UPDATE: As of 48 hours of being live we now have 2 MILLION views, and are the top spot for most viewed comedy on Youtube Worldwide. Score!

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Exciting news today! I joined forces with IFHT, a local comedic sketch group that has claimed their fame on YouTube. We shot a video poking fun at the recent Diablo III launch, and the timing seems to be perfect. We’ve racked up 450,000 views in the first 12 hours, and it’s still going strong! My first viral video!!!

If you’re not familiar with what is going on, the much anticipated video game Diablo III was JUST released after a 12 year hiatus… This is one of the most highly anticipated games of all time. Upon being released, Blizzard Entertainment grossly underestimated the popularity of it and became absolutely flooded/overwhelmed with people trying to login to their servers on launch day. Everything crashed. No one could login. There was a lot of unhappy people.

The internet quickly became a hotbed for nerd rage and upset customers who paid for their game and couldn’t get in. The dreaded, ‘Error Code 37′ was appearing on everyones screen. This was the perfect opportunity to capitalize on a YouTube video. So we did.

This was also my first time shooting with the new Canon 5DmkIII, which honestly, blew my mind. The low light performance on this camera is unreal. We started  shooting at sunset and by the time we finished were well into dusk. I had the iso on that badboy up to 3200 with no visible noise. WOW! A fast lens works wonders too, but regardless, I was impressed.

My T3i has a ceiling 1200 iso, which even then is barely usebable. The 5DmkIII is an unreal documentary run and gun shooting camera, and I’ve become a believer. I used a 50mm 1.8 and a 24-70mm 2.8 for the video.

What a fun day! It will be exciting to see where the video plateaus! I’m happy to say as of writing this it’s still going strong!

You can follow IFHT on Youtube and Twitter:

YOUTUBE:  http://www.youtube.com/IFockingHateThat
TWITTER: http://twitter.com/#!/IFckingHateThat

You can see more of the beautiful Bridgette Graham’s stuff here:

FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/Ms.BridgetGraham
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/bridgeyowl
YOUTUBE: http://www.youtube.com/bridgetgrahammusic
MODEL MAYHEM: http://www.modelmayhem.com/2485370

Thanks for watching! Time to go play some Diablo, if you can get in!

- APS_Chris

Shot with a Canon T3i, GoPro, and a glidecam 4000HD.
Edited in FCP7, CC’d with 3-way and a little tiny bit of Magic Bullets.

Song: Cracks (Flux Pavilion Remix)

Enjoy!

- APS_Chris

In the meantime here’s a few pictures of the trip and the Silversea Promo I shot during my first 19 days. The cruise line loved it, and within a day of posting it to Ralph Grizzle’s blog site www.avidcruiser.com we got invites from their competitors to do the same. I love momentum.

As promised here is the Silversea Promo as well! This was all shot on my brand new Canon T3i and a Glidecam 4000HD. I used Canon 10-22mm and 18-55mm lenses! It felt great to give the Glidecam a whirl; this is my first time using it in a commercial setting. The production value that thing adds is incredible. I can’t wait to try it out with the full arm and vest with my EX1!

I expect to be around in Vancouver for another month or so before heading over to shoot around Europe. I will try to update my blog much more regularly with production notes, behind the scenes, and just cool experiences I’ve had. Thanks for checking it out! See you soon!

- APS_Chris

As you know I have been shooting a travel television show for world traveller and cruise ship critic Ralph Grizzle. (www.avidcruiser.com) Well, he was invited on board ‘The Silver Shadow’, an ultra luxury cruise ship with the line SilverSeas. From what he tells me, this is one of the nicest and top ships in the ENTIRE WORLD! Wow! 300 passengers, every stateroom gets a balcony, personal butler, all drinks free, gourmet food… You can bet I am going to take advantage of that! Whew! I am accompanying him on a 19 day all expenses paid cruise around NZ and AUS in exchange for shooting a promo spot for their fleet- not a bad trade off?

The itinerary is as follows:

Auckland, New Zealand
Napier, New Zealand
Wellington, New Zealand
Picton, New Zealand
Sydney, Australia
Melbourne, Australia
Adelaide, Australia
Port Lincoln, Australia
Albany, Australia
Fremantle (Perth), Australia

SilverSea looks like an amazing cruise line company and I am STOKED to go onboard. I will have much more to report once I get home!

Once the cruise is over it drops me off in Perth, Australia around Feb 24th. There, I am meeting up two old friends: one a former roommate/pro photographer named Ross Wallace (http://howeyeseerwp.wordpress.com/), and the other a bubbly and energetic cruise friend named Samantha Jane-Lewis. (met her when I worked for Princess Cruise Lines!) Ross is an incredible photographer (one of the best I know), and Sam is an outgoing and smiley world traveller with a magnetic personality. We will be staying in Perth for a few days before Sam and I (maybe we can get Ross to come too??) begin the second leg of this epic Aussie trip!

Ross Wallace! He’s a huge surfer!

Meet Samantha! If you stick with me you’ll get to know her well!

We are going to fly to Melbourne and rent a car, and then road trip up the East Coast to Cairns and The Great Barrier Reef! I will have my camera with me and be filming the entire trip. Sam and I have had the idea of creating a pilot season for the YouTube Travel Channel following our adventure around the world. I’ve had this idea for really long time; it’s sort of been a passion project for both of us. This will be the our chance to make it a reality! We will be filming, writing, and taking pictures the entire time and putting together a 12(?) episode YouTube series chronicling our adventure once we’re done. If we can find interest, this could spark a new long term show with many more destinations around the world! Time will tell!!!!

Regardless, I will be coming home mid March with a TON of footage and great content to share with you! I can’t wait to get out there and experience NZ and Australia!

Talk to you all soon!

- APS_Chris

All footage was shot on primarily my Sony EX1, with a couple shots on a Sony V1U as well as my GoPro Hero. Every shot you see was either handheld or on my sticks. Editing and colour correction were done in FCP7, and the opening title sequence was done in After Effects CS5.

Song is ‘We Can Make The World Stop’ by The Glitch Mob

Special thanks goes out to Jake Dunbar, Yuriy Rzhemovskiy, Sean Gallagher, and my family for their valuable feedback and support.

Please enjoy and thanks for watching!

- APS_Chris

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I’m back from a 2.5 week shoot in Europe for The Avid Cruiser Travel Television Series! (http://www.avidcruiser.com/) This is a new short form television series that will be played onboard Royal Caribbean Cruise Line ships showcasing attractions and cool things in various ports around the globe! It is meant to be entertaining and inspiring, and will hope to entice people to get off the ship and explore the beautiful locations for themselves. We are expecting a captive audience of 2.5 million people.

It was quite a shoot! The places we covered were:

1) Northern France – Normandy Region including the D-Day Beachs, Honfleur, and the Alabaster Coast (Etretat)

2) Paris, France (My first time! Incredible! Blew me away!)

3) Southern France – Toulon, Sanary Sur Mer, St. Tropez, and La Seyne (all part of Var Provence)

4) Venice, Italy! (One of my favourite ports in the entire world! Just so unique and unlike anything I’ve seen before!)

The trip was fantastic, we were wined and dined, and I’m very happy with how the footage turned out! I’ve put together a teaser trailer which you can check out below! Enjoy!

“A new travel show following ‘The Avid Cruiser’ Ralph Grizzle as he explores the various ports of the world.”
Shot by: Chris Stanley
Edited by: Chris Stanley
Edit Consulting: Jake Dunbar

Shot on a Sony EX1
Edited in FCP7

For more information visit www.avidcruiser.com

This looks like it might be the last travel of the year for me. (work related anyway) I am now heavy in post putting all of the Canadian East Coast footage and newly shot European footage together for broadcast! It’s a big task! There is a TON of footage! I am excited however for the final outcome. Next year will be a huge year for travel for me. I foresee myself being gone almost all year shooting abroad! Royal Caribbean has given us a wish list of 98 ports they want shot globally. WOW. That is easily 1-2 years of solid travel work! I am so excited!

Check back here often to follow my journey across the globe and see the images that I capture along the way!

- APS_Chris

Just bought a GoPro, thought I’d take it out for a spin. All footage is raw and uncolour corrected. I LOVE this camera. It’s fantastic for anything rough and tumble, as well as underwater.

Song: Bombay – El Guincho

9 Hours, 30km, one epic viewpoint later…

He recently just graduated from Emily Carr University so I bought him a little grad gift. Of course, I had to try it on first. I LOVE this shirt! Congratulations Yuriy!

- APS_Chris

You can check more of his work out here: http://www.yuriyr.com/

Enjoy!

- APS_Chris