Latest blog posts by AlexeyLevchenko

Downtown Live Jazz and Hip Hop Concert, Friday February 8th and online video production from Alexey Levchenko

01 02 2013 14:21:04 +0000

Happy Friday to everyone!

There is a large event coming up February 8^th, in downtown lower east Manhattan!

FKBAND, the new Russian-American band formed by singer and rapper FK (Fred Kurzh), who is also the lead singer in the group full of talented artists are having the first jazz-hip hop concert in downtown lower east Manhattan, in the Drom Club

Other members include Sergey Gurbeloshvili, who has a role of playing the saxophone and flute in the band, Nick Lazarev on the bass, Lionel Cordew on drums and Dario Boente on piano/keyboards. The style produced by the FKBAND uses combinations of hip hop with jazz, with multiple elements taken from funk and R&B. There will be a Special guest singer-songwriter! Jerrra Blues, inspired by music blends from Erykah Badu and Alicia Keys, takes prompts from both these artists and creates her own style mixed of funk and blues.

I hope, I will see you February 8th on the first jazz-hip hop concert in downtown lower east Manhattan, in the Drom Club!!!

On this week, I was working on Malika Jalali(ملکه جلالی) High School construction and opening videos.

Malake Jalali is located on Godam Street in front of the big Masque of Herat, Afghanistan.

It has 3270 Students, 101 teachers and 2 buildings.

Also, on this week we got Magnavox DVD & VCR Recorder:

This unit features 2-way dubbing, you can record your VHS tapes to DVD, or your DVDs to VHS tapes. So, if you have any of those old VHS tapes with your "Home" video, feel free to give it to me and I will help you to transfer them on DVD.

If you looking to buy simular device, I suggest you to buy Magnavox ZV427MG9, it works really good and One-Touch VHS Recording makes it easy to record your favorite videos by just hitting one button.

Alexey Levchenko

How to be a filmmaker for a week in New York City - Alexey Levchenko

25 01 2013 09:42:14 +0000

Happy Friday to everyone!

At the beginning of this week, I was working on GMRF's(Global Medical Relief Fund) videos:

"I'll stand by You" by Elissa Montanti, the Founder of Global Medical Relief Fund, Women's Role Model and Inspiration

It's very important to watch that episode to understand the importance of Elissa Montanti's work. It's important to read her book, “I'll stand by You” and take a step further into Elissa's reality and see the children she helps every day.

Injured Afghanistan Children, Marzia, 6 - Afghanistan, Prosthetic eye surgery - Global Medical Relief Fund

The Global Medical Relief Fund welcomed Marzia, a six year old girl who lost her eye during fierce fighting in the northern mountains of Afghanistan.
She is seen here being examined by plastic surgeon, Dr. Kaveh Alizedeh from Mission Restore as well as Dr. Annette Kirszrot from Ocular Prosthetics. Marzia will soon receive surgery on her nasal passages to open up her airway and help with her breathing. Dr. Kirszrot fitted Marzia with a temporary eye prosthetic to widen the eye socket while her custom eye prosthetic is crafted.

Injured and Amputee Children of Syria - Abed, 11 - Global Medical Relief Fund

Abed, 11 years old, from Syria, he lost his leg, and wants to be a Mechanical Engineer in the future.

Injured Children of Iraq, Ahmed, 15 - "Music is my life." - Global Medical Relief Fund

Ahmed was injured in the Iraq war is blind and has only one hand and Ngawang (with the hat) is from Tibet, was electrocuted, has no arms.

Corporate Philanthropy, Fereshteh Forough Interviews Elissa Montanti, the Founder of Global Medical Relief Fund

Fereshteh Forough, Film Annex's liaison to Central and South Asia, the Film Annex film crew visited the Global Medical Relief Fund's new home in Staten Island. The founder, Ms. Elissa Montanti, introduced us to 4 fantastic children from Afghanistan, Syria, Nepal and Iraq.

Also, we filmed 8 interviews for Cupcake Digital earlier today,

and some interviews for womensannex.com with Fereshteh, Francesco and Eren.

You will see those videos on the next week!

Alexey Levchenko

Home video shoot productions.

11 01 2013 19:20:21 +0000

Holidays!

Everyone likes holidays, that truth of life. You are waiting them so long and then bum! holidays are over and you have to go back to work, but in your mind you are still eating turkey, cakes, getting and giving gifts. So what to do, what is the best way to save time, to keep thous memories?
Right! You can to do some pictures! Great idea, but really great idea is to film it!
You can say that it's to expensive and way to complicated? No! It's use to be really difficult to film something, even just a home party, but not any more, not now.
So, what do you need for it?
You need a camera of-course, any camera will be good, even your cell phone. If you got an iPhone or new Android phone, I have good news for you, you can film a nice HD video on it plus you can edit it and add some effects on it as well. But obviously real video camera is better. I will write for you short check list for faster preparation and understanding what do you need.

1) Video camera, photo camera, smartphone.

2) Extra battery, power cord, charger.

3) Extra flash card, HDD, DVD.

4)Tripod, monopod, handheld.
Use a tripod! By mounting your camcorder on a $20 tripod, you’ll get rock-steady footage. At the same time, you’ll free yourself to perform pans and zooms, or even to get in front of the camera.

5) External light, camera light, flashlight.
The best way to avoid lighting issues is to shoot outdoors, where even a cloudy day produces enough ambient light to keep your video crisp and colorful. If it’s sunny, try to shoot in the morning or late afternoon when the sun is lower in the sky. When shooting outdoors isn’t an option, bring as much light into the room as you can, turn on lamps.

6) lens cleaning kit.
7) Duck-tape)

Be creative, have fun and film the best moments of your life.
Alexey levchenko.

Beauty - Video Shoot Productions

24 12 2012 13:59:19 +0000

The main task of the video is to display an image of a model by highlighting the natural beauty of emotions through detailed close up shots.

For the accomplishment of this task, we had to find a way to somehow capture the head of the model in a fixed position, which is particularly difficult, since in extreme close up head shots, natural head movements result in a loss of focus.

Therefore, we constructed a special design, which involved the use of two tripods and a special frame. With this frame, throughout the filming process, the model's head was able to remain in a stable and static position.

In addition, we spent a lot of time working on establishing optimal lighting conditions. We had to create just the right illusionary shot that would clear of any possible mirror reflection of objects in the model's eyes.

In this video, I wanted to portray the natural beauty that is inherent in every woman, through the depiction of our model Elmira at REDmodels. She most certainly has it all! She’s an open, wonderful and a bright person. Her beauty is not just blank list, rather, you can see - temper, attitude and manners. And further, by using your imagination, you will notice the insane charisma of a model, which creates a moment of good and quality piece of art. In thisi video, you feel that drive, energy, and perhaps even a little bit of Elmira’s freakiness. That’s what I love the most about the shooting process - that there are no limits, no boundaries and no rules. Art is defined by your belief & passion. And this is my passion – to express myself by creating unpredictable and amazing content.

Film Production Company New York

19 10 2012 13:49:15 +0000

That was a really nice busy week at Film Annex.
At the beginning of the week I did corporate style interview for Jennifer Powers. She is VP of Operations at Cupcake Digital and has over 15 years of experience in integrated marketing, brand management and public relations at some of the top agencies in the U.S., including Ruder Finn, Burson-Marsteller, Edelman and The Vidal Partnership. Prior to joining Cupcake Digital, she was responsible for providing senior counsel, strategic insight and media relations expertise to a range of Fortune 500 companies and major corporations, including JCPenney, Sprint, Boost Mobile, TD Bank, Heineken, Kraft Foods, Diageo, Charbroil, Pfizer and McKesson.

Finally I finished "New Herat" video, that video represents Film Annex President/Founder Francesco Rulli's vision of a new and improved Herat. By presenting a series of images from the city of Herat in Afghanistan and New York, the video shows many differences and similarities between the two landscapes. As you keep watching, the architecture of these two cities on the opposite sides of the world merge into one.

Also yesterday I did one more "Keyword" video for Francesco Rulli, he talks about social networking statistics. Knowing your social networks' statistics is extremely important to help you define your strategy. These statistics give you the demographics and habits of your audience. The better you know who is your audience, the better you provide them with relevant content. At Film Annex, the Buzz Score is a measurement system that calculates your influence and ability to engage your audience with social media tools. It allows you to know how influential you are on the Internet.

For more information, visit our Buzz Score page, Target Marketing Annex, Afghan Development Initiative and Afghan Development Web TV.

Alexey Levchenko.

One week on online video production

12 10 2012 15:26:13 +0000

Someone told me that when you get older, times goes faster.

Yes, I think it's true, and sometimes you can't even remember what you did in a week. So I will try to write everything down.

This week will be great for you if you are a fan of comic books, because Comic Con 2012 is right here in the City and I did a short video about it:

Also I did a corporate video for Carmen Hernandez, VP of Marketing Communications at Cupcake Digital:

And I'm working on a combination of Kabul and New York City videos to show the difference between and the similarities of the two (They will be ready next week).

Kabul:

New York City:

Alexey Levchenko

Online Video as a Marketing Tool

11 06 2012 17:56:30 +0000

Have you ever thought of making your own videos to promote yourself?

Online video is a low-cost and effective way of marketing and it has been proven successful year after year. According to comScore, a study released on February 2011 showed that 82% of all U.S Internet users viewed a video online once or twice as part of their common online activities. With this much attention to online video, it is no wonder that social media experts are devoting precious time and effort to creating viral video campaigns.

But just how much does online video benefit businesses?

According to Invodo, a leading eCommerce video solution, a person is 85% more likely to buy a product they have seen in a video review than a person that hasn't. This gives eCommerce websites a great tool to use in order to improve product sales.

But online video doesn't just work for eCommerce, or for businesses, it works for everything else too, such as helping a website rank higher and attracting more visitors to your blog.

With social integration, sites that provide users with videos on a constant basis are more likely to receive 30% more traffic. This is because most users that reside in social networks are likely to click an ad on a video than in any other medium. How's that for a marketing advantage?

In fact, you've probably watched a video or will watch a video after reading this. That is how much of an influence online video has had on the average Web user. It is just a faster and quicker way to find out about anything ranging from politics to sports to piano-playing cats.

Videos are everywhere.

Pick up a camera or editing software and start making those videos!

Alexey Levchenko WebTV

Follow me @alexeylevchenko

Video DSLRs vs Camcorders

26 03 2012 00:01:09 +0000

I got my first digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) camera long time ago, when I was a kid. And I was thinking all the time - How great would it be to film a video with picture quality. Later I found a professional camcorder with incredible video quality, but it was so expensive. It was easier to buy a good car for that money! Came 2008, it was a groundbreaking year for the whole film-making industry, Nikon introduced D90... The first DSLR camera for me with a Rec. button!!! A dream came true.

Now everyone who has the latest DSLR camera can say - I'm a filmmaker.
Yes, I know, old-school professionals will say that it's "bullshit", you have to go to school, spend a lot of money for proper equipment and stuff like this, but now you can film independent films right in your home, in your garage and it's never been easier.

Look around and see what we got in 2012? A lot of people lost their jobs because they don't want to go forward and accept new realities with DSLR cameras. Yesterday I saw "Act of Valor" - the first Hollywood quality movie for the big screen theaters, which has been shot on DSLR cameras from the beginning to the end. And now I can say with no doubt - Welcome to the future, DSLR cameras are the future.

And one more thing, now you don't have to spend a lot of money on production, you can even make some money from it. Film Annex, the great online video platform is for independent film makers. You don't only get to watch independent movies here, you can also promote an online film and understand how to make money through a website!

Alexey Levchenko WebTV

Follow me @alexeylevchenko