Shooting High Definition Stock Footage in Italy

Written by Kathi Jacobs


Italy is without questionrepparttar place to shoot high definition video. Nearly everything in this sun-drenched part ofrepparttar 149668 world cries out for a

photo or video capture. My feelings aboutrepparttar 149669 country have never wavered from this opinion.

Having said that, I must also admit that Italy - particularly in metropolitan areas - is a problematic country for videographers. Rome,

among other Italian cities, has some ofrepparttar 149670 toughest regulations and laws limiting commercial photography.

My husband, Wayne, and I formed our company - VITA Digital Productions - 5 years ago to shoot European video footage - both for

our own specialty-market treadmill virtual walks ( www.treadmillwalks.com ) and to sell as stock footage to TV networks aroundrepparttar 149671

world ( www.hdeuropeanstockfootage.com ). We maderepparttar 149672 decision last year to switch over to HD (High Definition) footage after

getting our first request for HD footage.

Our biggest concerns, in planning our recent three-week shoot in May 2005, were 1.repparttar 149673 safe transport of our video equipment (all in

carry-on bags, for obvious reasons!), 2.repparttar 149674 ability to shoot in and around tourist-laden locations, and 3. finding ways to get video

footage in spite ofrepparttar 149675 stringent regulations enforced in Rome.

Wayne and I have done this several times overrepparttar 149676 past five years - researching a picture-worthy destination in Europe, making our

own travel plans, and packing up like two serendipitous vagabonds to go forth and shoot (you’d just have to know me to appreciate

how foreign this is - no pun intended - to my accustomed, orderly way of life). When I look back torepparttar 149677 first part of 2001 (pre 9-11) and

our two trips to Italy in spring and summer of that year, I realize now how easy it was to get through customs with unusual looking video

equipment.

Whenrepparttar 149678 two of us travel on a video shoot, we have slowly learned to takerepparttar 149679 bare minimum of clothing so that we can

accommodaterepparttar 149680 camera, tripods, SteadiCam apparatus, batteries, filters, wide-angle lens, fluid heads, and tape in addition to

spare parts for repairs.

This trip, anticipating problems with airport security, we took pictures of Wayne wearingrepparttar 149681 SteadiCam vest and showingrepparttar 149682 camera

mounted onrepparttar 149683 articulated arm. We then tuckedrepparttar 149684 pictures insiderepparttar 149685 luggage for quick and easy retrieval. Whenrepparttar 149686 security

agents x-rayed our bags, they never failed to have us open our luggage and inspectrepparttar 149687 equipment contained. It expeditedrepparttar 149688

process when we were able to produce pictures showing how every piece of equipment fit together. Wayne also mailed a small and

inexpensive packet of tools (a screwdriver, a pair of pliers and an Allen wrench) to each of our two hotels so that we would not have

those little forbidden items confiscated inrepparttar 149689 airports. And for some reason, an Allen wrench is an absolute no-no with security

agents! I suppose that all ofrepparttar 149690 items could have been purchased in Italy, but time is money on a shoot and we didn’t want to waste

time searching for a source in a strange city.

Safely arriving with all of our equipment in Italy, we were ready to begin shooting. We had an itinerary and a shooting agenda for

each day, but we knew we would have to build in some flexibility to allow for bothrepparttar 149691 weather andrepparttar 149692 unexpected. We have been

Rail Breaks – Why many people are turning their backs on flying.

Written by Robin Richmond


According to statistics supplied by Great Rail Journeys (GRJ) – one ofrepparttar UK’s premier holiday companies that specialise in rail - an amazing 40,000 Britons are taking package rail holidays every year. These figures would have been hard to believe some five to ten years ago whenrepparttar 149597 phrase “British Rail” was synonymous with poor service and unreliable transport. However, as we will learn taking a holiday via train has become increasing popular amongst persons who prefer a more comfortable and yet adventurous way of travelling.

Traditional railway holidays were very muchrepparttar 149598 norm in 50’s Britain. Be it short breaks to cities such as London, York or Edinburgh or exciting trips across continental Europe many Briton’s grew up withrepparttar 149599 rail package holiday. It is perhaps as a result of this thatrepparttar 149600 back bone ofrepparttar 149601 rail holiday industry inrepparttar 149602 UK is couples in their sixties and seventies relivingrepparttar 149603 vacations of their youth. Be it rushing to make tight connecting flights, crowed airports or a simple fear of flying – many travellers today simply don’t want to get from a to b on an airplane. The very fact you have allocated more time out of your schedule to travel by rail ensuresrepparttar 149604 whole experience can be a great deal calmer – which is one ofrepparttar 149605 key reasons why it is popular withrepparttar 149606 elderly market

However, this trend is certainly changing slowly – with more younger travellers choosing rail over flying. One popular type of rail holiday is EuRail trips across Europe. Often associated with backpackers,repparttar 149607 Eurailpass is one ofrepparttar 149608 most convenient ways to see Europe asrepparttar 149609 ticket offers unlimited train travel throughout 18 countries on their network – includingrepparttar 149610 whole of Scandinavia. With frequent departures on busy routes, it is oftenrepparttar 149611 case thatrepparttar 149612 train is a faster option than flying when you considerrepparttar 149613 commuting time it takes to reach most European airports onrepparttar 149614 edge of busy cities. This is especiallyrepparttar 149615 case when using fast train services such asrepparttar 149616 German ICE, French TGV or indeedrepparttar 149617 Eurostar which connects France with London.

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