Behind the Scenes Archives - Page 5 of 7

Commercial Lifestyle Photographer Matt Jebbia Summer Fun!

Posted on July 2, 2013 by Studio 3 Inc

This shoot was a fun collaboration between many of us here at the studio. What made it work was having access to some great vintage props, a great model and a perfect morning of Seattle summer weather. A few words from Commercial Lifestyle Photographer Matt Jebbia!

We came up with the concept of using Dick’s burgers due to the upcoming 60th anniversary of “Dick’s Drive-In”, and we were lucky that fellow Studio 3’s Commercial Product Photographer David Bell had the perfect vintage VW that he allowed us to use.

Since we were a bit worried about taking this awesome vintage car on location I decided to use the Studio 3 parking lot. It provided a nice backdrop and allowed us to utilize some studio equipment that would have been harder to use out on location.
We set up a 6×12 foot sail in the parking lot that helped to diffuse the harsh noon sun, added a medium soft-box to add some light to our models face, and played around with some different camera angles and props to bring this shoot to life. We use a variety of camera systems at Studio 3 but for this shoot I opted to use the Hasselblad H2d with an 80mm lens. It’s not my camera of choice for location shoots but since we were 10 feet from the studio door it made it easy to use and allowed us to shoot tethered for quick image review.

I have a coca cola image in my portfolio already and decided to add the coke bottle at the end of the shoot, just to add a different prop and I felt that we had the perfect model, vehicle, and location to make it work. It was a bit stressful working so closely with a vintage convertible owned by our Senior Photographer. But once we all got into the flow of creating the perfect shot, it all seemed to come together. And luckily for all of us no vehicles were damaged in the process!

To view more Commercial Lifestyle images created at Studio 3, Inc. click here!

Commericial Photographer: Jim Felt talks about creativity!

Posted on June 27, 2013 by Studio 3 Inc

A few words from Jim Felt – The guy who thought of our name!*
Solving someone insurmountable creative visual opportunity is one of my passions and one of the main reasons for starting Studio 3, Inc. My love for the Art of Commercial Photography and Technology has not only been broadened and deepened by the advent of Digital, but it allows us even more creative solutions then ever before.
In the Analog era we couldn’t capture certain visual assets purely due to costs. Digital has allowed us to travel to places without ever stepping foot at the location. For instance currently you couldn’t be at the Washington Monument, you can no longer park in front of the Alamo, and you are not granted the same access to the Portland Airport due to our 911 era of security. I am excited about our creative future and thrilled with where the digital road will lead us. I was searching online and found this list on creativity and thought our blog would be a great venue to share!
Keep creating and carry on!
1. Make Lists
2. Carry A Notebook Everywhere
3. Try Free Writing
4. Get Away From The Computer
5. Be Otherworldly
6. Quit Beating Yourself Up
7. Take Breaks
8. Sing in the Shower
9. Drink Coffee/Tea
10. Know Your Roots
11. Listen To New Music
12. Be Open
13. Surround Yourself With Creative People
14. Get Feedback
15. Collaborate
16. Don’t Give Up
17. Practice, Practice, Practice
18. Allow Yourself To Make Mistakes
19. Go Somewhere New
20. Watch Foreign Films
21. Count Your Blessings
22. Get Lots Of Rest
23. Take Risks
24. Break The Rules
25. Do More Of What Makes You Happy
26. Don’t Force It
27. Read A Page Of The Dictionary
28. Create A Framework
29. Stop Trying To Be Someone Else’s Perfect
30. Got An Idea? Write It Down
31. Clean Your Workspace
32. Have Fun
33. Finish Something
* Studio 3, Inc. was a lot better then “Felt, Bash, Ngan”. Don’t you think?

Studio 3 Films highlights Stanley Hydraulic product!

Posted on June 21, 2013 by Studio 3 Inc

We are so excited about our continued partnership with Stanley Hydraulics Tools! Check out the video below and stay tuned for more to come! For a little bit of insight into this video shoot check out words from the Director and head of our video department, David King.

So who knew, that up until now, it was impossible to use more than one Hydraulic tool at a time, using the same power source? Me neither! That’s the great thing about life here at Studio 3 Films. You learn something new with each project whether you thought you needed it or not.
Our long-time client, Stanley Hydraulic Tools, came to us with another product launch and a desire for a video to generate excitement within the sales force. The HP TWIN8 Hydraulic Power Unit is unique in the industry in that it can run two tools at once without a drop in power output. An important feature if there’s a water main break and you need to break up the asphalt and start pumping water simultaneously.
The Stanley folks wanted some consistency in style from the video we did for their railroad spike puller – the SPL-31, but needed to have the whole thing shot in studio. Dramatic lighting on wet concrete and camera movement mixed with rotating the unit on our industrial strength turntable gave us the look they wanted. Combine that with some existing footage from an actual job site, a rocking score and a killer voiceover and we were able to launch the HP TWIN8 in style.
Have a look at our latest production for Stanley Hydraulic Tools and tell me you don’t want one.

To view more of Studio 3 Film’s video reel click here!

To view more visual assets check out our website at www.studio3.com

Film Director David King What a beautiful campus!

Posted on April 5, 2013 by Studio 3 Inc

One of our favorite places to visit and shoot, is the beautiful campus of Washington State University, Vancouver. The scenic views from the campus’ hilltop location are breathtaking and change dramatically through out the seasons. Our crew visited the campus again for our second video collaboration with WUSV’s marketing department. Here are a few words from our Film Director David King.

For the second video in our series for Washington State University Vancouver, we were asked to help the university highlight how “non-traditional” students thrive at the Vancouver campus. With an enrollment of just over three thousand students, an average class size of twenty, and a student to faculty ratio of 1:14, WSUV truly caters to the student that is serious about furthering their education without sacrificing the whole university experience.

For this video, we directed our focus at transfer students, students that have families, those that hold down jobs outside of school, and those that are looking for help with financial aid. We spent the day on campus, interviewing five students with very diverse backgrounds and career aspirations. The common thread for each of them was how easy it was to be a student at Washington State University Vancouver while working and in some cases, raising a family. It was great to hear them talk about what makes Washington State University Vancouver so special.

We were able to utilize some of the scenic footage we captured on our earlier visit in the fall, before school had started for the year, as well as shooting some new footage with the campus bustling with student activity. The video ultimately ended up on the WSUV website and is viewed often by prospective students who may be looking for a university that will fit their unique circumstance.

Check it out here, or visit the WSUV website at http://www.vancouver.wsu.edu.

To view more Videos created at Studio 3 Films please click here!

Product Photographer Craig Wagner Time for a Dip!

Posted on March 26, 2013 by Studio 3 Inc

Product Photographer Craig Wagner puts his creative skills to use for our client Nixon. Utilizing natural elements to add drama and movement brings these watch images to life. Read below for a few words from Craig!

This photo shoot required a lot of teamwork and was a problem solver’s dream. It was obvious that digital art would be needed but I chose to capture as much as we could in camera giving the final image a surreal look.

For the first image of the Nixon Dip Dye collection we utilized the Profoto Pro-8a 2400 power packs for their high flash duration to capture the water splashes and their impressive recycle time to capture the floating colored dyes. Studio3’s custom made “Time-Delay” triggering device allowed us to precisely control the amount and height of each splash. Managing the colored dye proved to be the real creative challenge on this shoot. Our studio producer rounded up a variety of colored powdered pigments and dyes to suspend in the water. We were surprised to find that regular kitchen food coloring provided us the results we were after. To get the right amount of movement of the dye we used a 33 gallon tank which allowed us enough water space to create just the right current.

The second image below of the Nixon Velvet collection was shot on black plexiglass utilizing our Roscoe smoke machine. which we love to pull off the shelf and add into many of our fun creative shoots. Finding that the smoke was a big challenge to manage its direction and flow on such a small set, we turned to dry-ice which provided a smaller much more controllable amount of vapor flow. Adding colored gels to our strobes really made the smoke stand out and added a lot of movement to the overall image. Nixon’s creative team was great to work with. They had a (tight) solid concept but were very open to experimentation and my team’s input. This shoot gave us the opportunity to play with some new equipment, pull some of our fun gadgets off the shelves and exercise our creativity to bring these Nixon watches to life!

To view these on the Nixon website click here!

Studio 3 Films Director David King and Hog Wild's President Joe Rooper discuss their latest video project!

Posted on March 19, 2013 by Studio 3 Inc

Studio 3 Films, Behind the Scenes, Click Shot Commercial Video, Power Popper Commercial Video

Studio 3 Films is so excited to partner with Hogwild in Portland to highlight their latest products! For insight into this video project read below to hear from our Director, David King!

Hog Wild, a Portland toy company and one of our long-time photography clients, came to us with a need for two video commercials to launch their newest products: Click Shots and Power Poppers. Both spots were to be shot in studio, featuring kids, voiceover and a lot of action. We brought in frequent collaborator and Director of Photography Andy Maser with his RED Epic for the shoot. We wanted to shoot with the RED for a couple of reasons: 240 frames per second, slow motion would help us capture the fast action of the products and the 4k resolution at 24 frames would give us the option of doing some fast, optical zooms in post production.

We shot the spots over two days; one day at Studio 3, and because our stage was already booked for another shoot, we shot the next day at Picture This Studios. While not professionals, the kids were fantastic. The RED Epic performed as expected. Two weeks later, the post production was done and the spots were on their way to Hong Kong for one of the biggest toy trade shows in the world.

“Studio 3 produced two .30 TV commercials for us. Both were for toy products brand new to the market and both need high energy and pizzazz. We gave them a decent script and storyboard but what they came back with based upon their creative input, camera techniques, direction and post production was a mile above where we started. We’ve used other companies for our TV spots in the past but we’re incredibly happy with the results we received from Studio 3. Three thumbs up for their creative smarts, direction and technical expertise.” President/CEO Hogwild

Meet Liz! Production Coordinator Lady of Many Talents

Posted on March 5, 2013 by Studio 3 Inc

We are so excited to introduce our newest member to the Studio 3 team. Her name is Liz Swales, and she has effortlessly joined our PDX studio as our Production Coordinator. She’s excited about working on projects from Commercial Photography, Video Production, CGI, and Post Production services! She’s a woman of many talents and charisma, read below to learn more:

I am a crazy, obsessive organized person, that doesn’t feel right without a to-do list in one hand and a phone in the other. With these enduring qualities I knew I needed to find a place that could harbor my talents and keep me constantly busy. Hence I found Studio 3, a place full of awesome creatives and a need for someone to keep it all together. I am very excited to learn about the innovative methods of Food Photography, the excitement of Lifestyle Photography, the craziness of Video Production, the intricacies of CGI/Digital Animation and the language of Digital Art.
Once my to-do list is checked off, I sit back, relax, pour myself a glass of red wine (from Oregon), and nibble on some authentic cheese. I’ve been hard pressed to find a cheese I don’t like. You can also find me walking my adorable Beagle Swijen up on Mt. Tabor (coffee in hand), decorating my house with inspiration from my favorite design magazines, cuddling up to watch a dramatic movie, singing my heart out, to the track: Brass in Pocket, and always participating in impromptu dance parties. I hope to have one with the team on our studio’s turntable, with a 360-degree spin! I just have to convince the team!

We look forward to seeing Liz grow in her new role and develop long term relationships with our stellar clients. Who knows, maybe she’ll get the Studio 3 team dancing?!

Whirling in the Holidays! Whirlyball?

Posted on January 2, 2013 by Studio 3 Inc

Who doesn’t like a good ol’ fashion work party during the holidays? I mean, am I right? The idea of getting “jiggy” with it amongst your peers with bad punch and awkward swaying to holiday tunes just completes the season… or maybe not. A corporate affair with punch and lame music with the inevitable tragedy of one particular person getting a little too sauced and giving us all a show akin to the likes of Bridget Jones’s Diary just didn’t feel like the thing to do. Why you ask? We are anything but typical and corporate we are not.
Studio 3 likes to celebrate the holidays in style. So with the annual Christmas soiree fast approaching, the team thought long and hard, ultimately choosing the future Olympic sport of Whirlyball. If you’ve never played Whirlyball you can check it out here: (www.whirlyballseattle.com)

It’s sort of like the bastard love child of godzilla and bumper cars had a bastard love child with the bastard love child of basketball and lacrosse. You follow me? Now, we we’re not professional Whirlyball athletes per say, but we were willing to learn from the best. Our own digital artist, Alex Gumina, known as “The Butterfly” for his prowess and elegance on the court, showed us the path to bumper car greatness. Food Photography bamf, David Bell, proved to be quite the protégé to The Butterfly and has since been dubbed “Baby Bird.” Together they were a dynamic force of unstoppable Whirlyball madness and ultimately needed to be separated to make it fair for the rest of us. Just kidding. But, we are hoping these ridiculous pictures will convince at least one of our clients to not only consider us for our fabulous vehicle photography, but also to try out this fun game! Happy Holidays!

Inside Look: Matt Jebbia's Daydreamin' Material

Posted on August 9, 2012 by Studio 3 Inc

In these last weeks of summer, we were feeling the warmth and beauty of these carefree days that face us every year. With the feeling of endless amounts of free time to daydream and think about the possibilities that lie ahead, we wanted to share with you what inspires one of our in house photographers, Matt Jebbia. Read below to see how he spends his brainstorming time and maybe you can find your own inspiration:

What inspires me is the use of light. Light has the ability to shape an object or subjects mood, presence, and form to convey a story. Light can be either natural or artificial, in school I learned to use light in the standard photographic ways. But what I love, is that you can break all the conventional rules of light to create even more dramatic and beautiful images.
The photographers that inspire me the most with their unconventional use of light are: Shuakashi (http://www.shuakashi.com/), who often paints with light to create streaks and patterns that blow my mind, Melissa Rodwell, Jill Greenberg, and most of all my all time favorite Irving Penn. I love fashion and beauty as a subject, so nonetheless, these photographers who specialize in this area are of particular inspiration. The way they capture light, and movement, and even the perception of movement in their subjects…That’s what is so inspiring to me.