dvDepot works a great deal with BET. In September, we worked on the pilot episode of the “Food for Thought” series, featuring Jay-Z. This month we were back for another episode: “Food for Thought: Conversations with 50 cent”. The series is a major event for BET and they pull out all stops in the production. We shot with four HDX900 cameras, including one on steadicam. The beautiful location required a full lighting package. BET’s production team and our crew worked together and created an exciting product to watch.

The show features three media personalities, sports journalist Stephen A. Smith, Harry Allen– the Media Assassin– and Hot 97’s Angie Martinez. They each bring their own perspective and style to the interviews. Smith is an expert on image and media. Martinez knows music and has an ability to get stars to answer personal questions. Harry Allen always asks the difficult questions and got some lively answers out of 50 Cent.

This episode was shot in Bobby Van’s Steakhouse (25 Broad St). Bobby Van’s is well worth a look for those of you who haven’t been there before. The restaurant has an upstairs formal dining room and another room in the basement, which used to be a bank vault. This gives the restaurant a luxurious and distinctive feel which made it an ideal location for 50 Cent’s interviews.

50 Cent was great to have on set and was a pleasure to work with. 50 is very busy at the moment with the release of his new album “Before I Self Destruct” which is available in all record stores now.

We had a great crew on this shoot. Alex Sierra was the DP again, Chris Piazza and Jeremy Leach were also camera operators with Jon Beattie operating the steadicam. Michael Correa was the Audio/Video tech. Audio was by Ethan Goldberger with Brett Hammond doing the breakaway audio. Jeff Clark was our utility and Chad Williams and Gabriel Cassia were our PAs. It was great to work with BET again and we’re already prepping the next episode of “Food for Thought.” The new episode, “Conversations with 50″ Cent premiers Thursday November 19th at 7:30pm on BET.

You can see all the photos from the shoot on our flickr site.

Medco Health Solutions, a major pharmaceutical company, got in touch with dvDepot. They’re shooting videos at their locations around the country and they hired us to work at their New Jersey location. They’re shooting people speaking in front of greenscreens. Our portable greenscreen was ideal for the situation. At 10X20, it can be used to make a full cyc or folded up for smaller situations. The adjustable width and height even allows us to work in small spaces.

The project was shot by Roger Coraggio, who shoots a lot of our fashion work. The audio was by Ethan Goldberger. Our multitalented PA Daniel Pleacoff helped set up and light the greenscreen. The people at Medco were very happy with the result.

Any chance we get to work on “Rising Icons” is exciting. This past week, we worked with BET shooting an episode about new artist Melanie Fiona. Her music is a great blend of classic and modern R&B styles with soul and hip hop. Her first album, “The Bridge,” is being released on September 22nd.

We followed Melanie to her appearance on The Wendy Williams Show and then on to Robert Moses State Park on Long Island to shoot behind the scenes on her new music video for “It Kills Me.” It was a beautiful day and everything went smoothly.

Ethan Goldberger was on audio and dv Depot COO Pete Zappulla managed to sneak out of the office and shoot this project. It’s always exciting to see artists a little ahead of the curve and “Rising Icons” gives us that chance.

“Pitchmen,” on the Discover Channel is a great show. It features informercial veterans Billy Mays and Anthony Sullivan searching for new products to sell. Rather than being a strict contest show, it is also a chance to spend time with the stars in their world as they shoot their commercials and run their business. It’s a project that we were proud to have worked on. Original Productions is a great company to work with and the cast were friendly and fun.

Unfortunately, one of the stars, Billy Mays, passed away recently. It was terrible circumstances to be involved in, but we were honored to be able to work on the memorial episode.

Matt Kulvicki (camera) and Ethan Goldberger (audio) worked on the show the most for us and spent the most time with Billy. Matt said, “Good man, small ego.” Ethan agreed he was “a great guy, and one of those rare celebrities you work with that leaves you with total admiration. A total gentleman and a complete professional, he always made sure everyone felt good around him, remembering the names of everyone on set (including the sound guy!).” Matt also assures us that “there is nothing like watching a soundman throw his headphones off in pain when Billy turned the volume up and made his pitch.” Billy’s pitches weren’t just loud, there were passionate and filled with joy. Billy always believed in his products and was his happiest telling the inventors on the show that they had a hit.

You can see a brief tribute to Billy Mays at the “Pitchmen” site as well other clips.

He believed in these products and took his greatest pleasure when telling the inventor they had a hit.

The camera ops on the show included Matthew Kulvicki, Alex Sierra and Andreas Wagner. Audio was done by Ethan Goldberger, Diana Milani, Alex Sierra and Stephen Collins.

R.I.P Billy.

Jay-Z’s new album, The Blueprint 3 drops on September 11th. As part of the publicity blitz, Jay agreed to be interviewed by other celebrities on BET. Jon Marc Sandifer, a producer we work with on “Rising Icons,” wanted to get the crew from dv Depot.

We sent five camera operators, two audio ops and our ace utility Derek Edwards. Our DP, Alex Sierra, set up two cameras to cover the interviews in close up. He shot the close ups of Jay-Z while Christine Ka’aloa covered the interviewers. Jeremy Leach worked on steadicam, getting two shots and tracking shots. Meanwhile, Daniel McKeown was put on a roving camera, getting a wide range of shots to make for a more exciting edit. Ethan Goldberger handled the audio. Another crew rode in the cab with the interviewers as they headed out to meet Jay-Z. Chris Piazza and Gabriel Cyr were on this crew.

The interviews were great to watch. All of the celebrities were friends with Jay-Z and this worked to create a casual, intimate atmosphere. They were able to ask real questions that required real answers.

The first interviewer was Angie Martinez of Hot 97, the highest rated DJ in New York. She and Jay discussed fame, among other things. She found that Jay had a remarkable ability to live his life naturally in front of dozens of cameras (including ours).

Stephen A. Smith interviewed next. He’s most famous for his show “Quite Frankly” on ESPN. He talked at length with Jay about his part ownership of the New Jersey Nets and his long friendship with LeBron James. They also discussed personal branding and imaging, something that both have mastered.

Hip hop journalist Harry Allen presented Jay with the hardest questions of the day, asking questions about music and black culture and Jay’s place in it. The two Brooklyn natives also had a chance to discuss their love of the borough in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge.

It was a challenging day. We shot on Panasonic HVX200 cameras and the utility Derek was kept busy dumping the cards and wiping them, trying to keep ahead of the cameras needs. P2 memory cards on a multicam shoot can be challenging, but the reward is that you can start editing the next day, with all your footage already

digitized.

We’re always excited to work with BET. Jay-Z and the interviewers were also nice people and easy to work with. At the end of the day, everybody went home exhausted, but proud of the work we did. As he was leaving, Jay complimented Jon Marc on how well everything went. Nothing could have pleased us more.

You can see all of the pictures from the day at our flickr site.

Watch for the special to air on BET on Monday, September 7th.

BET is launching a new series, (Rising Icons). The show focuses emerging talent, showcasing their music and their story.

Dv Depot sent out a crew to work on an episode with Hal Linton, an R&B/Soul artist. We followed him to recording sessions and concerts in New York for several days. Then we went to his hometown in Barbados to get a little of his history.

Luckily, we have lots of pictures from Barbados. Our camera operator, Alex Sierra, and our audio tech, Ethan Goldberger, trailed Hal for a few days and got to hang out with him at night. They had a great time. We love working with BET and hope to do more work on this exciting new show.

You can see more photos on dv Depot’s flickr page.

As we’ve previously posted about, we’ve been working on “Rising Icons” for BET. “Rising Icons” is a great new show promoting new artists. We’ve had the opportunity to work on a few episodes now. The first we worked on, featuring Hal Linton, has premiered on BET already.

Apparently, the show worked with at least one girl who became obsessed with Hal after seeing the episode. She’s says his music makes her melt.

“Rising Icons” is a great production to work with. Our crew, including camera op Alex Sierra and audio tech Ethan Goldberger, got to spend a lot of time hanging out with Hal on their trip to Barbados and had a great time with him. You can see more pictures of the trip on our Flickr site.

See Hal Linton’s episode of Rising Icons below.

In 2007, Riyo Mori was crowned Miss Universe. Shortly after that, Lifetime featured her in a series of PSAs. Having shot many of Lifetime’s PSAs in the past, they called us to work on this one. We provided the crew, the gear and the location—they shot at the dv Depot offices. It was an easy day. Our crew was prepared and efficient. And it was a thrill to meet a real beauty queen.

Matt Kulvicki shot the PSAs in front of white seamless paper. Ethan Goldberger handled audio.

You can see more photos at our flickr site.