Vog + Fog + Smog - The DIS Team Travels Beyond The Parks

Shot on Canon VIXIA HF G10. Production Dates: May 20 - June 15, 2013. Release Date: July 30, 2013.

While in California producing Destination Disneyland: The DIS Team Goes West, I was approached about joining the next DIS trip planned for Hawaii, Alaska, and California. The purpose of the trip was to promote what could be done outside of visiting Disney theme parks. This consisted of visiting Aulani, a Disney Resort & Spa in Hawaii, Alaska via Disney Cruise Line, and Southern California via Adventures by Disney. Besides capturing content, we set out to produce a live broadcast from Aulani and a pre-recorded podcast from the back of the Disney Wonder. The trip started May 20, 2013 and we didn’t return to Orlando until June 15, 2013.

After producing the Destination Disneyland video, I knew I wanted to take a similar approach to documenting this trip. B-Roll was critically important, but I wanted this to act like a travel diary for us before vlogging had taken over the world in a big way. If I was to produce this video now, it would most likely be broken down into daily videos, but I tried to capture the full experience as a montage over the course of 15 minutes.

After leaving Orlando at 7:00 am, we finally arrived in Oahu at 4:00 pm and immediately started shooting video. I needed to put together a first look video of our experience at Aulani for the live broadcast we were doing from the resort the following day. We traveled with our multi-camera set-up, switcher, and portable soundboard which I was in charge of setting up and running. The broadcast went off without any issues and is a career highlight for me.

After spending 7 days at Aulani collecting footage from the resort and around Oahu, we flew up to Vancouver, Canada to embark on our Disney Cruise Line sailing on the Disney Wonder. It included a trip up the Inside Passage and stops at Skagway, Juneau, and Ketchikan before returning back to Vancouver.

The final stretch of the trip after the 7 night cruise was a couple days in Hollywood followed by an Adventures by Disney Backstage Magic vacation. The ABD focused on spots in Southern California important to Walt Disney including Hollywood, Walt Disney Studios, Walt Disney Imagineering, Jim Henson Studios, and Disneyland Resort. We were joined by podcast listeners and viewers, so it then became a travel diary for their memories too.

As the trip progressed, it became a lot harder to stay together as a group and the video reflects the differences in each destination. We were confined to the resort in Hawaii, so it focused on our team and the beauty of the destination. We had a lot of differing interests in the group in Alaska, so the focus is more on the nature than the team itself. I was extremely inspired by the landscape and it had a massive influence on what I produced. California was all about the group experience and less about the places we visited and it shows through that whole portion.

Post production on this video was a nightmare. 3 weeks of travel left me with more hours of footage than I’ve ever dealt with before. We produced a lot of small videos from the trip, but I couldn’t really use those in this video. I could use clips, but this video was really centered around the music and had to fit in that mold. For the Hawaii portion, I wanted a song that evoked the start of an adventure with some sense of wonder. For Alaska, I wanted a song selection that was rustic and audibly resonated with nature.

For California, I wanted a song that was nostalgic and made me yearn for home since that was my feeling after being gone for 2 weeks with another week to go. I customized a song to start with a simple, solo violin track that immediately set the mood before slowing adding in acoustic guitar and more instrumentation. There is an inherent melancholy to the music when I watch it now, but I still get the sense of family and cherished memories.

The graphics used in the video’s intro, transitions, and outro were created by our graphic designer, Shaun Thompson, based on his idea that we were visiting the vog (volcanic fog) in Hawaii, fog (from the not-so-great weather) in Alaska, and smog (I love LA) in California. I animated the transitions between the graphics he created which helped to narratively weave the story together.

While it was created in my first year of working for The DIS, this is one of my proudest achievements. The time it took to shoot the video, but also piece it together meant plenty of sleepless nights. It was an extremely emotional trip for many reasons and creating this video was therapy. I’ve traveled a ton since making this video, but I’ve never copied the formula because it was truly a special occasion. It may not have a lot of views, but it has more memories than my brain could ever possibly hold.