Blueshape Batteries IP54 Rating
We’ve been pretty busy as of late and it’s starting to take a toll on our mental capacity… Maybe we’re going crazy and maybe we’re not! Who knows? What we do know is that when our good friend John Morgan at Blueshape Batteries gives us a call, we pick up the phone. We cannot be held liable for the following.
What Did I Just Watch?
If you’re asking yourself, “What did I just watch?” then this battery product may not be for you. We have had a very long standing relationship with Blueshape Batteries, if I’m not mistaken, we had our first interaction with them back in the Summer of 2016 while shooting Cinema Sound. We wound up Renting a handful of Blueshape Batteries for that production where having plenty of battery power was pretty paramount. Since then we’ve purchased 5 of their granite mini line batteries and have been thoroughly impressed with them!
Let’s get down to brass tax. John gave us a call last week and said something to the effect of, “Hey! Since this is becoming a talking point for manufacturers and consumers, I think it would be cool to do a short PSA about Blueshapes having the IP54 weather rating. Doesn’t have to be anything special, just quick and dirty is fine with me.” John knows us pretty well. Thus, he should know we never really do quick and dirty. We saw an opportunity to have some fun and we decided to take it.
What the Heck is IP54
I was about to address that, thanks for interrupting me. Now I’m off my momentum. According to Rainford Solutions, “IP rating is also known as Ingress Protection or International Protection ratings are defined to the international standard of EN 60529 (British BS EN 60529:1992). This standard is used to define the levels of sealing effectiveness of electrical enclosures against intrusion from foreign bodies such as tools, dirt and moisture.” In layman’s terms, it’s how susceptible your electronics are to weather or adverse conditions. Check out that rainford solutions link for more info. I’m only going to go into details for Blueshapes for the purpose of this project post. In the “IP” rating each number after “IP” signifies its level of resilience. The first number is related to solids and the second is related to liquids. The 5 stands for “Protected against dust limited ingress, no harmful deposits.” Whereas the 4 stands for “Protected against water splashed from all directions, limited ingress permitted.” In short, you can spray down your batteries and wipe them off and they’ll still function perfectly fine. Which means a big deal, because you really need a battery shorting out a $100K camera package, right? There’s lots of cool information here, but the bottom line is you can trust blueshape batteries on set even after you decide to wipe them down or spray them with a disinfectant.
The Fun Production Stuff
Okay, we’re past the nerdy science stuff. You can start paying attention again. This was a pretty simple production. We could have probably made it a lot more involved, but Ross already had his mind set on doing the “live studio audience” style piece. It’s purposefully cheesy and plays to some nostalgia. We kept the lighting rather minimal, only using 3 lights in the entire shoot. The real work happened with the camera department. We brought in our good friend, Josh Dansby to operate the camera because we knew we needed someone who could pick up the feel we were going for. This is actually a LOT more complicated than it looks. To put it in perspective, he essentially performed the jobs of 3 different people, if this was a HUGE set for a movie or massive ad campaign. In an ideal world, you have the dolly grip that pushes the camera dolly, the camera operator who pans and tilts the camera to achieve the desired framing or composition, and the focus puller who maintains the lens focus where it needs to be. We are not a big set nor did we have a big budget, so Josh got to do all three jobs! HE NAILED IT. We owe really big props to him for pulling off such a stellar operating job in just two takes.
The Fun Post Production Stuff
After production came the post production. Now, you may think, “It’s a one shot, what else is there to do?” Quite a bit of work went into the post production on this to give us the final result we wanted! First, Ross did some pretty impressive color correction to give us a bit more separation between us and the background. Then he went on to add all of the post sound bits such as the live studio audience, various twinkles, and music. While he created the soundscape, I laid down some pretty simple motion graphics, because we wanted it to feel like a campy cooking show. Lastly, we put a little bit of VFX in making the battery twinkle in the light and rendered it out for approval. With a light little revision, what you saw above was our final product.
We appreciate you stopping by and reading this lengthy post about this particular video production. Video is pretty much our lives and we love being able to compliment people’s businesses and brands in a way that makes them stand out from the competition. If that sounds like the way you want to take your business, give us a shout at [email protected]. We’d love to have a discussion to see how we can help you!
