A couple months ago, the Travel Channel posted some assignments to alumni of the Academy. One of the assignments was to create a “TOP 5″ style video piece highlighting famous locations. Now I know I will never be able to sell this footage, as the National Park Service will never sign a location release for me. But – since I had a ton of footage from my recent trip to D.C. I figured, what the heck, I will edit it all out into a slick TOP 5 anyway. good practice right?

This piece took me about 60 man-hours to create. A full week of work. The reason is because I used this piece to take my post production skills to the next level.. Over the last 3 weeks or so I have been studying and executing several new tricks available to post production video editors. Among those you will find in this piece:

• Animated Title sequences
• Vector Graphics
• Motion Graphics
• Color Correction (huuuuuge difference)
• Complete audio editing of every syllable
• Mic’d up sound effects recorded in post
• And a new “outro”

I used this piece and the one before to teach myself how to use two new programs. One is called Motion. I use it for stabilizing shaky shots using “motion tracking”. I also use it to animate all the motion graphics and titles. If you pay attention, you will see those type of motion graphics and animated titling on professional TV series, so I am much happier knowing how to take the look to that level… Second one is called Color. Yeah, they are both part of the Apple Studio Pro system. The names are un-imaginative, but wow the programs give you serious power. Color is a professional level color correction tool. Gives you the power to do some big-league stuff with your video. First time I ever saw this kind of stuff was in the behind the scenes of the Lord of the Rings. With a bit of software and an artist’s touch, they could make the colors of the video change to suit the mood of the location, or timing of the piece. I remember thinking WOW. that is soooooo cooool… But here I am years later, and I know how, and have the power to do that stuff also. I used it in this piece to make yellow grass green, hazy skies blue, and black water come to life…. I was in DC in February, so the grass was all pale yellow, and the skies were grey. So when you watch this piece and see all the pretty grass, and blue skies – it is all a lie!! And guess what – I still think that stuff is awesome! Video used to be so impossible to alter. its 30 frames a second, and essentially you would have to edit every frame of the video – so even for a 2 second clip you would have to airbrush 60 pictures. Hoorah for technology!

I had also been needing to create a new “outro” to place at the end of every one of my videos. kind of like a video business card. So here is how I made mine. With Brandie’s suggestion, I went to Office Max, bought a $50 stamp that looked just like a passport stamp, knowing full well I would return it…I needed good light, so went into the backyard. My daughter Catherine and I taped my passport to a dining room chair, setup the tripod and for about 10 minutes recorded the action of me flipping the page of my passport. Fast, Slow, delayed, etc… I also had to get the stamp action just right, and itt had to be centered. I gave myself a few options until I recorded one that made me say YES! Then I captured the clip, and ran it through Color to make the blues pop. Animated my logo to match the hand action. Then recorded the sound of the stamp 100 times till I got it just right… Anyway, I am happy to have it done, and I like it. Now you know how much work went into that 5 seconds of film. Oh and I returned the stamp and got my money back. Love it! I’m gonna start doing that anytime I need a prop!

Without any further babbling, here is my TOP 5 “MUST SEE” attractions in Washington D.C.

1) Explosion with FSW logo, and blue/green bleed applied to the crowd in opening shot
2) Lots of sliding titles
3) Young Bucks, guy on right pulls down “Bucks” with his fingers, guy on left punches “Young” off screen with a dust impact behind the title.
4) Explosions for Kenny King
5) Fireworks & Title shakes for Mike Modest
6) about 20+ sliding effects for Disco Inferno, and a smoke wall background, and fire “inferno”. Had to make an old low resolution piece of !@#$ photo look great…
7) Mike Modest slams the final title off with a big slam!

The Voice Over was done by Jack. Every time I hear it, I laugh. He was right – he does kind of sound like the announcer for when the dastardly villain is tying up the lady on the railroad tracks. But it works!

These events are a truckload of work to cut, & edit. Ive easily put in 40-50 man-hours on all the capturing, video editing, audio editing, multiple DVD burning (of 2 cams footage), titling and special effects. And that does not even include the day of shooting the stuff! It is going to get worse next month if we use 2 HD cameras (to start running a weekly show on the air). That doubles the capture time & edit time. Now if we can agree on some compensation for me – I will be back July 12th!

If I shoot July 12th, you can bet its going to be off the hook, now that I have a plan, and know what I want, and what is needed.

Some of the performers involved were:

• Kid Showtime
• Tommy Danja
• Fenix Alexander
• Big Unit
• Funny Bone
• Team Elite
• Lil Cholo
• Malachi Jackson
• Derrick Neikirk
• Tyson Tyler
• Scotty Eyce
• Cyanide
• Vintage Dragon
• Captain Calico
• Border Patrol Mike Modest
• Extreme Loco
• Kenny King
• GQ Gallo
• Young Bucks
• Cutler Brothers

Laura is an inspiring Abstract oil painter working out of a noisy studio in the historic Torpedo Factory in old town Alexandria Virgina.

I shot this video piece on day 3 of the Travel Channel Academy. The same day that I shot “Balloon Man”. I was unsure how the balloon shoot would edit out so to cover my bases I shot this additional piece. I really enjoyed spending some time with Laura Edwards, she was talented, accommodating and inspirational.

For many the highlight of the event is the athletic competition. Young, Old, Professional, Amateur, Men and Women all compete in up to 5 traditional athletic events.

In the Food & Entertainment region of the park, you can sample dozens of choices of beers, whiskeys, ales, traditional meat pies, or Haggis.

The Annual Scottish Highland Games provide a great opportunity for Friends and Family to get together from all heritages, all nations to enjoy a cultural event that will provide you with lasting memories, a bit of history, and perhaps, a new perspective.

I am subscribed to the local events calendar to keep me up to date on all the current activities and events happening in my area.  This helps keep me busy shooting new content for this site and the Travel Channel.  Mainly the calendar is filled with tidbits about charity drives, and celebrity concerts, but little bits of gold do appear after sifting through all that sand.

Like yesterday, I saw a post that the Travel Channel show “Man vs Food” was going to be filming in my town, and not far from home!  Even though this is a new show, my whole family is pretty addicted to this show already.  The host, Adam Richman is a sweet likable guy and the premise of the show is entertaining.  Basically, if you have not seen it yet – each episode is about Adam finding unique and stuffing places to dine in the host city, and then embarking on a food “challenge” where he must consume some enormous meal like a competitive eater to earn his place in history at that establishment.  It is my daughters’ favorite show on the Travel Channel.

Today was not the challenge portion, but Adam and the crew were fired up and ready to take on the “Hash House a GoGo”.  It is a locals favorite for breakfast and lunch that serves “twisted farm-food”.  Crazy and enjoyable dishes with enormous portions.  I showed up early and reserved a table close to the action where I could watch the filming of the beginning bits, and Adam sat down to a meal with a couple guys. One of which was Bobby Slayton, the “pit-bull” of comedy.  They had a huge blueberry & white chocolate pancake, and a few other items.  While filming, the production assistant came over to me and said “You want to be on TV?”.  Heck Yah I want to be on Man vs Food!  The mohawk wins again!  1) it gets me on the Travel Channel.  my dream job!  2) it makes me a hero to my daughters!

So I ordered a “Meatloaf Hash” and waited…  He made a stop at a large birthday party talking about the eats, and then came to my table.  We talked about my dish, and Vegas, and what Vegas’ spin on comfort food was.  Adam is a really likable guy and was very friendly with both me, and my girlfriend and her daughter.  We should make the cut – right before he goes to the kitchen.  He was very accommodating to all the fans in attendance, making sure to sign everything, and take all the photos people wanted.  I was impressed.  I cant begin to tell you how many personalities are not what they seem when off camera.  Anyways, back to the story, turns out he is 34 just like me.  We got along like old friends from the get-go.  He even gave me a big hug after our scene.  He signed some stuff for my girls, we took a couple pics, and I told him I would bring my kids down to watch the challenge the next day.

The next day my daughters were not in school so I took them down to the challenge portion of the episode.  He was here to do the B3 Burrito at the NASCAR cafe in the Sahara Hotel & Casino.  B3 stands for BIG BADASS BURRITO, and weighs in at an impressive 6+ pounds and about 18″ long.  I waited to talk to the hostess (who barely spoke english) to explain that I was a travel writer and looking to sit front & center to the action.  After about 40 minutes of waiting, I talked to the supervisor, and the main waitress in the area to plead my case.  Problem was, the area directly behind where Adam was sitting was 21 & over because of the proximity to the bar and to a blackjack table.  But I was aggressive and worked with the staff to get what I wanted.  At first I took the closest currently available table, and ordered some food and some drinks like a good patron.  I explained to them that as soon as a specific couple gets up to leave from the closest “family” table, it was mine – which they were OK with, and eventually did.  Once that table opened up, we moved and sat there for another 30 mins or so, until I saw the table directly behind Adam front row & center open up.  Even though this table was technically in the 21 & over area – it was borderline, and by this time the staff was on my side, so I slid right in and got one of the best seats in the house for the Challenge.

When the Challenge portion was ready to shoot, Enter Adam Richman, and the B3 Burrito – and of course a couple of Vegas beauties flanking him on each side.  The executive chef comes in to explain the rules.  Eat every bite of the 6+ pound burrito in under 90 minutes and earn the 3rd spot on the wall of fame of successful burrito soldiers.  And if he fails, he is rewarded with his photo on the wall of shame, and a pink T-shirt that said “certified WEENIE”.  My daughters decided they wanted to make a wager.  They wanted to bet on Adam and win something if he was successful.  They decided they wanted to wager $3 and a massage each!  This meant a couple things.  1) I had to bet on food.  (Adam losing) 2) I could potentially be out of pocket $6 and (2) massages.  I was ok with this though, I had seen him fail a few challenges before, and giving my kids a couple bucks and a massage is OK with me especially when making the event a little more exciting.

Challenge time.  He dives into the burrito like my brother in law dives into cake.  Huge bites and lots of chewing and swallowing.  Adam is by no means a professional competitive eater, so it was interesting to see the strategy.  People in the crowd are yelling encouragement, or placing bets for & against his success.  At one point they get volunteers to come up and cheer him on.  Naturally I get up cheer him on for TV.  My daughters also – get up and cheer him on.  Solo shots with Adam while ripping through the B3 Burrito.  I hope their scene makes the cut just for bragging rights.  They love this show.

Adam was tearing through the burrito.  Bite after bite, he had made a lot of progress very quickly.  **** *** ***** ****** *** *** ****** ****** ************ *** ***** ******** *** *** ******** ** *** ********* ****** ***** ** ***** *** ************ ********* *** ***** ******** ***** ********* ******* ***** *** ** ******** ** *** ***** ****** ****** ****** ****** *** *** ****** ****** ************ *** ***** ******** *** *** ******** ** *** ********* ****** ***** ** ***** *** *********** ********* *** ***** ******** ***** ********* ******* ***** *** ** ******** ** *** ***** ****** ****** ****** ****** *** *** ****** ****** ************ *** ***** ******** *** *** ******** ** *** ********* ****** ***** ** ***** *** ************ ********* *** ***** ******** ***** ********* ******* ***** *** ** ******** ** *** ***** ****** ****** ******
(spoiler removed at request of Sharp Entertainment/Travel Channel – I will repost it after the show airs) Guess you will just have to wait!

In the end, we all had a good time.  Watching my daughters get filmed on TV, cheering on Adam, and enjoying the experience with friends and family.  We are all much bigger fans of Adam Richman, and the show Man vs Food than we were before.  Watch for this episode Season 2, Episode 2 on the Travel Channel.

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Even though I had been to the area a few times, this was my first time ever visiting the interior, and the observation deck at the top. It was really quite fascinating. From the top you can see incredible views of the entire DC area. There re unrivaled views of some of the most famous landmarks, such as

• Lincoln Memorial
• World War 2 Memorial
• Korean War Memorial
• Vietnam War Memorial
• Reflecting Pool
• Arlington National Cemetary
• Jefferson Memorial
• Tidal Basin
• White House
• West Wing
• South Lawn
• Old Executive Office Building
• Department of Treasury
• US Capitol Building
• Smithsonian Museum complex
• US Supreme Court
• Old Post Office
• and much more!

There were many interesting facts about the monument I had never known until I visited. Did you know that not only is it the tallest structure in DC, but it is both the world’s tallest stone structure and the world’s tallest obelisk in height standing 555 feet 5⅛ inches? And at the time of construction, it was the tallest structure of any kind in the entire world!

For plenty of other information and fun facts check out the following links:
Washington Monument on Wikipedia
Washington Monument on National Park Service

While in Germany I had 3 friends in country at the same time as I. My friend Brandon suggested we take the Fat Tire Bike Tour while enjoying Berlin. He had taken the Barcelona Spain tour, and said it was the most incredible way to experience a city. He was very convincing, and I was ready so all four of us signed up.

The Fat Tire Bike Tours headquarters is at the base of Alexanderplatz tower (Fernsehturm). Alexanderplatz is is a large public square and transport hub in the Mitte (city centre) district of Berlin, near the river Spree and the Berliner Dom. Local Berliners often call it simply “Alex”. The tower is easily recognizable, comparable to the Space Needle, or Stratosphere towers in the United States. At the very base of the tower are a few shops, including Fat Tire Bike Tours.

Upon Check-In we meet our friendly host Wolf, and tour guide Randell. The price of our bike rental and tour was approx 20 Euros. Quite a bargain if you ask me! The tour lasted around 4 hours, and is by far the best way to tour the city.  After biking around town for a few hours, and learning in depth information from our friendly and informative guide – we stopped for lunch at Schleusen Krug.  A charming Beer Garden in the center of the enormous park region of the city called the Tiergarten.  Comparable to, if not larger than Central Park in NYC.  Beautiful!

Below are some of the highlights of the tour, and links providing loads of further reading on each subject:

• Berlin Wall seeing one of the last remaining portions of the landmark that is still standing.
• Brandenburg Gate rode through one of Berlin’s most famous monuments (and see the hotel where Michael Jackson held his baby out over the balcony!) LOL
• Marienkirche Berlin’s oldest functioning church
• Red Town Hall the city hall of the now-unified Berlin
• Marx & Engels Platz monuments that are still standing of communism’s founders in the former East.
• Palace of the Republic site of the former East German Parliament
• Hitler’s Bunker the former site of the infamous undergound bunker where Hitler committed suicide
• Victory Column the enormous monument deep within the tiergarten.  Also famous for where Barrack Obama gave his amazing speech to over 100,000 Germans while running for President.
• Potsdamer Platz the downtown of new Berlin
• Gendarmenmarkt the quaint square featuring the French and German Cathedrals and the Konzerthaus
• Nazi Topography of Terror open air museum in the former headquarters of the Nazi Gestapo & SS
• Soviet War Memorial where more than 2500 Soviet soldiers from the “Battle of Berlin” are buried
• St. Hedwig’s Cathedral
  
• Unter Den Linden Berlin’s most famous Boulevard
• Death Strip the brutal portion of the Berlin wall between Checkpoint Charlie and Brandenburg Gate where most of the killings of innocents took place as they attempted to flee to the west.
• Checkpoint Charlie the crossing point between Allied /Democratic West Berlin and Eastern / Communist Berlin
• Humboldt University
• Museum Island square featuring Pergamon Museum, Altes Museum, & Bode Museum
• Luftwaffe Ministry home to the Nazi Air Force
• Bebelplatz the infamous public square in Berlin where over 20,000 books were burned by Nazi’s in may of 1933
• Memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe the controversial and powerful massive new memorial
• Reichstag beautiful house of parliament and site of one of Berlin’s final WWII battles
• State Opera House

In a nutshell, I cannot recommend this enough.  I enjoyed it so much, I have since also done the sister tours in London and Amsterdam as well!

Here are some photos from this amazing experience:

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Below is a map of the Bike Tour’s meeting location:

This story actually starts 5 weeks ago.  Back when I was still gainfully employed as a corporate sellout.  One day while reading my favorite news site Digg, I came across a story about the “Best Job in the World”.  In a nutshell, this was a job offer posted out to the public to submit your own video resume on why YOU should be considered for the “Best Job in the World”.  Basically the job pays $150k for 6 months for you to travel to Australia and the Great Barrier Reef – Hamilton Island to be exact – and be a paid traveler.  You have to do everything the region has to offer, and write a weekly blog and shoot a weekly video blog.  For more details check out the actual website here.  But realistically, I was born for this job.

Immediately I was inspired.  You could easily say this job offer was the carrot on the end of the stick that made me take the steps neccessary to evolve to the new chapter of my life.  Looking at the applications that had already been submitted, I felt confident.  Most were static uninteresting shots – people just putting the camera on a tripod and talking to it. blah blah blah.  As an experienced film-maker, traveler, and editor I knew I could really make one that popped.  One that even destoyed the competition.  This was the event that set the whole chain of events into motion.  The creation of this blog, the enlisting in the Travel Channel Academy, the purchasing of a HD video camera, etc.  So even if I do not get this job – I have to say thank you.  It pushed me off the cliff of no return, and will inevitably be responsible for my future success in the travel journalism field.

So this week, I began to craft my video application.  The application needed to be 60 seconds in length, but in that time you have to demonstrate several key things.  No small feat.  I started Monday morning, and over 3 days and nights went out shooting shots I could accomplish locally.  Fremont Street, Las Vegas welcome sign, Bonnie Springs, Red Rock Canyon, etc.  some days were gruelling!  one day I shot from 10am until 8pm at night!  I needed to capture several looks if I wanted to create visual interest and variety in my composition.

After 3 days of shooting, and 3 days of editing, I was forced to finally upload what I had completed thus far.  Unfortunately the submission deadline was tonite, and I pushed mine in with only 2 hours to spare.  If I would have had one more day to shoot/edit it, I would have made a couple big changes.  Overall I am satisfied with the piece, I would say 75% happy with it generally.  As a perfectionist, I can still see a couple flaws I wish I could correct, but like any baby on a deadline – the deadline comes first.

Oddly enough, this morning when I woke up, I felt I was done with it.  It wasnt until I went to the website again to read the terms and conditions, the fine print, and other information I had not fully read that put me in a panic.  There was one line in particular that made me worried.  It stated that we need to demonstrate our knowledge of the great barrier reef!  At this point, I had not even mentioned the GBR one single time!  No wonder so many of the crappy applications stated the same facts over and over.  One of the 7 natural wonders of the world.  Can be seen from Space.  blah blah blah.  I mocked them when I saw them – but now I get it.  they had no knowledge either, merely looked up info on wikipedia and recited the intel.  But at least their messages were tailored.  I had about 8 hours to rework my application, and include something – ANYTHING about the Great Barrier Reef.  Unfortunately my application was pretty stuffed already.  I cut a few things out and sped up some of the timing and freed up 5 full seconds of airtime to deliver something.  Since I did not want to recite the same canned facts everyone else did.  But yet I have never been there!  How much could I know?  And besides, wouldnt it be better to share my experiences with the world as a first-timer, just like 90% of their tourists?  I think so.  So that was th angle I went with.

Oh and one more fun fact.  The website where we submit our application started to malfunction in big ways as I was trying to get my video in.  Imagine my frustration, as after weeks of preparation, days of shooting, and days of editing I cannot even submit my video!  I was getting very frustrated and worried.  After 10 attempts, 2 browsers, and 2 video formats I was finally able to submit a LOW-RES mp4 version of the application.  I think its BS that others will have HD versions available, and I have to go LOW-RES just to get it in, but whatever.  At least I was able to get it in on time.  I doubt I will have a real chance anyway despite having a pretty awesome application.  Mark my words, the winner will be an attractive girl in her 20s that is a communications, or journalism major, a cheerleader at Syracuse, and volunteers at a Animal shelter.  And her video will stink.  But she will be cute, and have physical attributes required for beach and underwater photos that I will never possess in this lifetime – if you know what I mean

Anyway – without further babble, here is my mostly complete video application for “The Best job in the World” – and available in HD like it should be!

Below is a map of Hamilton Island, Australia – the location where the winner gets to live in a villa for 6 months, and be the national face of Great Barrier reef tourism:

This is “B”. He is a balloon craftsman down on the waterfront of Alexandria Virginia. One of the clown types that makes balloon animals for people. Colorful character with an attractive background setting. He turns out to be a great shoot. Great dialogue. A natural character with great soundbites. I love the way the shoot went. I watched him for a couple hours, shot him for 20 mins, and tipped him $20. He saved my day. Thank you B!

Travel Channel Academy – Balloon Man – Chris Paniagua – Thrillofadventure.com from Chris Paniagua on Vimeo.