Category: Documentary


OU – THE ORTHODOX UNION. SHMUEL’S A STEADICAM OPERATOR

Filed under: Animation & Graphics, Documentary, Image Films, Non-Profit, Portfolio, Production by Margelit Hoffman — 27 Comments
March 29, 2011
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This OU video was a lot of fun to make.  It is Shmuel’s debut as a steadicam operator.  I was so impressed with how quickly he picked up what is known to be quite a difficult and physically challenging task.  He’s worked with a glider before (see the great pool-diving shot in this video), but a steadicam takes a lot of skill.  I think he nailed it.

I say this video was a lot of fun to make, but I’m not the one who made it, of course.  For me the fun part was hanging out with NCSY at their winter retreat in Connecticut, then spending New Year’s in Teaneck… see if you can catch cameos of me and the kids in this one.  :-)

 

 

The OU is such an awesome organization, and I wouldn’t have known how amazing it is if Shmuel hadn’t made this video.  I feel like I’m part of something phenomenal when I buy anything with an OU hechsher.  See for yourself in the video above.

How do you like the iPad theme?  Leave your thoughts in the comments below.  :-)




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NYC’s Professionals go to the Aish Center

Filed under: Documentary, Non-Profit, Our Favorites, Our Favorites, Portfolio, Production by Margelit Hoffman — 5 Comments
June 2, 2010
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This video holds a special place in my heart. As I wrote in my post for last year’s Aish Center NY video, the Aish Center in NY played a big role in my becoming religious and moving to Israel. It’s always exciting for me to hear of the amazing people who have changed their lives for the better thanks to Aish, and the awesome things they are doing with the newfound sense of purpose that some of the classes give them. Aren’t these class titles so compelling?

-RQ: Relationship Quotient
-JSAP: the Jewish Social Action Project
-Inner Paradise Workshop

Just to name a few.

I actually wrote a script for this video before we began production. As my father always says, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” But of course, the reality of filming a documentary promotional video is that you cannot script it. One thing I admire about Shmuel is that he’s not sentimental about anything in the process, so if the script isn’t working, he tosses it, or if a great shot just doesn’t fit the edit, he cuts it. He has perfected the art of trimming the fat.

And I absolutely love the time-lapse shots. They really capture the feeling of New York and its daily cycles. When I see that train shot and the chugging music comes in, I’m reminded of when I first moved to NY, and I went to a party. I was worried about leaving on time to catch the last train. “You’re not in Boston anymore, honey,” said a friend of mine. “This city never sleeps, and neither does the subway.”

I mentioned to Shmuel when I saw the footage that he should film a cooking show–don’t the cooking scenes just make you hungry?

See if you can catch Shmuel’s cameo appearance in this one.




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MEA SHEARIM – THE TRAILER FOR A FILM THAT DOESN’T EXIST

Filed under: Documentary, Our Favorites, Our Favorites, Portfolio by Shmuel Hoffman — 2 Comments
April 16, 2010
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Mea Shearim – A Vanished World Resurected

I filmed 3 years ago in Mea Shearim, in the most religious neighborhood in Jerusalem for nearly 6 months for my own project. I have been always fascinated by this neighborhood not only because the people over there preserve a lifestyle that is hundreds of years old but also because of its controversy that it generates in Israeli society in particular and in the worldwide media in general. I was always curious who are these people over there behind their ‘black & white’ lifestyle.

One thing that was very surprising to me is when I heard how many filmmakers and TV crews tried actually to film in this neighborhood and were thrown out and sometimes severely hurt by the people because the people in Mea Shearim don’t like film crews to come into their neighborhood.
I don’t know why, but I was very well accepted overthere with my little Panasonic DVX 102 camera. They kind of saw me as their own and therefore I had a tremendous access into that world. I followed along with a Rabbi who showed me around in the neighborhood and gave me deep access to dozens of people and families. The plan was to make a full feature documentary. I funded this project so far on my own but unfortunately I was not able to continue with this project because of lack of funds. I approached several producers and people in the industry but I guess its something challenging to excite other producers about this topic.
Its a shame because its a very rare and unique situation that I have this access and trust of these people to get close to them and to be able to film them.





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SAVING ISRAEL. THE ONE ISRAEL FUND

Filed under: Documentary, Non-Profit, Our Favorites, Our Favorites, Portfolio by Shmuel Hoffman — 1 Comment
April 3, 2010
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One Israel Fund Video Promo


Gidon Orman from Big Productions NY, one of the most successful video production companies in the US for Jewish videos came half a year ago to me and asked me if I would be interested in working with him on a couple projects together. Of course I was interested and one project was a video for the fundraising dinner of the One Israel Fund.
We toured for three days throughout the country and interviewed different people and how The One Israel Fund effected their lives. It was amazing to see and experience how many people are actually devoting their time, their efforts and lives to live in the periphery so that we can have a homeland: Eretz Israel. The One Israel Fund is helping out with security equipment like cameras, night vision glasses, financial aid for security and first-response equipment to just mention a few of the manyfold things The One Israel Fund is doing.

For this particular project I worked as a DP and I used my Canon 7D. The post production was done by Big Productions in NY. The final cut includes the majority of what we have filmed together in these three days but Gidon also used shots from previous footage and news material.
I love working with Gidon. Its always fun and we really inspire each other with ideas and methods, we meet new people and have a lot of fun together.
I think this experience was also the kick-off for a longer working relationship to produce and create more videos together.
When we’ll move to NY we will work on a couple of other projects and I’m really looking forward.

Shmuel




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New York, New York.

Filed under: Documentary, Our Favorites, Our Favorites, Personal, Portfolio by Shmuel Hoffman — 8 Comments
March 16, 2010
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It has been a while since I wrote here. Many things in my life changed since then. We got together with the major film and video people here in Jerusalem and we had an amazing meet up. David Komer created a little google group where we share our movies, critique them, inspire and helpeach other. Thats so much fun. Thats how I see how ‘competitors’ are suppose to work.

My wife and I came to a very hard decision to make last week. You know how much I love New York.


New York’s People


We were debating for quite a while to move to another country and to further my career. One of them that always poped up for discussion was NY. Last week me made the announcement that we’ll move to my beloved city. You might ask, why do you want to leave Israel? And I think the only answer that justifies a move is ‘parnassa’.
I got two offers that I was not able to refuse. I also looked over our clients list and many of our beloved clients are actually either in the US or in NY. So, I put one and one together and decided to be where the majority of them are.
We had such a wonderful time here and I was able to learn this new craft of video production here in Israel and I’m very thankful to each and every client to be patient with me because in the end you guys were my teachers. I started my career here in Israel, educated myself in the field of video production and on top of it I also could support my family. So a big big thank you to all of you and I’m sorry when I sometimes did drive you nuts because I was still figuring out how to built and maintain a business.
The good thing is that a career move like this doesn’t have the same implications anymore like, lets say 10 years ago. Through the internet we are all well connected and I want to continue to serve my clients here in Israel.

Yours Shmuel




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