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!

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.