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Charles Meadows
- Jan 25, 2018
- 2 min
Filming Dinner Date SA
Season one of Dinner Date South Africa has just finished airing on SABC3 and, like the rest of the country, the Incubate Video Crew got a real taste for it. In fact we got more than just a taste for it, we got a mouth full of it. In final tally Our DoP and Camera Assistant were responsible for filming 60 pre-date inserts, large meaty chunks of the winner / loser reveals and a healthy portion of the final romantic (or un-romantic) restaurant dates. We've filmed for a lot of TV
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Charles Meadows
- Nov 5, 2017
- 1 min
The Invisible Producer
It’s madness I tell you trying to film a production without a producer. A recent video production project for MacMillan Education really drove home how important a producer is. Tasked with filming 33 members of the public in different professions and in a short time-frame would have been a fiasco if it wasn’t for our producers. A producer would be best described as an invisible being who arranges all the important behind the scenes aspects of a video production and then gets
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Charles Meadows
- Sep 27, 2017
- 1 min
Some Feedback!
Less blog and more testimonial! And that's why we do it, isn't it? Nothing better than a client giving you honest, positive feedback. Plus it's nice to have the ego stroked a little. This all stems from a recent shoot myself and our video crew completed for the World Bank, in Durban, earlier on this year. "Charles has a gift for direction. He puts people at ease while capturing everything on your shot list and more. He works creatively and intuitively, adding polish and produ
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Charles Meadows
- Jun 6, 2017
- 1 min
Waiting on Water
The # videocrew are back from Durban having completed a shoot for The World Bank. What was it about? Water and the severe lack of it in informal settlements. What we take for granted is seen as a luxury by others. The introduction of water and toilets to this Durban informal settlement has not only fulfilled a human right but also a sense of diginity to its people. As a productioncompany we get to work on a number of different projects, from corporate to broadcast but the vi
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Charles Meadows
- Feb 10, 2017
- 3 min
Zambian Smiles and the Sony FS5
Our video crew are in Chibombo Province, Zambia. It's 70km from the capital Lusaka but the drive has taken us 2 and half hours. Roads are not Africa's strong point. Zambia is only a two hour flight from Johannesburg but for some interstellar reason it seems much further. We've been through the usual travel gauntlet of packing camera gear, having bags searched at the airport, Leatherman knife confiscated again (when will I learn not to put it in my camera bag?), fighting for
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Charles Meadows
- Jun 6, 2016
- 2 min
Lighting Maketh the Shot
A recent corporate video shoot at Standard Bank for the Holycow Agency got me thinking about the role lighting plays in a successful video shoot. The rapid tech advancements in cameras and lenses are fantastic. I love that dynamic range is on the up, that lenses are becoming faster, sharper and more affordable. Somehow this all seems to be to the detriment of lighting and honing in on the craft of lighting. There's an awful lot of people out there referring to themselves as c
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Charles Meadows
- May 11, 2016
- 3 min
Corporate Video - What to Expect.
At Incubate Productions we want to help clients get the most out of their corporate video production. You’ve made the wise business decision of getting your brand and business out into the digital landscape by commissioning a corporate video. So what should you expect when the production company arrives? The Script Is The Foundation First of all, before any filming can begin, you need to make sure you’re satisfied with the script. The script is the foundation of every product
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Charles Meadows
- May 2, 2016
- 1 min
Small lens. Big picture.
Big doesn't always mean better and in the case of the Sony Zeiss FE 55mm 1.8 that seriously holds true! Now this is not meant as a review of the lens (there are far more scientific and technically minded people out there than me for that). What I do like about this lens is its size... it's small. As a video crew we do a lot of filming throughout Africa and the more inconspicuous your gear the better. It's small, it's light, it's built tough with metal casing and it's brillian
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Charles Meadows
- Apr 20, 2016
- 1 min
What came first, the gear or the crew?
A good video crew gets the job done on time, in budget, without fuss and delivers great footage and audio. This sounds pretty obvious right? Well it's not as obvious as it should be. With the democratisation of video production, through cheaper gear, also comes the cheaper video crew. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for healthy competition but I'm not for the lowering of standards. Considering we live in what's essentially the "video age", it flummoxes me that sooo much bad video
15 views0 comments
Charles Meadows
- Apr 18, 2016
- 1 min
You had me at Sony A7S...
How things have changed! Small cameras delivering big visuals. The Sony Alpha 7S is changing the way our video crew shoot video and for the better. For documentary filming we can get so much more filmed in a day and not have to compromise on the quality. To be honest, the A7S is proving itself suitable for corporate video and broadcast (when connected to the Atomos Ninja 2 or Shogun). The A7S has also proved itself as the perfect tool for filming in Africa, it's such a small
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Charles Meadows
- Apr 17, 2016
- 1 min
Pearson UK Video Shoot
Man we love what we do! It's one thing to work with a great client (the UK based Pearson Group in this instance) but it gets even better when you get to work on a project that is also a positive story. Pearson in partnership with Spark Schools are showing that high quality education is accessible and doesn't have to come with a high price tag. Our video crew spent a day on location in Johannesburg filming b-roll and interviews at a Spark school recently and what we learnt is
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