“Cancer is a four-letter word” – Tony Mills
As you know – 2017 kicked off with the 2nd commercial ENTIRELY filmed and #ShotOniPhone for my client: TEK Products in Minneapolis (LINK).
AND NOW… I HAVE SOMETHING MORE AWESOME FOR YOU FOR 2017!!
As of this installment – nine (yes, as in “9”) days ago on 20, January 2017 at 9:50 p.m., my brother Tony texted me and asked me to film a video for him explaining why he was in The Polar Run this year. My immediate response was: “Sounds awesome to me!” and then he asked me how soon – which I responded: “What about tomorrow?”!
Zero planning, zero storyboarding, zero everything. BUT! What we had was: “Heart. Miles and miles of heart.” to quote Gene Hackman in the epic movie: “The Replacements” with the uber awesome Keanu Reeves.
Tony, myself and our brother Jason lost our parents to cancer and Tony’s quote of “Cancer is a four-letter word” sums up EXACTLY how we feel about it. Especially since there IS a cure and it’s being kept from us. Tony shared in his video how we all know someone who’s life was cut short by cancer or we know of someone through 6 degrees of separation.
In our case – we were all DIRECTLY affected by it and there isn’t a day that goes by where the three of us think about our parents. I even did a West Coast Wednesday Video Of The Week in honour of our mum (LINK).
I’m not going to go on & on about this because I can barely type with my eyes having been burning for the past 9 days from crying, my migraines have been in full effect, and let’s say that in my mind – the sustaining words: “FCUK CANCER” are as loud as God’s voice to Moses as I’ve been working on this project.
What can YOU do to directly help? For the price of one Starbucks coffee – you can donate as LITTLE as $5.00 or as much as you want. Here are the links to #BeSomebody and make a positive difference in this world:
- DONATE DIRECTLY
- CONNECT ON FACEBOOK
- CONNECT ON TWITTER
ALL the monies are going to Minnesota Masonic Charities, which will be DOUBLING the money and sending it to the Masonic Cancer Center at the University of Minnesota. This is VERY important to me as I am a Freemason myself – in a long line of others in my family tree.
ALSO! It is with great honour to give a shout out to MOBY allowing me the opportunity to license and feature his totally MEGA song: “The Day” in Tony’s video. You have been a HUGE inspiration to me for many decades and I continue to be in awe and inpsired with your craft and what you do to be a positive light in our world.
How did I do this? By Employing The BEST Gear In The Industry!
- As always – the Beastgrip Pro for my iPhone 7 Plus is the ONLY way to house my “camera”,
- Then there’s my JOBY GorillaPod Focus with Ballhead X for the b-roll I was filming,
- The killer Ampridge – MMW MightyMic W Bluetooth iPhone microphone that you’ll never see hidden on Tony’s sweater in the video totally rocked, and
- Mounted on my Beastgrip Pro with my flawless wide angle lens from Canon, I used the CN-160 Dimmable Ultra High Power Panel LED Light by Neewer.
Combine all that with a suite of software by Adobe Creative Cloud and a few other “cups of sugar” I learned from my mum to keep to myself – I had ALL the best in the biz for Tony’s video.
Before you scroll down to check out the video ENTIRELY filmed and #ShotOniPhone and would like to chat with me about photographing your story, event or message, feel free to contact me anytime.
I’m on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Google+, the form on my contact page, the old fashioned phone at 888.ESQ.PHTO (888.377.7486) or direct 562.225.5915.
PS, Be sure to ramp up the quality of the video to 1080 HD so you can enjoy Tony’s message properly!
And remember…
Sharing is Sexy like a chocolate covered strawberry!
Be sure to share this awesome film on Pinterest, Facebook or Twitter
To help other brands, designers and companies see how amazing their video can be
when they don’t settle for any filmmaker & photographer, but the RIGHT photographer & filmmaker!