Sam Houston filming, editing and engineering...

We have had the privilege of working with some "top notch" folks up at Sam Houston University.

We are still in full swing with Studio A in the Dan Rather Communications Building, and are about to go into a full on blitz to get some major things accomplished while school is out.

In November we had a couple of days of shooting for the marketing department for commercials promoting the school. One of the days was at the Memorial Herman TIRR program center, showcasing the music therapy department. What an incredible bunch of people! We interviewed a couple of SHSU graduates and filmed them doing what they do best. It was quite obvious that these people are "called' to work in this field. The sincerity and enthusiasm of the people that work at TIRR is truly inspiring.

The second day of shooting were interviews with two first generation graduates and a history professor of SHSU. The interviews were very insightful of the fears and struggles of students going to college for the first time in their family. SHSU's student body is currently 50% first generation students, and they really have a system for helping these people out to make sure the students don't fall through the cracks!

The interview with the history professor shined some light on San Houston the man, which in turn educated me on a couple of points I didn't know about this interesting person.

So now that's all in the "can" we are off-lining footage currently to create a few commercials. We will also be creating some more insightful web pieces that will be able to be viewed on YouTube and the SHSU website.

We are shooting this series almost entirely on DSLRs. We also shot some greenscreen footage with 2 Canon XF305 cameras. The DSLRs we are using are 2 Canon 60Ds and a Nikon D7000. We will soon be picking up a 5D MarkII and are looking forward to the MarkIII!

It was fun also to shoot some of the interviews in SHSU's Studio C that we have lighted with all LED lighting!

Dan Rather Comes to SHSU

Studio C of Sam Houston is complete! The first all LED University studio!

Dan Rather graced us with his presence in late September. Richard Lacy, Scott Jones, Craig Loper, and myself (Mitchell Loper) worked on getting the lighting and studios just right for Mr. Rather coming to visit his Alma Mater.

We all had the privilege of filming a “no holds barred” Q&A with about 100 MASSCOM students and Mr. Rather. This was an incredibly insightful event with Mr. Rather as he talked about his 56-year career in radio, newspapers, television and now the Internet. I have always had great respect for Dan Rather and now more than ever.

Much was discussed in the Q&A, but what I really got out of it was: work hard, and do what you love, reaffirming what I truly believe in, which is a creed we at Keena & Company do not take lightly!

Here is a shot BTS clip of Mr. Rather in Studio C.

Home stretch for Studio C, and revving up for Studio A

Currently the Keena & Company team is wrapping up the loose ends in Sam Houston’s Studio C. Starting next week, the Keena & Company team is installing the cameras and fine-tuning the lighting to finish up. Our team in conjunction with SHSU decided to go with 3 Canon XF305s. This is a great 1080p HD camera, with 4:2:2 pulldown, HDSDI out and genlock to jamsync the cameras for multi-camera shoots, this will be a solid edition to the studio. 

Background lights

Hanging blades to flag unwanted light and green reflection to camera.

Talent back lights

Comparing light quality of hard and soft for the talent backlights. 

Hanging flags to keep unwanted spill from camera lens.

We have officially started upgrading Studio A as well, SHSU’s flagship studio, where they teach multiple classes, support student projects and shoot their weekly news broadcast.

Starting now, the Keena & Company team of professionals and specialists will begin coordination and installation of, lighting instruments, grip equipment, and programing / broadcast equipment. The project will be installed in stages, so the studio is not down for an extended period of time.

Many thanks from Keena & Company to all of the suppliers, contractors and SHSU personnel for keeping these projects running smoothly. 

Network Houston

Network Houston’s recent event was an efficacious gathering held in the beautiful meeting room overlooking the cortyard pool at the Metropole on Richmond Avenue.  Hosted by Keena & Company, who offices at the Metropole, the event was attended by 20 successful business representatives coordinated by Dave Bamberg and Keena Collins. Jim Benton of Houston served tasty hors d’oeuvres and summer specialty drinks. Brad Page, of Bishop’s Office Needs, won the drawing and took home a beautiful large white orchard  (after brief care instructions from the experts).  Mitchell and Craig Loper of Keena & Company documented the event, shooting video clips with HDSLR cameras, FloLight 1024 Microbeam LED light panels and a Kessler Pocket Dolly.  These lightweight tools provide excellent opportunities for B2B communication through webinars and social media. Mitchell manages Keena & Company’s website and blog and is posting some of the event here for your enjoyment.


Network Houston from Keena & Company on Vimeo.

SHSU's Studio C gets a facelift!

For more than 6 months the Keena & Company has been working closely with Sam Houston State University upgrading their TV broadcast studios in the Dan Rather Communications Building.

After weeks of preparation and coordination from suppliers from coast to coast, Craig and Mitchell Loper are in full swing at Sam Houston replacing all tungsten studio lighting with new hi-tech, eco friendly High Powered LED MicroBeam-1024 lighting panels from FloLight.

This is the first of two studios that we are upgrading at SHSU, and will soon showcase today’s most current technology for both lighting and HD video production. Just a few studios around the world have converted to all LED lighting, but this will soon be the new standard for TV broadcast.

LED lighting is about 20x more efficient than conventional lighting. With lamp savings alone, the lights will pay for themselves! This new technology also uses less than 1/10 the amount of energy of traditional tungsten units and generates very little heat. Traditional tungsten lamps generate 90% of their energy use in the form of heat and only 10% of the used energy goes to light.

This is an exciting venture for Sam Houston and Keena & Company to design the studio lighting with this new technology and to provide a learning environment for current and future students at SAM that will be a showcase in the industry both now and for years to come. Currently we are lighting a green screen and two anchor positions for various shows SAM produces for cable TV and web. 

Prepping for Sam Houston

Welding adapters to retrofit hangers to new lights

1/2"-1/4" adapter "Tini-turnaround"

Billboard Campaign

Keena & Company’s Marketing Team is currently implementing their plan to spread the word about the Summer Meals Program for kids 18 and under for the Texas Agriculture Department. The program features Deion Sanders, NFL Hall of Famer.  

The program features free breakfast and lunch for anyone age 18 and under.

K&C produced and scheduled two sizes of billboards, bulletins, the normal size you see on freeways and major streets, and poster size, which are in neighborhoods. Here’s a sample of one of the boards.

Click to enlarge

Approximately 300 of these billboards will be running over a 3 month campaign across Texas in the following cities: Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, El Paso, Beaumont, Laredo, Brownsville, Weslaco, Harlingen, and Austin.

Billboards are one of the best ways to get a message to the people who really need the meals.  They will see them on public transportation or walking through their neighborhoods.

Previous billboard campaigns designed and implemented by Keena & Company’s marketing team have produced outstanding results for other state programs and we are expecting similar results for this worthwhile endeavor.

www.squaremeals.org  

Following a blog

In current times there are multiple ways to keep informed, and there are several different ways to follow a blog.  We urge you to follow, so you keep up with Keena & Company's current events and we will strive to provide business tips useful to you. The most effective way to follow the blog is through twitter. www.twitter.com
If you don't already have an account with twitter you will need to create one. twitter is a powerful tool to transfer information to others in a concise way. Once you are set up it is easy, fun and engaging.You are also able to receive messages, much like a txt message on your smart phone, if you so choose.


Staying engaged in social media can sometimes seem like a "sinkhole" for time and energy, and can also be frustrating to figure out at times. However, used effectively, it can keep you updated on trends and current events that you are specifically interested in.


We hope that this tip helps and we invite you to follow Keena & Company.

Sam Houston is back on the airwaves!

The Sam Houston State University television broadcast Studio “A” in the Dan Rather Communications Building is up and running!

Many individuals came together to make this happen. Keena & Company and Rock Eagle Communications team of 14 specialists and engineers, headed up by Craig Loper, have worked with the Department of Mass Communications since mid December 2010 to re-engineer Master Control and Studio “A”. In addition to these team members, SHSU project management support and more than 12 staff, instructors, and interns from the university contributed to bringing live broadcasts and student projects back on line. The project also involved multiple contractors from around the country and state, with hundreds of hours logged and long days had by all.

Thank you everyone!

Here are a few photos and video of the current and past students at Sam Houston “going live” with their recent weekly news broadcast on Huntsville’s Channel 7.

Introducing Our Team

Keena & Company is a dedicated marketing and event planning company comprised of a dynamic team of professionals.  We provide top of the line marketing services and create smooth running and successful events. Keena & Company continually works hard to maintain our outstanding reputation of providing services on time and on budget. 

We love what we do and we are good at it!

Keena has several decades of experience in sales and account management in event planning and coordination, and is an avid contributor  to volunteering on committees; raising money for admirable causes.

Keena has served in leadership positions with a number of professional organizations including; Women's Business Enterprise Alliance, Greater Houston Partnership, North Houston Greenspoint Chamber of Commerce, Meeting Planners International, and the Houston Chapter of the International Special Events Society.

Keena Collins, CMP, CGMP-
Keena & Company Owner

Certified Meeting Professional, Certified Government Meeting Professional. Attended Texas A & M University.
Keena Collins, your primary contact, is president and majority owner of Keena & Company, a full service marketing and event planning company with a thirty (30) year history in aviation, project management, corporate travel and meeting planning industries.  Her overall responsibilities include negotiating  multi-million dollar contracts, utilizing consultative selling techniques to facilitate  client goals; designing,  creating and conducting educational and sales  seminars; also  account management and conference and trade show management. Keena has a proven ability to analyze problems and develop solutions that increase profits, reduce cost, increase efficiency and develops long term business relationships. Keena is deeply committed to providing these services for the government market.

Jason Sechrest - Vice President
Senior Director of Projects

Graduate-Houston Art Institute Jason brings a unique combination of creative and organizational skills to Keena & Company.  Jason’s expertise focuses on developing programs, marketing events or conventions with State of Texas and Federal clients. Additionally he develops budgets for each event component, selects locations, makes travel arrangements, arranges entertainment, plans menus, chooses caterers, arranges lodging and ensures availability of audio-visual equipment. He has direct interaction with clients to facilitate location and negotiation of contracts for meeting sites, contract fulfillment with hotels for lodging and meeting/event spaces, arrangement of transportation between venues and activities. For larger trade shows, where a number of vendors purchase booth spaces Jason is adept at arranging for electrical, floor plan layouts, physical creation of the booth spaces and communications (both telephone and internet access). Jason continues his involvement with many local Convention and Visitor Bureaus and hotel and events venues in most major cities. Jason has extensive training at the Art Institute of Houston, and is in charge of many of the photographic and graphic design projects produced by the company.  He is also heavily involved in many facets of marketing and public relations.

Bryant Banes - Vice President 

Government Operations

Bryant S. Banes serves as counsel to Keena & Company on business matters, specifically the administration of Keena & Company's government contracts. Formerly an attorney with the U. S. Department of Justice, he has extensive experience, and is a frequent author and lecturer in, the areas of government contracts, business law, consumer law, and military law. In addition, Bryant has served his country as a JAG officer in the U. S. Army for nine years on active duty, and currently holds the rank of lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves. He recently returned from one year of active duty in Iraq, where he served as Chief of Procurement and Fiscal Law and Legal Advisor to the Chief Engineer in Theater, and was awarded a Bronze Star Medal for his service.

Vicki Loper - Vice President
Marketing

Vicki graduated from the University of Texas in Austin.  She worked as an Art Director and Producer for Exxon Corporation for many years.  As an Art Director Vicki’s responsibilities included overseeing design and printing of publications.  Vicki also produced multi-media, film, and video programs for Exxon.  After Exxon Vicki worked as an Art Director, Producer, and Marketing Director overseeing projects from conception to completion for Media Visions, Inc. and Rock Eagle Communications. Vicki is also a media buyer. Vicki was also, a co-owner of Travel Visions, Inc producing over 100 video destinations.  Vicki joined Keena & Company in 2005.
As Project Director, Vicki oversees all aspects of the projects from research, media buying, writing, print design, radio spot creation, TV PSA creation, measurement, and quality control. Vicki has 30 years of professional experience.

Craig Loper
Producer

Systems Consultant

Director of Photography

Craig received his BS in Radio, Television, & Film with a concentration in film production from the University of Texas in Austin.   Craig has 38 years experience producing, filming, lighting and designing/engineering/installing studios, editing systems and broadcast switching packages  with major motion pictures, Fortune 500 companies, schools and non-profit agencies.  Craig is an Eagle Scout, Vigil member of the Order of the Arrow, a recipient of the Silver Beaver award and a trained leader serving for twenty years in Troop 55 of Houston, Texas.
Craig’s responsibilities include writing, media producing and media buying. Craig is an award-winning photographer and cinematographer.

Mitchell Loper
Production Manager

Mitchell is objective oriented, and very organized. Classically trained in fine art and design, and over 10 years of production experience, Mitchell brings a high level of design aesthetics to all his technical execution in electronic media. With years of leadership training, serving in key positions for volunteer programs, and managing crews on/off site for live shows, conferences, banquets, and broadcast television, Mitchell is a focused problem solver. Mitchell’s responsibilities include, but not limited to:  production management, TV production, radio spots, sound engineering, photography, non-linear editing, print, design, and web development.
Mitchell is an award-winning photographer, and is a recipient of the American Marketing Association’s Crystal Award and is recognized in Madison’s Who’s Who of young executives.  He is an Eagle Scout, Vigil member of the Order of the Arrow, and serves as a trained leader in Troop 55 and Venture Crew 55 of Houston, Texas.