Blazing Saddles

Go To Team's Raleigh, NC crew Jimmy Hall and Ian McCullen hit the road for FOX News to cover a story about Mini Guide Horses.
The heart of the story centered around Dan Shaw, the first recipient of Cuddles, a Mini Guide Horse, in Kittrell, North Carolina.
The crew spent the day on the farm where Cuddles was trained. They also followed them to their favorite BBQ joint to capture Cuddles' unique way to assist Dan in public.
The crew learned some interesting facts about Mini Guide Horses while on the shoot; for instance, Mini Horses live nearly 30 years longer than K-9's, who are typically trained for this type of assistance, they're less expensive to take care of, and Mini Guide Horses also live in homes.. and wear sneakers!
Check out this site to learn more about Dan, Cuddles, and Mini Guide Horses.

www.guidehorse.org

Person Jimmy Hall

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Go To Team Plays With Red Demolition #18

Fox Sports tested the Red Camera in Talladega this past NASCAR weekend and Go To Team DPs Skip Clark & Tom Wells were on hand to demo the prototype Demolition #18. The Red Camera is a huge leap in High Definition and offers a lot of creativity to both the DP and the editor. While at the track Skip and Tom tried out a number of configurations; they used an 8mm prime lens for footage on the grid, a Canon 4.7 wide angle and a 21X long lens for ENG, and an Angenieux 25 to 250 cine-zoom long lens for some high speed trackside footage. While the camera is designed with a PL mount, Tom rented a PL-B4 adapter from Abel-Cinetech so they could mount their ENG lenses to the camera. And as with all things prototype, there are still some bugs to work out. With no viewfinder available, Tom & Skip had to use the Red monitor for shooting; this made an already large rig that much more cumbersome. But the weekend was still a success, great footage from trackside and a great Victory Lane celebration from Kyle Busch. Gatorade always looks good in slo-mo...

Breaking Cameras

Go To Team's Skip Clark and Rene Cusson were in Dallas-Forth Worth, Texas, for the NASCAR race. And while they were they there, they broke some cameras. But it was all planned out. Fox Sports talent Jeff Hammond and NASCAR driver Clint Bowyer were at the Fort Worth stockyards to drive Chevrolet's monster truck, the Bounty Hunter. If there's a monster truck, stuff has to get broken. Skip, Rene, and Jimmy Lucas set up several cameras for the shoot; two Toshiba IK-TU51 Ice-Cube cameras for in the cab and under the nose, and a whole bunch of Panasonic PC823 board cameras to run over. The Toshibas have always been a great camera for in-car shots, but when building them into a monster truck, extra care had to be taken to secure them. The board cameras were easy; the crew used a little gaffer's tape and then ran a long cable out to the deck. The rest was up to the truck and the drivers! Check out a short video on You Tube...

Raleigh Crews hangs with an All Star

Go To Team's Raleigh North Carolina cameraman Jimmy Hall traveled down to Summerville SC last week for a shoot with America's Most Wanted All-Star finalist Randy Botten. Click on this link to AMW's site to see the story:

http://www.amw.com/allstar/2008/nominee_detail.cfm?id=5048

GTT throws down with HDNet Mixed Martial Arts

Charleston based DP Tom Wells and Nick Modisett traveled up to Fayetteville, NC this Saturday to cover a Mixed Martial Arts competition for HDNet's 'Inside MMA'. The event was produced by Spartan Entertainment Group and the crew followed the competition from beginning to end both inside and outside the cage and covered each battle as it unfolded in front of the crowd at The Crown Arena. Again the crew used their Sony CineAlta F900 which conforms to HDNet's technical specs of 1080i @ 60fps. You can see the fight action on HDNet's 'Inside MMA' throughout the week.

Forensic Files Adopts F900, Wells Crew Follows

Forensic Files recently upgraded its productions from Standard Definition to High Definition. It's camera of choice? The Sony CineAlta F900. This shift is yet another sign of the changing times, as more networks begin gearing up for full HD broadcast in the coming months. Charleston based Director of Photography Tom Wells was happy to hear of the show's decision. What DP in their right mind wouldn't be excited to put down their BetaSP camera and instead pick up their CineAlta HDCAM 1080P package for one of their clients? Go To Team's Crew spent several days shooting interviews, reenactments, and of course Forensic Detectives at work in the lab while utilizing their F900 along with Jib, Dolly and a TON of gel packs (the show is known for it's heavy use of color and dramatic lighting). You can catch Forensic Files daily on TruTV, formerly CourtTV.

Go To Team Annual Shareholders Meeting

The big wigs at Go To Team got together for the Annual Shareholders Meeting and headed off to a plush five star spa and resort... well, not exactly. We headed to Pisgah National Forest, near Asheville, NC, and hiked in 2 miles to a pretty cool waterfall. Of course, the Shareholders consist of Skip Clark and Patrick Bryant, but we're growing so next year the "retreat" might get even bigger.

We used the trip and the time to discuss the future of Go To Team. We especially discussed our terrific clients, and the Go To Team staff members that we have to do everything to keep! These guys (and girl) are the life blood of the Go To Team attitude... "Do Whatever is Takes". They work hard on every shoot to provide the best quality footage. If you know or work with one of our DPs you know what I'm talking about. They are truly committed to Making Cool TV.

We also, had some real fun. Pictured here is the beverages from cocktail hour (Two frosted 7 and Gingers straight from the stream). We hiked from the head of Club Gap Trail along Avery Creek to the Waterfall and set-up the campsite within view of the waterfall. Skip invited along his red headed girl friend (sorry ladies he's spoken for), Maggie.