Behind the shoot: My USO Show Troupe Story About Performer Larissa Klinger Goes Live!

If you can remember, way back in September I took a whirlwind trip to NYC to film a number of projects for the USO, including a profile story about USO Show Troupe performer Larissa Klinger.

While I posted the photos I snapped while spending the day with Larissa earlier in 2014, I finally got a chance to put the long-feature video together at the beginning of 2015, and guys, I'm super proud of this one.

To bring this story to life, I basically spent the entire day with Larissa, carrying my 40lbs of gear around NYC on my back, documenting her day-to-day experience.

Layering all of the day-to-day footage I captured with the steller interview she gave me really helped formulate a very special, unique profile piece that the USO really hasn't produced much of in the past. I'm not going to tell you Larissa's story, because that would give the story away.

So really, you should just watch.

Side note, I didn't know Larissa well at all until I showed up on her doorstep at 6 a.m. Luckily, her and her husband were super kind and welcoming. What could have been an awkward day of stalker-ish shooting turned out to be a day full of fun.

Although a 14-hour shooting day sounds daunting, in reality, the biggest challenge in this project was the editing.

See, I'm a one-man-band.

In projects like this, its' only me doing all the work. Meaning only me is wafting through hours of footage trying to splice together a cohesive narrative that makes people feel. Don't get me wrong, I love doing it. It's my job. My passion. But man, the pile of footage I had to go through for this project was a little intimidating at first.

I think the only bigger volume of footage I've had to wade through was for the Romanian orphans peice I worked on with Brad Horn when I was producing at the Washington Post. That was a doozie.

Anyway. Take a look. Let me know in the comments what you think!

A Last Minute Chicago Trip for the USO

At the tail end of December, literally days before I headed off for my family's epic vacation to Hawaii (I'll get to that later) I headed off to Chicago for a last minute USO trip.

See, at USO Great Lakes, which is located at the naval base right outside of Chicago, they host monthly (actually, sorta weekly-ish) "No Dough Dinners" for troops and their families.

The idea behind these dinners is to provide a free meal to troops and their loved ones right before payday when the cash might not be flowing. Pretty cool, huh?

The particular No Dough Dinner I was in town for was a pancake dinner -- how fun! Let me tell you, conducting interviews, shooting b-roll and doing my job with the smell of bacon wafting through the error was a slow form of wonderful torture -- who can focus with bacon in the air? (Don't worry, I got some bacon at the end of the shoot.)

Here's a look at my photos from the event:

I think before I went on this shoot and talked to the wonderful staff, volunteers and patron troops USO Great Lakes, I didn't understand just how important these dinners were for everyone involved. For the troops, its a change to mix and mingle and get a quality meal in that takes different from the mess hall's grub. For volunteers and staff members, its a change to bond with troops and show the outside community the importance and impact of the USO on the surrounding community.

I just love being able to capture and share the importance of such a simple, yet important program, to the outside world.

Without further adieu, here's my video from my trip:

Warp Stablizing and Editing Away: A NASCAR/USO Video

In my blog post earlier this week I dished about my fantastic trip to Phoenix, Arizona last week for the USO and chatted about my first experience at a NASCAR event.

Now, a few days later (hey, better late than never, right?) I give you my video wrap of the event.

Normally when I produce videos, I don't have too many techincal issues or logistical problems and am able to turn them around a lot quicker, but when it came to this peice, well, things didn't go so smoothly.

See, I wasn't allowed to bring a tripod into the NASCAR stadium (arena? track? area?) on the day of the race. While my interview with Trevor Bayne is beautiful and a steady shot, it was taken the day before the race when I had extra time to set up the shot and use a tripod.

The other interviews, well, aren't as pretty. Shaky footage = a headache in the editing room.

Novice video editors, if you're reading this, take some advince. Always, always use a tripod for your interviews unless you can't because of venue rules. Shaky b-roll is acceptable. Shaky interviews are not.

My solution to the shaky mess I created? The magical warp stabilizing tool that is part of Premier Pro CC. Although it bumps up the file size a bunch, and requires some fine tuning, this magic tool turned my unacceptable footage and made it average and acceptable.

Still, my advice. Always go for the tripod. It'll save you the headache.