I just posted an audio slideshow about the Pennsylvania Ballet’s production of The Nutcracker in Philadelphia and boy, did working on this really put me in the holiday mood. You have to love the dedication and the skill levels of professional ballet dancers…if I ever get reincarnated with a body more like Rudolph Nureyev than Homer Simpson, I would love to move with such power and grace… but as far as this life goes, all I can say is, “D’oh!”
I was impressed with the talent and discipline of the kids in the cast as well….what a cool childhood memory they’ll have working in this gorgeous staging by the Pennsylvania Ballet at Philadelphia’s beautiful Academy of Music.
For tech stuff, It was done with 2 D90’s and a D300s, ISO 800-1600, Automatic White Balance, and 12-24mm f/4, 17-55mm f/2.8, 70-200mm f/2.8VR, plus a little 35mm f/1.8, 10.5mm f/2.8, and 85mm f/1.8. This show is running, in a smaller size, on National Geographic Traveler’s Intelligent Travel blog too.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go have a doughnut and practice my plies and jetes!
Jeffrey Chapman
14 Dec 2009Lovely slideshow Bob. It makes me want to go see The Nutcracker as soon as possible.
Bob
14 Dec 2009Hi Jeffrey: Thanks! The NYC production is killer too. I had a chance to shoot that one years ago. I’m a sucker for this stuff! Bob
Monte Stevens
14 Dec 2009Thanks, Bob, that’s a wonderful video and report. I would love to go see it, to heck with shooting it.
Bob
14 Dec 2009Monte: After I spent all day Friday shooting the dress rehearsal, Peggy and I did just that on Saturday night…it was beautiful, and all I did was grab a shot of the theater interior before the curtain went up, so it was almost like a real date! Bob
Jim Shaffer
15 Dec 2009Bob, I really enjoyed watching this. You’re always an inspiration to this amateur. A basic tech question: What do you use to create the slide show, i.e., software, etc. Santa has promised to deliver a Mac for Christmas if Dr. Krist prescribes it. Want to make sure I have the right software.
Thanks.
Jim
Bob
15 Dec 2009Hi Jim: I used SoundslidesPlus (www.soundslides.com). It’s simple software that even I can understand! Have a great holiday. Bob
Tim
15 Dec 2009Bob,
I just wanted to say this I believe is your best yet the photos of the children are tremendous. I would ask you if you shot much from the bell, however no matter where this was shot from it is great!
Happy Christmas
Tim
Bob
15 Dec 2009Thanks Tim! I don’t know what you mean about shooting from the bell…they let us shoot from the orchestra section during the dress rehearsal. cheers, Bob
Tim
16 Dec 2009sorry Bob I ment Belly like you taught us.
Alan Haynes
15 Dec 2009Beautiful work, Bob. The narration adds a lot and the sound is very clear with no noticeable background noise. How did you record the sound?
Bob
15 Dec 2009Alan: Olympus LS10 with Sennheiser MKE 400 mic. cheers, Bob
DaveT
15 Dec 2009Bob,
Well planned and executed; the end result is truly magical.
A couple of technical questions please:
Did you record the narration with the Olympus device you wrote about earlier?
And, secondly, what software do you edit the sound with?
Thanks
Dave
Bob
15 Dec 2009Hi Dave: Yes, the narration was recorded with the Olympus and the Sennheiser MKE-400 shotgun. I use GarageBand to put the soundtrack together. Bob
Arun Paul
15 Dec 2009hold on – let me pick my jaw off the floor!! Great presentation Bob.
Bob
15 Dec 2009Hi Arun: You are too kind. You can’t go wrong with ballerinas! Bob
Bill Reade
18 Dec 2009Great job Bob, watching the boys rehearse took be back to 1964, I was 12 years old.My friend and i got into a little trouble and the cop who lived on our block in Paterson gave us a way out. His wife owned a dance school and was lacking boy studnets. If we leaened to dance for the “Nutcraker” he would cover our butts. Well being a ‘Badass” it was no at first, he took us on a ride to Jamesburg were the juvie jail was. Needless to say we danced and danced had a ball and as a side note there is no better place to meet girls that at a dance school.
Bob
18 Dec 2009Bill: You are so right on that last point…I took ballet to fill my PE requirement in my last year of college, and I ended up dating a prima ballerina for an all too short time!
Kathy Noble
19 Dec 2009Bob, this is my “new favorite” of your multimedia productions. I’ve already watched it three times and dragged my husband in to see it, too. After he watched it, he promptly went in to find and play the Nutcracker CD….you certainly have brought it to life for us!!! THANKS!!!
Bob
19 Dec 2009Hi Kathy: Glad you enjoyed it. Working on it put me in a good holiday frame of mind! Bob