On Set with HGTV Personalities

Posted March 24, 2009 to Chip Wade , HGTV , Mark Wagoner , Mohawk Flooring , Taniya Nayak , video , Viewpoint Studios

Recently, Mark and crew had the opportunity to produce some TV and web spots for Mohawk Flooring featuring Taniya Nayak and Chip Wade. Those of you who are HGTV junkies out there will recognize these two right away from their show “Designed To Sell.” And the good news is – they are just as friendly & fun in real life as they seem to be on TV.
We had two very full days of shooting on a variety of sets that took our talent from an interior designer’s office to a Carribbean-inspired living room to everyone’s favorite – the green screen. It was a multi-camera shoot that included a teleprompter mounted to the jib camera.
Thanks to Chip, Taniya, the good folks at Mohawk, Viewpoint Studios and ASV Productions, and all the crew for a great shoot!

Taniya makes sure the carpet passes the barefoot test.
How’d he get that whole floor put in so quickly? Just a little TV magic…

Taniya gets a little touch-up from stylist Heather Hawkins. Like she needed any help!
Taniya & Mark at the end of a good day.

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Yakov, Bald Nobbers, and Mark Wagoner Productions

Posted February 13, 2009 to Branson , Film Gear Rentals , location , Mark Wagoner , production , video , Wrangler Home Furnishings , Yakov



We just returned from a great video shoot in Branson, Missouri. We were there the week after the ice storms, which meant we had to set lights one of the days on 5″ thick ice, but the gaffer and crew did an above all expectations job. Everything looked really nice and no one slipped and fell. The grip truck, lighting package, gaffer and crew all came from FILM GEAR RENTALS in Little Rock, Arkansas. Thanks to Dave and David for an excellent job. Christian Parsons also went out of his way to make the project for Wrangler Home Furnishings a big success. No really – he went out of his way, since there is not a very direct way to drive a truck load of cameras and a jimmy jib from Greensboro to Branson. Thanks to Christian for enduring 32 grueling hours of snow, trees in the road, ice, and traffic jams. Ben Root, fresh off a job for CBS, and I had a very early morning rendezvous at the airport and flew to Missouri for the shoot. Ben made the camera fly with ease in the confines of a house, albeit a 5,000 sq. foot house. Our team was rounded out buy a great cast and stylist, and most importantly, a fantastic client! Thanks to Justin for everything!

While in Missouri we shot footage for commercials, DVD’s and web spots. We shot with 2 cameras on P2 cards, HMI’s and Kinoflos. Camera was on the jimmy jib or dolly and tracks.


Branson is, well, an interesting place. It is a mix of Gatlinburg and Myrtle Beach, plus a dash or so of Hee Haw. We all really liked seeing the Dick Clark Used Car Lot. It was so quiet there, it is hard to imagine that they had seven million visitors last year. Glad we went in the middle of winter. Though we hated that we missed Yakov.

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Inauguration Day

Posted January 21, 2009 to Cheescakes by Alex , Christian Parsons , Green Bean , inauguration , Mark Wagoner , Time-Lapse Greensboro

    January 20th 2009, Inauguration day in Greensboro NC. A small bit of snow had fallen over night in Greensboro, for me it was a cleansing and a sign of a fresh start. While I could not be in the city of cherry blossoms for the big day, I was happy to see it arrive none the less. It was a great day!

    I had seen small hand painted signs surrounding  Cheesecakes by Alex with the word “HOPE” painted on them while I was downtown over the weekend. I knew I wanted to photograph this visual symbol of the change our country and the world were about to experience. After shooting the signs and having a bit of crumb cake Alex said that the kids had a great time painting them all. It was time to head over to The Green Bean and see what was going on there. People were coming to sip some of the black medicine and watch the large screen TV set up down front. The atmosphere was excited and very upbeat. I hung out with my friend and fellow photographer Christian Parsons , had some coffee, shot some pix and headed home around 11AM.
Lynn and I watched through most of the afternoon. Now off to work and save the country.

One Response to “Inauguration Day”

  1. Orange Cat Art

    Thanks for sharing! Here in Raleigh, they are saying that the Triangle had the highest percentage of inauguration TV viewers in the country. I think the snow day had something to do with that! 🙂

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I’ve got to go see a man about a mule.

Posted December 10, 2008 to Camelback Bridge , Carolyn de Berry , coffin , Harvey Robinson , Jan Hensley , Mark Wagoner , mules






     Thanks to the cooperation of Ruby the mule we shot new scenes for the Camelback Bridge film  we have been working on this year. Jan turned out to be quite the mule drive and got about 2 hours of practice in. Thanks for all the help from Ronald Hudson and End of the Road Mule Farm for providing our new friend Ruby, complete with a wagon and a coffin. Harvey Robinson and I split camera duties with Carolyn de Berry keeping the show on track as well as doing bang of job as the pregnant women in the wagon. You could feel her pain! The weather was perfect, a bit over cast, adding to the somber feel of this scene.  We shot this scene with the Letus 35 adaptor to give some very nice shallow depth of field looks.

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What’s our Proximity?

Posted December 7, 2008 to Uncategorized

    This week we shot on the roof of the only Platinum rated  LEEDS hotel in the United States, The Proximity Hotel in Greensboro. The fish eye lens comes in handy yet again. We shot an interview with Dale Freudenberger of FLS Energy in Black Mountain NC. FLS provided and designed the solar hot water system for the hotel. Dale explains the workings of the system and discusses the concepts of solar energy in a film I am producing on the Proximity. More updates coming as this project progresses.

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Camelback Bridge

Posted November 26, 2008 to Uncategorized

   
On Friday Nov. 21 we shot the bulk of the photography for a new short film titled “Camelback”. The film is being shot near Sanford NC at the Camelback Bridge.
It is a story of an older gentleman and the bridge which serves as the grounding place of his entire life. During the film we learn how the old man’s life and the bridge are woven together. This is from a screen play that I wrote last winter as I was reflecting on the changes in my father’s life, and how the community he grew up in was ever present in his life. While the story is not biographical of my father it does reflect some things I know about him. There are small bits of historical information included in the film.
   Playing the part of the “Old Man” is a young actor by the name of Jan Hensley. Helping with the shooting chores were Harvey Robinson who shot many of the shots, and Carolyn deBerry  who did all of the on set coordination and shot some awesome still pictures of the production.
   The day proved to be cold but not miserable. We did start the shoot with lunch in Siler City at Johnson’s Burgers, home of the best cheeseburgers in North Carolina. One of the highlights of the day and most scary, OK and pretty much fun was throwing a Panasonic HVX200 off the side of the bridge and letting it have a controlled free fall for about 40 feet, this should prove to be a very cool shot.

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Southern Culture

Posted November 20, 2008 to Uncategorized


I am honored to have been asked to be a contributor to an amazing project being put together by The Center for the Study of Southern Culture at Ole Miss, and published by The University of North Carolina Press. The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture is a 24 volume set of books that will cover everything Southern. Some volumes are finished, some still in progress, we are providing images on powwows in the Southern United States.

One Response to “Southern Culture”

  1. Harvey

    Congratulations Mark

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Irata Music Video

Posted November 18, 2008 to Uncategorized

On Saturday night I had the pleasure of working on a music video for Greensboro based band Irata. I was the director of photography and worked with Kevin Pojman and Grisson Davis who produced and directed the project. Working with me on the shoot team were Christian Parson and Harvey Robinson, both of whom shared camera and lighting duties, and Carolyn De Berry, who held the camera crew together. We had a great crew and some very cool sets, not to mention a very tolerant model who put up with some cold wind, pine trees, and driving a massive Cadillac with an 8 track tape player. We all had a lot of fun shooting for a great band.


One Response to “Irata Music Video”

  1. Harvey

    Most fun I’ve had a shoot in a while Mark. Thank you.

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Vote ’08: Funny or Foul?

Posted October 15, 2008 to funny , gross , humor , morning , video , vote

This all started as a test for a ring light and became the story of getting ready in the morning. (No, it’s not autobiographical.) Many thanks to our friend Andy for his comic skills and being willing to do this stuff and push it to a higher (or lower?) level of humor.

Some people may think we went too far, so we decided to take a vote, being election season and all. Is it hilarious or horrifying? Did we go to far or not far enough? Let us know what you think, and we will enter you into a drawing! Please share your comments here, where everyone can share in the fun, but also send us an email to let us know how to reach you if you win.

The poll is open until the real election day – November 4!

17 Responses to “Vote ’08: Funny or Foul?”

  1. Robert

    try playing it backwards. Reminds me of the bathroom scenes in Sideways and The Neighbors. Not gross. A natural comedian, complete with hyperthyroid bug eyes.

  2. Madam V

    My daughter (3) made me play it repeatedly! Very fun!

  3. Philip Powell

    I liked it. Very funny. (And well lit as too.)

  4. Susan

    I was ok until I saw nose hair. *shudder*

  5. Mark Wagoner

    Wilky said:

    Ha, funny stuff. I like the nose hairs.

  7. Mark Wagoner

    Stacey said:
    Very funny! I think it was charmingly silly. Not gross at all. Loved the green tiles and the Get Smart magazine. Great job!

  8. Orange Cat Art

    Love it! Where can I get a monkey shower curtain like that?

  9. America's Top Hand Model

    the shower curtain is brilliant and the nose hair is needed for the whole bit to really cinch the viewers 🙂 giggle. Thanks for making me laugh.

  10. Abby

    I liked it. funny.

  11. Merlix

    The wide opened eyes along with the wild messed up hair are awesome. This would make an excellent series for some of the short movie sites out there. This guy is a natural. The lighting and video quality are excellent like all of your work Mark. Great work!

  12. OsSele

    The lighting was very good and the green tiles seemed to be very clean.

  13. stephen v2

    Everything can be improved with a rubber duck. Nuff said…

  15. Coe

    Very funny. No doubt about it. Well shot and composed too. Nice job, Mark.

  16. Carolyn

    I’ve laughed every time I’ve watched it. And that’s a lot.

  17. Mark Wagoner

    Jaimey said:

    can i have the get smart lunch box?

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Current TV

Posted August 23, 2008 to Uncategorized

Our film on Paperhand made it to number one on Current.TV, Both Coe and myself were really excited.

Also I went to see the Paperhand show tonight in Chapel Hill, it was a great experience, see these guys do their thing, Really inspiring for me!

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