Melissa and intern Olivia Johnson went to the local public television station, CET, which had rented its studio to us, to paint its cyclorama a carefully mixed shade of website blue. Melissa tried to avoid chroma-key blue, used for TV weather maps. Nevertheless, it took until the next shoot to get the shade right. This first time was experimental. DP Mike Bizzarri brought in his lights and camera. The camera package was On Location's Panasonic High Definition variable frame rate cinema camera. Although On Location most frequently shoots in 24p for a cinematic look, 24p can cause motion blur on fast-moving subjects. We decided to shoot at 60 frames per second for the most clarity on fast-moving bows and fingers. Knowing that streaming media has its own artifacts and challenges, we wanted to start with the fastest frame rate and highest resolution available. Also, because we occasionally planned to show some techniques in slow motion, we wanted 60 fps as a foundation for optimal slow motion later.
We began shooting with my on-camera definition segments rolling through a teleprompter. Earlier, I had prepared the text and rehearsed it; and since English is my second language, I had asked a friend, journalist David Schoenbaum, to proofread. Reading into a teleprompter and making it sound spontaneous was more difficult than I had anticipated. After examining the results of the first day, we decided to switch to a less didactic, slightly off-camera, and more interview-like approach.
Thursday was our first master class day. We brought a Steinway Grand into the studio and began the first of many discussions about where the piano should go. A large black piano can take up a lot of screen space and requires many lights. But finally, like in any other 8master classes, we had our piano and could hear complete musical phrases.
Post-production began in early June. First, the On Location team logged the tapes, a task that took almost as long as actually shooting. This is where the producer and assistants chose the selects, made sense of the footage, and gave each shot a unique name that could be interpreted by the editor. During the shoot, a production assistant had written down the time code of the good takes, but it still needed to be unraveled in the dark viewing room and coded into MediaLog. Then the selects were loaded into the editing system (G4 Mac with HD Final Cut Pro). In Mid-June, editor Jeff Glaza began editing the first of what would be 170 segments. Usually we based the structure of every segment on a wide master shot. Then we inserted medium shots and close-ups to show the details. Sometimes we took audio and video from different takes. We found that Tessa Lark had incredibly steady tempi we could take a 30-second moment of audio from another of her takes, and it would synchronize without a hitch. One day of shooting easily became two days of editing. Jeff, who had been nominated for an Emmy for editing Classical Quest, soaked up violin technique terminology as he developed an ear for the subtleties of violin repertoire and an eye for bow continuity. The footage was easy to work with. We were very happy with the picture quality and camera work of Mike Bizzarri and the audio production of Tom Haines.
for the next shoot.
The second shoot commenced in September. We were on top of things. With the help of CCM graduate student Semi Yang and Brittany, we organized a schedule that gave a fairly accurate amount of time to each musician. Every hour a different student demonstrated a different technique. The production schedule was often dependent on the students' families or academic schedules. The sometimes very young violinists and their families were professional about showing up to the CET studio at call time. By now, I had found a way to prepare them by practicing the techniques they were to perform on camera during their lessons. 
For this shoot, we had decided to sharpen the look. Melissa felt strongly that the blue background was too dark and adjusted the paint color, as well as allocating more of the budget for lights. This brought the addition of gaffer Jeff Fisher and grip Duke Smith. Together, 'Fish' and Mike brought ingenious methods for back-lighting my blue blazer against the blue background. They lit a gradation on the cycloramra, which resulted in a high key, distinct look. For atmosphere without overcomplicating the set, we added a chair, table, and a colorful bird of paradise flower. 
Also normally assisting on the shoots were John Schmidt, who does everything from teleprompter to gripping to note-taking; and Jeff Glaza as a grip. 
Again, we began with definitions on the first day and moved into exercises and master classes (with the piano in a different place for variety). I developed a way to remember my succinct lessons with an easel of paper just outside the camera frame. Prior to taping each segment, while the crew tweaked lights and audio, I ran through my lessons and jotted notes. Joining the 'straight bow police' were Semi Yang and Wyoming violin teacher Gayna Bassin. 
Meanwhile, Clay, Joe, Sarah, and Melissa continued to develop the inner sections and test them for usability. At Jay Hoffman's urging, we added my headshot to the top, courtesy of photographer Gary Kessler. Clay suggested many solutions to structural challenges and invented clever ways to make things happen on the website. 
Our third shoot session began at CET (with less gradation) and ended at Werner Hall in CMM, which is a gorgeous auditorium with its own design issues. The stage back wall is a warm, exotic wood, which is almost exactly the color of a violin. It is a background that, because of its natural beauty, is hard to resist. The crew did not have a way to control the stage backlights made available to us by CCM, and there did not seem to be an easy way to rig motion picture lights without damaging the wood. Again Fish was gaffing with grip Russ Faust. As the violinists played, the lighting team began to plan.
Meanwhile, Alvin MacWilliams, director of the Wyoming Fine Arts Center, had finished his first round of assembling graded repertoire lists. Laraine Kasier delivered the first draft of the competitions and auditions lists. And Nina Perlove and Brittany MacWilliams began the task of gathering biographies for the About Us section. 
At Werner Hall, Fish lead Russ, Jeff Glaza, and grip/electric Rasheen Crawley in the rigging of crisp backlights off of a velvet-lined truss- and made the background fall off into almost black. It was another look yet and gave this particular set of performances a dramatic edge. The quartet, in particular, looked stylish with the black-clothed musicians rimmed against the black background. Since these sections are for advanced players, we thought that this variation was appropriate. As we continue to add content to the site, we will pull it from a variety of venues from around the world, all with their own unique qualities, and we'll have to be comfortable with slight variations in the look of our presentation. 
Final editing began in June and we worked hard to finish as much as possible before I had to leave to teach in Aspen. This time, besides working on lessons and performances, we got to zero in on the more theoretical segments of Intonation and Putting It All Together. Brad Bowman, animator for Classical Quest, created colorful animation for parts of the Putting It All Together section, as well as bright yellow staff, notes, and charts for music theory. Because we wanted to keep file sizes low, nothing too demanding was allowed, but it was fun to add the cartoons. 
We needed a promotional postcard to send out and put in magazines — something that could be re-purposed for movie posters or even a billboard. I suggested the line, 'Coming soon to a computer near you' and Melissa offered a visual concept. The idea was to show an abstracted close-up of part of the violin almost as if it were a sunrise or a rare astrological event. It was a way to capture the anticipation of a new era in this old art. She set up a high-resolution still shoot with photographer Tony Arrasmith and worked out the details of the layout with Joe Busam and Nina. The day of the shoot, Brittany brought a 270-year-old Petrus Guarneri violin to Tony's studio, and they went about capturing the image through lights and lenses. Tony's meticulous attention to details brought out beautiful highlights and showed the age of my violin. After Joe incorporated the selected photo into the postcard and added the text and other stylish details, Tony touched up the color and printed proofs.| Violinmasterclass.com is brought to you by the Starling Project Foundation, Inc. President/Artistic Director Kurt Sassmannshaus Executive Director Nina Perlove Contributing Faculty Brittany MacWilliams Laraine Kaizer Michelle Ubels Fiscal Sponsorship by Wyoming Fine Arts Center Board President Ray Fager Executive Director Alvin MacWilliams Publicity & Consultation by Jay K. Hoffman & Associates Jay Hoffman Clara Park Daisy Cho Translation by: Fangfang Li, Chinese Special Thanks to CCM Violin Graduate Students Semi Yang Nobu Ozawa Wyoming Fine Arts Violin Teacher Gayna Bassin Violinmasterclass.com Sponsors Dorothy Richard Starling Foundation Shar Music Products Bein & Fushi Wyoming Fine Arts Center For a complete list of musicians appearing on the site, please see Biographies. © 2004 Starling Project Foundation, Inc. | Web Site Development & Design by On Location Multimedia, Inc. Producer/Creative Director Melissa Godoy Site Administrator & Developer Timothy O'Neill Developer Clay Beyer Art Director Joe Busam Designer/Assistant Producer Sarah Tennison HD Video Stills Mike Bizzarri Still Photography Tony Arrasmith Mike Bizzarri Gary Kessler Mark Lyons Audio Design Thomas Haines Media Compression Jeff Glaza Accounting Manager Barbara Baglien On Location President/ Legal Counsel Timothy B. Matthews On Location Vice-President/ Operations Manager Therese Matthews Media Production by On Location Multimedia, Inc. Director Melissa Godoy Director of Photography Mike Bizzarri Gaffer Jeff Fisher Best Boy Russ Faust Recording Engineers Thomas Haines Brian Niesz Editor Jeff Glaza Animator Brad Bowman Production Assistant Sarah Tennison Grips Jeff Glaza John Schmidt Duke Smith Rasheen Crawley Chris Perkins Alfred Bizzarri Emily Baglien Interns Olivia Johnson Michael Lindley CET Studio Assistance Taylor Feltner, Production Manager Don Neohoff |