Go To Team, High Definition Video Production Services

Nashville Cameraman in Phoenix for Fox Sports

2013-06-18T06:00:56-07:00

Nashville Camerman Craig Goodale traded country for cacti as he joined forces with GTT DP Dan Lowrey in Phoenix, AZ. Fox Sports teamed with Go To Team to shoot footage of the San Diego Padres at spring training. Gear included the Panasonic HDX900 x 2, and the Canon 5D DSLR.

Dallas Crew Works With Jeff Burton and CAT

2013-06-17T06:00:01-07:00

I just love being on pit road.

Texas Motor Speedway recently hosted their April NASCAR race. I just love it when NASCAR comes to town. This time I was shooting for NASCAR Media Group. Jeff Burton’s sponsor, Caterpillar, wanted footage of their hospitality tent, the new paint scheme, and the race. I was shooting on the Panasonic HDX 900.

Jeff Burton chats with Richard Childress before the race.

After picking up my credentials and golf cart I made my way over to the CAT hospitality tent. I met up with my contact and got a rundown of what I needed to shoot. I started with b-roll of the tent and the new hybrid equipment placed outside the tent. Later in the day I shot a Jeff Burton Q & A and then shot b-roll of him signing autographs for fans.

Next on the list was shooting b-roll of the new paint scheme the CAT racecar was sporting for the event. I got some cool shots of the car going through inspection and then being pushed out on to pit road for the race. The last thing on the list was getting some footage of the CAT pit crew doing a pit stop. The producer also wanted me to get some night footage. I hung around for the better part of the race. It was just cool to be there and take it all in.

It was a blast being at the track and working for NASCAR. The next day I shipped the tapes to Charlotte, NC. I can’t wait for the next race.

Jeff Burton signs some autographs for fans.

Atlanta Heads to Talladega for SPEED

2013-06-14T06:00:50-07:00

It’s always good to hit the track, but Talladega Superspeedway is a beast of it’s own. I was there this time shooting some glamour shots of the drivers for teases on SPEED. This race is special for me because it marks my first job with Go To Team – Yay me! So to start out this shoot, I wished myself a happy anniversary.

We got to the track early Friday morning to pick a location and set up. We ended up in the driver’s lounge and got to work. The producer was great, knowing what he wanted helped me to set up to his vision. We ended up blacking the room out and backlighting the subjects to get a kind of silhouette look. I got to shoot it on the Canon C300 and Compact Primes, so needless to say it looked pretty cool. After 2 days of cycling through the drivers and sloshing through the muddy lots and roads, we called it a wrap and headed home. I had a blast on this shoot and I think the end product will look really neat!

-Jeff M

Charleston Crew Covers Pretty Mug Shots with Inside Edition

2013-06-13T06:00:50-07:00

Go To Team’s Charleston Based DP Dave Baker recently teamed up with Joel Hinrichs and drove out to Moncks Corner SC for Inside Edition. The story? Aspiring Model Kathryn Dennis was to talk about difficulties that arise from having her mugshot on the internet. She and several other women are featured on many websites that create traffic by displaying pretty mug shots. The story was shot on the Panasonic HDX900 and lighting was handled by Kino Flo Diva’s. Stay tuned to Inside Edition for the story.

Nashville crew heads to OKC for NBC

2013-06-12T06:00:47-07:00

GTT’s Nashville Crew was recently called to Oklahoma City to shoot for “Dateline” on NBC. Several interviews were shot with survivors of and witnesses to the tornado that devastated the town of Moore, OK. Footage was taken on the Panasonic HDX900 camera.

Following a Dynasty – Chicago Crew spends day with Northwestern Women’s Lacrosse

2013-06-11T06:00:26-07:00

Shot another Big Ten Game Day Experience feature! This time it was right in my back yard, Evanston IL. The Northwestern Women’s Lacrosse team is building a dynasty as they have won the national championship 7 times in the past 8 seasons. It was awesome to be able document “a day in the life” for this championship team. We chose to shoot all of the footage on the Sony FS700, with a few Go Pros scattered about, of course. I went with the 700 because it truly is a beautiful camera, with the Super CMOS 35 sensor capable of cranking it up to 300 fps at 1080, it was perfect for the style I was trying to achieve. I fitted the camera with our set of 8 Nikon primes and my MYT slider. Capturing fast action, slow motion footage on a slider, well that’s all in a days work for me. Along with our interviews and b-roll, I shot some stylized hero shots and locker room cut-aways to add some drama to the piece and compliment the slow motion footage I had captured at practice. We went outside of the box for our Go Pro shots. Multiple mounting positions such as; helmets, crossbars, lacrosse sticks, time lapses and even used one as a lacrosse ball. Check out some of the still frames from our shoot as well as my interview set up!

Dallas Crew Works with Mexican Wrestler, M-6

2013-06-10T06:00:17-07:00

I recently worked for hotel chain, Motel 6. They were one of the sponsors of the Cinco De Mayo Festival in Dallas, TX. It was at this festival that masked wrestler, M-6, made his debut. M-6 is part of a new marketing campaign put on by Motel 6. Get it? M-6/Motel 6. Classic.

M-6 dominates.

I was shooting on the HDX-900. The shoot was very much a “Run and gun” operation. The day started off with shooting b-roll of the festival. Besides some authentic Mexican wrestling there was also live music, carnival rides, and tons of food tents. Eventually the wrestlers showed up, including M-6. We got an interview with M-6 and some b-roll of him in the ring as he prepared for the upcoming matches.

Once the first wrestling match started I shot b-roll of the fight. It was pretty cool to watch them in action. The crowd certainly loved it. After the match we shot some interviews with spectators. Besides the wrestling matches, Motel 6 also had a tent where you could get your picture taken with M-6. They also gave away all sorts of Motel 6 branded swag.

After the shoot I handed the tapes off to the producer. The crew and I then got our picture taken with M-6. We also got his autograph. Score!

I can’t wait to get this picture framed.

Atlanta and LA crews team up for the Michael Jordan Golf Tourney in Vegas

2013-06-05T06:00:43-07:00

Dan Lowrey and myself teamed up in Vegas to shoot the Michael Jordan Golf Tournament. The weather was beautiful and the greens pristine. We got to enjoy the tournament and interviewed most of the celebrities that participated either on the greens or at a red carpet reception. Our talent, Win McMurray, was on point and made our jobs easy. We even got to interview his Airness, Jordan. We shot his interview, and the whole tournament on the XDCAM. This was my first time in Vegas, so of course we explored the strip as well!

Dallas & Nashville Crew Head to Arkansas for CBS Sports

2013-06-04T06:00:13-07:00

March Madness is coming up and that means a trip to Harding University. They recently won the title of “Best Road Trip Destination in College Basketball.” We went out there to see why. We shot the Enterprise Rent-A-Car sponsored segment on two HDX 900s and a couple of Go Pros.

Kelli Zink does a stand up to camera.

Our day started in Little Rock, AR. It was there that we shot our talent, Kelli Zink, visiting an Enterprise Rent-A-Car center. We shot a scene of her interacting with employees as she rents a car and then heads to Searcy, AR, Home of Harding University. Day one ended at the Yarnell’s Ice Cream Company. Kelli got to meet with the operations manager and taste some of the ice cream flavors.

The second day we split up. The Nashville Crew shot b-roll of campus while I went to Whistlestop BBQ to shoot Kelli interacting with fans. After that I headed to Harding University to meet up with the Nashville Crew. I shot some b-roll of the basketball court while the Nashville Crew finished up campus b-roll. After that we shot interviews with the men’s basketball coach, Jeff Morgan and a couple of the players.

Talent gets mic’d up at Yarnell’s Ice Cream.

One of our producers took a few Go Pros and set up some time-lapses to capture the arena filling up with fans. Once the game started we shot game b-roll and a few stand-ups with Kelli Zink. The fans were pretty crazy there. They really get into the game. We wrapped just before half time. Craig and I handed off our tapes to the producers and headed to Little Rock to spend the night there. As always, it was a blast to work with a fellow Go To Team crew and I can’t wait to do it again. You can catch this segment during “GEICO Best of College Basketball” at 1 P.M. ET, April 6, on CBS Sports.

Harding University’s home court before the craziness.

Dallas Crew Heads to Austin for South by Southwest

2013-06-03T06:00:24-07:00

Maddie the dog poses for camera.

I was so pumped to head down to Austin for South by Southwest. Everybody has been telling me how awesome that city is and I couldn’t wait to check it out for myself. I was covering the South by Southwest festival for E! News. Armed with the faithful HDX-900 I headed down to the capital city of the Texas.

Steve Carrel talks with E! reporter, Kristina Guerreo.

For four days I covered movie premieres, concerts, and interviews with actors. Go To Team’s Nashville crew was there as well but we never crossed paths. These four days went by pretty quickly. On the first day I met up with E! reporter, Kristina Guerreo. We shot a balcony interview with Josh Duhamel and Dan Fogler. They were promoting their new movie, “Scenic Route.” Later that night we covered the movie premiere of “The Incredible Burt Wonderstone.” We shot interviews with Steve Carell, Olivia Wilde, and Jim Carrey.

The next day we shot interviews at Stubbs BBQ with Olivia Wilde & Jake Johnson and then Ron Livingston & Anna Kendrick. They were all promoting their new film, “Drinking Buddies.” We did these interviews in the basement at Stubs. There was a bar down there. I lit it with my 200w and 400w Kino Flos and a few Arri lights. Afterwards we headed out side to shoot an interview with the captains from Discovery Channel’s Deadliest Catch.

Ron Livingston and Anna Kendrick hang out at Stubbs BBQ.

All of the interviews that I shot were done with one HDX-900. E! News preferred me shooting the interviews handheld. To say we had limited time to set up would be an understatement but we went with the flow and got the job done. Thank goodness for Kino Flos. Those lights made setting up a lot faster. I also love being able to change out the bulbs to match the existing lighting that is in our environment. When you have to move fast, these lights are the way to go.

E! reporter, Marc Malkin talks to Ian Somerhalder.

The third and forth day were filled with more interviews. We shot interviews with cast members from “Arrested Development,” Sarah Silverman, Ian Somerhalder, and Tori Kelly. To top it all off we did an interview with Maddie the dog. She’s famous and apparently has a book too. We covered so much, it was exhausting but fun!

I had an absolute blast shooting for E! News in Austin. What a great city. I really hope I get to do it again. Oh, and if you’re in Austin you should definitely check out Howdy Donut or Thundercloud Subs, those places were awesome for a bite to eat.

Our Atlanta Crew takes on the “One at Bat” campaign

2013-05-29T06:00:51-07:00

This week I traveled down to Sarasota, FL to the Baltimore Orioles spring training camp. What a beautiful day it was to shoot our pupil – Adam Greenburg. Adam was a major league ball player, who, on his first pitch of his first at bat, was taken out of the game with a shot to the head. Since then, the “One at Bat” campaign has given Greenburg a second chance at his baseball career.

Shooting on the HVX200, I got some pretty cool shots. The team played a game, where I got some neat action shots. Throughout the day we also did a few pick-up interviews and a walk and talk with Greenburg. I even managed to come home with a tan!

-Jeff M

Charlotte Crew shoots for Grassroots Beat for NMG

2013-05-28T06:00:27-07:00

You may know Kristen Beat from various NASCAR media spots as the Sprint Cup girl but she has since moved on from the Sprint Squad at the beginning of 2013. We recently caught up with her on her newest venture called “Grassroots Beat” produced by NASCAR Media Group here in CLT. Grassroots Beat is a short pre-race segment that will cover varios drivers involved in motorsports and get a behind the scenes look at what they do on their day to day activities inside and outside of racing.

Our project was to cover various NCWTS drivers as they compete in go kart races at Mooresville Motorplex (MMX) . We arrived at the track and immediately started shooting various stand-ups on the HDX-900. We also got B-roll of the surrounding track and flavor of the event. Before the race we mounted several GoPro’s to the drivers helmets and cars to get a little POV action. Go-Kart racing is no joke, some of these cars are tuned to go up to 90 MPH. Thats some serious speed for such a small compact cart. We were lucky and some of our Go-Pro’s actually caught a POV’s of some wipeouts! Luckily the driver were ok but it made for some great POV shots. The shoot wen’t down without a hitch, can’t wait for the next one. Be sure to tune in pre-race for Grassroots Beat to catch all of the action!

Aimed and ready at the start/finish line.

Mark with a little “added value” to one of our Go-Karts.

Dallas Crew Covers Murdered Texas DA Story for NBC’s Today Show

2013-05-27T06:00:58-07:00

By now I’m sure most of you have heard about the tragic murders of Texas District Attorney, Mike McLelland and his wife. I was called in by NBC News to shoot some interviews with the children of the slain DA. I headed down to Mexia, TX with my trusty Panasonic HDX 900 to get the job done.

A screen grab from JR McLelland’s interview.

Upon arriving we set up in a rather large conference room. I fully expected to be stuck in a small room but I got lucky this time. Our biggest challenge was finding objects to dress the background. Honestly, there wasn’t much to work with. I couldn’t even find a fake plant. Ha!

I used my 400w & 200w Kino Flos to mold my subjects. An Arri 150w was used as a backlight. The background was lit with one Arri 300w fixture. After the interviews I shot some pictures that the family had brought. Afterwards we filmed a few shots of the family walking by the camera. It was nothing special. We just wanted to make sure we sent NBC all the b-roll we possibly could for this story.

It wasn’t long before my audio guy and I were on the road heading to NBC’s affiliate in Fort Worth, TX. Once we got there we fed the tape to New York. We also gave the Fort Worth station a few sound bites for their 11pm news broadcast. The story aired the following morning on the Today Show.

Shoots like this are always tough. My heart really goes out to the family of the DA and his wife. I can’t imagine what they’re going through right now.

Atlanta crew heads to NOLA for Superbowl XLVII

2013-05-22T06:00:45-07:00

I was pretty excited to find out I was on assignment to go to Superbowl 2013 , not to mention it ended up being in New Orleans this year. I teamed up with Charleston DP Dave Baker and we covered a whole slew of things during our week there. We did some interviews with the quarterbacks and some of the players as well as some red carpet events and stand ups with awesome talent from NFL. Once the lights came on, I got to see my first live Superbowl! Upon the finishing of the game, we got a chance to get down on the field and into the mix with the players and fans where I got a chance to shoot on the Sony F3. When all was said and done, we had a blast and put out some exciting video!

-Jeff M

Charlotte Crew Shoots Pilot EPK’s for CBS, FOX and NBC.

2013-05-21T06:00:59-07:00

Pilot Season is wrapped up and what a great experience it has been. Over the past few weeks I shot EPK content for CBS’ drama pilot Reckless, J.J. Abrams-produced series Revolution on NBC, and Fox’s Sleepy Hollow thriller. These shoots were pretty straight forward. We were tasked with shooting interviews and broll with various cast and crew members raging from the writers, directiers, editors, VFX Specialists, DP’s, wardrobe, and art department. Pictured below is Costume Designer Roland Sanchez.

HDX-900 monitor shot. We slapped some art wrok in the background and brought in a clothes rack to transform this tiny, white-walled room.

These EPK’s were shot on the HDX-900 with my 5D being a B-cam or second angle. These options gave us great flexability for shots where there wasn’t much room for a full size eng camera. The 900 definitely helped with following the action and snap zooming on my wide angle lens. Sometimes we had the luxury of actually being on set where we didn’t really have to construct a background but we also had the challenges of turning white walled rooms into a believable wardrobe for one interview. I cant wait to do more of these in the future, It’s always fun being on set and seeing all the moving parts of a film set in action.

Interview with British actor Tom Mison. He is cast as the lead in Fox’s Sleepy Hollow.

British actor Tom Mison has been cast as the lead in Fox’s Sleepy Hollow

Dallas Crew Shoots Draft Day Feature for the NFL Network

2013-05-20T06:00:39-07:00

Shooting an interview with Coach Keith Thomas in his former office.

The 2013 NFL Draft is coming up. One of the top prospects, Lane Johnson, grew up in a small town in east Texas called Groveton. I made the trip down to Groveton to shoot a feature on Lane Johnson and his relationship with his high school football coach, Keith Thomas.

Just imagine how cool this looks thanks to the MYT Slider.

I got to work with Canon’s C500 and C300 on this project. I really enjoyed working with these cameras. Upon arriving in Groveton, my second cameraman and I set up for the interview with Lane Johnson. We decided to do it in the locker room. There was a lot of color and texture that made for a cool background. I ran the wide shot which was mounted to a MYT Slider. I used Canon’s 16-35mm f2.8 lens. For the close up shot we used Canon’s 85mm f1.2 prime lens.

To light the interview we kept half the lights on in the locker room to achieve a more natural look. I used my 400w Kino Flo as a key. My 200w Kino Flo light was used as a fill. We hung one 300w Arri fixture from the ceiling with a scissor clamp. This fixture was used as a backlight. After the interview we shot a scene in the weight room with Lane and his coach chatting about the old days.

You just gotta love Canon’s 85mm f1.2 prime lens.

To save some time, I split off from the rest of the crew after the weight room scene. I shot some b-roll in the weight room while the other cameraman and audio guy moved equipment into the adjacent building to start setting up for the interview with the coach. We used a similar camera and lighting set up for the coach’s interview.

Lane Johnson and his high school coach relive the “glory days.”

Our day ended on the high school football field. We shot a scene with Lane and Coach Thomas looking at old pictures. I manned a wide slider shot using the 24-70mm f2.8. The second camera used the 70-200mm f2.8 to shoot close up shots of Lane and the Coach. After shooting some “hero shots” of Lane and Coach Thomas we were able to let them go. We finished the day with shooting some b-roll of the football field and Groveton, TX signage.

It was a blast getting to work with the C500 and C300. These cameras are pretty cool. While they aren’t perfect, they do shoot a great picture, especially when you’re rocking some Canon L Series glass. I also had a blast working with fellow Dallas DP, Bob Chestnut. It’s always nice to get to work with talented people. It certainly makes the day go a lot smoother.

Be sure to look for this piece on Lane Johnson. It will air on April 26^th on the NFL Network. I can’t wait to check it out!

Lane Johnson and Keith Thomas stare down the camera for this “hero shot.”

Lane’s old high school football jersey. I used the 50mm f1.2 prime lens to get this beauty.

Screen grab of the wide slider shot from the interview with Coach Keith Thomas.

Charlotte Crew Shoots Hailstorm Testing for Weather Channel

2013-05-15T06:00:34-07:00

So did anyone else watch that hailstorm unfold live on Weather Channel a few weeks ago? If not here’s a little BTS commentary from the shoot, enjoy!

When you talk about recreating mother nature at a lab in the form of wind turbines and hail cannons, there’s a good chance that Weather Channel and Go To Team will be there to cover the action. This was exactly the case on a recent shoot with Jim Cantore and I at IBHS in Richburg SC.

So you are probably asking yourself…. What’s IBHS? IBSH stands for The Insurance Institute for Business and Home Saftey and they were conducting the first ever full-scale hailstorm in an indoor controlled laboratory setting. Pretty cool right?! Historically speaking, there has never been a test of this scale conducted before so you can imagine the intensity involved not to mention all of the other media outlets surrounding this event. We first set up inside the lab with a lock down shot of the facility for TODAY Show to bump to periodically. We also shot a few standups here with Canotre as he gave us some pre test analysis.

Various other media outles shooting from the observation deck.

What started out as a laid back morning would soon escalate into a full fledged camera gear/audio blitz throughout the controlled access facility with the several back to back camera positions, one being on scissor lift. Meanwhile our live truck op was dodging the droves of other media and PR people to reroute our fiber lines to each location. The shoot was intense but equally as fun in the end. It’s always cool to see science and meteorology unfold right in front of you!

Canotre and I standing by to inspect the hail damage to the roof and vinyl.

Having never worked with Cantore before, I learned really quickly that he wants to be “a snake in the grass” so we had fun running around together to get all of the shots we needed. My passion as a videographer has always been a culmination of creativity and shooting as much cool stuff as often as possible. What a rewarding shoot capturing “NATURES” special moments even though it wasn’t really nature, which made it all the more interesting. I had a blast and I can’t wait to wok with the Weather Channel folks again.

Charleston Crew teams up with AXStv

2013-05-14T06:00:26-07:00

Charleston Director of Photography Dave Baker and Joel Hinrichs recently teamed up with AXS TV to cover Basketball at the College of Charleston. Beauty shots, scene sets, and Coach interviews were easily handled by the Panasonic HDX900.

Dallas Crew Shoots for ESPN’s “30 for 30” Series

2013-05-13T06:00:24-07:00

Shooting an interview in the office of Dallas Stars president, Jim Lites.

One of my absolute favorite series out there has to be ESPN’s “30 for 30.” I don’t think I’ve ever seen one that I didn’t enjoy. They’re always shot beautifully and tell a compelling story. Needless to say, when I found out I was shooting for the series I was pretty pumped.

The “30 for 30” I worked on was about con man, John Spano and his attempt to purchase the Dallas Stars hockey organization. The film’s director, Kevin Connolly, flew out to Dallas to conduct the interview and make sure we got the necessary b-roll. And, yes, this is the same Kevin Connolly of the hit T.V. show, “Entourage.” Seriously, somebody please pinch me. Actually, wait, don’t.

Comerica Bank Headquarters in Dallas, TX.

My day started off in downtown Dallas. I shot some b-roll of Comerica’s Headquarters and the surrounding buildings in the banking district. Afterwards I headed over to the airport to pick Kevin up. From there we headed out to the University Parks neighborhood to get some b-roll of Mr. Spano’s old house. We also shot some b-roll of the old office building at which John Spano use to work.

The medium shot from the Jim Lites interview.

Kevin and I then headed up to Frisco to shoot an interview with Jim Lites, president of the Dallas Stars. I was shooting on two Canon 5Ds. We set up for the interview in Mr. Lites office. Kevin liked the hockey memorabilia in his office so we made that the background. I used a 400w Kino Flo as the key and a 200w as a soft fill. For the backlight I used a 150w Arri fixture. For the background, two 300w Arri fixtures were used.

The first 5D was mounted with a 24-70mm f2.8 lens. This camera captured a medium shot of Mr. Lites. The second 5D was mounted with a 70-200mm f2.8 lens. I used this camera to get a close up shot of the Dallas Stars president. We used a smart slate and separate audio recorded for audio. It didn’t take long before we were set up and ready to rock.

The close up shot from the Jim Lites interview.

The interview went great. I was really happy with how the interview looked. The producer had sent me some examples of other interviews they had done for this project and I believe that I matched the style pretty closely. After the interview we headed back downtown to get a few shots of Dealey Plaza. It turns out that Kevin is a huge history buff and wanted to get some shots of the book depository and the grassy knoll. That pretty much ended our day. There were two more shots Kevin wanted but he really didn’t need to be there for them. I dropped Kevin off at his hotel and I headed out to get the final shots.

Kevin and the producer needed two evening shots. The first is a shot of John Spano’s former house and the second was a Dallas skyline shot. Once the sun started to set I got the shots. Afterwards I made sure all of the footage and audio from the day was on the hard drive and shipped that out to L.A.

A night shot of the Dallas skyline.

I had a blast on this shoot. It was great to meet and work with Kevin Connoly. He was awesome and super down to earth. I also had a great crew too. All in all, the day just went very smoothly. I can’t wait to catch this “30 for 30” in the fall of 2013 on ESPN.

Chicago Crew flexes creative muscles for UFC

2013-05-08T06:00:13-07:00

When I heard I was headed to Boca Raton for UFC I was extremely excited. Spring has not yet hit the Chicago area, so I was looking forward to getting closer to the equator and thawing out my gear. I packed up my flip-flops, shorts, HDX 900 and oh about 11 Pelican cases and flew like a bird down to the Sunshine State. Boca Raton, if you have never been, is a retirement haven. Beautiful beaches, high-end shopping and some of the best UFC training facilities on the east coast. I spent three days following some of the UFC’s best fighters, Rashad Evans, Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva and Glover Teixeira, as they prepared for their upcoming fights. For this shoot, I got to flex my creative muscles because the look itself was to be very stylized. I created a cooler, blue tint look to my footage by using the overhead incandescent lights in the gyms along with my 400 W daylight balanced HMIs with a white balance of 4300K on my camera to achieve this effect. After I shot the training camps it was on to the interviews. I used the same look but made the image slightly warmer by bumping up to a 4600K white balance. I then moved on to shooting hero shots of each fighter at 60 fps so they could slow down the footage in post, all previous footage was shot at 24 fps. For this I used the same style of lighting as my b-roll but incorporated my MYT slider for that added motion to the images. I am a man of intense action and these fighters did not disappoint. Awesome shoot + awesome crew + awesome action = great shoot for GTT.