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I am (not) Iron Man

Videobred — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 19:39:14 +0000

The Iron Man competition consists of the following: a 2.4 mile swim in the Ohio River. A 112 mile bike down river road to LaGrange. And a marathon-length 26 mile run down third street past churchill downs and back.

In short, you might very well have to be crazy to try and accomplish this task. So this past sunday, over 2,000 certifiably insane (and insanely in-shape) people dedicated anywhere from nine to seventeen hours of their life to achieving the glory of completing the Iron Man challenge.

I was there with a camera, documenting the event and gathering b-roll for future projects including a video for the Louisville Sports Commission. After a few hours of walking with camera in tow, I was ready to call it quits. I really don’t know how the athletes felt.

I was also at the finish line to watch the winner sprint back and forth, high-fiving the crowd as he came in to claim his substantial (but undefined to the audience) cash prize. Then he ripped the finish line down, held it above his head, and proceeded to let out a silent scream of celebration…before sprinting BACK down the line of people for a high-speed victory lap and returning to the finish line for a barely out-of-breath interview.

And as I saw this specimen of human excellence treat one of the most difficult feats known to man as if it were a quick jog across the street, two very clear thoughts came into my mind. 1) I’m terribly out of shape. And 2) I sure could go for a beer right about now.

meet videobred’s newest!

Videobred — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 15:51:03 +0000

Put another beer in the cooler, videobred’s got a new team member! Read the interview to learn a little more about Will Cravens, our new full-time shooter, and then check out some of his still photography here. Cheers, Will! We’re glad to have you on board.

How did you get interested in video production?
I’ve always had an interest in filmmaking, like most people here. I’ve always been a visual person – that’s really been the only way I’ve truly been able to express myself. So I decided to go to school for film and videography – at Western Kentucky University. And once I started doing it, I realized there was nothing else I could do so I threw myself into it 100 percent and worked on any productions I could.

What has been your favorite part about working at videobred so far?
It’s been interesting. I don’t know if this is the norm, but I was basically thrown into a long form piece on the first day. I started working on this time lapse which was great because I love still photography, so being able to work with cameras I know and the format I love, so from the first day I knew it was a match made in heaven. And now the same project has developed into a long form documentary, which is why I got into filmmaking in the first place, so to get thrown right into it and get involved was pretty amazing.

What is your favorite camera to shoot on?
I love the Canon DSLRs, the 7D. I think it’s really cool being able to do some of the things that you do on larger format camers for such an inexpensive cost. Just being able to change a lens on set to fit my needs without too much hassle is pretty awesome.

If you could work with any director, who would it be?
Richard Linklater. His early work is pretty amazing. A lot of his stories follow the day-in-the-life format and I happen to love that story. He tells it so well it’s hard not to engage and fall in love with his characters. Slacker, Dazed and Confused, and Before Sunrise/Sunset are probably my favorites.

What so you like to do outside of video production?
My main creative outlet is still photography. Even after working all day shooting here I still love to grab my camera and go do something totally different. I like working with models, doing concept shoots. It’s this drive to push myself and express myself. It’s just fun to go out with no rules and try new stuff, and that’s how I learn and get better.

Business First calls Jamie Pence a tech geek!

Videobred — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 15:49:04 +0000

Tell us something we don’t know! Business First says that Jamie Pence “was born to be a tech geek.” Read the full text of the profile of Jamie, written by Cary Stemle, below.

Business First subscribers can also read the full text of the article here. Photo by Ron Bath.

Videobred’s Jamie Pence was born to be a tech geek

Jamie Pence pored through his e-mail, looking for a Web link he’d sent to a friend. He found it, clicked, then laughed as he interacted with the video — a YouTube ad for Tipp-Ex Pocket Mouse correction tape that is built around a hunter and a bear.

Pence, president of Videobred Inc., loves how it pushes the bounds of traditional advertising. “Convergence” is the vogue term for how various media combine to create content these days. And Pence said the ad, which plays various videos depending on what the user types, is a great example.

“I’d say the amount of time they spent shooting and editing is minimal,” he said. “And it is totally cool and very effective.”

Pence knows of what he speaks. Born in 1969, he belongs to that generation for whom computers went from curiosity to indispensability.

Videobred co-founder Dave Shulhafer tells of how Pence, barely in high school, borrowed money to buy video equipment to rent for meetings.

That sort of initiative took Pence from fledgling film editor to owner of the audiovisual company in a decade’s time.

‘Always inquisitive’

While growing up in Hardin County, Jamie Pence was a good kid, said his father, Jim Pence. He was involved in theater and music and was voted “most talented” by his senior class.

His inquisitive nature got him in trouble, though, and his dad realized, “I’ve got to find something for this kid to do.”

The answer: a Commodore VIC-20, an early personal computer. Jamie was hooked.

He got involved in the high school’s TV program, then studied broadcasting at Western Kentucky University. Still looking for work, he returned to the truck stop where he’d worked previously.

Pence got hired at a small recording studio in Elizabethtown, then heard of an opening at Videobred. He asked his father how to negotiate salary.

Jim Pence told his son to aim low, then prove your mettle.

Shulhafer said Jamie Pence distinguished himself early in his career with effort and talent.

“I never had another employee who just consumed the material the way he did,” Shulhafer said. “He had a vision … It was, ‘Let me know everything there is to know about this. Let me make the tool do more than anyone else can make it do.’ ”

Pence was following advice. “Dad would tell me the marketplace is pretty competitive from 9 to 5, but after 5, it’s not so competitive.”

Romance at the truck stop

While a 19-year-old student at Elizabethtown Community College, Pence’s wife of 18 years, Wendy Pence, took a waitress job at the Glendale truck stop. Soon, Jamie Pence, who “found an excuse” to barge into her job interview, had her phone number.

It was August 1992. They were engaged by October and married on New Year’s Eve.

Along with daughters Jasmine, 17, and Alexis, 7, and son Cameron, 10, they still live in Hardin County.

Wendy Pence, a former social worker looking to re-enter the work force after taking time off for family, said they are “home bodies” who like spending time with their children and pets (two beagles and three cats).

Father and son share a love of videogames, and the whole family enjoys the History Channel.

Jamie Pence calls his parents, Jim and Carolyn Pence, his “best friends.”

After high school, when Jamie Pence’s friends were earning $40,000 a year in factories and buying boats, he was unsure of his next step.

Jim Pence, who grew up in foster homes and retired from an American Synthetic Rubber factory, told Jamie not to settle.

“He’d see his friends retire at 65 and die,” Jamie Pence recalled, “so he decided to work hard to retire at 55, which he did. He worked a lot, and he worked swing shift. But he was always there when I needed him or something big was happening at school.”

Buying the company

Videobred is the sort of homegrown company that inspires reverence from employees and clients. Pence said it has been a training ground for numerous people who have moved to larger stages and that the company has “good DNA.”

As Shulhafer and business partner Bob Manning looked to sell, they were in talks with a Houston company that wanted key personnel to sign employment contracts.

About that time, in June 2002, Wendy Pence was in a serious car accident, which Jamie Pence said was eye-opening. He realized he wasn’t invincible — and also that the Texas suitors could not do anything for him he couldn’t do for himself.

He and another employee, Kirk Hilbrecht, bought the company in 2003, under terms Pence declined to disclose. When Hilbrecht got called to active duty with the Air National Guard in December 2009, Pence bought him out, financing the deal himself.

Today, Videobred has 19 employees, making it the city’s third-largest audiovisual company, according to Business First’s list of the area’s largest audiovisual production companies, published in July.

The company serves a wide range of clients, including Papa John’s International Inc., General Electric Co., the Louisville Convention and Visitors Bureau and Donna Lawrence Productions.

Lawrence, a big fan, said: “The combination of Jamie’s talent, the company he’s built in Louisville, and the way he operates personally and professionally is a great treasure in this community.”

Pence’s office is amazingly streamlined but loaded with computer equipment.

“It’s so funny,” said James Miller, assistant creative director at Red7e, a frequent partner with Videobred. “He’s president of the company, and he refuses to quit editing.”

‘Emotional investment’

Miller met Pence after joining the agency in 2002, and they quickly realized they shared an affinity for — yes — truck stops.

Miller is from LaRue County, next to Hardin County, and they’re familiar with a lot of the same ones. “I’m always threatening to go down there and take him to Paula’s Hot Biscuit, or going to find the remains of the old (Glendale) truck stop.”

Miller said Pence is a master at delivering high-quality work with guerilla sensibilities.

“In a business that centers around expensive technology, it’s easy for that to take over and for the idea to get lost. Videobred is very good at harnessing it in service of the idea and getting it done. … I make fun of him when he goes on about Videobred’s DNA — he’s very parental in how he looks at (the company).

“It’s what you want your boss to be, but as a friend, you see him go through it — he takes it very personally because of his emotional investment in the company.”

Pence said he’s acting on his values. For example, Videobred pays 100 percent of employees’ health insurance for single coverage.

Although he thinks the government should let small businesses join insurance pools, he added: “People shouldn’t come to work worrying about their health. I don’t know how you can ask someone to work for you … and you can’t take care of their health? As business owners, I think we’re obligated to do that.”

The future of media inspires constant hang-wringing, but Pence is upbeat and said the new landscape brings new opportunities. Fueled by social media, for example, the YouTube ad with the hunter and the bear went viral and has logged more than 11 million views. There are countless similar examples.

“Everybody has to use visual means to communicate now — that’s obvious,” he said. “Ten years ago, it was a luxury you could do now and again. … It used to take a half-million dollars to have an editing suite. Now you can do it on a Macbook Pro. I find it liberating.”

| Jamie Pence

President, Videobred Inc.

Birth date: Sept. 14, 1969

Hometown: Elizabethtown, Ky.

Residence: Same

Wife: Wendy Pence

Children: Daughters Jasmine, 17, and Alexis, 7, son Cameron, 10

Work history: WKYU-TV; Alpha Recording; Videobred Inc.

Education: Bachelor’s degree in communications, Western Kentucky University, 1992

Community service: Blue Apple Players (Videobred does a lot of pro bono work for the group); WKU Broadcast Advisory Board

A memorable project: With Louisville-based Donna Lawrence Productions, Videobred worked on the Capitol Visitors Center in Washington, D.C., which opened in late 2008. “I hated history in high school and college,” Pence said. “That was (enlightening).”

From a competitor: “He was designed and built for the job,” says Rick Boone, senior audio engineer at Interactive Media Lab and a former Videobred employee. “To grow up and carry it forward to a career is impressive. He’s one of the best.”

On dealing with stress: “He’s relentlessly positive. It’s not so much his calm in the storm but his happiness to be in the storm,” said James Miller, assistant creative director of Red7e advertising firm.

Longest he’s gone unplugged: After the 2009 ice storm, the Pences were powerless for a week. “One night we listened to a UK game on radio by the fireplace. It reminded me of listening to those games with my dad. I finally got tired of being without power when I blew up a can of baked beans on the grill.”

Technology: Frying our brains or enlarging them? “Both … I think the knowledge is powerful. I think our brains will adapt to that.”

| Everyone’s a critic

Jamie Pence is a tech geek. Unabashed and unashamed.

So what’s a tech geek do for fun? Why, more tech, of course.

About four years ago, Pence and some buddies started www.tapcritic.com to review iPhone apps.

“I’ve never had a hobby, per se,” he says. “All of our skills — shooting video and the things we do every day — have helped us with this hobby.

“One of our first reviews was for a program called iGirl. … We wanted to make fun of it. We promoted it correctly and made the front page of Digg. … We had 130,000 page views.”

Of course, page views + Google Ad Sense = $$$. “It’s a stress reliever on a Sunday afternoon,” Pence said, laughing. “And it feeds our app addiction.” |

More Scary Movie Fun!

Videobred — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 20:09:47 +0000

This week’s handpicked scary movie Top 5 lists, courtesy of Annie Ratterman, Operations Manager and self-professed horror movie scaredy-cat and Brian Cunningham, Director of Photography and self-professed horror movie buff. Take a look at their picks for Halloween week and then check out the latest production stills from Brian and Matt Niehoff’s own zombie flick, Overtime, here.

Annie’s Top 5 Creepiest Movies

1. Babes in Toyland (1961)

2. Children of the Corn (1984)

3. Saw (2004)

4. Human Centipede (2009)

5. Let the Right One In (2008)

Brian’s Top 5 Most Fun Horror Movies to Watch on Halloween

1. Evil Dead (1981)

2. Re-Animator (1985)

3. Trick ‘r Treat (2007)

4. Drag Me to Hell (2009)

5. Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)

Heeeeeere’s Johnny!

Videobred — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 15:02:05 +0000

Today our resident horror movie experts, Matt Niehoff and Brian Cunningham, offer up two Top 5 lists sure to keep you awake and afraid of the dark for weeks to come. Take a look at their lists and then check out Matt and Brian’s own blend of zombies and aliens, Overtime, in production now. Trailers and production stills are here.

Matt Niehoff’s Top 5 Brutally Epic Horror Movie Classics

1. The Exorcist (1973)

2. Pet Sematary (1989)

3. Army of Darkness (1992)

4. Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)

5. Evil Dead (1981)

Brian Cunningham’s Top 5 Scariest Horror Movies

1. The Exorcist (1973)

2. Paranormal Activity (2007)

3. The Shining (1980)

4. In the Mouth of Madness (1995)

5. Session 9 (2001)

Schiller Architectural Hardware (Intro)

Videobred — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 21:05:53 +0000

To introduce a video about Schiller Architectural Hardware, founded in Louisville in 1929, editor Steve Hurst forced 3D space onto still photographs of Louisville landmarks around the 1920s. The addition of color splashes on the historical images adds interest and makes the vintage signage really pop.

Client: Schiller Architectural Hardware

Producer: Alan Manias

Editor: Steve Hurst

Shoot Format: HD

Delivery Format: DVD

How do you spell winner? C-A-T-S!

Videobred — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 16:00:38 +0000

We received some great entries in our Brutally Epic UK/UofL Football Tickets Challenge, but in the end the ‘bred mostly bleeds blue, which means we swooned when we saw the tribute video made by Charlotte Reed, of red7e, and Lottie Stockwell of Power Creative. These wild cats fans even wrote a little story about some of their recent escapades, including an appearance by our very own Raph Cecil.

In a very close second place, Matt Krupp had us all laughing with his truly Brutally Epic tale of UofL football tailgating and a legendary keg stand. Matt gets two tickets to his pick of any UofL game this season, while the Cats girls will be cheering on their team this Saturday. Everyone is welcome to join the videobred crew for tailgating on Saturday. It promises to be epic.

Congrats to all the winners! Here’s a story from those girls in blue before you watch their video on the facebook page here.

Once upon a College Gameday in the Commonwealth, some crazy Cats fans ventured from Possibility City to Rupp, ran into a hunky camera man named Raph, and asked “What would John Wall do?!?!” Their fairy fan-mother, Vic, appeared who was college buds with Chuck Hayes and happened to be in town on this NBA All-Star weekend. Fan-mother was dressed to impress and convinced Chuck to get VIP passes for her fanatical fans where they rubbed elbows with former Wildcat hoops royalty. And then at the stroke of midnight, footballers Turtle and Randall Cobb appeared (despite surely being carded at the door). Photo ops, fist pumps and vodka-crans (courtesy of VIP) ensued. They all lived happily ever after, laughing hysterically and questionable “professional” ladies attempting the splits on the dance floor.

1000 Hamilton Ave just got a little more fabulous

Videobred — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 18:15:48 +0000

Last week videobred welcomed Theresa Carpenter Beames to her new office at 1000 Hamilton Ave. A videobred employee years ago, Theresa now runs her own production company, Essential Media. Read more about the fabulous Ms. Beames here and then check out some of her amazing work at theresacarpenterbeames.com.

How did you get started in the production business?

I have always loved storytelling. I directed my mom and a cast of neighbor kids in my live version of “Rudolph” when I was five. When it was time for college I considered pre-med or broadcasting. Studying wasn’t for me, nor was eight years of college. Also, MTV was brand new and I thought it might be kind of cool to be a VJ. It didn’t take anytime for me to realize that the real fun was behind the camera. When I graduated from WKU, I sent out three resumes – I followed up on one. The company was videobred.

One of the craziest moments from your years in the industry?

Besides casting a gorgeous PhD from Chicago to play a killer drag queen in an indie film, it was pretty crazy to be face-to-face with Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Lee Trevino and Chi-Chi Rodriguez to interview each of them for the PGA’s 75th Anniversary video. I didn’t know anything about golf, or sports, really, so I spent the night before cramming on their historical moments – with lots of books. This was pre-internet.

And one of the most rewarding moments?

I recently watched a video with the cast of the video – it was a team of Galt House employees who were featured in the video. I knew that my clients were happy with the piece, but to experience the excitement and pride that the employees felt watching the final product was right on. This was last week.

About a year ago, I got to produce a piece for Y-NOW Children of Prisoners Mentoring Program – and this is a group that changes, and I’d say, saves lives. The reception that video got from the staff blew me away. There’s nothing better delivering on the trust that I’m given to share a group’s story – and when they think I’ve done it well, it’s deeply satisfying.

What are you most looking forward to working from your new space at videobred?

videobred is my first love, professionally speaking. When Dave and Bob hired me in ‘87, I was nurtured and trained in the school of Dave – which was to be true to the story and the client, work faithfully within budget, but never be afraid to go above and beyond to really deliver. Being back in these walls makes me so happy – I love this team, the attitude toward creativity, seeking the YES in every scenario and the general vibe that Jamie is so devoted to. He’s an amazing leader, in my opinion.

Who are some of your clients/recent projects?

I’m grateful for all of my clients and every project that we do together. Lately I’m doing some great stuff with the YMCA, the Galt House and Bellarmine University.

What are some of your favorite things to do when you’re not being the most fabulous producer?

My favorite thing to do is raise my person – Ella. She’s the source of my greatest happiness and inspiration. I’m always doing that. I love to be with my people – Rog, my sisters, my mates. It’s not too complicated. I’m a very lucky woman.

Street Sense: Time Lapse

Videobred — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 20:41:28 +0000

Clean graphics were used in combination with stylized shots to convey a positive message encouraging Louisvillians to use their street sense.

Client: Mayor’s Office
Producer: Kara Taylor
DP/Camera Operator: Chad Stockfleth
Gaffer/Key Grip: Ben Newkirk
Camera: 7D
Lighting Package: Tungsten and natural light
Shoot Format: 720p HD
Shoot Length: 3 days
Editor: Chris Johnson
Edit Length: 5 days
Delivery Format: Broadcast

Dance Your (Game Day) Face Off!: Announcing videobred’s Next Contest!

Videobred — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 17:47:58 +0000

videobred’s got two tickets to share for the always-brutally-epic UK/UofL football game on September 4th. But we want you to work for them.

Here’s the deal: send us a video of your best victory dance in the team apparel of your choice by Friday, August 27. Our esteemed panel of judges, pledging team neutrality, will pick the winner based on level of fanaticism, enthusiasm, and best dance moves. The move over-the-top, the better. The winner will be announced on our facebook page on Monday, August 30th and the video posted for all the Twitter-verse to cheer and jeer.

So break out your beer helmet and foam finger and send your entries to info@videobred.com. Go team!