Rack Focus Post

Time to Hang Our Honkers
September 1, 2008 - Jason Brown

The Michigan goose opener is a day we look forward to every year. It's really the kick-off to a fall of great anticipation and hopeful harvests. The resident goose population is strong and with the abundant open water we are lucky enough to have in our state, we can always expect a great opening week.

Jason looks for roosting geese the night before opener

My cousin Jason Johnson, friend and neighbor Jeff Schuster, RF Editor/Field Producer Al Pope and myself met up with MyOutdoorZone.com member TJ Brubaker (AKA: Ambushunter on the website) in Michigan's thumb-town Sandusky to hunt with our good buddies at Honker Hangers. After talking with Troy, guide and owner of HH, over the last week fewer and fewer geese had been hitting the wheat fields, primarily from the 80 degree heat. He believed that over the course of the week more and more geese were heading back north to the cooler big waters of Lake Huron. Regardless, we were there to have a good time and shoot a few Giant Canada's in the lips.

From a production perspective, Al was there to capture the events of the two days for our OTZ-TV Show. In a waterfowl hunt there are a huge amount of variables like sun, wind

Gettin' a good laugh from one of Johnson's "clean" arsenal of jokes

and limitations to camera operator movement. To offset some of these handicaps we run multiple cameras. For a one operator hunt we run three stationary cameras, two lipsticks and one manned camera. With being so handcuffed and locked down as an operator hunting in a layout, you need a lot of stationaries. One of the lipsticks (POV.1) was placed on my hat and the other (V-HOLDR) was placed on Jason Johnson's hat. This allowed us to have the ability to cut live into action angles during the hunt in our Post-Production process.

Honkers in the Hay

Our audio set-up was a little less complicated. We had two wireless mics placed strategically on the hunters we wanted to hear and another shotgun mic placed in front of the layout blinds to capture a lot of the calling sequences. We also ran a shotgun mic into the decoy spread to get the bug "Thump" of a Honker falling from the sky and meeting up with the Michigan wheat stubble.

One of the problems you run in to when you goose hunt for video is the "way" the geese come in. Ideally you want groups of no more than 10 to come in at once with a handful of doubles and singles throughout the morning. This helps build content

Hang your honkers out...

and a nice storyline. No good videoed goose hunt consists of two or three groups of 75 birds coming in and getting dumped all at once. It's fun as a hunter but it is tougher for and editor to tell a good story, especially when we are only on a one-day hunt.

Although it was a little slower than we had hoped due to the heat, the morning came to an end and we put 13 Canada's in Honker Heaven and had an excellent kickoff to the fall hunting season. Thanks to the guys at Honker Hangers for having us out and we look forward to our October Duck/Goose Combo hunt to wrap up the segment for the show.

A Michigan Barn Sunset	Al on his first Goose Opener	Opening day aftermath goose jerky!

Rack Focus Video School
August 22-24, 2008 - Jason Brown

Well, the 2008 Rack Focus Video School has come and went, and there's no doubt that it was probably the best one yet for a few reasons. One, we were able to hold it in our new Production studio, which enabled us to utilize all of the post production equipment and any other field production resources at our fingertips. The last three were held in Illinois, Maryland and Missouri, so to be home for this one was a big bonus.

Mike Avery stopped by and spoke to the class on Friday	Matt running the V1 in a field exercise on Saturday	Students seemed to gravitate to the edit bays when we had free time.

Two, I had my two editors and field producers, Al and Preston there for the entire weekend which was a huge help. They were actually in the very first Video School I held almost five years ago, so they could relate to being a Rack Focus student, not to mention that they know a hell of a lot about everything we teach here, giving the course even more depth.

Rich Schultz shootin' the bull in one of the edit bays.

And finally, as much as I like the hunting based course we do in the field, I believe we could give the students a lot more hands on technical training than we can in the others. We are able to also use Final Cut Pro to emphasize and give examples of several in the field mistakes made by field producers. We also looked at what goes into some of the shows we produce everyday and the struggles we come across when the field producers fail to give us a good storyto work with after they get back from a hunt.

On Saturday, we had each of the eight students pair up and hit the pavement to try and tell the best story they could in a few hours using all of the techniques we talked about during the Friday and most of the day Saturday, with a Gear Bag given to each team member who we thought told the best story.

After the students shot what they considered a "good" story, we brought the raw footage into the edit bays and rough cut the footage together to try and determine which team had the best story technically and creatively.

This exercise helped the students, as brief as it was, get a feel for how much needs to go into this part of field production. It's more than just pushing record on stand and capturing the hunt, it's all about how you can bring all aspects of the hunt to the viewer in the most entertaining method possible. I believe we are in a real interesting point in the outdoor television industry. We are desperately in need of quality programming as well...and even more, entertaining programming. It isn't good enough to just go out and shoot an 160" buck on video anymore...if there isn't some sort of story to bring the hunt together, to me it's just another hunt. And that more than anything is what we tried to get across to the students.

Preston is giving the students an inside look a what we deal with every day in post production.

One of the field exercises we did was called "hard wired", which seemed to also open the eyes of a lot of the students to different camera techniques and gave them a chance to play with the camera settings.

The best part of the training for this section of the course is the fact that we had a 100' composite cable running from the cameras outside to the 52" LCD in our Green Room in the studio. Not only could we give advice and tips to the students as we could view exactly what they were shooting, the other students could as well, so they were all learning as we critiqued each student.

Over the years we have had students from many states come to the course. In this class we had eight students represent the states of Ohio, Michigan, Washington and New Jersey. Two of the students were from the Xtreme Outdoors "Huntin' Hard" TV Show and we also had two students from "Bowhunting Addiction TV", a hardcore bowhunitng show looking to air in Summer 2009. We also had two professional photographers and an ex-marine, so it's definitely a diverse group each time we hold a course.

On Friday we had Outdoor Television and Radio Veteran Mike Avery, Jay's Outdoor Magazine and Outdoor Magazine Radio. What he provided to the students was a lot of history in the industry from a guy who has seen almost every different transition we have seen in the last several years.

Use of tree arms on stand is a must in almost every situation, we use the HB Sniper Pro for all of out treestand sets.	Matt gets some tips on stand from Al about tree arm use.

I most certainly have a lot of respect for Mike, a guy who has made it in the Outdoor Industry, an industry that is not real kind to a lot of people. The students seemed to have a ton of great questions, and the thing I like about Mike is that he speaks from his heart and gives an honest and well though out answer for each question and topic he is talking about. I've learned a lot from Mike over the last several years and I think the students gained a lot of knowledge from just gearing things from a different perspective than Al, Preston or myself.

Overall, I think every student got all they wanted out of the course and can't wait to bring in the next crew of potential Outdoor Professionals and teach them all we can to help them get over the hump to make the Outdoor Industry a part of their life.

Al and Preston on their way out to do an exercise in the field about teamwork on stand between hunter and cameraman.	The 2008 Rack Focus Summer Class

Working after hours at The Post
August 18, 2008- Jason Brown

As the next Rack Focus Video School closes in, the pressure of getting our new studio in working condition becomes more stressful. I closed on the building in May, which was a wood shop we converted into our new Rack Focus Post Studio. As you can see there is still a lot that needs to be done, but just a few months ago there was nothing on the inside but cement and exterior walls.

The layout allows for four edit bays, a media room and my office. There is a lot of open space, which is a huge change from our old studio. Our log building also sits on almost two acres of Pines, back in on a ridge with plenty of room to expand...and shoot our bows of course. The lower level is 1800 sq. ft. and the upper loft is a little over 1000 sq. ft. The upstairs is framed but won't be finished until next year. Stay tuned for the updated pics as we finish.

In Front of the Camera for OTZ-TV
August 5, 2008- Jason Brown

During the course of our regular production hours in the studio, we all get a chance to break free and head in the field for a production shoot...and in the heat of the third quarter post-production schedule, it's a welcome sight.

Interviews come easier for me if I have some kind of prop to lean up against.

On this shoot, Preston was running the camera and Al was snapping a few stills while I was doing the "Host" role for an upcoming "Own the Zone TV" Episode. This particular location was only a few miles from our Post Studio, but it's never an easy task to have a smooth shoot. Some of the common obstacles you deal with is changing light, gusting winds, background noise and vehicle interruptions to name a few. We shot several of these interviews with a heavy depth of field , which we achieved by creating distance from the subject and the camera.

MyOutdoorZone.com Hits the Radiowaves
July 10, 2008- Jason Brown

A few weeks ago I had talked with Jay's Outdoor Magazine TV Host and Radio Personality Mike Avery about coming on his radio show to do a little promotion for our myoutdoorzone.com website. It wasn't the first time that Mike and I had talked about doing some outdoor talk radio, though. A few years ago I had done a segment about the Rack Focus Video School, and actually picked up a few new students from the show. He called me a few hours before we did the interview to let me know he was going to call. We talked for about 20 minutes on all the benefits of the website for the members who join and also talked a little bit about outdoor videography. Click here to have a listen

To go to the Outdoor Magazine website and learn more about what Mike has going on in the outdoors, click on the logo to the left.

Shooting with the A-Way Boys
June 28, 2008- Jason Brown

The show that launched Rack Focus Post almost eight years ago was A-Way Outdoor Television. Since 2001, Greg and Fred have been great friends of mine. We have come a long way as a company since then, and a lot of things have changes in this industry...but A-Way continues to be a loyal customer of our, even through last year's collapse of Men's Outdoor and Recreation Network.

We decided to incorporate interviews a little different this season on the show. Since I can count the number of times on one hand that Fred and Greg have been in front of the camera together (usually one is filming the other) in the show's seven years of airing, I presented Greg with doing a two-shot of Greg and Fred on camera talking about the episodes. he was all for it so Preston and I headed over to the A-Way Headquarters in Beaverton, MI for a morning shoot.

Heartland Bowhunter TV Production Week
June 4, 2008 - Jason Brown

With the first episode of HBTV sneaking up on us and turkey season completely behind us, it was time to finally shoot the open for our new series. Jeff and fellow Team HB crew members Mike Hunsucker and Skyler Wirsig had come up two weeks earlier to try and wrap up the turkey season here in MI and get interviews shot for the show along with the intro, but due to a family emergency in Jeff's family, the week was cut short.

Nice Depth of field shot in the Pines	Workin' the Fig Rig and the V1U	Another Rack Focus shot for the HB Intro

It was now more important then ever to get as much done for the show as we could in one week. We spent about three days in the field shooting interviews and the intro, and about four days in the studio in full post-production mode, definitely burning the candle at both ends.

The Michigan Pines helping us with another shot for the HBTV Intro

One of the hurdles we had to overcome, and are still trying to perfect is the distance between our companies. Rack Focus Post and Heartland Bowhunter are located about 800 miles apart, so doing the little things on a day to day basis isn't really possible. That being said, we have amazingly overcome the fact that we may go for a few months without meeting. Jeff and I talk on the phone daily, most days multiple times and after over two years of working together, it can be said we know exactly what to expect out of each other.

Jeff and I from the start have had the same views on Outdoor Television and had a vision for HBTV that has led us to this point in the journey. Our goals and expectations for HBTV is extremely high, but they are challenges that we think we can accomplish through hard work and by doing things better and completely different than what's been done before.

Weather Challenges

Throughout the week we faced many challenges during shooting for the intro and the interviews. Besides rain, wind is the most impossible element to overcome in the field. With even the best audio gear and field production tricks, we still were getting overmodulation in our lav mic. At one point we had Rack Focus Editor/Field Producer Al Pope using the light reflector to block the wind while we were shooting in the middle of a wheat field, which actually worked most of the time...but that's just not good enough when your trying to get crisp audio. We then moved locations and shot interviews on the back side of an old Northern Michigan Barn that blocked a majority of the gusting wind.

Shooting the HBTV Open

One of the major things we really wanted to accomplish with our open for the show was to use a more creative approach by using shot composition to create interest. Many current opens in Outdoor Television consists of basically a highlight reel of hunting clips captured while in the field with intense Rock and Roll music.

Al and Preston teaming up to get the elusive HB Arrow Wrap Spinning shot...that we never used.

We totally wanted to get away from that and decided if HBTV was going to be a television series about Outdoor Lifestyle, we needed to have an open reflect that in every way. In fact, there is only one whitetail in the one-minute plus intro...and I'd argue the fact that most people won't even realize that. Our show consists of a TON of whitetail and turkey footage, so why put all of the best stuff on an intro that will be seen before the show even starts, plus it really stands out as being different and fresh.

Succesful Field Production starts with a well though out game plan during the pre-production process. I've found that in my years of Producing Outdoor Television, Opens for TV Shows are the absolute hardest thing to get right. You can literally pour tens of thousands of dollars into this part of your Television Series and get it completely wrong. In my opinion, the more razzle dazzly special effects, graphics and wild post tricks you load it with, the more you have a chance to mess it up and totally lose your identity as a TV Series. I've always believed that simple is mostly better, so sticking with a more cinematic approach to our intro, just like we do in our show, makes the most sense.

To the Cutting Room Floor

One of the most exciting parts in the whole creative process for me is when you get the chance to come back to the Post Studio and tear into the ideas and images you captured with a lens and see how they translate. Most of the time you really don't know what to expect. On this particular project, Jeff and I knew we had our work cut out for us since we had only two days before he had to fly back to Kansas City.

While this was only just over a one-minute music bed we were working with, I knew this was a far more time intensive process than we had time for this Production Trip. Over the next two days, we literally worked 18-20 hours each day in Post and a lot of it was on adrenaline. About midway through day one of Post, we found our stride and really started laying out the Intro on the timeline, watching it frequently after we made a change that would give us more life. That's the great thing about the whole Process of Television Production, you are literally taking an idea and molding it into how you want the viewing audience to feel, think and react...true creativity.

We used wind-blown wheat in the foreground of many shots for the intro to add depth and create a more interesting shot composition	Jeff and I review a shot sequence in the field

Over the two years we have been working towards our goal of a television show, the goal hasn't just been to produce another outdoor television show. From day one, Jeff and I have seen eye to eye on almost every type of opinion we've had about this industry from the Television perspective. We have had our share of growing pains as a production unit, but I truly believe this show will be received in the most positive and refreshing light possible...and you know the scary part? Although I think we are at the top of the Outdoor Television heap already, I don't think we'll even reach our full potential for a few more years, and that's scary.

Although it's a ton of work, we truly love what we do and wouldn't change it for the world.	The famous intro shot of Jeff's "looking down the shaft arrow spin"

Show Times for Heatland Bowhunter TV can be found on our partners page and re-airs of the show along with the intro we shot can also be seen on the Heartland Bowhunter website.

EPH DVD Nearing Completion
April 9, 2008 - Preston Bovee

We put the finishing touches on the Extreme Predator Hunting DVD yesterday. Just had a couple of changes to make with the DVD functions and it was in the mail to be reviewed by Jim Lombardi of HPS and Pete Brown of Extreme Dimensions. If all is well it will be at the replication house in a couple weeks.

Interviews for the Launch of HBTV
April 3, 2008 - Jason Brown

It's the first week in April up here in the north country of Michigan. Usually we've had a few warm days by this point...we still have a foot of snow in the timber and we're still catching fish through the ice.

Al & Preston ready to roll a little HD	Me behind the V1...just where I like it	Preston from the lens back

I picked Preston up this morning with the temp gauge on my Avalanche reading 23 degrees. Our goal today was to one, get out of the studio for a little while and breath some fresh air. Two, we wanted to get a little turkey scouting and shed hunting in, and three...we needed to shoot some interviews for "Own the Zone". I also wanted to put a few hours on the BBB, it's been three months since I've been on the old girl. They don't do well in three feet of snow.

No matter how many you've done...interviews are NEVER easy

Preston and I started off cruisin' some areas where we knew had turkey activity. We glassed a groupof six mature gobblers in a stand of pines, and fortunately for us...they were strutting and gobbling their heads off. It's always nice to hear those first gobbles of the season, even if it's 10 degrees below freezing.

Zone Member Al Pope met up with us after his midnight shift at work to help us out with a little shed hunting and roll some behind the scenes footage with a second camera angle. We used an old wooden horse corral loading ramp for the set of our interviews. It worked out real well and added a lot of depth and character into the shots. We used two Sony V1U's for the shoot set to the 1080i/24p setting.

After Preston and I wrapped our interviews, we met up with my brother-in-law, Pete Davis and his Uncle Mike Ferrantino, whom are also part of the Zone Team (they own the property as well). They came up for the day to go over some of the changes the loggers have made to the property over the last few weeks. It was a great day...but like always, we rushed back and were in the studio just after lunch to put the finishing touches on the Predator DVD and lay out more footage on the timeline for HBTV.

I like to add movement and mix in some canting when interviewing,especially for the style of OTZtv	I set the exposure through the eye-piece and look through the LCD when recording

MOZ and OTZ-TV Discovery Meeting...Get Ready!
April 1, 2008 - Jason Brown

Had a Discovery meeting today with a web design company who will be redesigning the new and improved MyOutdoorZone.com website. The entire Zone Team was there to go over everything we want to include in our second version. There will be a lot of improved functions and so many new features I don't even know where to start, but I do know we'll be very busy until the July 1 relaunch of the site, just in time to coincide with the first episode of "Own The Zone TV".

The Waiting Game...Will it Ever Launch?
March 26, 2008 - Jason Brown

Well...Pursuit was supposed to "throw the switch" on Direct TV Channel 611 today...that came and went with nothing more than what we saw the day before, a blank channel. We did get an email from the network stating they are still on track for launch, just for April 9, two weeks away...Blah, Blah, Blah. SHOW ME THE MONEY, as they say. Enough of these games with all of the producers and get the job done already. After MOR went down, I have faith but am crossing my fingers until the channel goes live.

On a better note, Jed Speiser came in the studio and cut the last of the VO's for the Extreme Predator Hunting DVD. I really believe this will be one of the top Predator Productions released to date. Preston has been invaluable throughout the entire project, basically putting it on his shoulders here in the studio and running with it. I am very happy with the end result to say the least.

HBTV Online Now Live!
March 25, 2008 - Jason Brown

Uploaded the finished Webisode for Heartland Bowhunter today. "Cabin Fever" is the newest online show to be featured on the HB website. Had a few issues compressing to Flash and getting the right aspect ratio for the player. The way we do it is this: after we get the post done on Final Cut, we use the On2 Flash converter to then compress the 15 minute show to around 55mb. The real killer is the length of time it takes to compress, then to upload to the ftp site for the webmaster for HB. If there is one issue with the final product, it's another two hour process to do it all over again. It can be pretty frustrating, but it sure is a slick way to move a lot of great content to viewers.

Also got a new American Outdoorsman Show today, Alberta Bears. Looked at the raw footage when we were logging it, looked pretty good, all shot in 1080i, so that was a bonus. Preston has been working on the new A-Way Open, Sponsor Bumps and Credits for the last few days, I'm sure he'll fill you in on that.

Pursuit is supposed to go live tomorrow on Direct TV 611. A lot of people are really counting on this to go off without a hitch...including me and four of our shows. I'm crossing my fingers and saying prayers daily.

Extreme Predator Hunting DVD Shoot with Jed and Jim
March 24, 2008 - Jason Brown

Shot the new intro, closing and tips segment for the Extreme Predator Hunting DVD today. Jim Lombardi and Jed Speiser met me at the "Own the Zone" stomping grounds, a 4,200 acre piece of Northern Michigan beauty nestled between the hardwood ridges and swamps of Clare County. With April closing in on us and the Spring Gobbler Season just around the corner, we were still competing with almost two feet of snow in the timber, so with all of our camera gear and the stuff the guys needed for the tips segment, we decided to shoot our segments just off the road next to an old wooden horse corral. Don't get me wrong, it isn't exactly a busy road we were next to, in fact we saw just two trucks in three hours of shooting.

Used the V1U in 1080i/24p and shot off the Bogen Sticks and hand held the PD170 in SD Wide for live cut-ins, canting often with a little shake and tight framing. Even though I shot in 1080i, we are still working with an SD production, so mixing the HD and SD doesn't really make much difference. I miked both Jed and Jim for the intro and closing, but used two shotgun mics and a hidden wireless lav within the set when the two looked at each other to talked. Worked well in the situation with all of the calling they did.

From the eyes of the cameraman...	Jed doing what he does best...yakin' it up	Jed and Jim's Excellent Adventures...Only $9.99

We wrapped at about 5pm. With 32 degree temps and sun beating down from a rich blue sky, it was hard to leave, but this is our busy season with all of the gearing up for the 3rd quarter in the Post Studio. Jim and Jed did, in all honesty, the best stand up I've ever shot. Saying they work very well together is an understatement. If we aren't producing the very best Predator Hunting Show by next year I'll be shocked. These boys really have it figured out, and the best part is...I don't think they realize it.

Arrows Unleashed S.1 Almost Ready
January 17, 2008 - Jason Brown

Good friend Jeff Simpson, owner of Heartland Bowhunter and my Co-Producer of HBTV, just left after two long days and nights in the Rack Focus Studio finishing up our first DVD release, "Arrows Unleashed S.1". We spent one evening cutting VO for the 90 minute feature well after midnight. I decided to grab the Nikon and snapped a few pics after the clock struck 12 while laid down some audio in one of our Edit Bays.

Overall, I think the few days Jeff was here really helped us out. We had two years of footage to sort through and over 60 hours of tape from the HB Prostaff. It was really a challange to find exactly what we needed a lot of the time...most of the tape if not all were submitted before we had a detailed labeling system and required the Staff to use time code sheets for all footage they layed down. The '07 fall season was much more seamless with our new system. It was nice having Jeff up here, I've been down to the HB Headquarters three times now, so it was time...plus we got him a Michigan Turkey License...that is screamin' to be filled is a few weeks.

Jeff Working on the Script	The DVD Menu Of S.1 is done	DJ Jazzy Jeff on the mic