New FCP Website Goes Live Now!

As promised, the new website for Fat Cat is now finally online! (Sorry it's about a week late as posted previously! We were very busy assisting at a photography workshop here all week!) Several weeks ago you may have noticed our web page taking a slight turn to corporate work, which we do also, and wedding information was a little tough to find- but rest assured we haven't forgotten about our brides! Quite the contrary~ the new web site, which you will need the latest version of Flash to view, can be found at http://www.fatcatrocks.com/ . Your browser will load a splash page allowing you to choose one of four options- wedding, our blog, announce my child or corporate.

The majority of our readers enter through the wedding site. Our corporate site, FCMG, will now be directed to http://www.fatcatmediagroup.com/ and linked through the main splash page. AMC resides on the splash page as well as http://www.announcemychild.com/ !

There are a few minor tweaks that will be taking care of in the coming days, and of course it will always be a work in progress! So go grab a cup of hot cocoa, curl up with a warm blanket and your favorite furry critter and check it out- we even have some new samples in the gallery! (Ya, for real!)

New Info!

Hey everybody! A few bits of info...

Just wanted to drop a line to you to let you know the Pursley-Johnson prequel is complete but won't be online until tomorrow...one more day, boo.... hang in there!

And speaking of online and the internet stuff, after a year long wait and much anticipation, we wanted to let you know that a brand new web site is coming soon to the wedding division of Fat Cat Productions this weekend! You may have noticed our current homepage at http://www.fatcatrocks.com/ has taken a slight business/corporate twist. That's because we aren't just weddings! If you or someone you know owns a small business and needs video content for web, digital signage, in lobby videos, marketing or promotional videos, or otherwise, give them a shout and let Fat Cat do the rest!

Our sister site http://www.announcemychild.com/ also has a new look- check it out and pass the word on to your friends and family that are expecting that little bundle of joy! In the meantime, sign up to be included on our mailing list for blog updates to your right (it's free and we won't bug you or sell your email address!) Don't you HATE that?

Rumor has it that October is a busy month for spring and summer bookings for the upcoming year, don't be left out in the cold so to speak without a document of your wedding day on video- call us soon to check availability for your date!

We will post as soon as the new wedding site is up and running for you to check out- it's TOO cool. We are pretty excited.

Later!

Christmas Bells are Ringing!

Don't forget to plan ahead for Christmas with your holiday photomontages and VHS to DVD transfers of those old home movies! When you gather around the fireplace this December, make it easy to view those old Christmas memories by having Fat Cat transfer them to DVD for you! ...Yes, we do that, too :) Call us for more information! # 755.1389

Photo montages make great family gifts! What better gift than to give a memory.

Does your employer need the holiday Christmas party filmed to remember the awesome time you had? Are you the employer? Call us to schedule and we'll hook you up with a great party video you won't soon forget!

Geez, while we are at it, let's mention New Year's Parties, too! Fat Cat- we're not just weddings! :)

Meow.

Fat Cat's Makin' Tracks

Yesterday we received some copies of the newest Event DV Magazine, a trade magazine we subscribe to discussing topics relating to event videographers and filmmakers. And...we were excited to find ourselves on the cover! We had been contacted several weeks ago by one of the authors wanting to interview us for our out-of-market weddings. We aren't sure how we ended up on the Event DV radar, but it was nice to be recognized in such a great magazine with other superb videographers across the country, many of whom we look up to and admire! We simply strive to provide good, solid work to our customers to provide them with a keepsake of a lifetime, all the while having a great time ourselves and enjoying meeting so many wonderful people along the way! Here are some shots of the cover that Alex provided us, from T&J Studios of the magazine. Jeff of T&J took the cover photo during one of our eXtreme sessions last summer. You can find the article online soon at http://www.eventdv.net/ .

FCP Blogger Report: Camcorders

Our first in a series of reports on tips and tricks in wedding planning, etc. So many of our friends come to us when they are shopping for a camcorder..."which one is best? what do I need to look for?" etc. So we decided to post a little information that we end up passing along to our many friends and family. Enjoy. Hope it helps you.

SG

Choosing A Camcorder

So your wedding is quickly approaching and you are all geared up and excited for the honeymoon that follows so you can relax and unwind after months and months of planning and a super hectic day. . . now you want a video camera to remember that special once in a lifetime trip to ____ (Grand Cayman, Paris, Tahiti, etc) you fill in the blank! But there are so many camcorders out there to choose from, you’re confused and overwhelmed. It seems like you are planning for the wedding all over again doesn’t it? Never fear- Fat Cat to the rescue! Well, choice number one, you could always hire Fat Cat to tag along with you to see the sights and document your awesome time, or secondly, you could just use these handy hints to choose a nice camcorder to take with you and leave us here with a long face :( Boo.
First, do you want a camcorder that shoots Standard Definition or High Definition (HD)?
The big differences are the format the camera shoots, Standard Def. will provide you with a square picture of good quality and High Def. will provide you with a widescreen picture with much more clarity and detail. Plus, with all the TV’s these days being of a widescreen format and dimension, it would probably make sense to shop around for a High Def. camera. There aren't many standard definition cameras left it seems like! We have two palm sized HD camcorders we have used for trips and events, just beware of what things you will be shooting with your new camera. Interiors of buildings? All outdoor footage? The largest drawback of HD is its struggle in low light conditions. They rock outdoors in good light. For example, I got absolutely beautiful footage from our camcorder on our cruise to Mexico at the end of 2006. Wish I had time to post a clip for you! It works great and they are small and lightweight enough to keep as carry on for air travel. If you are shooting indoors, for example a museum that has low light and does not allow for flash on cameras, that footage will end up looking quite grainy. No getting around that without an additional light source.
What is your price range and what will the camera mostly be used for? Cameras aren’t cheap, let’s face it. But there are many models of cameras really coming down in price that do an outstanding job for the average consumer who just wants to take short videos of the kiddies growing up, at birthday parties, vacation and the like. You really don’t need a camera with every bell and whistle on it if you will be mainly filming the young’ens school concerts on a tripod or the family reunion. For example, one can get a great HD palm sized camera starting at about $399 from B&H Photo. You can get a ‘refurb’ model for under $200.
What else do I need besides the camera?
Well, depending on the media it records to, tape or DVD, memory cards, etc (Mini DV is the most popular), you will need to invest in that. Mini DV tapes run about $4 each if purchased separately for approximately 1 hour of tape. Depending on how much you use your camcorder, a good supply of batteries is imperative. Most cameras come with one small capacity battery that last about 1 hour of run time, but the larger capacity batteries can run $50 and up depending on the camera make and model. Unless the camera comes with several accessories, you will need an A/C charger to recharge those batteries. Those can run about $35 and up. To protect your investment, get a good carry case or bag for your camera and supplies. Another $50 and up, depending on the quality, how many compartments, is it waterproof, shock resistant, etc?
So where do I go? Who has the best deals?
We don’t endorse any one company, nor a brand of camcorder, but one of the largest online suppliers is as mentioned, B&H Photo (www.bhphoto.com). You can also try the larger electronics stores from some great deals from time to time. Best Buy, Circuit City and even Wal-Mart. When you find a model you like, shop, shop, shop. Read online reviews. Are there online coupons? Price compare and ask if there are any upcoming sales on the product. Will buying it local save you on shipping a product you found via the internet? If the model you think you like is on display at an area store, go look at it, pick it up, feel it. Does it look like it will hold up to the type of recording you will be doing? Turn it on, look at the picture you get with it, is it what you expected? (Please note most the displays with the flip out screens are quite deceiving until you connect your camcorder to a TV to replay your footage. The footage usually looks better on a good TV!)
Extended warranties? That’s a matter of personal taste. Depending on how much you are spending on the camera, sometimes the price of the warranty doesn’t hardly make sense to purchase if something ever breaks on the camera. There are times it’s cheaper to just go buy a new one. On the other hand, cameras nowadays are lasting longer and longer and it may be well worth a few extra dollars on an extended warranty. That is strictly personal preference.
In our family, we are the go-to people for questions about electronics, just as we are with medical complaints and ailments and animal training! But these are the usual questions we get when they are shopping for a new camcorder and some of the advice we give them. Hope that helps a little bit.

Stay tuned for the next installment of the FCP Blogger Report!

Finally!

Well, finally we are moved in (sort-of) to the new studio in Valley Center! We've been working from this location for a few weeks now and have been meeting customers in the new Media Room (AKA The Private Theater) that was completed last week. We currently still have some supplies sitting around in boxes, etc that are waiting to find their permanent home, but all in all, we are up and running! We even got our first UPS delivery here this morning of much needed supplies-it was like Christmas a whole two weeks early! So to get you all up to date, we've posted some pictures for you to give you a little bit more of a sneak peek prior to the Grand Opening after the New Year rolls around. (Still no date yet!)

We've also been incredibly busy with the Holidays approaching fast again and the shopping that goes with it that we haven't even started! Catching up on the edit que is another never-ending project. The following weddings are due for delivery prior to Christmas: Gruetter, Millen, Gerlach, and Doyle. In addition, the McIntosh/Mendenhall prequel will be posted sometime later this week as well. We also have 2 Love Stories due up in the next few weeks as well as multiple photomontages and an exiting documentary for our friends at the Hutchinson Community College Paramedic Program. So, needless to say, we've been putting in some late nights at the studio and will share with you some of these projects as they are completed right here on our blog (just give us time). Let's not forget about the five weddings we have yet to film between now and the end of the year! We also have an extremely exciting project in the works with our friends Tyff and Jeff here at the studio that we will be announcing around New Year's. We will definitely fill you in sooner if we are able, but you won't want to miss this announcement!

There will be many exciting new things in the blog after the first of the year and some other changes regarding online communications as well. Shew, I'm tired thinking about all this stuff already! There just aren't enough hours in the day anymore! Be sure to subscribe to the blog (to your right) to keep up with our latest happenings! It's free and you only receive an email when the blog is updated, no annoying sales pitches or us selling your email address to those that will annoy you! :)

Be sure to leave us your comments (the "comment" text below each post) so we can hear what you have to say about the latest announcements and work posted in the blog! Also, don't forget to submit a name in our "Name our Building" contest! Comment in the blog or drop us an email to submit your idea! We've had a few trickle in. Scroll down to see what we are looking for below, entitled "HELP!"- Stay tuned! Until next time bloggerheads!
Steph

Pictures, starting from the top are: The Lobby, decorated by Tyff, complete with Christmas Tree, giant fake presents and letter to Santa- not to forget our stylish hanging balls! Ally and Barry help me tackle the edit que, and networking issues! (ARG!) Me and Bear finally get dinner after one of our late nights at the studio at Buffalo Wild Wings (the only place open at that hour!) Then there's 'the flying dog'...it's not a bird, plane, or superhero to the rescue, it's Lucky Dog breaking out of his confines to catch a nap in the Fat Cat Quarters! Jeff, Barry and his nephew tackle new flexible track lighting in the theater- it's way cool by the way! There's my goofy mug helping Barry put together the new screen for the theater room- the company sent white gloves so we wouldn't get oil from our skin on it! (They better have- it wasn't the cheapest of our recent purchases!) Next, Barry snaps one of 53 fasteners for the screen! After the screen was hung, Barry went fishing for wires in the wall for the speakers, but Jeff caught Barry instead! Tyff and Jeff join us on our late dinner out discussing the big project we have coming up soon! There's me working hard at my new desk :) Not. I caught a quick pic of Ally being a cheese shortly after. See, she's working! How could I forget the latest crisis to slow us down? The water leak in the basement. We installed a new faucet and well, let's say the connections weren't quite perfect. We came home to a lake of water ontop of the sheetrock that had to be fixed! Have I mentioned my husband LOVES plumbing? HA!

Subscribe to the Fat Cat Blog!

If you frequent our blog, you may have noticed the last day or two the new info to the right side of the page. There you will find a link that allows you to subscribe to our blog via email. I have been testing it out the last several weeks and by signing up, you will receive an email automatically from FeedBlitz whenever the blog is updated. It checks the blog daily at midnight to look for any changes and updates, and when it finds them, you'll find an email in your electronic mailbox the morning! You won't be signed up for junk mail and we won't bother you with anything else :) It's great if you want to keep up with the latest buzz, prequels, and info on the new studio, etc. If you have a blog, try it out for your site! We hope to be posting a little more with all the excitement happening, so sign up today- it's easy and it's free!

THE BIG NEWS!

OK, so it's the Big News you've all been waiting for we keep hinting about and haven't officially shared. It's been in the works since May, a few people have been told here and there but it's now finally official and we can spill the beans!

Those of you that have met us at our home and have met our many pets, especially if you are allergic to any of them, will be happy to hear we are movin' out!

Not moving out of our house as far as where we live, but where we work, meet clients and preview wedding movies. Yup, it's storefront time! If you enjoyed the cat's cleptomaniac skills of stealing the pens from your purses, I'm sorry! (We'll bring pictures!) We are very excited to have slowly grown our business to this point. The move will take place in the upcoming weeks, although the timeline is not set in stone yet. But sometime next month we will be operating from our new studio location!

The next question you ask is "where?" right? Many of you have probably already guessed, to others it will not come as a surprise. We are migrating to Valley Center, Kansas! So why Valley Center? V.C. is where our good friends Tyff and Jeff of T&J Studios are located and we will be sharing studio space with them. Yes, we like them that much! :)

We are not going into business together, we will remain our separate businesses but just work out of the same building. We will also still be referring to other photographers that we enjoy working with as this is not an "exclusive" working relationship, so don't fear coming to the studio to meet us if you have already booked another photographer. No pressure. But if you have been to Tyff and Jeff's Studio as of late, this will not be the same location and they will be relocating as well. We will now be sharing 6,000 sq. feet of space and have already made some furniture purchases, etc to make the space our own! There will be many amenities including several office spaces, consultation rooms, large shooting areas, kitchenette, conference room and a posh private screening room! Everything is also ADA compliant if needed. For those of you that will miss the animals, Tyff is kindly bringing her aquarium in so you can have your hypo-allergenic animal fix!

We plan on having a Grand Opening/Open House sometime after we are in and settled and we will announce that date a little later. We would like to invite all our previous brides and future brides when that happens so stay tuned! We will post pictures online after we are in the building, as well as a video tour and lots more info! More news on this and other exciting projects coming up!

Live Easter Edit!

Last night we didn’t get much time to think about our Gunther as we had to get ready for a live edit of the Glenville Baptist Church Easter Program “The night before Easter”. We have worked in and with the church before on many projects and think they are a fabulous group of people. We prepared all day for the event, printing DVD’s and stuffing the cases with labels, gathering all needed wiring supplies, etc.
We were blown away with the performance. There was a huge cast (even a live donkey, just for Steph!), and talented cast to say the least, an elaborate set and a wonderful message. Some cast members were actually previous wedding customers! It was great to see old friends again!
So what’s a Live Edit you ask?
We filmed the production with a three-camera HD shoot and fed the signal into a video splitter. Our colleague Alan VanPetten operated the splitter for us and acted as Director. One camera was unmanned for a cutaway shot, but Barry and I ran the other two cameras and we were both in communication with Alan via Clear Comm headsets as he would cue us when our camera was to go live.
He made the cuts and dissolves as they happened, not in post as we do at weddings, and the signal was burnt live to a DVD as it happened! After the performance, we were able to make duplications of the program rather quickly with our tower duplicator for the audience to purchase afterwards for a donation to the church. Discs were pre printed that afternoon.
It was quite the production. Set up was tedious, shooting with manual iris, focus, and gain with constantly adjusting stage lighting was a challenge. But we learned a lot and now have the experience to be able to do more work like this in the future. Thanks to Alan at AV Video Productions for his lending a hand and expertise and Nate at Glenville for thinking of us for this project! Glenville rocks!

Pictured above is Alan checking over all the equipment. Below is the cast going over final preparations before the start of the show, Barry setting up the third camera shot with our back up camera (the A-1) and the duplicator churning away!

Blog Updates!

As you can see, we are updating our blog as we speak! With the season getting ready to smother us, the blog will be getting busier and we wanted an easy way for our readers to locate exactly what is was they were looking for - easily and quickly!

In the side bar on the right hand side of the page you will find a section entitled "Labels". Click on any category you are interested in and "Voila!" the blogger gods will take you to a page with only the posts related directly to that topic! How cool is that?!

Want to watch all our Prequels without searching the archives? Click Prequels, grab a belly wash, kick back and enjoy! (Make sure you have the latest version of Flash player installed!)

Want a Baby Story? Click Baby Story for samples as we add them!

See something cool you want to mail to friends or family? Click on "email this post" at the bottom of the post and go for it!

More changes, updates, and announcements coming soon! Keep in touch!
Steph

FCP goes FCP!

OK, OK, so it's Tuesday and not Monday, sorry, things have been hectic around here.

Well, the transition is starting.

Fat Cat Productions has finally gone Final Cut Pro! It's new editing software to go with our new Mac :)

It showed up yesterday in a box weighing 20 pounds filled with books and discs. Barry was up half the night installing and playing with the new program and it's features. Hopefully it won't slow us down too much with learning the new software, but there is a learning curve with everything. Barry will be learning first as I continue editing weddings with our current software, Sony Vegas, then he gets to teach me sometime down the road.

"So what does that have to do with me?" you ask, if you are a current or future bride of FCP...

What it means to you, in combination of getting a Mac, is hopefully better render times (in brides terms, that's the computer saving the files of your wedding into something usable to put on a disc for you to enjoy!), which in turn we hope will mean a little bit faster delivery time. The Mac will allow us less crashes of the computer so we can edit uninterrupted on your wedding allowing you to enjoy it a bit sooner than you are now. That is the plan anyhow. It will take a little time to get going so please bear with us as we make the switch and learn the ropes. In the long run, it will help workflow.

As for how your wedding will look, that will remain unchanged, and if not, it will only make your wedding look better, with better slo-mo filters and better integration with other software programs we use for color correction and the like. Never fear, Fat Cat Productions will treat your wedding as we always have, with care and attention to detail so you can enjoy your memories for years to come!

Lots changing here latley! We'll keep you posted on the latest developments as they come! Check back with us to see our latest adventures!

There's a Mac in the House!

Well, we have a new addition at FCP...
It's big, it's red, and it's LOUD!
It's actually 5 and a half months old...
The newest addition is a Greenwing MACaw :)
And you thought I was talking about a computer! HA!
Louie is the newest critter at our place and we just love him. Very sweet and adorable. He is the largest macaw at our place and the second largest of the macaw species with a wing span of 4 feet when fully grown! The next time you are all at our place, hopefully you will get a chance to meet him!

Ok. Ok.
There's more news.

We crumbled.

We crumbled like a stale crunchy cookie.

There actually is a Mac in the house, a real Mac :) Yep, like of the computer variety.

We'd had our fill of one of the PC's crashing when we need to get projects out so we decided it was a good as time as any to update to a Mac. OK, Jeff we eat our words...this seems to be just the beginning of a slow cross-over at our place. As painfully as we hate to admit it. We will see how everything goes in the coming weeks and keep you posted. Although it did help that I was sold on the operating system named Tiger and Leopard and such and the internet browser is called Safari. It's just up Critter Alley here! (Ask Barry it's how he sold me on my current vehicle! "Oh, you can haul the dog where ever you want" - SOLD!)

The next update comes Monday! Watch for more exciting news here at FCP!
Steph

Blu Ray Disc comes to Fat Cat Productions!

Well folks, the announcemnet is official! Blue Ray is officially at Fat Cat Productions! This is something we have been looking forward to for a very long time! (1 and a half years long...)

We were able to unveil the first High Definition DVD at the Bridal Fair this weekend. We had 13 prequels playing on an hour loop on a 50" TV as well as two 37" TV's. We couldn't be more pleased with the quality we have received!

We have been shooting, editing, and archiving all our weddings for the last year and a half in High Definition but delivering a Standard Definition disc, so until now had no way to deliver a "true" HD product other than a Windows Media File (BIG ones at that). Now that the technology has finally arrived, Barry will be working out the bugs, learning new DVD authoring software and as soon as we are able will convert all our previously shot weddings to Blu Ray disc for final delivery! Keep an eye on the blog for more announcemnets as they come!

411 for viewing videos on our site!

Our new website utilizes Flash video for all of our online samples. You will need to have at least Flash 8 Player installed to view any of them. You can get the update free at the link below. The new samples are also larger both in screen dimension and file size. Most of the videos range from 20mb to 60mb depending on the length of the clip. Please be patient when downloading them if you aren't on a high speed connection. You may need to press the pause button and allow the clip to fully download before watching. The larger size videos look great, but they are a bit slower to download. Enjoy.

Email Notice!!!

This morning we discovered that our email service on the Contact Us page of this site is not functioning properly (Oh, the joys of a new web site!). So if you tried to reach us via the Connections Page between last weeks Bridal Show and today using the "Submit" button, we never received your email and are NOT ignoring you!
Please use the address below for the direct email to FCP. We WILL reply as quickly as possible to answer your questions pertaining to our services. In the meantime, enjoy some wedding clips in the gallery or call us at 316.943.9923 to receive a free demo DVD. Thank you for your patience.

UPDATE:
The Contact Us page should now be working properly. Thanks to Webmaster Jeff for fixing this so promptly when the problem was discovered! We still encourage those who have written us since the Bridal Fair to please resubmit your request either on the Contact Us page or via direct email. We will get back with you as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience and understanding. Look for more Prequel videos in the next 24 hours!

New Look!

Welcome to the FAT CAT Productions web blog! We are excited to announce we will be updating our whole look and our web very soon! We hope you enjoy the change! Check back soon for more information!