MediaStorm Guide to Setting Up Shots

At MediaStorm, we ask one important question to test the veracity of our work: does it deceive the viewer? The most fundamental way to break trust with not just your audience, but also your subject, is to set up shots. [1] How to Set Up a Shot If you ask someone to repeat an action, you are setting up a shot. "Could you walk through the door again so I can film you from the other side?" "Will you put your shoes on again so I can get a tight shot?" "Can you pick up your coffee again? I missed it the first time?" If you attempt to direct the action or ask subjects something they normally wouldn’t do, you are setting up a shot. "Would you mind dancing?" "Can we take you to visit your dad?" "Will you turn off the lights so I can get some pictures that look more…

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The Canon C300: Field Tested by MediaStorm DP Rick Gershon

MediaStorm’s Director of Photography, Rick Gershon, brought the C300 to Angola to shoot their documentary “Surviving the Peace,” which follows the progress of the Mines Advisory Group as they clear unexploded ordnance. Watch as he shares his thoughts on how the C300 helped realize their vision for the production in this interview with Gershon, featuring footage from the documentary. Introduction This is a practical review taken from my experience using the Canon C300 in the field on an actual project. This is not a technical review. I will not be discussing the in-depth minutia of the technical aspects of this camera. Rather I will be giving real world examples of both the positive and negative aspects of the camera that I experienced while using it in a documentary setting, in very difficult conditions on a very important film. In my opinion, it takes a very special kind of camera to work well…

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Rick Gershon joins MediaStorm

We are excited to welcome multimedia producer Rick Gershon to the MediaStorm team. For the last three years he has served as a multimedia photojournalist and staff photographer at Getty Images. Some of his clients include the Discovery Channel, History Channel, A&E, The Travel Channel, AOL.com, MediaStorm and MSNBC. His images of various news and political events have run in newspapers and news magazines around the world and he is currently a featured photographer with Reportage by Getty Images. During his time at Getty he received numerous awards for his multimedia stories from both the National Press Photographers Association and Pictures of the Year, a Webby for Individual Documentary episode and a national Emmy nomination for New Approaches to Documentary Storytelling. After graduating in August 2004 with a B.A. in photojournalism from the University of North Texas, he was named College Photographer of the Year and also received an Award of Excellence…

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New MediaStorm Advanced Multimedia Workshop Projects Launched, Additional Workshop Dates Added

From March 6-12, 2010, we held our sixth MediaStorm Advanced Multimedia Reporting Workshop. Three teams of talented professionals, along with MediaStorm Producer Eric Maierson and guest producers Scott Anger and Rick Gershon, conceived, reported, and produced the following projects: Take Care by Gillian Laub, Henrik Björnsson, Elena Ghanotakis, and Laura Varma Virginia Gandee's brilliant red hair and dozen tattoos belie the reality of this 22-year-old's life. Inside her family's Staten Island trailer her caregiving goes far beyond the love she has for her daughter. Close to Home by Mary Beth Meehan, Michele Asselin and Maria Finitzo Roxanne Pickering is a Brooklyn resident bound by family and economics to live near the Gowanus Canal, a polluted waterway recently declared an EPA superfund site. Johnnie Footman: New York City's 90-year-old Cabbie by Jan Johannessen and Charlotte Oestervang Johnnie Footman, 90, may be the oldest cabbie in New York City. His age limits his time…

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