Happy 4th birthday Empty Cup!

Its been four years since I started my own business in my basement. At the time of its inception, I didn’t think the business idea would grow to what it is now! Carla and I have expanded the service list into weddings, videography for businesses and individuals, photography and now teaching.
We’re in our 2nd office space now – a fairly decent sized office with lots of friendly wedding allies. I definitely like the direction we are headed. We have lots of room for movement and growth. So now its only one more year until I will “re-evaluate” the business (which I think will go positively).
As it stands now, the 3 year plan is to ultimately return to the home studio (with an office, meeting room and a classroom for our film camp), a mid-size vehicle for all our gear, a motorcycle, shoot 30-40 weddings together as double angle shooters, have our film camp established with returning students and Carla and I teaching with the Durham Board part time.

But for right now, I’m going to put my Blackberry down and help do the dishes at the cottage here

Our office is complete!

The polish is finally on our new office! We had a custom wood-burned coffee table made for us by our friend Chris Bennett (cwrbennett@gmail.com). He took a junky old table and stripped it, wood burned it, then re-finished it for us! We decided to have the “Empty Cup Media story” burned into our table. It depicts the American professor meeting with the Zen master over tea. The Zen master is pouring tea into the professor’s cup and it is overflowing (to which the Zen master says “empty your cup” to the eagar professor).
Having an empty cup means you are ready to listen and learn. We feel this scene captured on our table conveys that message really well!

We also printed one of the largest prints I have ever seen for our feature wall: a cup picture (of course). The three stretched canvas prints are each 1×4 feet (for a total of 12 square feet of material). The photo doesn’t do it justice – it needs to be seen with your own eyes.

So we’re good to go! We have a comfy office with nice seating, mood lighting, original art, retro cameras on display and some very talented individuals inside it.
The Wedding Centre is a buzz with people now all getting their own offices operational. Come November, this building will be the only “one stop” location for Durham’s wedding clients. And we are happily providing videography for those in need of a piece of art in their DVD collection.

Carla on Global TV and CBC TV at age 16!

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Carla has been into video from an early age. And we have proof! We were going through some of Carla’s old VHS archives and we found her spotlight on Global TV and CBC! She made an anti-racism video that won her a trip to Ottawa!
This video has 3 parts to it: 2 independent news stories about Carla and her introduction to the contest show she was on.

We have a new office!

Here are some photos of our new office! Well, the process of painting our new office. It’s 95% set up now – we have a few decor things that we need to take care of. So after a week in boxes and adjusting to new surroundings, we are finally settled in our new location. It’s not far from our old one – it’s across the street. We moved into a larger office and are now sharing space with 8 other wedding vendors (as opposed to just two in the other office). Empty Cup is now a part of the “Wedding Centre” – a collection of Durham wedding vendors. Spread the love.

It feels like we’re in season two of a wedding sitcom. There are a lot of new faces in our business office routine and they will all bring their wisdom, contacts, lessons and wackyness. There are movies about wedding singers, wedding planners, wedding crashers… what about wedding videographers? I feel like we meet enough interesting characters to merit our own sitcom or movie. Maybe one day.

Fall 2009 Youth Video Competition

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To all you ambitious up and coming  filmmakers! Empty Cup Media is hosting a Youth Video Competition in the Durham Region.

Complete a 1-3 minute in-camera movie (in-camera = no post-production, if you make a mistake, rewind the shot and shoot it again!) and submit it to Empty Cup Media by November 15th.

The theme of the competition is “Outside the Box”. Whether you want to take it literally or figuratively, structure your video around your interpretation of this theme.  We will be judging the films on creativity, shot composition, and storyline.

To be eligible you must follow these guidelines:

• be between the ages of 11-18.
• your video is between 1-3 minutes in length.
• you must live in the durham region.
• incorporate the “outside the box” theme in your submission.
• shot “in-camera” (see above for details)
• register with us by sending an e-mail to contest@emptycupmedia.ca , include name, age, city you live in and format of completed video (format = what you shot it on: miniDV, DVD,  point and shoot camera with movie capabilities, etc.)
• Submit your film by November 15th, 2009.

The top-entry will receive: 

A full-scholarship to Empty Cup Media’s 2010 video camp (value approx $500)

AND

Full-digital treatment of your film (we’ll add titles/credits, print it to DVD and professionally package the finished project for your portfolio.

Entries can be mailed to:

Empty Cup Media
c/o Colin Burwell
37 Montrose Cres.
Whitby, ON
L1R 1C8

OR they can be dropped off at our office by calling in advance.

For further information, please email us at contest@emptycupmedia.ca, or phone 905.259.6060

Happy shooting!

Latest wedding video demo

This video raises the bar of wedding videography on the east side of Toronto. We don’t just document  your wedding day (that’s expected), we create works of art.

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I loathe Adobe

When I started my business, I made a pledged to myself to be honourable about all of my software. And it started with the legal purchase of an Adobe suite. Four programs for more than a thousand dollars. Ya, it hurt, but I felt good about buying and registering software legally.

Fast forward 3 years. I legally upgraded my Premiere pro 1.5 to CS4 (the latest model) for another hefty fee. I’m still feeling good about my purchases. I got a few tiny perks that came with a serial # that I “owned”.

But then the $h!t hit the fan aallllll at once. After (also legally) purchasing some 3rd party plug-ins for my Premiere Pro and registering them, I get a message that says “YOU CAN ONLY HAVE YOUR PROGRAM ON TWO COMPUTERS” and a 30 day countdown until the demise of the software on my brand new HD edit suite.

I was livid.

What the hell are they doing telling me I can only have software I purchased on two computers? Didn’t I buy it??? You don’t buy crackers and then are told you can only eat them outdoors… Being the organized self that I am, I called the company thinking I would receive the “Oh so sorry Mr. Burwell, one more computer isn’t a problem at all”.

No.
Instead I sat on hold for close to an hour of my time over 3-4 phone calls. Not a single person even hinted at the idea of allowing me one more machine. No manager, sales manager, or anyone in the call centre.
Sony Vegas Platinum (software I used to use) offered me FIVE more computer uses once I reached the initial FIVE computer limitation. When I told this to Adobe, they said nothing.

So for being a loyal and legal customer for 4 years and with a software upgrade, they kicked me to the ground and told me to buy a brand….freaking….new….serial key. To the tune of just under $900, I now have another pink piece of paper in my office thumb tacked to the board with a 25 digit serial key written on it.

AAAaaahhH!!!! I’m so freaking angry!!!!!!!!!!!

So “eat me” Adobe. I totally understand why people pirate software. Because software companies limit those who buy the program. If you steal software, they can’t take it away from you or tell you how many computers you can have it on. The company doesn’t look out for their loyal customers, they put huge limitations on what you buy and then force feed you another serial key.

So my advice to anyone interested in NLE (non-linear edit) programs, go with Sony Vegas. They are much more flexible on allowing you to use what you actually purchased.

One more time: “Eat me” Adobe. You’ve lost my loyalty and my business.

I’m an awesome steadycam shooter

I recently picked up a steadycam rig and I am so stoked that I have it! For those who don’t know what one is, a steadycam is a stabilizing device for video cameras. I can walk, jog, run, go up stairs and ride in cars without any camera shake. The rig costs more than 2K but it is worth it.

I have been bringing it out to weddings with me for the past few shoots and let me tell you, the calibre of material I am coming back with is staggering. Empty Cup is evolving the “Seasons of our relationship” shoot to something a bit more cutting-edge. More steadycam based. I am currently cutting a test video to spread around, letting the public know that I am a great shooter/editor with steadycam material…

I got some brilliant advice from one of my photographer friends who told me “in order to stay competitive, you have to look at what the top dogs are doing”. So I did. And the big cheese companies are using steadycams. Now that I have one and I can weild it with smooth hands, I am aiming to raise the Empty Cup material to a higher class. 

Over the next 6 months, we are going to evolve past the “frugal” wedding vendor status which was assigned to us by our prices and East of Toronto office. In my opinion, the calibre of our material rivals the companies that charge twice what we do. It’s time our work reflects our value.

Video camp: 2010

Carla and I have mentally committed ourselves to starting our own video camp! It will run in July and August 2010 over four separate 5-day sessions. We have set flexible dates of:

July 5 – 9
July 19 – 23
August 9 – 13
August 23 – 27

Classes will run 9:00am – 3:00pm Monday to Friday. We haven’t committed to an age range yet, but for now it looks like programs will be broken down into two age groups: 10-13 and 14-17. Both age groups will run twice throughout the summer. 

We feel that Durham needs a summer camp like this. Cameras should be in the hands of all ages, and through traditional education, youth may not get to hone their skills with a video camera unless it is present in the home. Our camp will help students build confidence in their movie making ability, and allow them to channel their creativity through a productive and expressive medium. They will learn about visual story telling, script writing, cinematography, editing techniques and the many different genres of film. College and University programs ask students applying for video programs what kind of field work they have done – and we would love to be a stepping stone to their future in video! 

Some of the logistics still need to be worked out (like classroom location, ties to the Durham Board of Education, what publications we want our ads in, insurance, updating our website to incorporate program info…but those details will follow soon!

So keep your ears to the ground and help us spread the word! We would love you to participate!

Wish us luck!

Finally – a LAN line!

Since I have been self employed, my cell phone has been my business number. But a few days ago I had a LAN line installed at the office and things are SO much better. My strategy is to keep my business number a cell phone number and to have it always forwarded to the new LAN line. I’ll figure out what I will do with a personal cell phone sometime soon I hope. hehe
Since I am sharing office space with another company, that made it kind of tricky with the phones. A ring could be for either company. Now with this dedicated line, there won’t be any more confusion! I feel positive about this move.
To boot, if I want to take a day off (or two) I can leave my phone forwarded to the office and my new digital secretary will take my calls for me
I love it!