“Hope for the Journey”

Midtown Video recently sponsored “Hope for the Journey”; a conference offered by a faith-based group of women, held in honor of National Autism Awareness Month. The event, free and open to the public, was produced and tailored specifically for mothers with special needs children who have Autism, Aspersers Syndrome, Fragile X Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, Epilepsy, Down’s Syndrome, and any other special need.

Over 150 people were in attendance at the daylong conference, which gave many mothers going through challenges an opportunity to relate to other mothers going through the same thing.  “Midtown Video was of great help as they provided crucial video equipment for the production which otherwise our church couldn’t have afforded,” shared conference coordinator, Maria Salinas. “We thank Midtown Video for all their support. Your help was an essential part of the success of this conference. We hope you partner with us again next year!”
Shake-A-Leg Miami Foundation

Friday, May 13th, proved to be a lucky day for Shake-A-Leg Miami as they celebrated twenty years of serving the community. To commemorate the 20th anniversary a gala was held in the group’s Coconut Grove hangar and courtyard and everyone who has volunteered in the last twenty years was invited to attend.

“We appreciate Midtown Video’s donation to us and the community. Thanks to them we were able to not only tell people about what we do, but also show them the inspired faces of children and adults who benefit from our programs. We couldn’t be more grateful to our community partner, ”shared Richard Issa, Event Coordinator.

Two 9×12 screens and two 6K Lumens Projectors were set up in the historical Coast Guard Hangar where many of the programs are based. The donations from Midtown Video enabled Shake-A-Leg to tell the story of the organization’s history of helping physically, mentally and economically challenged adults and children achieve their potential through sailing and other water sports. Midtown Video also assisted with the sound system used to announce the fundraising auctions and games during the course of the event. Over $5000 was raised in scholarship money to send underserved children to their summer camp this year. All other proceeds went to fund Shake-A-Leg Miami’s programs and other initiatives.

Did you know???

The third Thursday of every month at 6:30 Miami time you can tune into the live internet .video show with jesse miller. This is an informative, funny, and interesting show about the video and filmmaking industry. Meet the people, learn about the new gear, and find out what is going on around South Florida that makes this such an exciting place to live and work. The show is hosted by our own in-house celebrity and CTO, Jesse Miller. So, come on by and be part of the live studio audience or log on to www.jtown.tv. You can also see segments from past shows on the jtown site. We are proud to say we have had over 600,000 views of our videos to date.

Sony PMW-F3 Camera

Representing a breakthrough for independent producers and filmmakers in terms of features, performance and price, Sony Electronics will be delivering its first professional handheld digital production camera with a Super 35mm imager. There is already high demand for this camera and Midtown Video is accepting orders.

The new PMW-F3 camcorder is designed for a range of digital production applications — from commercial, documentary, television and feature film production to markets such as education, corporate, government and more.

“Sony has a long and successful track record of developing digital production technologies that give producers at any level access to the highest-quality imaging tools and the right workflow for their needs,” said Alec Shapiro, senior vice president, sales and marketing for Sony Electronics’ Professional Solutions of America group. “With the new F3, we’re putting the full power of our expertise to work for professional shooters, resulting in high-performance digital capabilities at an ‘indie’ price.” Midtown Video is the exclusive South Florida company to sell and rent the PMW-F3.

Learn more about it here: http://catalogs.infocommiq.com/avcat/CTL704/index.cfm?manufacturer=sony-broadcast-business-solutions-company&product=pmwf3k

Panasonic AG AF 100 Camera

Panasonic Sales Manager, Wes Carr trained Midtown Video‘s sales team on many new products including the exciting AG AF 100 camera. This is the first professional 4/3″ large imager video camcorder optimized for high-definition video recording. Made for the video and film production communities, the AF100 delivers the shallow depth of field and wider field of view of a large imager, with the flexibility and cost advantages of a handheld camcorder. The AF100 has the ability to use virtually any professional quality lens with the addition of an easily obtainable adapter.

Here’s more information on this amazing camera:

http://catalogs.infocommiq.com/avcat/CTL704/index.cfm?manufacturer=panasonic-broadcast-television-systems-company&product=ag-af100

Libec Camera Support Equipment

Libec president, Takuma Sudo and business development associate Jose Larios go over the features of the Libec RS-250M with Midtown’s director of operations, Fernando Iglesias. This is a professional 2 Stage Aluminum Tripod System with Mid-Level Spreader.

Find out more:

http://catalogs.infocommiq.com/avcat/CTL704/index.cfm?manufacturer=libec-sales-of-america&product=rs-250m

The College of Business Administration at Florida International University has the latest technology for communicating financial news and upcoming events to their students. Midtown Video designed and installed a LAN controlled NEC –   9 monitor video wall inside the entrance of the Office Depot Student Center. The video feed is supplied via fiber from the College of Business audio visual control room to the Student Center and the system is equipped with calibration software to achieve exact color space for each individual monitor. The wall continually displays upcoming events, special classes, promotions, real time Wall Street information and stock market reports, as well as other financial news. The video wall was installed by Midtown’s in house systems integration team on time and in budget. U.S. News & World Report’s “ America’s Best Colleges” ranked the College of Business Administration at FIU undergraduate international business programs #15 in the nation.

Carl Kesser with EX 1

Carl Kesser, Kesser Productions traveled to Kenya to shoot a documentary for the World Wildlife Fund. His son Jason accompanied him and this is a segment from Jason’s journal:

We’re here with the most minimal amount of equipment.  Really doing it Run and Gun style.  Before we left we both packed a light bag for fashion, a set of wireless mics, a Sony EX-1 purchased from Midtown, a mildly lightweight tri-pod, two drives, and a laptop.  Until I got here on the ground though, I didn’t realize how lightly we had packed, and how heavy.  You never know until you’re there, when you’re carrying the equipment that you don’t need and missing what you left behind, that you’re on your own and your equipment is going to make your journey part of history.

Jason Kesser with Masai family

We’re here to capture three different organizations, along with the WWF, trying to make a difference in communities that we only understand on paper.  Everyone has a different version of the story line, and we try to shoot it to the best of our ability and change the script as we go.  There is no script.

Kesser shooting from shoreline

The EX-1, keeps surprising us.  We felt so unprepared, as anyone who’s experiencing this should, no matter what the preparation.  And I come back to the hotel every night, changed, tired.  Tired from too much information. As my dad sleeps, I’m backing up the footage and seeing things that literally should have never seen the light of day unfold into clear, lit images.  Sony might be the boss at making flawed technologies work that are not their own.  But while shooting inside schools that have no electricity and tracking animals at sunset, I’ve never seen a camera behave so intuitively.  Of course,  in Nairobi I’d forgotten the skilled explanation of how to shoot and backup drives that I had been given at Midtown.  Somehow, by reviewing my notes, I’d remembered how to back the footage up, and the camera seemed to work on its own.  The EX is just gifted.  Technology might move on soon, but I can’t imagine a camera I’d rather be with without any time to prepare for a moment that can’t ever happen again.