Gray Jones

Finally updated our driving plate website! Now has updated info on our new compact easy-stitch VR rig and virtual driving plates using Unreal Engine: drivingfootage.com

And how we shot hummingbirds against a black background 10 years ago today! Some of our shots were used in a TV series.

How we shot a hummingbird against a white background on our balcony!

@agraphafx Pretty simple - food dehydrator set between 130-140F depending on the type of tape.

@GrayJones How do you bake the plastic?

Never thought I’d see the day when Video8 and Hi8 tapes would have to be baked (dehydrated), but that day has come! Though being well stored in a vault, this entire batch must be baked before we can transfer it. Shows how much degrading is happening in 30+ year old tapes!

You’d be amazed what filmmakers try with varying degrees of success before they come to us for proper driving plates. And then they learn we give massive discounts to low budget filmmakers! instagram.com/reel/DYuGHQBsT…

Human memory is not only fallible, it can be barely reliable at all! EVERY time we access a memory, our brain re-writes it, like re-saving a file on disk. This opens the door to small changes that color and eventually completely change our perception and memory of past events.

On shoots there’s always a pressure of crunched load, setup and takedown time. Got this nifty attachment that will cut stands and sandbags way down for a bright soft light we need to have on my current shoots! Only 1 stand instead of 3.

Our family started something we called “Easter eggs” back in 2018 - expecting good news from the beginning of each day and sharing with each other when we find it. Turns out we hit on a brain hack without knowing it! instagram.com/reel/DYpHXEBy1…

Me at 21, playing at Toronto’s Breakfast Television in 1992. We got home from a gig at 2:30am and had to be at CityTV at 5:00am! But still a way cool experience.

Mold cleaning videotapes! 40 tapes could cost you $1,000 to transfer without mold, or $5,000 with mold. Especially if you live in a humid climate, check your tapes for even the smallest white spots! If you see any, quarantine them because it spreads from tape to tape.

Just realized I may not get a single day off including weekends until October! Booked to edit two back to back documentaries, and still have 15 shoot days & 30 edit days on a different project. Gotta strike while the iron’s hot in this work climate!

Latest driving plate sale on Pond5 - New Orleans! pond5.com/stock-footage/…

1 of the best parts of shooting stock footage is you can do it from home! And also gets you out of the house and into nature. My wife shot this clip of a hummingbird from our balcony 10 years ago today. It’s so close you can see its little tongue moving!

1 year ago, I hit massive resistance from the industry re: independently funded TV series. Today? Everyone I talk to sees this as the future, big studios are coming on board, & indie series are going into production. Now we just need to get them on board with shared equity!

Friend of mine ran into an old associate today who has gotten into videotape transfers. My friend asked if he knew me, and he said no — but he had bought and read my book! It's a fairly small niche, and my book is one of the only modern resources: captureifyoucan.com

3 years ago today I received the proofs for my 2nd book! It tells all about how to build a passive income shooting stock footage using only your smartphone (or any other camera). sellstockebook.com

8 years ago today I finished editing my 250th TV episode! Since then I edited 75 more, for a total of 325. I also produced, hosted and edited about 240 video podcast episodes, with almost 300 interviews.

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms! Cherish yours while you can. Mine left the world 26 years ago, but her memory is treasured daily. Miss you, Mom!

BEWARE of misleading graphs! Looking at the below, you would think the blue line was WAY lower than the red. It’s roughly 4% lower. You always have to look at the context, what is being compared, and whether you are seeing the full range of the graph.

Just my trusty Sony SRW-5800 capturing an HDCAM SR tape for AFI! Lifted too much heavy equipment today so set it up on my dining room table rather than in my loft office. We store lesser-used decks offsite in air conditioned storage.