Lauren and Brian's Same Day Edit:
This weekend was full of fun! We started our friday afternoon by capturing Greg and Gwen's wedding at the historic Church in Aurora. It was a beautiful church with lots of history. It was very fitting that we were able to shoot lots of super 8mm film before, during and after the wedding. We wrapped up at 4:30 and headed over to Middleburgh Heights for Sarah and Clifff's candlelight ceremony at the Old Oak Bible Church. Sarah and Cliff's reception had it all including a dance contest!
On Saturday we captured Lauren and Brian's wedding and reception. Carla was up early to meet Lauren at her home while she and the bridesmaids prepared in the morning. I proceeded to St. Coleman's church in Clevleand to capture the pre-ceremony footage. After the ceremony and pictures I headed to the reception to begin working on the same day edit while Carla continued along with the bridal party. I got started just before 3:00 and started the render just before 5:30. The DVD was ready to go by 6:00 as guests began to arrive. After the cake cutting we pulled out the 8' projector screen and presented their video.
There are so many details from all the weddings we have captured, including so many great wedding professionals such as photographers, DJ's, Bands, Wedding Planners, and more. We will soon be creating a seperate blog that will go into detail with all of our weddings to highlight all the wonderful moments we have been a part of. Until then, we want to say thank you to all the wonderful couples and vendors that we have had the pleasure to work with over the years.
LA Trip
Sights and Sounds of Venice Beach, CA:
After the long day of preparing for our Grand Opening I could have used the entire next day to sleep. Instead, I was up at 4:00 am to make a flight to Los Angeles for a video shoot with some of my favorite clients at STACK Magazine. Josh from STACK was there as well as Danny Vega and his assistant Brian to handle the photography. We met up with Ben Snowden, BMX trickster currently in the Dew Tour and Fabiola De Sliva, inline skater. The shoot went very well and we got some awesome images. I also got my first parking ticket in Santa Ana. Gotta' love that. A big "thank you" goes out to the hard working men and women of the Santa Ana parking patrol who diligently patrol every street and alleyway. No citation is too small and they never take "no" for an answer. For that matter they don't take, "I'm a member of the media.", "I'm literally moving my car right now." or "Please don't give me that ticket! "
The next day we headed to Thousand Oaks, CA for a shoot with Reggie Bush at Elite Athletics. Reggie was great and showed us some amazing workout routines. The entire staff at Elite Athletics was great and I highly recommend any athlete living in the Thousand Oaks area to check them out. You will be able to see all these videos when we finish editing them at http://www.stack.com/.
When the Reggie Bush shoot was finished we drove back to our hotel. Josh, Danny and Brian took naps or checked email. I decided to make a trip through the hills of Malibu. I made my way through the curvy, narrow mountain roads until I found a small pull-off area with a steep trail to a plateau. I grabbed my camera and tripod and climbed to the top. Slipping on loose gravel the entire way, out of breath I made it to the top to reveal a breathtaking view of the mountainous California countryside. I set up my camera, opened the lens hood and then realized I forgot to grab a battery. Needless to say I did not try to climb the trail again. Instead I made my way back to the hotel to catch a ride with the guys back into L.A. where we visited Venice Beach and had some fresh seafood.
At Venice Beach I did manage to bring my camera and my battery and grabbed a few fun shots of the surfers, setting sun and Venice Beach artwork (check out the video clip below). It was a fitting end to a great trip. The next morning I grabbed some breakfast and spent the next 8 hours in airports and airplanes as I made my way back home. I got a good night sleep and was up the next day for another perfect wedding!
After the long day of preparing for our Grand Opening I could have used the entire next day to sleep. Instead, I was up at 4:00 am to make a flight to Los Angeles for a video shoot with some of my favorite clients at STACK Magazine. Josh from STACK was there as well as Danny Vega and his assistant Brian to handle the photography. We met up with Ben Snowden, BMX trickster currently in the Dew Tour and Fabiola De Sliva, inline skater. The shoot went very well and we got some awesome images. I also got my first parking ticket in Santa Ana. Gotta' love that. A big "thank you" goes out to the hard working men and women of the Santa Ana parking patrol who diligently patrol every street and alleyway. No citation is too small and they never take "no" for an answer. For that matter they don't take, "I'm a member of the media.", "I'm literally moving my car right now." or "Please don't give me that ticket! "
The next day we headed to Thousand Oaks, CA for a shoot with Reggie Bush at Elite Athletics. Reggie was great and showed us some amazing workout routines. The entire staff at Elite Athletics was great and I highly recommend any athlete living in the Thousand Oaks area to check them out. You will be able to see all these videos when we finish editing them at http://www.stack.com/.
When the Reggie Bush shoot was finished we drove back to our hotel. Josh, Danny and Brian took naps or checked email. I decided to make a trip through the hills of Malibu. I made my way through the curvy, narrow mountain roads until I found a small pull-off area with a steep trail to a plateau. I grabbed my camera and tripod and climbed to the top. Slipping on loose gravel the entire way, out of breath I made it to the top to reveal a breathtaking view of the mountainous California countryside. I set up my camera, opened the lens hood and then realized I forgot to grab a battery. Needless to say I did not try to climb the trail again. Instead I made my way back to the hotel to catch a ride with the guys back into L.A. where we visited Venice Beach and had some fresh seafood.
At Venice Beach I did manage to bring my camera and my battery and grabbed a few fun shots of the surfers, setting sun and Venice Beach artwork (check out the video clip below). It was a fitting end to a great trip. The next morning I grabbed some breakfast and spent the next 8 hours in airports and airplanes as I made my way back home. I got a good night sleep and was up the next day for another perfect wedding!
Grand Opening
Well, we finally did it. We opened our doors! We spent all weekend painting, staining, cleaning, installing lights and purchasing equipment for our new studio space. Our friends, Melanie and Tim, from Washington D.C. even drove all day to help us that afternoon with the preparations. Carla worked diligently to prepare food and drinks for all of our expected guests. Then, as the hour of our ribbon cutting approached, a very large storm rolled into northeast Ohio. Despite the storm, 25 of our closest family, friends, clients and colleagues stopped by to show their support.
The Painesville Area Chamber of Commerce helped us by providing a traditional ribbon cutting ceremony and we were greeted warmly by Fairport's Mayor, Frank Sarosy and council member Tim Manross. Lots of people made the trip from Euclid and Cleveland. Tom Forrest and Andrew Jordan made a harrowing journey through the storm from Hudson to show their support.
We know there were many others who wished they could have made it out and sent emails to show their support. We could never thank you all by name but we want you all to know how much we appreciate your friendship and kind words of encouragement.
A huge THANK YOU goes out to my father who has spent more time and energy in building our studio than anyone else. While I was busy editing and shooting video to keep up with our workload, Dad was working long hours hanging drywall, painting and custom building all the wonderful woodwork in our studio. If anything else, you should all get a chance to stop in just to see the beautiful windows he built and the front desk that he and my grandfather created for us. Thanks Dad, I love you very much.
We enjoyed spending time with everyone. And when the day was over, Carla and I took a deep breath and a sigh of relief. We took a step back and looked at what we had accomplished and smiled thinking about what is yet to come.
Grand Opening July 8th!
We finally received the long awaited rough-in inspection of our studio and began closing up the walls. We spent a long week mudding and sanding and ended this last Sunday with an all day painting festival. We had a great crew of 8 people to help us get every wall painted. With the exception of our chroma key wall and an extra coat on the front entrance, everything is ready for flooring, plumbing and electricity.
With a more clear end to the building process, we can say with certainty that our grand opening will now be July 8th from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm. Thanks to the Painesville Area Chamber of Commerce, we will have a brief ribbon cutting ceremony at 5:05. Then our guests may browse our studio and speak to our editors and videographers. You can view our work and demo our new chroma key wall.
On top of meeting us, viewing our new studio and meeting many great video production professionals, we are giving away a $2000* video production package as well as a Bluray DVD player! The production package can be used towards a wedding, family history DVD, broadcast commercial production or promotional business video.
It will be a great night here in lovely Fairport Harbor so be sure to put it on your calendars! We will see you all at the Moonstruck Productions studio located at 225 High Street, Fairport Harbor OH 44077 on July 8th!
*$2000 video production package is non-transferrable with no cash value. It must be used entirely on a single production. It may be used towards all in-house production costs. Not good towards talent, location or music licensing costs. Not good towards air-time costs.
With a more clear end to the building process, we can say with certainty that our grand opening will now be July 8th from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm. Thanks to the Painesville Area Chamber of Commerce, we will have a brief ribbon cutting ceremony at 5:05. Then our guests may browse our studio and speak to our editors and videographers. You can view our work and demo our new chroma key wall.
On top of meeting us, viewing our new studio and meeting many great video production professionals, we are giving away a $2000* video production package as well as a Bluray DVD player! The production package can be used towards a wedding, family history DVD, broadcast commercial production or promotional business video.
It will be a great night here in lovely Fairport Harbor so be sure to put it on your calendars! We will see you all at the Moonstruck Productions studio located at 225 High Street, Fairport Harbor OH 44077 on July 8th!
*$2000 video production package is non-transferrable with no cash value. It must be used entirely on a single production. It may be used towards all in-house production costs. Not good towards talent, location or music licensing costs. Not good towards air-time costs.
Spring Time Fun
With the sun and warm weather making its debut this week, we decided to take a little break from editing and working to enjoy the day. My sister, nephew, niece, dad, wife and daughter all walked down to the beach by our studio to play on the playground and I brought along my Nizo Super 8mm camera to catch the action. This was also a great time to test out the newly widened gate on the Nizo. The widened gate allows for true wide screen capture and telecine using normal super 8mm film.
Using Technology to Advertise
When it comes to advertising, I always wondered why small companies always go with the quantity over quality approach. They spend $500 on the production of the ad and $5000 on the air time. The result is a commercial that literally makes people turn the channel.
Had the company spent $2500 on the commercial and $2500 on air time, the viewer would have recognized the commercial and actually watched it. It would not have shown on as many channels, but the number of people watching the ad would have increased.
Had the company spent $2500 on the commercial and $2500 on air time, the viewer would have recognized the commercial and actually watched it. It would not have shown on as many channels, but the number of people watching the ad would have increased.
Now imagine if you could have the best of both worlds; a high quality ad that covers a large audience. Today's technology makes that possible.
Let's say you sell bicycles. You have been in business for 20 years. Your father started it and you continue the family business with your kids and wife. Now let's say you have a total budget of $2000 for advertising. You could spend $500 on a cheesy commercial with a few graphics and your phone number with horrific background music and then spend $1500 putting it on local channels. It will run about 50 times over a period of 4 weeks. Yep, the average cost for non-peak hours on local cable is $20 per 30 second spot. That's not a lot of coverage and considering you only spent $500 on the production of the ad, most people aren't going to watch it anyway.
Now let's say you took that same $2000 and spent $1500 on the production. You created a 2 minute video that showed the old building, your dad when he was young and interviewed you and your father in short documentary style that showcases the philosophy of your business and the quality of your product. The result is a captivating, highly professional production that plays more like a movie than a TV commercial.
Now upload that video to YouTube and Blip.TV and iTunes for FREE. Enter a few keywords so people searching for Bicycles in your area will see the results in their web browser. Already you have access to millions of viewers and it didn't cost you a dime.
Of course, just because we have this great video on YouTube, it doesn't mean someone in your neighborhood is going to look for it. That is where web targeted advertising, like Google's Adwords, comes into play.
Setup an Adwords account with Google. Yep, it's FREE. You can set the amount of money you want to spend, so let's say $100 a month. Google will then take your ad and place it on any webpage that uses the keywords you specify. When someone searches for Bicycles, your ad will show up on the screen. The best part is that you don't pay for that ad unless they click on it. that means your ad could show up on 5000 web pages in a month and if no one clicks on the ad, you don't pay a dime. Adwords also works with Gmail, Google's email. If someone receives an email and the word Bicycle is present, your ad will show up on the side of the screen. What better way to get direct advertising? At the very worst, it would cost you $500 for 5 months, assuming everyone clicked on your ad. It is very possible that you will never hit your limit and stretch that $500 over an entire 12 month period.
That is just one of many examples of how today's media technology can help you stretch your advertising dollar and reach more customers than ever before. Just be sure that when they do reach your ad, you spend the money on a professionally produced video. Otherwise you are back to square one.
Day 1 - Windows and Floors
Here is a shot of our studio looking towards
Lake Erie. You can see the historic Fairport
Harbor Lighthouse in the distance.
The charm of this small town, the lighthouse
and the historic brick building make a perfect
place to ignite imagination.
With only 6 and 1/2 weeks before we open our doors, we have lots of work to do. Here is what we did today:
My wife Carla worked hard taping all of the windows in the front to prepare them for staining. We also had to apply a thin coat of silicone to the outside of each pane.
Our daughter Alayna even helped out!
The floor in the studio area needs a lot of prep work. We are planning on using the existing plywood floor. First I had to use 1 lbs. of 2" wood screws on all of the edges to keep them down. I then used a belt sander with 50 grit paper to even all the edges. After vacuuming the dust I applied floor leveler to all of the cracks, screws, knots and imperfections. I will let it dry tonight and then look for places to touch up tomorrow.
New Beginnings
As the President of Moonstruck Productions, I would like to welcome you to just one of the many new and exciting things happening here at Moonstruck Productions. From the day my wife, Carla, pushed me to start this wonderful endeavor, we knew we would accomplish big things and we are happy to share each moment with you on our first Blog.
Another exciting first for us, besides a Blog, is the 5 year lease we just signed on an old brick building that will soon become Moonstruck Studios! It is hard to believe we will no longer be cramming 4 computers, 2 editors and a ton of DVD's, tapes and cases into a 10x10 room!
While the news of moving into a new studio is exciting, it is also overwhelming as I realize the task ahead. We have a lot of work to do before the studio is built and only 6 weeks to do it. Our lease commences on June 1st and currently the only things in the room are century old brick walls and a vacuum cleaner. On top of that, our work load here has been increasing steadily as we have already booked 22 weddings for this summer and launched the newest division to the Moonstruck Family; Virtual Interactive Products featuring http://www.360-tour.net/.
Needless to say, there is much to share. We hope you will join us on our journeys because we would love to have you along for the ride.
Sincerely,
Scott Stachiw
Producer
Moonstruck Productions™
www.moonpro.us
Another exciting first for us, besides a Blog, is the 5 year lease we just signed on an old brick building that will soon become Moonstruck Studios! It is hard to believe we will no longer be cramming 4 computers, 2 editors and a ton of DVD's, tapes and cases into a 10x10 room!
While the news of moving into a new studio is exciting, it is also overwhelming as I realize the task ahead. We have a lot of work to do before the studio is built and only 6 weeks to do it. Our lease commences on June 1st and currently the only things in the room are century old brick walls and a vacuum cleaner. On top of that, our work load here has been increasing steadily as we have already booked 22 weddings for this summer and launched the newest division to the Moonstruck Family; Virtual Interactive Products featuring http://www.360-tour.net/.
Needless to say, there is much to share. We hope you will join us on our journeys because we would love to have you along for the ride.
Sincerely,
Scott Stachiw
Producer
Moonstruck Productions™
www.moonpro.us
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