May 18, 2023

Very small target. Very big reason.

Sometimes videos are produced for one specific target and purpose. In the case of this one, Oh Shoot Productions had the opportunity to help a relatively new North Carolina industry continue to grow. Oyster farming in the state didn’t just start happening spontaneously. It took a collective effort of forward-thinking individuals to remove the barriers, including writing and passing legislation, loosening restrictions, and developing protections so that individuals could start their own farms. The purpose of this video was to... View Article

March 14, 2023

A Big Budget Look In A Small Town Video

  The North Carolina-based country music artist Paige King Johnson needed a video for her song “Why God Made Small Towns.” She didn’t have a lot of money to spend on the video, but having worked with Martin Buchanan and Oh Shoot Productions on a previous project or two, she reached out to see if I could help her out. Paige originally pitched the idea that she really only needed what they call in the industry a “visualizer” video. A... View Article

July 7, 2022

Behind The Scenes – Exploring the Sony FX6 camera on a beach shoot

A recent project I was hired for presented me and my team the opportunity to work with a more cinematic camera: the Sony FX6. (I rented one just for this shoot.) I was blown away by its capabilities and by how easily the camera revealed its strengths during the shoot days. The “we” in this case was Oh Shoot Productions (me), Laura Black from Black House Creative as my production coordinator, assistant cameraman and producer; and Sean White for Sean... View Article

June 17, 2022

How I shot a music video by myself, in six hours

I recently had the privilege of shooting this music video for “Homes in the Hometowns.” It was a perfect combination of all the things I love – songs, shooting on location, editing to music, working with musicians and having fun people to work with. This was a collaboration with a client, GotToBeNC, which is the North Carolina Dept of Agriculture, and country music artist Paige King Johnson. When I shot prior promos for this client, we used the backing track... View Article

October 27, 2021

The kind of lighting clients pay big bucks for. I did it with no lights at all.

I was standing in the parking lot of a Sheetz store recently filling up my car with gas. The sky was shifting its colors as night began to creep in. I took a couple of deep breaths and looked up at the sky. I realized in that single moment that I almost missed a perfect opportunity: An amazing sunset photo. As someone who used to do big budget commercials with high-end cinematographers, I appreciated that moment on a couple of... View Article

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March 24, 2021

How to turn a lobby with terrible, multiple lighting issues into a beautiful set for an interview video. (Four lights later with some quick decision making.)

Videography lighting is an ever present challenge in my world. Sometimes the lighting situation is perfect and needs only a few tweaks from my own lighting kit. Sometimes, not so much. Recently I shot at Well Spring, a retirement community in Greensboro, NC. My first set up was in an on-site theater and the lighting was easy as existing lights in the theater made my job of lighting pretty simple. However, I then had to shoot in a lobby setting... View Article

April 16, 2020

How to go from ignored to irresistible with your social media

My wife asked me what brands had I noticed doing a good job during this pandemic lockdown, and I immediately couldn’t think of anything. She’s a writer and turned to her computer to write about that, brands missing an opportunity. But then I thought about it and remember something. One brand had grabbed my attention and I didn’t really notice it as such. I am a subscriber to Soundstripe, a royalty-free music resource that I use for my videos. This... View Article

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April 3, 2020

Social media, more social than before. (And more critical for business.)

The current pandemic and our preventative measures to stop the spread of COVID-19 has led us to a unique place in the business world; we’ve all but stopped business for the time being. We started consuming social media like it was our best friend, because now, it basically is. It’s our news source and our entertainment source all balled into one giant bag of opinion, humor, anxiety and fear. And right now, as concerned as we are about our health,... View Article

March 8, 2020

How to build excitement for a brand launch

Let’s say your company has plans to launch a new product or service. You’ll want to know how to build excitement for the brand launch, get people thinking about it, talking about it. It’s obvious that putting the CEO of your company, or even a spokesperson, on a video saying “We’re excited to tell you about our new XYZ product, coming in June blah blah blah” will probably be forgotten as soon as the viewer scrolls away, which would be... View Article

January 13, 2020

Why you need an iPhone 11 for video.

When Apple introduced the iPhone 11, the world of smartphone photography took another step towards complete legitimacy. And not just in photography. In video capture as well. As a professional videographer and editor, I keep an eye on technological advancements on image capture. Mirrorless cameras like the Sony a7III are excellent examples of tech making real progress, creating the ability for professionals to work in surprisingly different ways than in the past. The iPhone 11 is another such example. Apple... View Article