Robert Penn - Digital Content Production

Just another day at the bookstore

Robert Penn productions spent Halloween at Hue Man Bookstore in Harlem, New York.

Novelist Terence Taylor read a chapter from his Vampire novel, BITE MARKS, before describing his creative process (above) to the horrified audience.  Photo by Eric C. Anderson for Robert Penn productions.

Visual storytelling

In four minutes, you will see four short stories about the northeastern province of Sierra Leone, West Africa.  Cinematography by Robert Penn.  Edit by Gustavo Bernal.

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We are HAPPY! Our economic upturn began in mid-July.  Sadly, it has kept us away from you for almost a month. How was your summer?

What did you put on video this summer?

In July 2007, I had the good fortune of meeting KwikStep and Rokafella when I was on an assignment for The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.  I was impressed with KwikStep's respect for community and Rockafella's devotion to Hip Hop's roots.  

This month, I documented KwikStep in action again.  His moves "rhythm" and his combinations surprise.  What I appreciate most about KwikStep, however, is his ability to teach.  He impresses upon dancers from around the world that U.S. popular culture is much more than commercially packaged routines distributed throughout the country and exported around the world.

Most people cannot even think of taking KwikStep's dance class, but six guest artists from Argentina, Lebanon, Palestine, Philippines and Viet Nam trained with him for several days in Manhattan, Queens and, of course, The Bronx.   He reminded the aspiring b-girls and b-boys that the best dance in any genre happens when the artist puts her or his entire heart into it and gives it all to the audience.

Photo taken with my Nikon D50 by Production Assistant, Eric Anderson.

Footage that documents presentations by your company's key staff can be used to inform and train your staff.  This digital content can also be placed on your organization's website to disseminate knowledge your company wants to share with other organizations.

The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts hosts several presentations that are designed to share the experience its staff has accrued over the years.  This year, the Kennedy Center undertook a complementary Internet initiative.  Posting excerpts on its website makes the knowledge base available to constituents unable to attend the in-person presentations.

The Kennedy Center hired Robert Penn productions to document two sessions of their Programmatic Marketing seminar held during May 2009 at the Desmond Tutu Center in New York City.  The three presenters appear above in a still taken from the footage.  Natali Fusillo, Marketing Manager, David Kitto, Vice President of Marketing and Sales and Scott Bushnell, Advertising Creative Manager, outlined the techniques they use to generate interest and drive ticket sales for the many venues at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D. C.

I spent Easter directing the photography (DP/Cinematographer) for a documentary film in Gbenikoro, a village in northeast Sierra Leone, West Africa.  It was scorching hot and the Sound Engineer, Ben Clore, a talented 31 year-old Virginian who was on his first trip to Africa, frequently asked for a break.  I empathized with him but kept shooting because I knew that the Director, Kewulay Kamara, and Producer, Steve Zeitlin, wanted to document as much of the memorial as possible - processions, discussions, musical performances, speeches, recitations, and bovine sacrifice.

Kewulay (above right) was born in Dankawali, a nearby village in northeast Sierra Leone. He moved to the United States after secondary school for college and is now a dual national.  Finah Misa Kulé (which roughly means The Lineage of People destined to Voice their King's Heritage and Vision) deals with tradition and persistence.  Kewulay began by writing and staging a live performance with traditional music similar to the way oral history is recounted in many African villages and courtyards. This helped him order his general approach to what promises to be an powerful, cinematic family epic.

Thanks to digital P2HD technology, we were able to review the footage at regular intervals. While we sat in Freetown's Lungi International Airport waiting to board our return flight, Steve (above second from left) looked at more of the footage that Kewulay and Ben (above far right) had reviewed until the wee hours of our last night in Sierra Leone.  Steve was also pleased.  Ben, who as I said was a great crew mate, explained to Steve that I consistently got the subject's facial detail while keeping the brightly sunlit sections within limits so the editor could bring out detail in post-production.  I think it was then that Steve fully realized the challenge a DP faces when cinema verité style shooting African subjects in the noonday equitorial sun!  The 2/3 inch chips in the Panasonic HPV 500 were a great asset on this shoot!  Thanks, Steve, for renting that camera.

Ben and I shot the production stills included above and in the following slide show using Canon and Nikon point and shoot cameras.

Ronald K. Brown collaborated with Charles "Teenie" Harris (Sr.) years after the latter died.  "Teenie" Harris was a great Twentieth-Century American photographer.  Ronald K. Brown is a great contemporary American choreographer.  The resulting dance, One Shot, got it's name from a "Teenie" Harris fan who said he always got his photographic story in one shot.  The digital short I produced tells how the collaboration came about and shows it, too.

 
Assignments that involve movement, such as, dance or theater documentation challenge the production crew, especially in high contrast and/or low light settings.  Supplemental lighting is not permitted during most live performances and video cameras do not "see" as well as the human eye. In addition, medium and close-up footage will sometimes exhibit visible differences that must be matched in post-production to the compulsory wing-to-wing lock-down wide angle shot.

For the production or research archive, the director's or choreographer's vision must be accurately documented, including the darkness.  This record informs students, researchers and historians and will continue to do so for years to come.

A lot must be done in post-production to prepare the record for the casual viewer - and it must be achieved without sabotaging the artist's vision.  Since I love to edit in response to and in synch with movement, I finalize the edit first. Correcting lighting is the last thing I do before making the master tapes.

Finding crew members can be time consuming.  It is as important to network to experienced people for critical jobs as it is to connect to prospective clients.  Years ago, a fellow filmmaker recommended a camera operator to me.  I have hired him several times since then.  He is consistent, inventive and attentive.

I met a Production Assistant by chance.  He agreed to assist me on a pro bono shoot I did for a non-profit organization.  I was working ENG on a big demonstration.  He completely had my back, which was critical since the demonstration included a parade down an avenue that was only partially closed.

Earlier this month, I got to work with these two crew members on a gig.  They did excellent work.  The camera operator worked as Director of Photography and the PA also served as boom operator.  I directed the four-person interview for a library.  It is hard to cover 4 people with 2 cameras, especially with no sound person.  However, I planned plenty of set up time and was fortunate enough that the four people on camera were enthusiastic and liked my sense of humor.

Many current assignments are Internet related.  Whether creating new footage for an existing website, re-cutting old footage for a new website or developing a website for film and video content, the requirements remain the same: start with high quality footage, edit with a small screen in mind and then encode for Internet streaming.

Even though some details cannot be seen in small Internet windows, it is still best to have clean footage from the start.  When content looks foggy, fuzzy or watery due to low quality original footage, editing errors or poor encoding, some people will watch only a few seconds.  Others will not watch at all.

When we started this short, Flying Legs Crew, we knew there would be three camera crews shooting mini-DV footage under a variety of conditions.  I shot 22 of the total 39 hours of footage and then took the best from all three crews, as well as some clips shot by the director, to make this 4.5-minute story.  I encoded it for the Internet using Cleaner 6.5.  The results exceed those possible if we had started off shooting lower res footage or used less versatile encoding software.

 

Summer 2009

We are HAPPY! Our economic upturn began in mid-July.  Sadly, it has kept us away from you for almost a month. How was your summer?

What did you put on video this summer?

Origins of Hip Hop

In July 2007, I had the good fortune of meeting KwikStep and Rokafella when I was on an assignment for The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.  I was impressed with KwikStep's respect for community and Rockafella's devotion to Hip Hop's roots.  

This month, I documented KwikStep in action again.  His moves "rhythm" and his combinations surprise.  What I appreciate most about KwikStep, however, is his ability to teach.  He impresses upon dancers from around the world that U.S. popular culture is much more than commercially packaged routines distributed throughout the country and exported around the world.

Most people cannot even think of taking KwikStep's dance class, but six guest artists from Argentina, Lebanon, Palestine, Philippines and Viet Nam trained with him for several days in Manhattan, Queens and, of course, The Bronx.   He reminded the aspiring b-girls and b-boys that the best dance in any genre happens when the artist puts her or his entire heart into it and gives it all to the audience.

Photo taken with my Nikon D50 by Production Assistant, Eric Anderson.

Seminar Documentation

Footage that documents presentations by your company's key staff can be used to inform and train your staff.  This digital content can also be placed on your organization's website to disseminate knowledge your company wants to share with other organizations.

The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts hosts several presentations that are designed to share the experience its staff has accrued over the years.  This year, the Kennedy Center undertook a complementary Internet initiative.  Posting excerpts on its website makes the knowledge base available to constituents unable to attend the in-person presentations.

The Kennedy Center hired Robert Penn productions to document two sessions of their Programmatic Marketing seminar held during May 2009 at the Desmond Tutu Center in New York City.  The three presenters appear above in a still taken from the footage.  Natali Fusillo, Marketing Manager, David Kitto, Vice President of Marketing and Sales and Scott Bushnell, Advertising Creative Manager, outlined the techniques they use to generate interest and drive ticket sales for the many venues at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D. C.

Location Shoot in Sierra Leone, West Africa

I spent Easter directing the photography (DP/Cinematographer) for a documentary film in Gbenikoro, a village in northeast Sierra Leone, West Africa.  It was scorching hot and the Sound Engineer, Ben Clore, a talented 31 year-old Virginian who was on his first trip to Africa, frequently asked for a break.  I empathized with him but kept shooting because I knew that the Director, Kewulay Kamara, and Producer, Steve Zeitlin, wanted to document as much of the memorial as possible - processions, discussions, musical performances, speeches, recitations, and bovine sacrifice.

Kewulay (above right) was born in Dankawali, a nearby village in northeast Sierra Leone. He moved to the United States after secondary school for college and is now a dual national.  Finah Misa Kulé (which roughly means The Lineage of People destined to Voice their King's Heritage and Vision) deals with tradition and persistence.  Kewulay began by writing and staging a live performance with traditional music similar to the way oral history is recounted in many African villages and courtyards. This helped him order his general approach to what promises to be an powerful, cinematic family epic.

Thanks to digital P2HD technology, we were able to review the footage at regular intervals. While we sat in Freetown's Lungi International Airport waiting to board our return flight, Steve (above second from left) looked at more of the footage that Kewulay and Ben (above far right) had reviewed until the wee hours of our last night in Sierra Leone.  Steve was also pleased.  Ben, who as I said was a great crew mate, explained to Steve that I consistently got the subject's facial detail while keeping the brightly sunlit sections within limits so the editor could bring out detail in post-production.  I think it was then that Steve fully realized the challenge a DP faces when cinema verité style shooting African subjects in the noonday equitorial sun!  The 2/3 inch chips in the Panasonic HPV 500 were a great asset on this shoot!  Thanks, Steve, for renting that camera.

Ben and I shot the production stills included above and in the following slide show using Canon and Nikon point and shoot cameras.

One Shot, the Digital Film

Ronald K. Brown collaborated with Charles "Teenie" Harris (Sr.) years after the latter died.  "Teenie" Harris was a great Twentieth-Century American photographer.  Ronald K. Brown is a great contemporary American choreographer.  The resulting dance, One Shot, got it's name from a "Teenie" Harris fan who said he always got his photographic story in one shot.  The digital short I produced tells how the collaboration came about and shows it, too.

Movement

 
Assignments that involve movement, such as, dance or theater documentation challenge the production crew, especially in high contrast and/or low light settings.  Supplemental lighting is not permitted during most live performances and video cameras do not "see" as well as the human eye. In addition, medium and close-up footage will sometimes exhibit visible differences that must be matched in post-production to the compulsory wing-to-wing lock-down wide angle shot.

For the production or research archive, the director's or choreographer's vision must be accurately documented, including the darkness.  This record informs students, researchers and historians and will continue to do so for years to come.

A lot must be done in post-production to prepare the record for the casual viewer - and it must be achieved without sabotaging the artist's vision.  Since I love to edit in response to and in synch with movement, I finalize the edit first. Correcting lighting is the last thing I do before making the master tapes.

Crew

Finding crew members can be time consuming.  It is as important to network to experienced people for critical jobs as it is to connect to prospective clients.  Years ago, a fellow filmmaker recommended a camera operator to me.  I have hired him several times since then.  He is consistent, inventive and attentive.

I met a Production Assistant by chance.  He agreed to assist me on a pro bono shoot I did for a non-profit organization.  I was working ENG on a big demonstration.  He completely had my back, which was critical since the demonstration included a parade down an avenue that was only partially closed.

Earlier this month, I got to work with these two crew members on a gig.  They did excellent work.  The camera operator worked as Director of Photography and the PA also served as boom operator.  I directed the four-person interview for a library.  It is hard to cover 4 people with 2 cameras, especially with no sound person.  However, I planned plenty of set up time and was fortunate enough that the four people on camera were enthusiastic and liked my sense of humor.

Digital Content

Many current assignments are Internet related.  Whether creating new footage for an existing website, re-cutting old footage for a new website or developing a website for film and video content, the requirements remain the same: start with high quality footage, edit with a small screen in mind and then encode for Internet streaming.

Even though some details cannot be seen in small Internet windows, it is still best to have clean footage from the start.  When content looks foggy, fuzzy or watery due to low quality original footage, editing errors or poor encoding, some people will watch only a few seconds.  Others will not watch at all.

When we started this short, Flying Legs Crew, we knew there would be three camera crews shooting mini-DV footage under a variety of conditions.  I shot 22 of the total 39 hours of footage and then took the best from all three crews, as well as some clips shot by the director, to make this 4.5-minute story.  I encoded it for the Internet using Cleaner 6.5.  The results exceed those possible if we had started off shooting lower res footage or used less versatile encoding software.