Recently our DotLotDigtialStudios YouTube account was invited by ScenicVideos to become friends. In looking at their content I was delighted and surprised at what I found. They have developed a channel for meditation and relaxation with nature scenes in HD and a soothing soundtrack. What struck me at first was the simplicity of the content was actually relaxing to me. Normally, in my YouTube journeys I’m bombarded with images I sometimes can’t share with my daughter. In this case I was stopped by the majestic tranquility of the moment. And that is what this channel was created for, “to meditate and relax for stress management and a quick break during the day”.

Another interesting aspect is the invitation to download the video and music for FREE. In today’s world of hard economics and squeezing out every penny, I was happy to see the free internet is still active. All you need to do is credit him and you’ve got your content. So how do people feel about this open content and sharing of footage?

Last thought about this channel and content is that if you have your computer hooked up to your flat screen monitor you’ve got instant artwork and something to relax and ponder.

So let’s take the time. Sit back and watch Mother Nature’s art in motion. Thanks for the invite ScenicVideos!

We took a trip out to Vegas to visit DTS at CES where we were able to see our three commercial spots featured prominently.

Each spot was given its very own display area!

UltraPC

Broadcast

At the Broadcast display they also turned some of our animation into print materials…

Car Audio was also on display…

DTS also put together a 15-minute presentation that showed off several of their technologies, including the brand new 11.1 audio format. For their demo of UltraPC they chose to use our UltraPC spot. Each viewer had their own pair of headphones that they were able to use for the UltraPC demo. It’s an amazing technology - two speaker or headphones truly sounds like full surround sound. Here’s a group of audio professionals and journalists watching the demo.

CES is always an amazing show that features great new technologies. DotLot was proud to be part of it.

Here’s one more cool shot. The video for this Kodak display was shot entirely on the DotLot green screen stage in Irvine.

For even more on CES, see this Buddy Blog post on the conference.

– Mike

You may remember that a few months back DotLot™ rented both its stages out to Visionlogic for a music video shoot featuring the Luminaries. Their new video has been released and besides being a super catchy song, it also shows off the versatility of DotLot Digital Studios really well.

If you need a great place to shoot a video or you just want some peace, then give us a call or send an email to dotlot [at] thebuddygroup [dot] com.

– Mike

Surround Sound industry leader DTS recently hired DotLot to develop, write, produce and edit four commercial spots intended to help promote DTS products and services to businesses and consumers. The first of these shoots required a vehicle. Our good friends at Land Rover hooked us up with a yet-to-be-released-and-oh-so-pretty 2009 model vehicle. 

Here’s a couple more of us on set in Trabuco Canyon, getting the jib ready for a shot.

At the end of the day, this was a great shoot and we managed to get some really awesome shots. I can’t wait until the spot is done and I can share it with all of you. For now, I’ll leave you with one more shot from our setup at the city overlook location that we shot after dark. 

DotLot™ was recently rented by Visionlogic for a music video shoot they did for the Luminaries new single “Peace”. The record is a catchy tune with a message of peace and love. Think Black Eyed Peas meets Bob Marley. It’s really a fun song and the whole band (10 musicians, I think) was present for the shoot.

Visionlogic utilized the entire DotLot™ production space for the shoot. The white cyc on Stage A was utilized as a backdrop when the whole band was dressed in matching white linen outfits. They also used the textured black walls of Stage A and Stage B for various one-shots and two-shots. Once again, we had a RED camera on our stage. They’re just so cool! Here’s a shot of their camera op and 1st AC working hard on a white cyc shot.

One really neat bit of kit that they brought along for the shoot was the Skylight rig, which is a helium balloon with an 8K tungsten fixture inside. The lights reminded me a bit of our Seat Buddy tool, which is a helium blimp with a camera that we use to shoot dynamic shots of theatrical seating configurations. They have several sizes available and the rig comes with its own operator.

Look for the video to premiere at this year’s Elevate film festival.

Last month, DotLot™ teamed up with The Buddy Group and Deutsch to produce a series of rich media ads to help boost the launch of the Madden ‘09 game bundle that was released with a special edition PSP. The long list of involved clients included Sony, EA, Madden and the NFL.

It was a great shoot, which we shot on July 29th - the same day of the recent California earthquake. We built scaffolding in our studio, suspended stuntmen from the ceiling and captured it all with the RED ONE camera. It was a really challenging project that involved almost our entire company.

We thought it would be a good idea to shoot a little behind the scenes footage, so we hired Dave Gaw of Capra Media to follow us around for the day. This is what he came up with…

Great job, Dave! Thanks for making such a great video about the shoot.

Google has now entered into the browser world with its deployment of Chrome. At first it takes a little getting used to as the toolbars are now incorporated into the whole interface. But, what I think Google does best is how they use videos to walk you through how the browser works and what to look forward to. This form of explanation through illustration is ideal for all us visual types. Check it out: How To’s

There are several interesting features you might want to take a look at. For instance, dynamic tabs allow you to rearrange your tab’s order, move it to create its own window, and drop it back in to consolidate windows. It reminds me of Adobe’s new interface where you can create new windows for bins or tools as well as place them in the same window for tab navigation. It makes a cleaner interface and over crowding with toolbars and other nonsense we all download.

Another interesting feature is the “Incognito Mode”. It allows you to browser the web without storing a record on your computer. Now there’s an interesting use of browser technology. Now I can check the scores with peace of mind.

Google set out to create a browser to run on today’s complex web application better. Being a participant in this digital media space, one has to wonder how this new browser is going to handle all the other pitfalls of creating web pages with video, Flash, Flex, Air, Papervision, etc.  Overall, I’m very excited of this new entrant and I’ll be testing its limits to see if it retains my default browser award. Has anyone been using Chrome and want to share their experiences with us?

In my Space Invaders post I showed you a human performance video from YouTube’s NOTsoNOISY. Well, it looks like video director Guillaume Reymond (translated) is at it again, this time moving cars around to create a real-world transformer for the Images ‘08 festival being held this year in Vevey, Switzerland from September 11th-30th.

In this first video, we only get to see a disjointed making-of clip. Shooting from a remotely controlled blimp (not too dissimilar from the one DotLot uses to shoot our Seat Buddy projects) Reymond coordiated with several of the Vevey public service departments to get a chain of vehicles together that he used to represent a transforming robot.

I’ll be following Images ‘08 and giving you updates on this interesting piece as it develops. For now, check out the making of Transformers #01…

In a move that would make Norman McLaren proud, a production crew got together with 67 extras and shot the following clip of a real-life Space Invaders game. Director Guillaume Reymond organized the shoot. Using the pixilation technique, where people (and sometimes inanimate objects) are used to create frame-by-frame animation, he orchestrated a reenactment of one level of the memorable and historic game.

This clip should appeal equally to film buffs and tech geeks.

New Media Expo

I learned about this expo from a friend and after watching the following video decided it would be a good idea to head up to Vegas…..

If you’re not familiar with that player, it’s Viddler.

The expo was actually a great experience. I got to meet a lot of great great people from a lot of great companies. The ones that really stood out were TubeMogul and Wizzard Media.

Tubemogul is fantastic because for podcasters, content creators, producers, etc. they are a great resource. They have a created a site that acts as an intermediary between users and 20 major video hosting sites. In other words, you upload your video to their site, and they submit it to youtube, Revver, myspace, viddler, break, blip, and many more. They then aggregate all your stats, comments, etc on their site, allowing you to see the full picture of your videos’ success.

Wizzard Media is similar to Veoh. They are a hosting site that has a proprietary player with lots of great functionality. They also work to bring advertisers and content creators together, with specific ads targeted at the right demographic. Since they actually have staffers whose job is specifically to bring producers and advertisers together, the advertising campaigns are much stronger. Recently, they worked with major companies such as Puma.

All in all it was a great experience.

Oh…and I met this girl