IN[FOCUS]

If you’re like me, it’s hard to get away from filming when on vacation, and as Jen Moon has encouraged in past posts, you’ve got to have your down time.

But did you know that there are tax advantages in mixing work and pleasure?

Working on Vacation

Disclaimer: I am not a licensed tax accountant, so I encourage you to meet with yours to find out how you can write off a portion of your travel, meals, and other expenses.

According to this article and this article, as long as the majority of the trip is primarily business, if you spend a few days vacationing as well, then you can still write off the travel (but not the expenses of the non-business days).  For example, if you attend IN[FOCUS] 2011 in New Orleans (wink wink) for 4 days and build in your yearly vacation for another 3 days, then you still get to write off your travel expenses.

The ultimate work-cation would be like my trip to Panama shooting for Lonely Planet.  If you do some pre-planning and find businesses or organizations that need video, or if you are building your own stock footage library (for sale), or if you need B-roll for a documentary you are creating, then you can spend your days working (and really enjoying the scenery) and your nights relaxing knowing that you can write off a goodly portion of it.

My best advice – save all your receipts from a vacation and document how you spend your time.  Present this info to your tax professional and see what you can write off.  Imagine!

Relaxing on Vacation

On the other hand, we work enough, and we need to be able to separate work from rest and recreation.  If you’ve got your “play days” and “work days abroad” laid out, then stick to that plan.  With facebook and personal blogs, I find the pressure to turn vacation into an all out film fest unnecessarily.

You understand.

For years I felt pressure to capture my travel time as I would a paying gig.  Looking back, I do have some great footage, but I also know I didn’t always take the opportunity to just live in the moment. People always tell me when I’m on vacation, “Meg! Live it! Don’t film it!”

I want to travel light, but also to give myself the opportunity to capture B-roll footage that can be used in a paying project if I see something on the fly.

My solution has been my Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3. I’ve trekked this around Patagonia on multi-day overnights, floated around the coast of Panama, shussed down the Austrian Alps, all while barely feeling the presense of the camera in my pocket. It’s great because it shoots RAW and HD 1280 x 720. It’s there when I can’t resist capturing the moment, and it’s tucked away when I want to just sit with my parents and friends and enjoy their presence.

Enjoy your vacation however you so choose, and on the days you choose to work, make it feel like the vacation is  working for you!

 Meg

Meg Simone

Wedding filmmaker, avid skier, and travel enthusiast!

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Bad Pixels, bad pixels, whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do when they come to you??

A few thoughts, here in that call to action.

Also, are you familiar with CPS?

Linguistically, the acronym could be conceived of as a cross between CPR and PMS – but, it’s not!

View on, listen in – and forgive in advance the closing music track that simply signifies a proud father.

Happy August!!

WW

Whit Wales

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Wedding filmmakers have a big job on their hands. It is up to us to capture a couple’s day in a way that it packed full of emotion.

I believe raw emotion comes directly from the subject’s eyes. We’ve all heard the expression “Eyes are the window to the soul” and in the bible (Luke 11:34), “The eye is the lamp of your body.”  I believe you can control the intensity of that emotion by placing the camera close or far away from those eyes. A good close-up will fill the screen with emotion, and pulling away to a wide angle shot will often disperse that emotion.

It’s rather simple to gather beautiful close-ups during prep. It seems acceptable at times to break through someone’s personal space and get a close-up during prep. What about the rest of the day when we can’t get a camera right in someone’s face? What about the ceremony, or the dances, and of course…the toasts?

While shooting the toasts, we need to strive to capture good close-ups as well. The closer the subject’s face is to the viewer, the closer you feel to the subject. Any emotion that the speaker is experiencing will be amplified dramatically. I love seeing dad’s watery eyes as he talks about letting his little princess go or a sister who is overwhelmed with joy to see her older sister make that big move. A close-up shot will highlight the emotions of these speakers into a super-emotional spectacular!

Getting good toast close-ups requires good planning. You need to already know where you’re going to stand, what lens to use and on which camera. Lighting is important as well. Even a little side lighting with highlight the persons eyes especially when they are fighting back the tears.

Remember, get those cameras in there, get those zoom lenses on because there are tons of wonderful emotions ready to be captured. And it’s your job to do so.

Jet Kaiser
Jet Kaiser Films

Jet

Jet Kaiser saved up enough money to by his first camcorder at the age of 14 and he's been creating films ever since. He eventually created the Indianapolis-based, Jet Kaiser Films where he collaborates his with his lovely wife, Dani. Together they produce cinematic, story-rich, "motion pictures for those in LOVE™ "

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