Symmetric Media Video Production

I was browsing Amazon this morning and looked up a DVD I produced a few years ago with watercolor artist and instructor Julie Cohn. The Dance of Watercolor: Beginners and Beyond is Julie's unique watercolor method captured on video. In this step-by-step instructional video, Julie teaches the principles for working with watercolor on dry and wet paper.

I noticed that the DVD has high customer reviews. This is great because I read the reviews on Amazon often before buying certain products, and I know many others who do the same. Amazon has a great community that writes high quality, honest reviews.

Here are some reviews of The Dance of Watercolor:

I had no art experience. I am having a blast with Julie's easy to follow instuctions. On the other hand my wife has taken several art classes. She is much more advanced,and has found Julie's instructions to be extremely beneficial. One of the major benefits is that you can keep going back to a concept that would be hard to do in a typical class setting.
Thank you Julie!!

Let me start by saying I'm a beginner at watercolor painting. I've taken some lessons, and read many books, but I got to a point where there was something missing. What makes this DVD special, is the method of combining the degree of wetness of the paint with the degree of wetness of the paper. It sounds simple, but when you get it right, the paint really does dance. Once I realized what Ms. Cohn was saying, it totally changed the results I was getting. There is some stuff on color mixing and other odds and ends that are covered again and again elsewhere, but she had to put it in for completeness. This DVD was well worth the cost. I don't like the style of painting in the DVD, but the technique was great.

Julie and I have begun work on the next DVD which will be out before the holiday season. I shot this project with the SONY XDCAM EX. It has simplified my workflow and has allowed us to be more flexible during production. I can review clips instantly on my laptop, not having to wait for tapes to load! And the image quality is absolutely stunning.

I've made the jump to using the XDCAM EX as my primary camera. No regrets so far.

Occasionally I do videography for private events. I built my business shooting weddings and family events in the San Francisco Bay Area beginning in 2000. These days I only do them for previous clients because I have shifted my focus to corporate clients and local businesses.

In May I shot a Bar Mitzvah in Marin for a client who hired me back in 2004 to shoot her older son's Bar Mitzvah. It was a large event with many people in the radio and television industry (she is a professional voice for hire). Here is what she had to say about the photo slideshow I created for the event:

I loved the video and we DID get many compliments. Obviously, I'm partial, but I've seen a lot of Bar Mitzvah videos and they are typically too long and feature too many songs, which makes it choppy. I loved ours and we had a number of people in the crowd with video, musical and production backgrounds...all very critical people and they raved about it. It was great.

May 21st has been declared Dennis Richmond Day by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco and San Jose. And tonight Dennis will sign off for the last time after 40 years with Oakland based KTVU Channel 2.

Dennis has been a favorite of mine. His straight-talk way of reporting is genuine and many people around the Bay Area love him for that. With Dennis, there is no BS, just the facts. His delivery is calm and calculated, yet his presence emanates intense energy. There were some stories - the truly heartbreaking and devastating stories - where I thought Dennis was going to explode right there on my tv set. Now that's extraordinary news reporting.

Dennis began at KTVU as a clerk typist in 1968. He soon moved on to reporting and became anchorman for KTVU's 10 O'Clock News. He announced his retirement earlier this year.

Six months before he was to retire, Dennis' doctor discovered he had prostate cancer. Luckily for Dennis the cancer was found early and he was able remove it with surgery. Since then Dennis has gone public about his brush with cancer. His message is simple: routine PSA blood tests can save your life.

I'm going to miss Dennis. The 10 O'Clock News won't be the same without him.

A look back at Dennis Richmond's career reporting at KTVU:

Dennis shocks the world with his retirement announcement:

About his recent health issue:

Three cities declare Dennis Richmond Day:

We're having a blast with our new addition to the studio. The Sony PMW-EX1 XDCAM is a full High Definition camera capable of recording video at multiple frame rates. It uses SxS ExpressCard memory instead of tape, which gives us the ability to pop the memory card into a laptop and view the footage right there on location. This feature alone has already saved us time during production.

The image quality is stunning. I'll have samples up soon. Drop us a line if you're looking for a local cameraman with a Sony EX1 in Oakland, San Francisco, or the Bay Area.

Conference and event videography is our specialty, and that's why Prosper.com (the people-to-people lending marketplace) hired us again this year to cover their annual conference in San Francisco. Videos from Prosper Days 2008 have been posted to Google Video and YouTube. Hi-Resolution Flash videos are also available.

Need video coverage for your big event? Drop us a line. We'll create a custom package based on your needs.