AIRLEAF Media

Why Your Company Leadership Sucks on Camera

Richard Hawk — Mon, 01 Jun 2020 19:44:27 +0000

Probably because your video producer is not asking the right questions, in the right way.

It goes something like this: your company brass gets that deer in the headlights look when there’s a camera on them. The mouth goes dry. Everything they have in their heads goes right out the window. They might normally be quite eloquent in person, in a meeting for instance – but when that glass eye appears, whammo – they’re toast.

Common affliction. Some get this worse than others.

Never fear though. At AIRLEAF we pride ourselves on being able to get good – or even great – video interviews out of anyone, and I do mean anyone.

How do we do it?

For one thing, we come armed with questions that are good. Questions carefully designed to get real, authentic answers out of the person in the hot seat.

Sometimes even the biggest hams in real life freeze up at the sight of a camera. We’ve got ways of dealing with that.

In fact, it’s not really an interview, it’s a conversation. Eventually, everyone settles down and forgets the camera. Sometimes the sun is going down by the time that happens… We’re patient. We can outlast anyone.

Last but not least, we only need a couple of really solid bits in the can and we can make it work. In the marketing videos that we often produce, your fearless leader only needs to be on camera for a brief while to establish him or herself. The rest is used for audio voiceover while other things are going on onscreen. Since it’s not synched with picture, the audio can be ‘frankenstined’ – chopped up, cleaned up, and even reassembled for best effect. This is great for removing the ums, the ahs, the hmms, and the out and out flubs and fluffs. And the gaps created when bringing in fresh towels and smelling salts!

It’s all good.

So, if your unwilling spokesmodel is prone to get the sweats on camera — simply turn on the AIRLEAF.

Most Popular: Drone or Horseless Carriage?

Richard Hawk — Mon, 01 Jun 2020 04:05:56 +0000

The answer of course is that neither in their day was, or is, well received at all.

The idea of a buggy without horses drawing it – imagine, in 1903, the shock and annoyance: loud, belching smoke, careening down the road with a goggle-wearing lunatic behind the wheel. The first automobiles, like the Model A created by Ford Motor Company, were much maligned. Prone to breakdown and accident, mostly driven by the young and city slickers, the ‘car’ (short for carriage, in a modern sort of way) was a phenomenon most wished would go away fast.

It didn’t; in 1908, Ford’s Model T began production and would become the first automobile to be mass-produced on a moving assembly line. From 1913 to 1927, Ford produced over 15,000,000 Model T automobiles. Today, there are about a billion of its spinoffs on the the road worldwide.

The perception of Bobby Hupp’s Hupmobile or Henry Ford’s mechanical achievement as a carriage without a horse seems a bit funny today. Given the frame of reference of the day however, it was a reasonable comparison – and a mental block against ‘progress’, some would say.

Drones are here to stay. They might be a little hard to love. Someday though, the thought of aircraft having people actually in them controlling the things will seem quaint, romantic – and a bit risky.

Similarly, the appearance of aircraft without pilots (inside them, that is) for many is unwelcome and downright unsavory. The big ones in use by the military ‘smoke’ targets from out of the blue, unseen, from high altitudes. Scary. The little ones are buzzing over backyards, peering in windows or spying on the sunbathing daughters of America on the back deck (or so many seem to think). Annoying at best.

On NextDoor Encinitas, the neighborhood community web site I’m a member of, I see fearful complaints and lamentations about drones. “Aren’t they breaking the law?”, folks want to know. “Clearly they’re spying on me!”, they write. “Is it OK to shoot them out of the sky if they’re over my property?” people ask.

Eventually, someone who pilots drones (sometimes me) will gently post a reply. The gist: no, they’re probably not doing anything that could easily be proved illegal, since interestingly, anything in the air is under the jurisdiction of the Federal Aviation Administration, not local authorities. And, you’re almost certainly not the target of spies. It’s practically always a kid with a healthy allowance who has bought himself a drone at Best Buy. Or, the local realtor trying to get a shot of the house she’s listed in your hood, whose photographer buzzed you inadvertently getting the shot. As for blasting the thing out of the sky with your shotgun from the back porch – tempting, though probably not a great idea, as you’d be destroying someone’s property without clear proof of nefarious activity. Might end up on the wrong end of the blame.

Sigh. Just a penance, the whole thing.

Upsides

Wait though – what about the rapidly growing list of things that drones are being used for that have real benefits? Like the lives being saved by drones in the hands of first responders in disasters for search and rescue? The lifesaving power of drones when it comes to delivery of medical supplies and equipment? The data-gathering and mapping capabilities of unmanned aircraft in farming, mining, electric power distribution, pipeline systems? The soaring, Godlike views afforded pretty much anytime we turn on a TV program or movie? The delivery of your deodorant to your doorstep by Amazon rotorcraft, and the Uber air taxi whisking you off to Grandma’s house (coming soon)?

Here’s truth number one: the automobile is as much a part of our culture today as the buggy and stagecoach of yesteryear.

The second truth: drones are here to stay. Autonomous vehicles might be a little hard to love right now. Familiarity brings comfort though. Someday, the thought of aircraft having people actually in them controlling the things will seem quaint, romantic – and a bit risky.

After all, computers and remote pilots get the job done so much better. Who wants Fred Flintstone behind the joystick, anyway?

My Secret Life as a Video Shooter

Richard Hawk — Sun, 31 May 2020 20:40:00 +0000

Crewing for Airleaf, I know this much – when that phone rings, you never know what it’s going to be.

Recently the job was filming at at Sunset Cliffs in Ocean Beach, just south of San Diego. It was a wedding.

Beautiful day. Check. Bride and groom showed up. Check. Ground cameras and aerial camera, check. We would be notified by the event planner when the bride was about to come down the hill. Oops. Not exactly. Time to jump into action without feeling particularly prepared!

The location was on a bluff over looking the ocean, dramatic. But this presented some challenges… wind, blowing sand, blazing sun, all contributing to the situation. The couple had a team of still photographers there as well and we had to be mindful of their shot lines.

Everything went great except the seagulls didn’t get the memo.

Given a one hour tutorial about some new equipment I would be using, a three-axis gimbal stabilized camera, I reminded myself of the most important things to remember: make sure the battery is charged, the camera is turned on, and the video button is a square, not a circle, when shooting, duh. I can do this!

Things happen fast at a wedding, and there are no second chances.

I got the guests as they gathered, using the wind to my advantage. Some great shots of the flowing dresses, the couple taking their vows in the background. It was a lovely ceremony and a colorful scene.

The cherry on top was when we flew the drone at the end of the nuptials for aerial views. A flock of sea gulls thought the drone was an intruder and attacked it! Bonus footage of the sea gulls up close and personal.

This was a great experience for me. I’ll tell you a little secret: I would have had a good time filming even if it was lousy weather. But I love to be able to say, ‘clear skies on a picture perfect day in San Diego… check’!