Origins
Bend, Oregon native Hans Skjersaa founded Blue Screen Video and Film in 1996. The company built its reputation on corporate film and video work as well as commercial production, documentaries, and television series development.
Skjersaa started the company with his passion for film and the hope of creating a niche in the growing Central Oregon marketplace. His first client, The Bend Police Department, initially paid Skjersaa $10 to analyze an armed robbery video. The $10 dollar bill was immediately glass-framed and highlighted in the Blue Screen office, where it can be seen today.
Since the company's inception, Skjersaa has honed his skills as a film director/cameraman with the completion of several documentary films including "Umatilla" which highlighted the controversial subject of chemical warfare weapon storage in Umatilla, Oregon. The film was screened nationwide and in several foreign markets; ultimately being sold to the BBC in 2003.
Most recently, Hans Skjersaa has directed a standup comedy show (Alive N’ Kicking) staring Jimmy Shubert, getting his first IMDB directors credit. Blue Screen has also been recognized for the short film that premiered in Los Angeles, CA (Bad Burrito), earning additional IMDB credit. Blue Screen has also drawn the attention of the New York Times with its documentary "A Ship of Miracles." The film covers the merchant ships used to save refugees in Korean War.
Skjersaa and Blue Screen completed a six-episode pilot called "We're Just Funny", shot on location in Las Vegas, Nevada. Blue Screen was awarded a development deal with Spike Television for a reality series. Blue Screen, along with Bend Metro Park and Recreation, has produced a video for a national contest. The video shows Central Oregon’s parks and plans for the future and won first place in the nation.
Blue Screen Video and Film continues to successfully grow with thanks to consistent work from the local advertising and corporate community. Blue Screen has completed projects for local and national companies including Lancair, St. Charles Medical Center, Costco Wholesalers, PacWest, Inn of the Seventh Mountain, and Chevy Trucks.
Blue Screen Video and Film is Central Oregon's ONLY full-service company offering 16 mm, 35 mm, digital video, and high definition filming services.
Blue Screens award-winning production house offers a sound stage, editing equipment and software to provide clients with the highest broadcast HD quality video and sound available in the world today. In addition, Blue Screen owns tracks, dollies, a 22-foot camera crane, and everything else necessary to create the highest quality video production your company is looking for.
Staff
Hans Skjersaa
Hans is the founder/director of Blue Screen Video and Film. Hans has been running and growing the Blue Screen business for over 12 years, in which he is one of the few people to truley see the progression of video techonology as a independent filmmaker. Starting out with analog VHS and moving on to a Media 100 editing system and a 16 gigabyte raid harddrive, Hans was able to edit half of a wedding video before he needed to output to beta and start on the next half. Since then, Skjersaa has worked on many local and national projects. With a very diverse portfolio ranging from commercials and promotional videos to documentries and live events, Hans has never limited himself to one specific genre of video.
Like most people living in Central Oregon, Hans is an avid snow skier and can be found hitting the slopes up at Mt. Bachelor during the winter months. His passion for the outdoors and skiing started when he was very young after skiing with friends and family for years he joined his high school ski team and enjoys his days on the hill to this day. His grandfather and father opened the Skjersaa's ski shop in 1958. Althought Hans's father sold the ski shop, the name stuck and the Skjersaa name has been recognized in the skiing community since the shop first open.
In addition to running his company, Hans encourages students and kids to get involved with video production by teaching classes and creating the filmmakerswanted.com film contest to get students and other Central Oregonians more involved in local video production.
Wes Coughlin
Wes is Blue Screen's motion graphic, editor, web designer, tech master guy (we're not sure what to call his position). Wes has been working with Blue Screen Video and Film for over three years and is also currently working on his third year of college as a business major at OSU Cascades. He started learning the basics of video production and motion graphics early in highschool and then later branched out to web design. Wes is often found either working in one of the edit bays in the studio or going out into the field and filming with Hans.
For more information about Wes, visit his website at www.wescoughlin.com
Studio
The Blue Screen Studio (Studio B) is located off of Boyd Acres next to Ken's Ice. The Studio is where most of our indoor scenes, voice overs, editing, effects, and business meetings take place. Basically the studio is where all the video magic happens.
If you ever get the chance to visit the Blue Screen studio, here is what you will see.
Green Screen
Contray to the Blue Screen's name, we actually use a green screen! If you ever want to know why we use a green screen over a blue screen drop Blue Screen's techno video geek Wes a line and he'll give you a five minute answer that involves color wave lenghts and how that relates to a digital camera's image sensor. We also have a teleprompter that we use for the majority of our studio shoots.
Edit Bays
There are two full blown Intel Apple Mac Pro edit bays at Blue Screen Video and Film. Each of these edit bays have the complete editions of both Apple's Final Cut Studio and Adobe Master Collection software packages. Along with the two edit bays, we have a dedicated PC automated DVD duplicator machine. This means that if you need a large number of DVD copies, we can do in house and fast!
Equipment
High Definition Cameras
The video that we shoot at Blue Screen Video and Film is all shot on our professional high definition Sony video cameras. These cameras are very versatile and produce an excellent looking image. Having three identical cameras also allows use to do multicamera edits (such as event videography) and keep the image consistent between all the cameras.
Along with our three larger HD cameras, we also have a smaller Sony HD camera with a underwater housing to film in very wet or even submerge settings.
22' Crane
We love using our 22 foot crane, it is just too much fun. It enables us to get smooth cinematic shots. Not only does the long radius of our crane allow us to reach high and far, but it also produces a camera perspective of moving forward (instead of turning in circles) because the turn is so gradual. When a shot requires a small movement or lacks enough space, the crane breaks down into thee smaller lengths which can be used.
If want to watch our crane in action, go to the "work" page and click on "other videos" to see some of our crane shots collected.
Dolly
The dolly is another device to get smooth moving shots. Although it is a lot lighter and simpler than the crane, it still produces a unique and powerful look.