| Big Pictures Visits Martina Navratilova for The Oprah Winfrey Show |
 It's not every day that you get to visit a legend in her home - much less see her workout and watch her cook!
But when Oprah called (her people actually), that's exactly what we did.
Tennis icon Martina Navratilova invited us into her Aspen home and her life, for a segment we taped for The Oprah Winfrey Show on Extraordinary Friendships - about her and her longtime friend and rival Chris Evert.
Two Big Pictures Crews, along with Harpo Producer Becky Liscum, followed Martina up and down a ranch-lined road near her home as she stretched on fences, did push-ups, and ran with her dog. With an epic snow-capped mountain scene as her backdrop, Martina showed us step by step how she performs her outdoors workout. Then we headed back to her kitchen for a lesson on creating fresh meals and juices.
DP's Zumi Hidalgo and Tom Miller shot with two Panasonic HDX900 HD Cameras, with help from Sound Mixers Steve Roseboom and Drew Levinson. For the kitchen scene, we also mounted a small overhead camera on a c-stand for the classic top shot. Then Zumi covered the close-ups, and Tom shot the wides, as she chopped fresh fruits and vegetables, roasted pine nuts, and whipped up a quick lunch of Pasta Genovese with pesto sauce, and a carrot and ginger drink.
For more details on this program, please visit Oprah's Website.
For more behind-the-scenes stories, along with production tips and tricks, visit Big Pictures News on our website.
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| On Location DVD Recording with Time code Window Burn |
 Quick turnaround on a project? No more waiting for VHS window dubs! Imagine being able to leave a shoot with a DVD that contains the interview footage and sound, with a window-burn of the matching time code. You could then screen and log the interview on your laptop in your hotel, at your office, or on the plane home.
With an in-the-field DVD recording system this is all possible.
We originally got this idea from ESPN producers who began requesting it for their shoots after working with other crews that had it. Here's how it works:
First I recommend choosing a DVD recorder that will give you "confidence" - that is the ability to monitor the video and audio as it goes down onto DVD with outputs. Our original system didn't have this, so we bought a much simpler basic consumer-level Sony DVD recorder that you would hook up to your home TV. Then it's simply a matter of getting video, time code, and sound into the recorder.
For video, the BNC output from your professional camera needs to be converted to the...
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| Zumi & Lisa Hidalgo in Westword! |
 Big Pictures Cameraman Zumi Hidalgo, and his wife, Channel 7 News Weatherwoman Lisa Hidalgo, were honored by Westword as one of Denver's Powercouples with a cool uni-name: "Zusa."
Zumi is humbled by the experience, but says his life hasn't changed much, "We carry more autograph pens when we go out together, but other than that, and the increased paparazzi, life is pretty much the same for us."
Check out Kenny Be's full cartoon in Westword
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