MY FIRST FOOD SHOOT. HOW TO LIGHT A FOOD AD

I got to shoot my first food products. This production was for a Bagel store ad and was produced and directed by Chanina Katz and Draizy Zeiger. 
They showed me a commercial that featured some food for a breakfast ad. That was shot with an HMI light (which is really expensive to get) and was done really done very well. This was really a tough challenge that I certainly was up for since I have not done this before.

I have never shot food products and therefore I had to do some research of how this can be done. One thing I immediately noticed is that the food is in all these ads very sparkly lit with lots of highlights. I had an idea that they would use an HMI light but arriving on set and using a Arri 2000W tungsten light did not produce the same results at first glance. The Arri light would create very hard and edgy shadows that made the image too contrasty. Additionally everything that was not touched by the Arri light was pretty dark. The contrast ratio between lights and shadows was way out of what my DSLR could handle.
So, one solution was to set up some fill lights. I took a bunch of cheap photo lights and threw them against the ceiling. But I didn’t want to eliminate the shadows created by the Arri completely. I love shadows. They are more important then the lights. Therefore I had to choose the fill light intensity just shy under the one of the Arri 2k. And voila it created the desired effect.

Another thing I worked with that turned to be a great investment is my new ring light that I purchased from Fotodiox. One of the best and cheap ring lights in the market. Cost me about $200. I used to look for such a light for quite some time but they were not to get for under a $1000 before this one reached the market. That changed everything for me. It is rock solidly build and Litepanels can hide itself behind such a light for the fraction of the cost.

The food was done by the amazing food stylist (yes, there is such a thing) Aviv WEBLINK.
His stuff looks so fearing delicious and taste the same way. We were eating all the stuff that he made and we photographed. 

S.

The #1 Rule on The Set of A Film

It’s been a week since we finished shooting for The A.R.K. Report, the short film we’re producing with Moskoff Media.  We’re only now recovering – it took a bit longer with Hurricane Sandy in between and no electricity – but we’re back and breathing.

The one thing I want to tell you about today is what Katy Castaldi, our lead female actress, told me was the first thing she learned in film school: Something Always Goes Wrong.

Thankfully we had very few mishaps, but here are just two of the highlights:

1. The second day on set, a pair of boots that Ayden Crispe – our child actress – needed for her costume, was put into the wrong freight car and sent down a dark alley of the mines (we were filming in the No. 9 Mine in Lansford, PA).  Believe it or not, this held up production because we couldn’t move the actors’ makeup car into the mines without finding them first (long logistical story).  So 16 people are there, getting paid, and we can’t move forward.

2. When we finally did find the boots and could move forward, I was in the actors makeup car with some other adults and four child actors.  Our car’s vents were closed to keep the heat in from the kerosene lamp.  Well, it’s a bumpy ride into the mine, as you can see here, and the lamp went off as we were bumping along, but the gas was still going.  Pascal Yen-Pfister, our lead male actor, had the mind to try to shut off the gas, but somehow the switch didn’t work, so we all yelled at the top of our lungs for the conductor to stop.  We weren’t sure he’d be able to hear us over the raucous of the train on the tracks, but thankfully he did, and he came to open the doors (which were locked from the outside) and turn off the kerosene heater.  I’m happy to report that no one asphyxiated!  Not on my watch!

In our last post we shared with you some of the shots that Shmuel took in the mine.  Well here are some that I took in the mine on my iPhone from behind the scenes.  (Disclaimer: I’m not a camera guy; I leave that to Shmuel:)

Shmuel, the director & DP, with Harry Moskoff, the executive producer

Harry Moskoff, the executive producer, and his wife, Sigalit

The light at the end of the tunnel…

Silhouettes

Looks like he’s soldering, but he’s not.

Walking through the mist.

1200 pounds of ice. Put into place by 2 men and 2 women. We’re an equal opportunity employer!

Shmuel and Pascal, the lead male actor, discussing his role in the film.

Filming Ayden Crispe above the ice.

Filming Teemah over the ice.

“makes a religious gesture”

Shmuel Hoffman, Herr Director & DP

Tristan, one of the child soldiers, in his mother’s arm

The ceiling just dripped on me!

Bruna was not only our mask designer, she made a great babysitter! All the kids wanted to be around her.

Cue the heavenly angels singing.

our limber gaffers

the children’s army is a silly bunch

It took three hours to apply the gems to Ayden’s face every day.

How did Ayden, who’s 8 years old, sit for three hours getting gems glued to her face? Her iPad kept her occupied.

Gal miners.

Stay tuned for more about our production of The A.R.K. Report including the abandoned building we filmed in, chasing animals off of set, and setting off explosions underneath city bridges.  Cheers! 🙂

The Hero in Our New Sci-Fi Short, The A.R.K. Report

Before I share with you all of our adventures in production for The A.R.K. Report, I want to introduce you to the lead male actor in the film.

Pascal Yen-Pfister is a true renaissance man.  He did mime as a kid, studied to become a puppeteer, became a painter, then quickly turned to music. He’s also a martial Artist. He’s had many different jobs and lived in several countries.

Acting happened by accident in 2009.  He submitted to a casting call on a friend’s recommendation. He had never considered acting before but knew the moment he stepped in front of the camera that he had found his path.

Since then, Pascal has shot well over 200 films.  He feels comfortable in every type of genre; everything from badass action to comedy, art films and dramas.

Pascal shot his first film this year as writer/director/producer/actor/composer and is now in the editing phase.

Pascal plays both Shadow Man and Roth in The A.R.K. Report.  I’d like to share Pascal’s audition video with you, but I’ll save that for another blog post.  First, I want you to see him in the other, behind-the-scene roles he played on set.

1. The deflating saxophonist.

2. Grown Man Getting Beaten Up by A Little Girl

It was truly a pleasure working with Pascal.  He had so many smart suggestions that we used in the film, and he was always able to pull himself from goofing off on set and back into his role without a blink.  You’ll see more Pascal in upcoming blog posts and in our film.  Here he is on IMDb.

A.R.K. REPORT: OUR LAST DAY OF SHOOTING FOR THIS WEEK – WEEKLY WRAP-UP

We had a rough week of shooting. It was the first time that I work more then 14 hours a day, four days in a row. Man, I’m exhausted and I can’t wait for sleeping and Shabbos. Doing nothing then sleeping. It was also a week of ups and downs. You know, when making a film I constantly judge myself: Do I have it to be a director or not. I had big doubts about my ability to handle a larger project. But one thing is sure. I learned just a hell lot about filmmaking in this one week. The toughest part is coordination of a 16 man crew. And thats a small crew.
Filmmaking is not just art, making entertainment or creative fun. Its mostly solving problems. A prop is missing, an angle to shoot is forgotten. It means constantly improvising and being on your feet.

A big key is your crew. You want to rely on them a 100%. If a crew member messes up, or a prop suddenly breaks and production comes to halt that can endanger an entire project. I feel always the edge. But I slowly learn to love the edge. Thank Gd we have a really amazing and dedicated crew. It took us a while to find each person that fits in the right seat. They are all real talents and great teachers. They taught me a lot about each of their field. One thing I take with me from this week is that its ok not to know everything and to say, help me. Filmmaking is a team effort.

Thanks everyone who helped to make this happening and to be patient with me. I couldn’t feel more humble to work with you.

Below is a collection of some screen grabs of footage and some production shots. They give you a rough idea what we are aiming at.

Roth & Karmi aka. Pascal & Katy

Roth paralized

Neshama World

Industrial future

A.R.K train station

Karmi, time has chosen you.

Arrival in the future

Shadow Man

Ending

Teemah

The A.R.K.: 20 years of research finally rewarded

Pushing through the key stone

Roth meets Luke Skywalker

Shmuel in action

Israel Gonzalez, without him we would not have an A.R.K. film

Train to the A.R.K.

Executive Producer Harry Moskoff & Director Shmuel Hoffman

The A.R.K.

Production for The ARK Report begins on Monday!

Countdown to Production

It’s midnight AM on Friday, and production starts on Monday.  Here’s my to-do list, with Shabbos in between.

 

Pray for me!

🙂

A.R.K. REPORT ACTORS RUN THROUGH – ROLLER COASTER

Today we did our first run through with all the actors. It was the first time that I got to hear the entire script acted out loud. It was quite a roller coaster. There were parts that I really loved and others where I felt they were just crap and need to be reworked. But there is only so much time in  a day you have to rework and rework. Dimitri Shostakovitch, a famous composer used to say: Never rewrite, do your changes in your next piece. There is something to it because where do you stop improving? When do you stop improving?

There is a tipping point where you are not objective (if ever) anymore. It starts disrupting, it begins to work backward for the project. I am not sure if this is the point yet but I’m very aware of that.
In music when I studied viola at some point my teacher would just say: Ok, now we let it go. We won’t touch the piece anymore. So I wouldn’t rehearse it for a week or so right before the big competition and then just a few days before the grand day I would rehearse it in super-super slow tempo. Maybe a tenth of its original tempo. In slow motion. Note-for-note, awfully slow. And then he would let me go let loose on stage. This helped me to win most important competitions. My wife tells me marathoners & triathletes taper off their exercise a week or two before the race too.  We’ll see if this helps in a scenario like making a film as well.

That’s me with Pascal Yen-Pfister and Katy Castaldi during the first run-through for The ARK Report.

I have to thank all the people who have worked on this tirelessly and have helped to open doors and advise me on this crazy journey.
May this be a pride to Hashem and to the all of us.

S.

A.R.K. REPORT – FINALLY WE SECURED THE PERFECT LOCATION

Wow, we did it. Hashem helped us with the most important location. Let me explain why.

You know, the A.R.K. Report is a sci fi film about finding the Ark of the Covenant. It’s based on the theories of Harry Moskoff, who’s been researching the location of the Ark for over 20 years. So, we wanted to find a tunnel system that kind of looks similar to the one in Jerusalem. The Western Wall Tunnels. I thought we would never find such a thing to get even close to the beauty of the Western Wall Tunnels. But after extensive research my production assistant Tara Banninger found this amazing location. Its called No. 9 Mine & Museum in Lansford, PA. Over there two wonderful people are running this museum that each of you can visit on weekends, Jan LeVan and David Kuchta. We sat together after I shot this video above and they told me that it won’t be a problem to book that museum for two days to film there.

We promised them that we would rave about that facility so that you guys go and visit. And without exaggeration it’s a super fascinating place worthwhile to visit on a trip with the whole family. In fact they told me that lots of Jews from Brooklyn are offloading busses of visitors. It’s that famous. You can check  it out online at: http://no9mine.com

Soon it might become famous because our film was shot there, so get there before it gets too packed!  Perfect for chol hamoed.

🙂

S.

Shopping Trip! Wardrobe for Katy Castaldi for The ARK Report

So here we tried out different makeup and hair looks for Katy Castaldi, the heroine in our upcoming movie The ARK Report.  And here you saw her awesome audition video that shows you why she’s perfect for the part.

I am here to present to you today our shopping trip, in which we didn’t exactly find what we were looking for, but at least we moved forward a bit.

First we had Katy bring in her extensive boot collection.Then we tried to put LED lights under a gauzy shirt we’d found at the thrift store.That’s Sarah Ochocki, our awesome wardrobe assistant, positioning the lights.

If our trip to the mall proved anything, it proved what we already knew: that Katy looks super-cute in hats.I bought this tongue-in-cheek sweater from Forever 21 for our time travel movie. It says “Never look back.Shmuel wants Katy to be in white in the future. Most likely because he’s obsessed with Apple computers.

Finally, we figured out that the LED lights under the jacket under the necklace give the right amount of glow.I’ve ordered Katy a few 50’s style sundresses online for the field scene.

So much to do in so little time!  Pray that we get it all together before production in two weeks.

The ARK Report: Makeup & Hair for Katy Castaldi

Remember Katy, whose audition video we posted here?

She came in last week for a fun day of shopping, hair and makeup.

I pulled our inspiration from magazines like style.com and Z!NK.

Here’s Katy’s hair for the field scene:

Here’s the biggest grasshopper we’ve ever seen outside the mall.

Matt Zerby at MAC in Macy’s was helpful, creative… and an excellent salesman!

Here’s his experiment for a futuristic look:

The white line was my idea; the stars were his. Aren’t they cute?

That’s Katy, Shmuel, me, and Sarah Ochocki, our wonderful wardrobe assistant.

We’re getting closer to production and are so psyched!  We’ll keep you updated as we merrily roll along. 🙂

Meet the ARK Report Star: Katy Castaldi

We looked far and wide for someone to play the lead role in our upcoming movie, The ARK Report, that we’re producing with Moskoff Media.  We saw hundreds of acting reels that were submitted to us.  Katy Castaldi nailed it.  The intensity of her focus is unmatched.

The scenes she plays above are from an older version of the script; these scenes have now been cut.  It’s a good thing, because we don’t want to give away any of the film before it’s released!

What Does the ARK of the Covenant Look Like?

If you’re a regular reader here you know we’re making a movie about finding the Ark of the Covenant. No, it won’t be anything like Indiana Jones. It’s more of a sci-fi noir film, if that makes any sense.  See here to get a better idea of the feel of this movie.

So of course the question comes up: do we show the ARK?  What does it even look like?

We’d like to share our inspiration for re-creating the ARK on set…without revealing what it will actually look like in the movie.  This is a a pre-First Temple private altar – called “heter bamot:”

And here’s our executive producer, Harry Moskoff, of Moskoff Media, standing in front of it (just to give you an idea of size):

 

This is now on exhibit at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.  Altars like this were used in pre-Temple
times when private altars were still permitted to Jews.

We know what the actual ARK looked like, based on the description in the Torah:

 

 

 

But as filmmakers we like to use our creative license, and have something in mind that will work beautifully with the light.  To be revealed… 😛

Hoffman Productions Featured in Small Business Owners Guide

So last week we get an email from some dude in Munich:

“I have just finished reading the book ‘The Local Business Owners Survival Guide’ by David Schardt  and found your impressing success story inside. Then I checked the internet for your contact data.”

I checked my email archives and found that I had responded to a HARO query from David Schardt back in March.

Media Outlet: Digital Book Launch

Deadline: 7:00 PM EST – 16 March

Query:

I’m looking for success stories from the Owners of small & medium
sized businesses that have increased their revenue & amount of
customers or clients thru any form of internet marketing.

And my subsequent response:

Hi David,

In 2009, in between a few consecutive pregnancies, I taught myself social media marketing to help my husband’s video production business.  We were in Israel at the time.  A year and a half later, 2 out of 3 clients who bankrolled our move to the US had found us through social media.

Since moving to the NY area almost 2 years ago, we have more than doubled our revenue every year.  Our marketing includes:

-blogging

-social media (Facebook, twitter, youtube, linkedin, etc.)

-email marketing

-PR

Here’s our blog: www.shmuelhoffmansblog.com

and here’s our website: www.shmuelhoffman.com

Please let me know if you need any more info – like headshots, logos, etc.

Thanks!

Margelit

Well you’d think I’d be happy that the guy published our story, but can I tell you, I never even heard back from him!  Not a thank-you, not a little note telling us he was going to use our story, not an “I’ll send you a copy once it all comes together.”

We’re very thankful that Schardt featured our story and are happy that he’s spreading the word about us.  But what is this trend of people not getting back to me but using what I send them anyway?

Like here, and here, and here.

Sheesh.

More Abandoned Buildings! Where Will We Shoot This Movie?

Oy.  This looks like a lawsuit waiting to happen.

We’re looking for an old, worn, industrial building in which to shoot The ARK Report in October.  This time Shmuel was wise and didn’t bring me (Margelit) along.  Here’s what happened the last time, when I went.

Music courtesy of Infected Mushroom.

THE SCARIEST THING – MAKING YOUR FIRST FILM

Here’s me with Margelit on the day she first pitched to me the sci-fi concept. Yes, it was at Starbucks. 🙂

As you know, we’ve been  contracted to make our first film.  You know so far we’ve made mostly short promotional videos and commercials (I think we have close to 100 under our belts) but this is like a film film.  As in a we-want-to-take-it-to-film-festivals film. Its exciting, exhilarating, and scary all at once. I can’t tell you what kind of a thrilling roller coaster it has been so far.

We started meeting with Harry Moskoff from Moskoff Media several times in December last year. He came to us to help him to make a concept for a film about finding the Ark of the Covenant. Harry himself is a scientist, archeologist and researcher. He’s passionate – shall we say obsessed? – with figuring out where the Ark is today.  (I, for one am quite thankful for his obsession!)  Harry has a theory on where the Ark is, and that’s what we’d like to expose in this film.

So, what’s the Ark?  The Ark is basically a box with two cherubs on top of it.  You know, the object in Raiders of The Lost… you guessed it.  The Jews carried it around with them in the desert for 40 years.  Later, when King Solomon built the temple in Jerusalem, the Ark was in the inner chamber – the holy of holies – of the temple. Before the destruction of the first temple,  the Ark was hidden away so that Nebudchadnetzar, the king of Babylon, wouldn’t take it and defile or destroy it.

The Ark included both sets of original tablets containing the 10 commandments that Moses brought down from Mount Sinai, and the original handwritten Torah scroll of Moses (Deuteronomy).  Other articles, i.e. – the staff of Aharon, and a jug of manna (the bread that Gd fed to the Hebrews in the desert) are not in the Ark itself, but were hidden in the same vaulted chamber along with the Ark, where they supposedly remain to this very day, almost 3000 years later.

There are many theories about where the Ark is today. Some say it’s in the desert, buried underground.  Some say its under the temple mount in Jerusalem.  There is also the opinion that the Vatican has it stored its archives.

Harry’s done a lot of research and has developed a very solid theory that points to the exact location where he thinks the Ark is hidden.  After 20 years of digging into this stuff (figuratively), he felt the need to pass this info on to the public. He tried his luck with a few different production companies before coming to us.  He told us he wanted something completely different.  Man, that was tough. He had already gone through so many ideas on how to get the point across. He started the documentary, he was playing with animation, docu drama. What could we come up with that was completely new?

After long hours and nights working on a concept, we decided to pitch the idea of a sci fi movie. Not the kind that you would think of. No spaceships, light sabers or warp mode. Rather in the sense of a sci fi film a la Stalker from Andrej Tarkovski, one of my favorite films. Margelit put together a rough story and we pitched it to Harry. He said that this was an outrageous concept and he went with it. We took a road trip to Toronto to discuss the details, and we worked out a solid agreement on how to pursue the making of this film.

Production is planned for the end of October. Now we’re busy getting it all together so that production will go smoothly.  Along the way, we’ll be sharing with you bits and pieces of our process.  We have no idea how a film is made but others in the industry – we only know how to do it our way – and what kind of pitfalls we will fall into, and what kind of exciting things we will meet on our journey. We want to share with you everything that we learn and we also want to listen what you have to say your ideas.

Now, to give you an idea of the feel (slightly noir-ish) of what we’re going for, here’s some of Tarkovsky’s Stalker.

9-11-12

Can you imagine being up there trying to figure out which way to die? By fire or by fall?

 

 

 

In honor of those who had that horrible choice to make, do something brave today.

5 Tips for Marketing on Instagram

I’ve already talked quite a bit here about Pinterest– how and why you should be using it- and now it’s time to turn our attention to the other rising star in the online photo sharing world, Instagram.

According to Simply Measured, 40% of the world’s biggest brands are active on Instagram. Starbucks is particularly renown for their successful marketing campaigns on Instagram, which involves offering fans unique content and encouraging them to share their own. Some of the other brand leaders on Instagram include MTV, Nike and Audi.

Simply Measured says  Instagram has grown at a much faster rate than the two most popular social media networks, Twitter and Facebook. In just two years Instagram has reached nearly 100 million users, which took Facebook four years to accomplish and Twitter five.

So how can you use Instagram in your marketing activities?

Here are some suggestions:
1. Promote upcoming events with fun and creative photos.

2. Host a photo contest in which users take pictures of themselves with your product.

3. Help audiences get to know your company through fun pictures of your staff and your workplace. Encourage your employees to submit pictures of themselves as well.

4. Reach out to other Instagram users by liking and commenting on their pictures, especially those who mention your brand.

5. Create and promote your own hashtags so that you can track references to your brand. This is also a good way for other users to find your pictures.

Instagram can be a fantastic marketing tool but keep in mind that it’s somewhat limited because it’s only available as an app for mobile phones. So to get the most out of Instagram you should use it with other social media platforms, such as Facebook, Pinterest and Tumblr, where your pics can be shared and discussed.

 

If you liked this article you’ll love these:

New Study: Videos Are Shared 1200% More (Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram)
Pinterest for Everyone: No Longer in Beta
Wowzer. Pinterest Generates As Much Traffic as Facebook…!
How to Start Pinning on Pinterest in 4 Easy Steps
What Size Should Your Images Be on Facebook?
5 Ways to Use Your Facebook Photo Album to Engage Your Fans
Forbes Study Proves Why You Should Be Using Video Marketing
5 Ways for Businesses & Nonprofits to Use Pinterest

New Hootsuite Autoschedule Tells You When Your Audience is Most Active

If a tree falls in the forest and no one’s around to hear it, did it make a sound?

If you tweet at the wrong time, it won’t get shared or even read.  It’s tres important to post at the right times.

That’s why I’m in love with Hootsuite‘s new AutoSchedule feature. This determines when the links in your queue should be shared on your social media sites, based on when your followers are most active. Awesome!

Now you can AutoSchedule your links right from the Hootsuite dashboard, and they will be posted to your social media networks throughout the day, when your followers are most likely to see them.

I’m loving it!

New Study: Videos Are Shared 1200% More (Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram)

Instagram and Pinterest have steadily been growing in popularity.

Which is why I just hired a graphic designer.  🙂

Jeff Bullas points to a recently released report from Compete.com which calculated that in just one month Instagram has grown from 16 million to 22 million unique visitors.  That’s a growth rate of 38%!

And Simply Measured found that pictures on Facebook are liked 200% more than text updates while videos are shared 1,200% more than links and and text posts combined.

And here’s some more info if you’re not yet convinced: Forbes Study Proves Why You Should Be Using Video Marketing.

To put my media where my mouth is, here is the visual representation of what I wrote above (from mbooth.com)

Via Jeff Bullas

So, speaking of videos, check out some of our latest:

1 Question, 100 People

Edon Pinchot Music Video (AGT)

Charlie Harary’s Tribute to the Jewish Mother for Wissotzky

 

 

 

If you liked this article you’ll love these:

Pinterest for Everyone: No Longer in Beta
Wowzer. Pinterest Generates As Much Traffic as Facebook…!
How to Start Pinning on Pinterest in 4 Easy Steps
What Size Should Your Images Be on Facebook?
5 Ways to Use Your Facebook Photo Album to Engage Your Fans
Forbes Study Proves Why You Should Be Using Video Marketing
5 Ways for Businesses & Nonprofits to Use Pinterest

My Interview on The Work at Home Woman

I’ve been interviewed on TheWorkatHomeWoman.com!

In the interview I talk a bit about how our business got started and what a typical day for me is like (hint: lots of coffee!). I also offer  advice to new entrepreneurs and share some words of wisdom from my dad, whose run his own business for longer than I’ve been alive.

Thanks to Holly Hanna for putting this together!  Check it out here.