It surely has been a long while, but the official FEEND media blog is back! My name is Jaybee and I’m with the FEEND media team as a videographer, photographer, editor, and one of the creative directors. Today marks the day we’re coming back to the digital blogosphere with coverage from the most recent, and, as you guessed it, the third annual Summer Kickoff Car Show at Toyota of San Bernardino!
This particular event has never failed to impress not just the spectators that enjoy the show, but the organizers and car enthusiasts that outdo themselves year after year. The FEEND media team was fortunate enough to shoot full coverage of this event. This car show was great because it allowed us to utilize two very different worlds of media coverage into one – automotive and events.
As the day started, myself and the FEEND media team first decided which spots of the are the best spots to hit the best shots and get the best content for our edits. One of our favorite spots of the day was the line up into the parking lot as we were able to capture a lot of the cars rolling in. Our producer, Jerel Natividad, did a great job in managing the line and where to place them in the lot. I took plenty of photos and below are just a few of that epic lineup.
Nothing says “AWESOME” like a a sweet low angle shot of an equally sweet ride. Having practiced for a good number of years, we know exactly what the good angles and sides of a car are. Yes, we are car guys so we might be a bit biased to what the definition of a “good” shot is, but nonetheless, we’re as open-minded and experimental as possible. When we see a car, we appreciate the subtle lines that the designer has put into the car itself. As creative and visual as we can be, we see not just the car as the whole but we see the small details that really separate the car from another design. We can’t help but use our imagination and thus, allows us to make really good visual pieces of work.
When we gear up for an event like this, an event that involves numerous subjects and an near-infinite amount of compositions, we want to be prepared. We’ve learned through our years shooting experiences that it’s much better to be over-prepared than under-prepared. The last thing we want is to run out of battery or memory or have forgotten a piece of equipment for a particular shot. I mean, we already have an concept of how we’d shoot our shots and in what style but, as I’m sure it’s happened to you at some point in your life, having more of something is exponentially better than realizing you didn’t have enough of it – or in our perspective – not enough content for a sufficient video.
In this event’s case, we wanted to make sure we utilize all the video tools we have available to us. One of our most prized possessions (my personal favorite) is the DJI Phantom drone because it gets shots that we couldn’t previously get in the past. Back in the day, getting an aerial shot meant production companies would have to hire outside their team for a helicopter ride, a capable camera, a rig for said camera, and trained camera men to handle the whole process safely and efficiently. As time progressed, 2014 was unofficially coined as the “Year of the Drone” and we decided that it’s a really good idea and a really good investment to get a drone to truly expand our visual tool box.
Using the drone doesn’t mean we just fly the thing aimlessly and use the video the on-board camera captures. It can be used in many ways – one of which (in this case) is coverage of the super huge parking lot and all the cars in one shot. That shot isn’t very easy to get if you don’t have a drone and we really wanted to show in our video and photos that this meet is a big deal, which it is. The drone can be used to get high angles we just can’t quite achieve with a tall tripod or even holding it up with our arms as high as we can get it. It’s a great tool and we definitely can get some unique shots to compliment our Sony A7 video shots for a truly special video.
As the day went on, car after car rolls in and gets judged by the Toyota of San Bernardino officials, the crowd starts also pouring in. It might sound like it’s simple, but getting the emotions and the fun-ness of the entire event from the people there can be a challenging task. No worries, the FEEND media team has uncovered the ultimate secret to being one with the crowd – to have fun with them! By that I mean we encourage each other to not keep an “all work no play” mentality when we’re working because our mood and our attitude dictates the way the reactions of the people we shoot are. We wouldn’t want a dull or boring crowd, and that doesn’t really make for an enjoyable video. We love what we do and we invite each other at FEEND to show it!
You might have noticed the little do-hickey contraption that Tam (left) and Kevin (right) are holding and that is our DJI Ronin Gyro Camera Stabilizer that we absolutely love using. It’s a super versatile stabilizer that can used in a multitude of ways and has given us camera shooting abilities that holding merely just the camera isn’t the best idea for a smooth video anymore. As we walk around, you’d think the video would be shakey like your next “Cloverfield” (2008) inspired film, but with the Ronin stabilizer, our videos are as creamy as butter and helps us get that super sexy motion around our subject. You might notice it in the video (posted below) and to this day, just like your reaction to the video, our reactions are still in shock and awe at how amazing the Ronin is. It’s a great video tool and we absolutely adore using this for our videos!
It’s halfway through the day and the car show is at its peak. Crowds going wild over their personal favorite cars, individuals posing next to the cars they’ve had as their phone wallpaper for weeks, and new enthusiasts learning new things about their future potential project cars. We all take our turns in shooting to get a variety of shots for ours photos and video and simply just walking around and enjoying the show really opens up the creative doorway for unforeseen shots we might have otherwise missed previously. Shooting cars at a car show might seem very trivial but it’s another form of media art that we love constructing. Covering the Summer Kickoff Car Show was an awesome experience and we can’t wait until next year’s event which is sure to be bigger and better!
We have a diverse array of schemes and concepts between each of us and together, we have been able to produce fantastic works of art and we all invite challenges and new proposals for projects. FEEND media isn’t just a team of people with cameras, we are a team of truly passionate individuals that love fabricating optical magic and we are capable of shooting not just events and car shows, but also weddings, portraits, fitness, commercials of all kinds, and custom project ideas that showcase true originality from either one of us or our client’s.
Here is the full photo album of the SKO3 car show!
Check out the video we made of the car show!
Summer Kick Off Car Show III from FEEND media on Vimeo.
Thanks for reading! We hope you enjoyed the photos and video!
Story by Jaybee Valledor