About Us
Based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Best Light Image specializes in complete video production services for business, tradeshows, education, training, and web delivery. It brings together the collective talents of husband-and-wife team Tom and Cathy Plantenberg. The Plantenbergs are a classic example of how synergy really works: individually, they are each talented and passionate people, and as a collective team, the energy and excitement they create truly is even more powerful than the sum of their individual talents.
Tom Plantenberg
Tom's dedication to excellence, combined with his passion and enthusiasm for the complete production process, assures delivery of video services that will exceed your expectations.
Working with customers in the medical, food processing equipment, filtration, hydraulics and manufacturing industries has given Tom practical experience and a deep knowledge of countless businesses. He is a visionary, and his unique blend of experience and knowledge enables him to generate strong, compelling, and effective productions.
Tom, co-owner of Best Light Image owns and operates the following equipment: (partial list only)
o Canon C100 Super 35mm Digital Cine Camera + Atomos, Ninja w/ ProRes HQ 4:2:2 & ProRes 4:2:2 capture
o Sony HDR-AX2000 High Definition Camera
o Lighting Equipment
o Professional Audio Recording Equipment; Wireless Mic System (2), Studio Mics, Mackie mixers (3), audio compression hardware & software, audio effects hardware and software, equalization hardware and software, professional digital audio recorders, Yamaha Keyboard/Guitar, Yamaha Motif sound module
o Dual 24” flat screen monitors
o 24” JVC DT-V24G11Z Color Grading Monitor
o Adobe Production Premium CS6 Suite, Sonar music software
o Computer Platform; 64 bit, 12 Core Processor with striped hard drive, 28 gigs ram and video cards, Matrox MX02 LE Broadcast i/o
Cathy Plantenberg
As a professional musician, composer, and entertainer for more than 20 years, Cathy understands the art of presentation. She contributes as a composer of scores on many of the productions Best Light Image creates. Music and video have so much in common. they both possess rhythm, flow, and a range of dynamic levels. Her years of music performance lend a special understanding for merging both written word, music and visuals together.
For the past several years, Cathy has been studying script, essay, and memoir writing at The Loft Writing Center in Minneapolis. Her rich experiences at The Loft exposed her to many new authors and teachers, as well as to many different writing styles. She brings these expanded writing techniques to Best Light Image’s video scripting process.
In her previous life, Cathy was (and actually still is) a talented salesperson – she has even won several sales awards across different industries. This talent lends itself especially well to her Best Light Image role because she identifies with the sales process from both the seller’s perspective and the customer’s viewpoint. Her insight provides a balance to sales and marketing programs, as well as commercials.
Born and raised in Minnesota, Cathy has a breadth of life experience gleaned from the many challenges faced and opportunities earned in her lifetime. All of us are shaped by our own life experiences – what differentiates Cathy from so many others is her uncanny ability to draw stories and lessons from those experiences and shape them into universally appealing and relatable messages for so many others.