Great article over at Redshark about the Steadicam and it’s place in film history.
Steadicam: The device that changed filmmaking forever
Category Archives: production
I guess you could, but why would you want to?
Cinematography Techniques, on set not in post. What a concept.
Behind the Scenes: Three Cinematography Techniques For Creating a High-End Beauty Video
Great article and video from over at fstoppers.com. I’ve seen stuff like this done before on sets, but never been a huge fan of doing things in production that I know I can duplicate in post, especially with the proliferation of lens flares and other flashy whiz-bangs that tend to get over used to the point of cliche in this visual medium. But it is nice to see it explained and illustrated in this way, and of course there are instances were it just makes sense to do things in production, and not aways have to “fix it in post” right? So go ahead, make those lens flares on set. Put things in front of the lens to create blurs and vignettes. Just remember that “effect” is baked in to the shot, and at that point, it can’t be “fixed in post.”
Early version of a project, finished version coming soon.
This is one that I’ve posted photos of here for the last year or so. I’ve been shooting for this project since April 2016, finally wrapping up this February 2017. It’s been a great shooting challenge that has combined drones, GoPro, and the Sony A7s. Lots of time lapse, both locked down and motion controlled with the ever amazing Syrp Genie. Cannot recommend that piece of gear enough. I could say a lot about the Sony A7s as well, but there’s plenty of material out there already. In brief, my take on it is that it’s a pretty amazing camera, and meets my needs exceedingly well. It’s not for everyone, or every shooting scenario, but then no camera meets those standards. One thing I am very glad to have added to the investment is the Tilta cage. Could not imagine shooting without it. Like a case for ones iPhone, it gives this rather small camera some much needed heft and protection.
Post production begins very soon on the final, full version for the customer, which will be a promotional and sales tool for his website.
Gear updates…
Got some fascinating new items for the A7s to round out the kit. A Tilta cage with plenty of mounting holes for future needs, and a Kamerar follow focus system. Pretty impressed with how solid all this stuff is and really looking forward to some upcoming shoots to put it through its paces.
More good times with the #syrp and #A7s
Considering it was 90 degrees two days ago, it’s downright cold out today. My hands are freezing! Of course it is mid July, what should I expect for Wisconsin?
A shot of the office today.
I’ll be shooting here for some time on and off as the place gets built. The promo for the builder will consist of time lapse, aerial and regular video. It’s been a lot of fun with all the challenging setups and figuring out time lapse frame rates.
Cameras are the Sony A7s and a GoPro.
Drone First Flight
Had some fun over the past few weeks getting used to flying a DJI Phantom 3 Pro. This is not for commercial purposes at this time as I do not have a pilots license of any sort, but am getting used to just how this tool works and what some of its high and low points are (pun intended). I can only say, there is an massive learning curve, not to the part of simply getting the thing airborne, but to the control factor for making good images and camera moves. It’s actually ridiculously easy to get the thing in the air, assuming you follow the few simple instructions, but once one starts moving it around and attempting slightly more than basic camera moves with it, that seems to be when all neurons need to be firing in top form. It’s at that point when multiple things with the controls and where ones eyes need to be start to demand attention.
I know, I’m behind the curve on this drone thing. I know, EVERYONE and their little nephew has a drone and has their own tech news training channel up on youtube already. I’m fine being behind the curve. And I’m also fine taking my time to make sure I learn how to use it and not be one of the multitude of casualties that has crashed the drone into water, people, trees, buildings, etc. So stay tuned, hopefully I’ll be able to post more shorts like this over the coming weeks and months. One thing is for sure, this is one darn fun activity, and no wonder its shot through the roof (pun intended, again) in popularity amongst hobbyists and professionals.
Have one? Chime in, I’d love to hear your thoughts on getting started, how you use it, etc.
New Music Video Project Completed!
Here it is, fresh out of the edit suite as of last night, 1/27/2016! This was one of those projects that has taken some time to complete for various reasons, but I’m excited to get it out there, as is the artist, Wayne William. Take a look, then I have more below describing the nuts and bolts, for those interested.
Wayne lives in Malta, that tiny island nation in the Mediterranean just south of Sicily, and just north of Libya. He’s a full time professional musician who performs, writes and produces. He’s a very talented guy, and I’ve had the privelage to work with him making three music videos so far.
For this project, we worked with Patrick Boland from Honeytone Music. He has a studio locally where I live, and where Wayne occasionally comes to visit family. We shot the bulk of the footage in this great location, Patrick was extremely helpful and accomodating. Exterior footage acquisition ranged from the streets of Green Bay and Madison, WI, as well as some shots from downtown Chicago, IL, and Tucson, AZ.
I shot the footage on a Canon 70D, using mostly two prime lenses, a Pentax 50mm, and a Nikon 24mm. Both gave some really nice depth of field, and the quality glass really pushed the image quality of the 70D. I use a somewhat homebrew light kit, so nothing special there. I used a GoPro Hero 3+ for some of the studio shots.
A few of the shots involve motion controlled time lapse, and for this I used one of my favorite pieces of gear, the Genie system by Syrp from New Zealand. This thing is just so much fun to use for these types of things. Its a great combination of very well designed software and hardware, one of those tools I cannot recommend enough. Not every project calls for this type of work, but when time lapse is required, or desired, give this stuff a try, you won’t regret it.
Post production took place mostly in Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2015, time lapse processing was done in Adobe After Effects.
The cut in Premiere Pro CC.
Color correction was able to be accomplished entirely withing Adobe Premiere Pro CC, thanks to the recent addition of the insanely robust Lumetri Color Panel in CC 2015. Very impressive set of controls now living natively in the editor, without having to go out to Speedgrade or other tools. Using adjustment layers for an additional amount of control was phenomenal, this has changed my post production workflow for the better.
Color correction example using adjustment layers and Lumetri Color Panel.
The bulk of my work in production and post, outside of my role as an instructor of video production, is in corporate media. If you know anything about this, it can be decidedly un-exciting making training videos and tradeshow content. For the record, I’m NOT complaining, I absolutely love what I do! But its projects like this that really get me excited, that feed my passion for discovery and creativity in this visual medium. This has been a fun one, and I am personally pleased with the results.
Baseball, low first, camera 3.
#vscocam
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