back ground wall our gaffer, Darrel Flowers did an amazing job of finding the prefect spot for the Arri 1200 watt par plus and cutting the light down to just the right shape.

The Joker Bug 800 on the opposite side of the conference table.

Key Grip Jimmy Stewart rigs the showcard gag.

Camera Tech & Sound Jay Farrington sits in as the background effect is tweaked for camera.

For a little motion on the b-roll shots, we used our Hollywood Microdolly with straight track. Here’s a little push in shot at 60 fps:

Chevron Shanghai Expo Team BCP

McGarryBowen Agency

George Spyros, Executive Producer / Director

Rob Featherstone, Director of Photography

Darrel Flowers, Gaffer

Jay Farrington, Camera Tech

Jimmy Stewart, Key Grip

Jenny Zielon, Hair & Make-up

Ryan Velasquez, Editor

Chevron at Shanghai Expo 2010

We Did It: Chevron Headquarters Shoot

BCP Tapped: Chevron Screentest Shoot

Clients & Partners: Chevron

Big City's Work for McGarryBowen Agency

Lobster Roll Wins Guinness World Record with Kraft Miracle Whip

Kraft Miracle Whip Lobster Roll Spot :60

Kraft Miracle Whip Lobster Roll Spot :15

Maya Angelou 2008 Olympic Poem "Amazement Awaits"

Marriott In-Room Video

Reebok Fit - Inspirational Video

Reebok Fit - Follow-Up Inspirational Video

Reebok Sports Brand: The Sport of Lifestyle

Maya Angelou Libraries Greeting

Marriott: Driven Campaign Behind The Scenes

Chevron Shanghai Expo 2010

Verizon Wireless B2B Talent Interviews

Chase Blueprint Talent Interviews

JPMC Community Development Banking Spots

Chevron Shanghai Expo 2010 Gear

Panasonic HPX 500 Digital P2 Card HD Video Camera

PS Technik Pro 35 Adapter

Zeiss T1.9 Ultra Primes by Arri

Panasonic P2 Card

Duel Adapter PCMCIA Card to ExpressCard

Microdolly Hollywood: Basic Dolly Kit (Video)

G-Technology G-Drive 2TB/7200RPM

Joker Bug 800

Kino Flo 2ft. 4 Bank 4 Tube Fluorescent Light

Marshall 7-inch HD Component / Composite LCD on-board monitor

Final Cut Pro Non-Linear Editing System

Global Snapshot
• Second-largest integrated energy company in the United States and among the largest corporations in the world, based on market capitalization as of December 31, 2008
• Business activities in more than 100 countries
• Global workforce consists of approximately 62,000 employees and about 5,000 service station employees.
• Capital and exploratory expenditures – Invested $22.8 billion in 2008; announced 2009 outlays of $22.8 billion, with continued focus on exploration and production and upgrades to the refinery network.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Chevron at Shanghai Expo 2010

We Did It: Chevron Headquarters Shoot

BCP Tapped: Chevron Screentest Shoot

Clients & Partners: Chevron

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

2009 Agency of the Year McGarryBowen has hired BCP to send a crew over to Chevron headquarters in San Ramon, California.

Chevron at Shanghai Expo 2010

We Did It: Chevron Headquarters Shoot

BCP Tapped: Chevron Screentest Shoot

Clients & Partners: Chevron

Big City's Work for McGarryBowen Agency

Lobster Roll Wins Guinness World Record with Kraft Miracle Whip

Kraft Miracle Whip Lobster Roll Spot :60

Kraft Miracle Whip Lobster Roll Spot :15

Maya Angelou 2008 Olympic Poem "Amazement Awaits"

Marriott In-Room Video

Reebok Fit - Inspirational Video

Reebok Fit - Follow-Up Inspirational Video

Reebok Sports Brand: The Sport of Lifestyle

Maya Angelou Libraries Greeting

Marriott: Driven Campaign Behind The Scenes

Chevron Shanghai Expo 2010

Verizon Wireless B2B Talent Interviews

Chase Blueprint Talent Interviews

JPMC Community Development Banking Spots

Jack Johnson, the parent, talks about preserving the natural world for future generations. Watch the TreeHugger Hi Definition video.

::GREEN DEETS::
In the fall of 2003, Jack Johnson became the 50th member of 1% For The Planet. Johnson’s 2005 release of In Between Dreams became the first album to carry the 1% label and his 2005 world tour promoted the 1% For The Planet mission and brand and helped to launch the organization. Today 1% For The Planet is a growing global movement of 768 companies that donate 1% of their sales to a network of more than 1,500 environmental organizations worldwide. In the process, these companies pave the way for more corporate responsibility in the business community.

::LISTEN TO THE SINGLE If I Had Eyes::

::LINKS::
1% For The Planet
TreeHugger’s How to Green Your Water
TreeHugger’s Green Basics: Composting
TreeHugger on rain barrels
here, here & here.
Planet Green Food & Health
Official Jack Johnson website
Making It Mellow and Keeping It Green NYT

::TRANSCRIPT::
Jack Johnson: As a father I definitely do. But even before that I was an uncle. My brothers had kids before me. I’ve always kind of felt like a dad in a way because we have a little village atmosphere going. So it’s been years now that I kind of felt that thing of making sure that you are leaving the next generation with something that’s as good as when you got there.

But being a dad, it can help to just 100%, all the time it’s what you are thinking about, you know. We have solar power on the house and we have biodiesel for our cars. We have a little tank out back that we use. We have the worm composting for all our food scraps and, you know, paper products and things.

And then this rain catchment thing it’s just like a homemade one. We are going to get a real one we can drink out of and all that eventually. But this one I made is just out of these 50 gallon drums I got from the bakery near our house and I put it underneath the gutters and we catch water. And we use that all for the, you know, watering like a hedge or hook up the soaker hose to that.

So it’s fun to teach my kids that. When it rained the first couple of times we’d built the thing we’d run out there and we’d look and we’d watch it come in there and watch it fill up. And then I’d show them how the gravity pressure is going to, you know be able to pull the water down the hose and we can actually use it for the garden and it’s all exciting and fun. Watching things I’ll go put a banana peel and then watch it every day. We’ll go look at the banana peel and just watch as it gets eaten by the worms. It’s fun to talk about poop with kids. Like they love that, and just show them that worm poop is kind of used in the garden now and it has nutrients in it and things. And I love talking about it with the kids.

::VIDEO CREDITS::
Created By | Executive Producer: George Spyros
Interviewer: Jasmin Malik Chua
Editor: Michele Latorre
Graphics: Tim Goodwin
Junior Editors: Holly Buechel, Indio Martinez
Production Company: Big City Pictures

::ALL Jack Johnson Sleep Through the Static Interviews for Discovery’s Planet Green/TreeHugger::

1. Do you ever feel overwhelmed by environmental problems?

2. Is there a theme to your new album?

3. How do you deal with the static?

4. Do you set out to write environmental songs?

5. Any songs about the environment on the album?

6. Why do you use music to reach people?

7. Do you consider yourself an environmentalist?

8. How did you get so passionate about the environment?

9. In what other environmental themes are you interested?

10. Thoughts on the world we're handing down to the next generation?

11. What inspired you to start the Kokua Hawaii Foundation?

12. Advice for those overwhelmed by the static?