Category " News"

(Jan 19-24, 2005, Los Angeles, CA) Nike tapped the Team Agency to create a series of Soccer skills clips for the new NIKE “Tiempo” website. The NIKE Skills squad, a group of talented young ball players, were recorded in different locations around Los Angeles performing imaginative and awe-inspiring soccer techniques.

The Challenge? To get great footage in multiple locations across Los Angeles in a few days. Los Angeles has some great soccer locations, but dealing with traffic to get to those locations can become quite time consuming, and destroy a production schedule.

The Problem? For the shoot, logistically speaking, setting up each location and creating a method of obtaining altitude shots , like scaffolding. That usually means time to set up, labor to assemble and tear down, and money to make it all happen- all with very little “Tiempo” to do it in.

According to Team-Agency Director Lew Baldwin, “We considered renting a scissor lift for our overhead shots of soccer fields – used for establishing shots and action cut aways. The price and insurance were a big concern. Then we discovered the HI-POD and it did all we wanted and more”.

The Solution? HI-POD, the Xtreme Camera Monopod. The HI-POD is a telescoping mast that extends from 6 to 15 feet, (or any height in between) and provides the user total touch control of pan, tilt and zoom functions. Additionally an eye-level anti-glare monitor makes it easy for the operator to see exactly what the camera sees. And at only twenty pounds, the HI-POD is light enough to pick it up and go anywhere.

“We especially liked our ability to get into the middle of the field for more stylized shots,” stated NIKE director Baldwin, ” without being too obtrusive.”

Below Producer Keeley Gould and Director Lew Baldwin pose for the HI-POD camera after completing the Los Angeles production for NIKE’s “Tiempo” Documentaries. The company plans to produce similar ads with NIKE skill squads in Miami, New York City, Dallas, and Rio.

The clips will eventually live at Nike’s website: http://www.nike.com/nikesoccer/tiempo

Check out the Team Agency at: www.team-agency.com

(1/22/05 Carson , CA) Saturday the “International Soccer Match Series in LA ” moved south of the LA Coliseum to the Home Depot Center for the next to final match in this friendly competition. The Korean national team faced the national team of Sweden. It looked like Korea finally had a solid victory to end the tournament. Earlier in the week Jo Bonfrere’s Korean team lost to Columbia (2-1) in the first game and tied Paraguay (1-1) in the second match.

The HI-POD, the Xtreme camera monopod, was placed behind the south goal eagerly awaiting the action. And at 15 feet above the goal, a generic LANC controlled prosumer camera was capturing broadcast quality images from a breathtaking perspective.

Korea’s Chung Kyung-ho drew first blood, in the 71st minute, with a beautiful long -range shot just beyond the reach of Sweden’s goalkeeper Eddie Gustafsson and into the top right corner of the net. The Korean’s continued to pressure the Swedish defense, with Chung almost adding another in the 81st minute. Both of these shots were in the goal away from the HI-POD. But with a camera with a good optical lens on top of the HI-POD, the operator was able to capture the shots perfectly.

With time running out Sweden aggressively started moving more attackers forward and in the 85th minute success came their way. Marcus Rosenberg slipped through the Korean defense placing the ball firmly in the bottom back corner of the net. This shot was directly below the HI-POD. The HI-POD’s tilt mechanism made it easy to vertically cover the game up and down the field, while the HI-POD’s foot made for easy smooth side to side panning across the field. Its zoom controller made it easy to zoom in on any part of the field and cover the action.

(1/19/2005 Los Angeles, CA) The experienced Paraguayan striker Jose Cardozo took advantage of south Korean defensive inexperience and drew a penalty to put Paraguay ahead at the half. Cardozo’s skillful manuever in the penalty box was easily captured by the HI-POD. Extended 15 feet above the field, the HI-POD was able to pan, tilt, and zoom to follow the shot- all without the obstruction of the net.

Quickly in the second half, Korea’s Kim Dong-hun headed a cross past Paraguay’s goalie Justo Villar. This shot was also in front of the HI-POD. Once again the HI-POD’S elevation above the net helped captured an unobstructed shot of the goal.

(1/17/05 Los Angeles) The LA Coliseum was the sight of the second soccer match in the “International Soccer Match Series in LA” tournament. This evening Columbia and Guatemala went head to head in a friendly match. In the third minute of play, LA Galaxy’s Carlos Ruiz scored the first goal to put Guatemala up 1-0. This held until the 83rd minute when Columbia’s Hector Hugo Hurtado scored a header to tie the game.

The HI-POD was used to capture still shots of the opening ceremonies and later with a video camera to capture the goal perspective. This impressed the Columbia National Coach (Reinaldo Rueda) so much that he requested the footage.

While the music equipment giant ROLAND was preparing for this year’s NAMM convention in Anaheim, they realized they had a videotaping dilemma. With 40,000 sqare feet of booth space to cover and with so many “in booth” events taking place, they needed a way to get above the crowd to get an unobstructed view of the presenter, as well as a way to move that “elevated view” to other demonstration spots within the booth.

HI-POD addressed those problems. It gave them a way to easily move to any spot in the booth and to get above the crowd. Now with the introduction of the stand-alone base the job was made a whole lot easier. Just set it up and walk away. A portable crane has never been so easy.

Please visit the Roland website to see footage that the HI-POD captured for them. “There are a number of small demonstration clips on the website”, stated Roland Marketing Communications Director Albert Dugas, “Within each of these clips are altitude perspective shots that were captured with the HI-POD.”

Visit the Roland website at www.rolandus.com