Even as a child I had a deep appreciation for stationery products. I can still remember the smell inside the huge warehouse-like store, Lane Press, on Cedar Lane in Teaneck, New Jersey. I could spend hours walking up and down the aisles, smelling the erasers. There was something about their milky pink texture that mesmerized my eight-year-old self. I loved the yellow pads and the stamps and the many different styles of ballpoint pens. I loved the pencils that broke tradition from the usual No. 2 pencil, especially the ones that had that little tape you unrolled rather than heading to a pencil sharpener. As an adult, I do not get the same kind of high from Office Supply superstores. Ink cartridges and flourescent lighting don't do it for me. But a really good stationery store like Kate's Paperie. Now that's a place I could spend an afternoon.

Since I have such an affection for fine paper and elegant invitations, it was an honor to be a part of Ceci's new style campaign. If you have ever poured over a wedding magazine in the past 6 years... you have seen her amazing work. Ceci is to stationery, what Chanel is to fashion.

I was introduced to Ceci through my dear friend, Jessica Cohen, of LüpRocks.com, just as she was gearing up for an incredibly ambitious photo shoot at an incredibly fabulous location: the Metropolitan Building. Joe and I agreed to shoot the behind the scenes footage of this eclectic fashion shoot. It was a horribly rainy day at the end of March. One of those days where you get soaked just walking across the street. But our equipment survived, as did we, and the video we created gives a nice glimpse into the creative talented spirit that is Ceci!

Joe served as DP/Operator, and Kierra as the Director and Editor of the piece. We shot on a SONY EX-3 in HD, with HD prime lenses. The video was edited on Avid and the color treatments were done in post using Magic Bullet Looks and Adobe After Effects.

The online magazine CECI STYLE launched in July, 2010 and serves as an incredible go to guide for all things style as it relates to event planning and entertaining. Ceci even includes articles on beautiful travel destinations! Our video can be found in the behind the scenes section of issues 2 and 3.

After nearly 10 years of editing promos and other short video projects for WABC, imagine my delight when they asked me if I'd like to edit a 30 minute special! Would I? Of course I would. Since I really am a long form editor who fell into cutting commercials and promos, I was really excited to flex my storytelling muscles once again. And although WABC wasn't a new client, this was a new type of project I was doing with them. Luckily the part that wasn't "new" was my producer, Cristiana, who has become a dear friend over the years. Since we first started working together in the spring of 2005, we have worked on over 100 projects together, attended each other's weddings, and given birth three times between the two of us. In the short five years that we have known each other, a lot has changed... except the fact that we love working together! Whether on a rooftop in SoHo shooting Denis Leary, or bunkered down in my edit room over dinner from The Dirty Bird (a Filmworks fave!)

The special was called Barnum's Funundrum and is a 30 minute behind the scenes look at the circus extravaganza that bears the same name. (Click here for more about FUNundrum.) We ran up against a few assorted hurdles on this project (but what's a project without some hurdles). In brief... The footage was all shot by WABC camera teams and by another company who was creating video elements for Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey. The footage was shot on multiple formats, ranging from XDCam to P2, to Beta SX. Some stuff came in on DVD and I even received quicktime files and still images that needed to be incorporated. Of course, all of these sources had different frame rates, just to make things more fun! Half of the footage was taken during rehearsal and half was taken during a live performance and all had to be cut together seamlessly. In addition to the creative editorial, we did all the color correction and sound mixing here at Filmworks, too. Changes came in up until the eleventh hour and we finally finished the show during a blizzard where I stayed at the office printing masters instead of going to the John Mayer concert at Madison Square Garden. Such is my dedication!

In the end we created a great television special that got high ratings and was much loved by everyone over at the network. The show aired in the NYC market on February 27, 2010. It continues to air in markets around the country as FUNundrum travels to other cities.

Here's a clip...

One interesting "behind the edit" story is about a baby elephant, name Baby Barack (so named because he was born on the eve of the President's inauguration). This baby elephant was the pride of Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey circus for months. But right before we started editing the special, he became very sick. Since no one was sure what the outcome would be, we had to make sure we edited around any footage of Baby Barack for our television special. However, I'm excited to say that I just read on the Ringling website that Baby Barack had a full recovery and is back at the circus with his mom! (Read about him here!) Yay! A happy ending. I admit, I become very attached to people (and animals) when I'm holed up in the edit room with them on my monitors for days, nights, and weekends on end. Even though the performers of FUNundrum have never met me, I feel like they are my friends. Just can't help it!

On a fashion note.... My favorite outfit in the whole production is the blue and orange Barnum dresses seen here. I LOVE THEM! And I'm hoping there is some kind of costume auction at the end of the run!

On a professional note... I think if I were on "Inside the Actor's Studio" and James Lipton asked me the question "What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?" I think I'd go with Hair Hanger.

 

One of the challenges we are often handed sounds something like this:

"We need a video that is compelling, inspiring, energizing and packed full with information. And we have no budget to shoot anything."

As much as we pride ourselves on our ability to pull together an impeccable shoot, direct great interviews, and create beautiful moving pictures, in this troubled economy we have been hearing that phrase a lot: "we have no budget to shoot anything." So we have become masters at "making chicken soup out of chicken feathers." We are often handed a drive full of logos, a folder of media clippings, and a page of statistics, along with a sheepish grin and shrug of the shoulders from the client, and through the use of creative thinking, loads of caffeine and our favorite After Effects plug-ins, we manage to pull together a video that moves well, tells a story, and inspires people to action!

Such was the case when we teamed up with imagine360 marketing to create a video recap highlighting the outpouring of donor, volunteer and media support generated by the Food Bank For New York City’s 2009 Go Orange! Campaign, which raised over 1.5 million meals for hungry New Yorkers. The video was shown to a room full of supporters at the organization's appreciation event hosted by Mario Batali on February 1, 2010.

You can watch the video here:

Typically I would now insert a lovely quote of praise from the client but, I have to admit, that the best compliment on got on this video came from my dear friend, Liz. Who said that following when she saw it:

WOW!! This video just made me want to volunteer for the food bank. And I'm dead inside! That must mean its great!

If watching the video makes you feel the same way, click here and find out how you can get involved with the Food Bank For New York City!

Since the night of the cocktail party was also my birthday, Joe and I and Yael and Dave Penn from imagine360 and David Penn Music decided to attend the event as well. I mean who doesn't want to say they spent their birthday with the likes of Mario Batali and Stanley Tucci?! Plus, it's always fun to watch other people watch the videos we do. It helps us know what lands well and what doesn't. I also like seeing how the videos are "broadcast" so I can take the room and the set up into account for next time. Although, really, I try to get invited to the events for the gift bag! In addition to a Filmworks Sharpie (provided by us) goodie bag standouts were the orange spatulas that we still use all the time, a mini frying pan that is perfect for making a single quesadilla for the kids, and some orange chapstick which is currently sitting on my desk (do those things expire?). After the event was over the Parlagrecos and the Penns followed it up with a lovely birthday dinner at Pastis!

I promise that if we get hired to do the video again next year that I'll have orange Sharpies made!