At Will Shoots In The Line Of Duty

Well, kind of anyway...At Will Productions received a call from Ron Barber, the owner of In The Line Of Duty located in St. Louis. They're the world leader in law enforcement video and internet training, and provides life-saving programs that help cops do their jobs better and safer.

SC State Trooper Quincy Brown had made a stop for speeding in broad daylight in the parking lot of a convenience store when one of the vehicle's passengers opened fire on him virtually at point-blank range. The entire

incident was caught on cruiser cam. Coupled with At Will's interview of Trooper Brown and b-roll, Ron Barber promises this to be one of the most power law enforcement training programs ever. In the Line of Duty will distribute the program to its police customers worldwide via DVD, streaming video (www.lineofdutylearning.com ), and their new virtual training component (www.vt.lineofdutylearning.com ).

At Will has provided In the Line of Duty quality video production services for years and is the company's South Carolina videographer of record. At Will moved in for a couple of hours utilizing a DVC Pro camera and Kino Flo lighting kit while Barber called in to ask questions via speaker phone. Joe Schmitt also gathered b-roll of bullets that were pulled from the Kevlar vest as well as a mobile radio that was damaged in the shooting. Fortunately the trooper survived, even though now he has a metal plate holding his wrist together. What's important to know is that the trooper relied on his training, kept his cool and the bad guys were quickly apprehended.

At Will Covers The Winning Gamecocks

What a week for the USC Gamecocks! A win for the football team against Ole Miss. A win for the women's
soccer team against Vanderbilt, and a sweep for the
volleyball team against Mississippi State. Joe Schmitt, co-owner of At Will Productions was there to cover all the action.


After the victory against Ole Miss, Schmitt stuck around in Columbia to run a hand-held camera for the soccer match. Thank goodness there weren't any problems with the production truck because the generator had a series of unfortunate events and arrived about three hours before kick off. Of course, a plan "B" was implemented and another generator was called in. Naturally, both genny's showed up within five minutes of each other. Only in the land of remote broadcasting! Oh yeah, don't forget that the uplink truck had to be towed on-site. Interesting evening, but the show went on, and the strike was finished juuuusst before the rain really poured down. Friends that worked the Clemson game didn't share the luck with the weather and got wet.

On to volleyball, the Sunday show. What a relief! The mobile unit had power tied in to the building (no generator) and the set-up went really fast. Almost too fast. After the last couple of days that were pretty tough, several crew members were wondering what would go wrong next. The broadcast gods were smiling on the crew and the USC volleyball team. The lady Gamecocks swept Miss State with an overwhelming victory. Fox covered the match with two hand-held cameras, a hard camera for game, and Schmitt operated a hard camera in a slash position. Schmitt will also be working the next televised volleyball match in October for ESPN.

Go Cocks!

It's football season again. That means At Will Production's DP, Joe Schmitt is busy. So far the Carolina Game Cocks have beat FAU and Ole Miss at home. Joe has operated the low end zone camera for both games. Low EZ is a tighter look at the action and delivers those grisly close up's of the quarter backs eyes.

The Ole Miss game was a frenzy because there was dual coverage of the game. Schmitt was a camera operator for the Fox broadcast which works for the home team, and ESPN also covered the game. ESPN definitely had an "A" show which includes a sky cam, jib, and cart cam. Go Mike Funk for running game camera 2.

The big story of the day was the collapse of the student section. After beating #4 Ole Miss, the students showed their spirit by flooding the walkway to get close to the team. The steel fence collapsed under the stress of the masses. Security guards even had to pull students off of Schmitt's camera platform. Fortunately, no drunks were hurt in making of this broadcast.

Tennis Update

At Will goes international...Again. Now that we can let the cat out of the bag. This was the biggest year for tennis for At Will Productions yet. Although Joe Schmitt didn't get to take his usual place on camera 4 for the Family Circle Tournament (four years running) he stayed busy organizing two matching HD Cameras to cover interviews and challenges with some of this years biggest tennis stars including Venus Williams. These challenges were used for a series on the web called Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Hero Challenges.Big Kid Productions of London hired Schmitt to operate the B-Cam to gather wide shots from a 15 foot ladder and other b-roll of players and challengers. At Will was also in charge of coordinating P2 file transfers to a bank of Mac laptops.

Who would be crazy enough to challenge Venus Williams? It took an entire football team, and it wasn't pretty. Venus, who has the fastest serve in female tennis, systematically picked off these football players like shooting fish in a barrel.

Other challenges include Caroline Wozniacki taking on two tennis coaches with noooo problem. You can also watchElena Dementieva test the accuracy of her deadly serve.

You can watch the videos here: http://www.atwillproductions.com/web_08/eng.html

At Will Is For The Birds

That's right, At Will Productions worked a shoot for the Audubon Society in the Charleston heat. Who knew that the rare Prothonotary Warbler migrated to South Carolina? Project Protho is a great summer camp located outside of Ridgeville on an Audubon reserve. Not to be confused with the Birds of Prey reserve, this summer camp gets children directly involved by assisting experts in spotting, tagging and releasing warbler's in the wild. Children help gather information from previously tagged birds that help experts determine nesting, and migratory habits. Kids of all ages continue to come for the cool crafts and of course the animals. What other animals? Rattlesnakes, owls, alligators and much more.

DP, Joe Schmitt says that shooting (with a video camera) the birds of prey was a lot easier due to their size, and more predictable flight patterns. "Once you get a bead on a larger bird, you have a pretty good idea where he's going to go because they glide more. Of course these birds are trained to land or grab food on command. It makes it easier because you know where they'll land. Those darn Warbler's can easily fit in the palm of your hand, their flight patterns are much more sporadic, and they don't hold still for very long. Holding that ten second shot is near impossible."

Y'all, Paula Dean is sooo sweet

Remote Audio Video teamed up with At Will Productions to shoot a satellite media tour to promote Paula Dean's new nut line. "I've gone NUTS y'all!" Dean exclaimed. Chris Simmons, owner of RAV, brought on Joe Schmitt to light the set and operate a Sony D-50. If you're not familiar, a Satellite Media Tour (SMT) is a series of 3-5 minute live hits with tv and radio stations across the country. In order to cover the morning shows in all time zones, a tough schedule is set with the first hit around 6:00 am, and finishing at around noon or 1:00 pm. Breaks are short, not to mention few and far between. As expected, Ms. Paula was a true pro. She put the same energy in the last hit as she did the first, and didn't miss a single interviewers name.

So how do you light a kitchen that America is used to seeing on tv without a grip truck? Schmitt used his Kino Flo package consisting of: 1 Parabeam 400 as a key, 1 Diva 400 for fill, 1 Barfly 200 as a back light, and another Barfly 200 to accent the brick oven. A silk was also used on the Parabeam to soften metalic reflections on the set. Two Sony D-50 ENG cameras were used and Schmitt was in charge of shooting a series of tight pans and tilts of the food and product.

Ms. Paula is a busy lil' lady. The day before the shoot, the SMT crew was setting up while another crew finished striking a still shoot for Dean's furniture line. While the SMT crew was striking, a third crew from Florida was prepping for her next shoot. Ms. Paula turned on her southern charm and was very sweet to everyone, not to mention extremely funny. Even at 5:00am. This gal's a hoot y'all!

At Will at Family Circle Cup '09

Generally, tennis time in Charleston means Joe Schmitt is on the court running camera 4 on a low boy for ESPN. It's a nice feeling having to choose between a Cannon 77 X lens or a 99. It also means running a lot of cables. This year was different. In a good way.

Big Kid Productions of London hired At Will to help coordinate a two day, HD shoot. Video would be acquired for a series of viral videos. These "Making of a Hero" videos will be all over the web in June. We can't tell you much about the content of the videos, but you can read the write-ups from Tennis Team USA, and Sony Ericsson.

Matching, Panasonic HPX-500 cameras were used. Big Kid brought in a small crew with a lot of experience. DP, Harvey Glenn was running the "A" camera going "handy" (hand-held) a lot, quickly switching between Cannon HJ-11 and HJ-22 lenses. On day one, the "B" camera was used on a Cam Mate, courtesy of Osprey HD. On day two "B" was all over the place, sometimes hand-held, on the tripod, or high-hat mounted atop a 15 foot ladder. Joe Schmitt of At Will Productions operated "B" camera on day two.

Big Kid owner Ed Pettit and Steve Cooney of Comet Multimedia (dubbed R2-P2) coordinated P-2 file transfers to laptop computers loaded with Final Cut Pro. The P-2 work flow was very efficient, and provided almost instant daily's.

How did Ed express his view on working with At Will Productions? "Chuffed to bits."

Play Ball!

Since most of the work we get is not in Charleston, SC, it only makes sense that At Will's DP, Joe Schmitt was crewed for the first televised baseball game in the new Gamecock baseball stadium in Columbia, SC. What's great about the stadiums in Columbia? They spend a lot of money to make it TV friendly. Triax, coax, and DT-12 running everywhere. Even the cables that weren't working yet at 6 am were functional with plenty of time to fax the cameras. Dave and Slice really know how to put a system together. Not only do they design (well) a video system for the internal scoreboard, but they know what a big broadcast would need, and accomodate accordingly. Needless to say, we had everything we needed, even a lift to the parking lot.

So how do you cover baseball with only four hard-cameras? Telly McCulough put low third up a tier and used a lock-off hand-held in the usual low third position. Worked like a charm. Thankfully, he scrapped the camera on top of the scoreboard. Special thanks to nice ladies at Raycom Sports.

SCANA is LIVE!

SCANA, the largest power provider in South Carolina, shot a live presentation for major substations that are located throughout the state. Not too bad for a "little, four camera shoot." Try a brand new Thomson / Grass Valley, HD Production and uplink truck. Don't forget to back that truck up about 35 feet from the door that's another 25 feet to the stage. These Grass Valley HD cameras put out beautiful pictures. The production truck has a small profile with a lot of punch. It even smelled new still. Let's see, easy going & professional clients, high end gear, short triax runs...what else? Throw in an Angenieux wide angle lens and it's a great day. Not to mention that I always enjoy seeing my friends in Columbia, SC. Rock on Christian for pulling off a great show!

At Will Productions

At Will & USC Football

Football season was good. Owner, Joe Schmitt, worked as a freelance camera operator again. This year, Joe operated low end zone, hi end zone, and the coveted, cart-camera. What's a cart-cam? It's an electric crane that has a basket that holds a camera operator, and a hard camera with a 66X lens. This machine travels up and down the sideline at a height of about 13 feet. It's THE perfect view for a camera.

Blow the Bridge!

Last Blast For "The Grace"
Watch Video

After standing tall in the Charleston Harbor since 1929,
one of the last chunks of the bridge came down in the largest
demolition explosion in Charleston's history. This video was
shot on May 16, 2006, from Remley's Point. Don't forget to
watch all of this clip, because it was shot with two cameras, and
the close up is last. What made this blast different from the
rest, is that the span and under-truss both came down. The
remaining two trusses of the Pearman, and Grace will lowered
with cranes, as they are over a marina populated with boats.

"Marina Saver"
Play Video

Yeah! Our friends and oldest client say they have
a new product they need a video for. We love it
when Danielle calls. Floatation Solutions is one of
several companies owned by Keith Rogerson. This
time he's manufacturing and installing floats to level
sinking docks.

This was a fun project because it incorporates 3-D
animation, various effects, a boom and Glide Cam.
Let's see what else? Oh yeah hanging out with divers,
underwater shots, and bouncing from window to win-
dow, trying to shoot from Keith's plane. I'm telling
you, these guys are fun! Big thanks to Keith, Dan-
ielle, and Tim.


o

"One Wild Ride"
Play Video


Marian Burkhardt from the Outdoor Life Net-
work called At Will Productions to say that
Steve Onuska in Charlotte recommended Joe
Schmitt as a camera operator. Now, Joe can
add Professional Bull Riding to his resume. The
PBR came to Charleston for two days, and kept
the sold-out Colliseum crowd on the edge of their
seats with the excitement of watching Chris
Shivers set an all time 3 million dollar career
earning record. But before that, they held their
breath witnessing injuries like broken jaws, collar
bones, and concussions. Here's a clip of Trey
Traweek getting dragged around by a bull for
almost twenty seconds. Fortunately, he walked
away from his ride. Others weren't so lucky.

There's no doubt that these guys are tough as
nails. Just the travel that these men endure from
event to event would be enough to leave the average
person weary. Then they hop on 1,500 pounds of
raging fury every weekend.

Special mention should be made for the true heros
of this sport, the bull fighters. Not the guys that
run around with fancy knickers, and red capes.
The three guys who throw themselves between
the riders, and the bull have the hardest job of them
all.

An Earth Shattering Kaboom!
Play Video
Smaller Version

I was told there would be no good place to see the
big chunk of the Pearmon Bridge come down. Well
that's just like telling me that something can't be done.

See the previous posts for the telling of the tale of the
opening of the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge. In a nutshell,
the old bridges (Grace Memorial, and Silas Pearman)
must be demolished in order to make way for the new
superliner ships that hopefully will come to our port.

Needless to say, I, like hundreds of other Lowcountry
residents, went to Patriot's Point to view the blast.
Thinking I would be better off on the Yorktown, I de-
cided to stay on the ground and BS with some of my
old news friends. The longer I stayed, the more I
realized I made a great decision, because I was 30 feet
from my truck. This made it easy to set up three
cameras to document the historic bridge come down.

Oddly enough, At Will Productions was not hired to
tape this event, so the video is still up for grabs. Can't
wait until the next blast scheduled December 6th.

At Will Joins The Corridor

After Steve deGuzman told me about the Charleston
Digital Corridor, I knew I wanted to meet with Ernest
Andrade. I believe that Ernest has a brilliant idea in
gathering small companies together to make people
aware of the technological goods and services that are
in the Lowcountry.

Ernest was very pleased when I showed him the quality
and speed with which his video could load. Enough so that
he called a meeting. By this time, I had experimented
with new ways to make our video much bigger, and play
more efficiently.

So Mr. Andrade challenged us to put his six minute DVD
on the web. This was a lot tougher than the thirty second
commercial I had finished. Here's the end result. And
Ernest seems very pleased.

Bigger & Better Web Video At Will

The new Flash Player 8 is out for free download, and
it's incredible! At Will Productions has taken video
on the web to the next level, and we're very excited.
Now (if your computer is fast enough) you can watch
high quality video at 720 X 480 resolution, and 30
frames per second, and you don't have to wait for a
download. Files can be opened in your normal internet
browser (Mac or PC) and load almost instantly (less
than three seconds on a bad day.) No more wmv or
quick time movies that take forever to play (and
sometimes don't.)

So I was in the middle of wrapping up loose ends on a
web video I shot, and was so excited, I completely
switched gears.

After I fought a long battle to get my text effects to
play without jagged edges, we put the "new way" to the
test, and re-encoded a video business card for Vince
Perna, of Sandlapper Real Estate. The results were
immediately superior. Thank you Vince for your patience.

"Well that's a mighty fine story Uncle Joe, but show me."
Ok, take a look at this. Now I'm pumping out web video
that's so big & clean that they're almost mp4 quality. So
what's next? Now I'm looking for a hi-def client. If it looks
this good at 720 X 480, how's 1080 going to look? Very
exciting times.

US Women's Soccer In Charleston
Soccer season closed in the Lowcountry with an
exciting match between the US and Mexico. The
Americans took an easy win with a 5-0 final score.
Nothing suprising there, but the amazing thing was
that soccer was televised from Blackbaud Stadium,
and it didn't rain. Not even for strike.

Special thanks to my friend from The Family Circle Cup,
Bill Evans, for crewing me as a camera op.

Price Waterhouse Cooper In Kiawah
This was my first time at the Sanctuary on Kiawah
Island. Wow! The hotel was mammoth! The food
was great, but I'm glad I didn't have to pick up the
check. Go To Team crewed me (Joe Schmitt) to build
and operate a camera.

Just when I think that our three cable set-up is a
breeze, I'm informed that I was promoted to lighting
director. Fortunately, I have a good relationship with
Pete, and the IATSE guys, so getting the Kino-Flo's
and back lights in place wasn't difficult. "A little more
stage left please... A little more."

This would seem like a typical corporate gig, I-Mag & uplink.
That would be too easy for tv...right? They had identical
sets from four different cities, so each remote had to go
up on the bird (dual path) and come down, just so the
production truck in Pennsylvania (I think) could switch
the cameras. And of course let's not forget every site gets
return, so the finished signal has to make the trip up and
down again on the sattellite. Needless to say, matching all
the cameras wasn't fun for video ops.

Have A Blast!
Play Video

Thanks to our website, HDR Engineering
hired At Will Productions to document some
of the demolitions of the old Pearman (and
hopefully the Grace) bridges. Now that the
new Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge is fully oper-
ational, the old bridges must come down, and
come down with a bang. I was very fortunate
because I was on the ship with the demolition
crew. They even let two little boys trigger
the explosives. How cool is that?

I was definately nervous when the one minute
warning came and went, and the ship was still
coming about. As I was preparing to to grab
my camera, and tripod and run for the bow,
the engineer leans over and tells me "If you
move you'll miss it." Good thing I listened.
I got the shot, but my footage would've came
out better if the boat would've been still.

Lou Holtz In The House! Play Video

At Will Productions was contracted by
DBS to light, and shoot the former coach
of the Carolina Gamecocks for ESPN News,
and Sports Center. Coach Holtz was in the
hotseat for over four hours. The producers
were very impressed with "the set." It's a
good thing too, because Chris Simmons' fiancee
probably wasn't as impressed with us re-
arranging her living room in Snee Farm to
accomodate my creative flare. Fortunately,
Margeret smiled and kindly asked us not to
break her china plates on the wall.

When I offered the coach a kleenex to hold
for wiping sweat off from hot lights he
responded "No thanks, it can be hot as blazes
and I won't perspire." Needless to say I didn't
believe him, but he was right. With over 3000
watts of lighting on, or around him, the coach
stayed cool as a cucumber.

Big And Rich Perform On ESPN Click here to watch a clip.

Talk about a fun gig to work! Double M Productions
crewed me, Joe Schmitt, owner of At Will Productions,
to work an ESPN show in Columbia, SC. I love working
for ESPN, even when it was explained that a camera-
op was not needed for the game, but for the "College
Game Day" and concert stage. Did you say concert?
Nice! Although, I didn't know of Big and Rich, I was
very excited to work a music event.

When I showed up, I thought I was at a family reunion.
It was a perfect crew of so many friends of mine. We
wondered who was working the game. I was blown
away by the coverage. With a crew of one hundred, we
used four hard cameras, two jibs, a steadicam, and two
hand-helds to cover both stages. We had feeds from
the front-of-house audio techs, and a jumbo-tron for the
crowd to watch. We even had what seemed to be an end-
less supply of yellow jackets (cable troughs). I really
enjoy working ESPN events, because they always have
top notch productions.

I was hoping to operate the hand-held camera on the
stage. Our director, Jay, asked me to be "in the pit." I
had forgotton that this is one of the best camera angles
to operate. So I went back and forth between the news set
(I was getting crowd shots) and the concert stage during
breaks.

Big, Rich, and Cowboy Troy were excellent show-
men, who imediately figured out how to play to the cam-
eras and follow the tally lights. Since they performed
the customized version of "Coming To Your City" for
ESPN's "Gameday," I'm sure you'll be seeing this footage
a lot. Although I didn't get to meet Cowboy Troy, Big
and Rich were really nice guys. Big even corrected me
politely when I called him Rich. Yeah, I felt like a real
moron. Later, I caught him as he left our truck compound,
to apologize again, but he said there were no hard feelings,
and he "Liked my energy with the camera."

All in all, it was really hot, and the post-game teardown
lasted until 2:30 am. Who cares... My camera work was
all over "Sports Center," and I had a blast working the
concert. By far, one of the best gigs I've ever had the
priviledge to be a part of. Big thanks to Melinda, Jack,
and Jay.

Since I really like working with ESPN, and hope to con-
tinue doing so, At Will Productions is NOT taking re-
quests to purchase this video. I recorded it off-air, just
like anyone else with a VCR could've.

At Will On ESPN Classics


DBS Productions contracted At Will Productions
(Joe Schmitt) to operate a camera for an interview
with Mike Veeck, owner of the Charleston Riverdogs.
(Thanks Chris!) The ESPN folks recorded two segments
for "Classics Now." In one segment, Veeck comments
about being on the board for the Mascot Hall of Fame.
Click here to watch the Mascot Hall of Fame segment.
The other segment celebrated the fifty-four year
anniversary of a promotion his father, Bill Veeck, devised.
Click to watch this segment. As always, Mr. Veeck was a
true pro, serious when he needed to be, and very humorous
when you didn't expect it.

On a personal note, Mr. Veeck was kind enough to hook
my son up with two tickets, and a goody bag. At the time
I didn't understand the request, but Mr. Veeck (not "Sir")
made it clear, that Will had to go to the window, and ask
for the tickets himself. Only the brilliance of Mike Veeck
could spontaniously devise a life lesson for a six year old
at the ballpark. After explaining the situation to my son,
he bravely walked up to the the "Will Call" window, and said
"My name is Will Schmitt, and Mr. Mike Veeck said he had
some tickets for me. May I have them please?" The nice
lady at the counter handed over two tickets. She waited just
a few seconds, as she watched my son's delight, saying, "Mr.
Veeck also left this for you," and handed him a Riverdogs
goody bag. Needless to say, Will went nuts! He was so excited,
and felt like the king of the world. I was so proud of my son.

Normally, I wouldn't put personal stuff on the business blog,
but I felt this story should be told. Mike Veeck, thank you
very much for giving my son the royal treatment. I assure
you, it was a day neither of us will never forget.

-

What's All That Noise About Cousin Arthur?

Play Video
The opening of the new bridge, that's what! Charleston
spent a whole bunch of money to contract the legendary
Zambelli family to shoot off one of the biggest fireworks
displays in the Southeast. Thousands of people gathered
from Patiriots Point, downtown, to Sullivan's Island just
to witness this spectacle. None were disappointed. With
three barges, and waterfall effects from the center span,
people "ooohed, and aaahed" for a full thirty minutes.

Aboard the Yorktown Play Video

If you were one of the thousands of people who
witnessed the incredible fireworks display to celebrate
the opening of the "New Bridge", then you probably
saw the USS Yorktown lit up, courtesy of PDA. Once
again, Jeff Nickles and his crew passed with flying
colors. As you can see in this video clip, the tower was
elaborately lit with patriotic red, white, and blue.
These guys worked a very long day, setting up in the
brutal heat, and winds that swept a tent overboard.
The beauty here is that you could easily see the
illuminated carrier from across the harbor. For $200
a plate, you enjoyed free cocktails, a front row seat for
one of the biggest fireworks displays in the state, and a
new appreciation for lighting. Once aboard, guests
enjoyed the ambience that PDA set. They featured the
tower, flight deck, and several of the vintage aircraft.
Once again, these festivities lead up to the grand opening
of the Arthur Ravenel Bridge in Charleston, SC.

Don't forget to check out
atwillproductions.com

Got A Light?

Play Video

Jeff Nickles and the PDA crew did an incredible job
lighting the largest cable-stayed bridge in North
America. Jeff contracted At Will to document some
of the festivities associated with the opening of the
Arthur Ravenel Bridge in Charleston, SC. Citizens
had the opportunity to taste the finest foods of
Charleston, and absorb the breathtaking views
stretching from Folly Beach to Isle of Palms. Thanks to
lighting from PDA, this is truly a unique site.
Great job Jeff.

For more information about At Will Productions click
atwillproductions.com

At Will Productions To Document New Bridge

Play Movie

Take a quick look at the new Arthur Ravenel Bridge.
Production Design Associates has contracted At Will
to video the grand opening of the largest cable-
stayed bridge in North America. Video from the
bridge itself will come later. Don't forget to check
out our site for more information about At Will
Productions.

atwillproductions.com

Play Demo
At Will Productions "Video Demo"

Charleston, SC based video production company.
Commercial, corporate, & promo video. We offer
Beta sp, dvc pro, dvd authoring, animation,
professional script writing, high-quality web video,
and voiceover services.
Call At Will Productions at 843-744-8203.

Play Video

"Lisa" :30 public service announcement for Safemoves.
Audio is from an actual 911 call.

Produced by
At Will Productions
843-744-8203


Video production company based in Charleston, SC

Check out our website for more video, dvd, & animation.
atwillproductions.com

Wild World of Will
Play Video
Smaller Video

Remember "The thrill of victory, and the
agony of defeat?" Well, there's no way in hell
our seven year old does, but if you're "old" like
us, you might. So we're working on the family
video, and my lovely wife is going through our
library and says, "Good, I thought we had Wild
World of Sports." I chuckled at the idea, and we
had a blast with it. Hope you enjoy this clip, and
have a Merry Christmas!

Joe & Lona Ann