Videography

[Timbo]

...is harder than it looks!

Having spent the latter part of my career working with film...everything from animation to digital effects, colour grading, editing and directing...it is with much chagrin that when I get behind the camera on a home movie project I realise I'm clueless. It's not as though I've not been behind a lens before. I've spent hours filming green screen tracking shots.When I'm animating I'm quite happy designing shots and playing with camera angles. I can't even blame 'lack of equipment' as an excuse as I'm sat looking at a pair of cameras capable of shooting at 4k and enough sound and lighting equipment to cobble dogs with! Seriously hats off to those Youtube guys. Especially the guys that make instructional videos.

Back to basics for me...right, marker pen...now then this is my elbow and this other bit is my a

[JennyMorgan]

It does no harm to go back to basics, whether behind a lens or in regard to boating. My son-in-law is at present working for ILM on the new Star Wars films yet one of his hobbies, for relaxation, is as an amateur photographer. I can only guess that the skills level and mindsets are a world apart, even light years!

[Timbo]

9 hours ago, JennyMorgan said:

It does no harm to go back to basics, whether behind a lens or in regard to boating. My son-in-law is at present working for ILM on the new Star Wars films yet one of his hobbies, for relaxation, is as an amateur photographer. I can only guess that the skills level and mindsets are a world apart, even light years!

ILM now that screams one luxurious commodity in the animation/3D world...job security! The one effects outfit the studios don't play silly b's with! Some of the out of the way places you end up having to commute to...Canada, India...Iowa...London, as the studios chase tax incentives, are somewhat remote. I would say 'one horse' towns but if they ever saw a horse they would eat it...or make it the mayor. But your son-in-law is at the top of his game as ILM only employ the very best, not only technicians but 'thinkers' or problem solvers. 

Well the first of my purchases to make life easier arrived...a new 50mm lens. I'm liking the foreshortening I can get with this lens and it is much easier to get shots into focus...although Dylan the Boat's Beagle is not impressed with being a model.

I've also ordered a new onboard monitor with really long cables for the camera in the hopes of 'letting the dog see the rabbit'.

1 hour ago, Jonzo said:

Yeah definitely! In one way you have to be grateful that we've had enormous advances in technology over the last 20 years (remember cutting things together with two VHS decks and an edit controller ), but in some ways it's now so easy for anyone to just shoot and cut together footage either entirely on their phone or using just iMovie or Windows Movie Maker that doing something that's a level above is pretty hard.

And with cameras getting better and better, people are shooting ever better footage just on auto meaning a sort of perceived need to have great (ie expensive) lenses and sound gear just to look a cut above.

 

Although I'm an old fossil Jonzo I started in the digital age so the only tapes I've spliced are C60's and C90's to remove the talking from the music on the Sunday Chart Show on Radio 1 in the late 1970's early 1980's!

[BroadScot]

Most definately an AWE DUG !!! Fab pic Tim.

 

[JennyMorgan]

A very real dog, I like that! Touchable and pettable.

Thanks, Tim, for the ILM comments. Son-in-law worked for Framestore before being tempted to work on every boys dream, Starwars. Avatar & Gravity, as well as 'Dobby' being successes in his portfolio.   

[Timbo]

3 hours ago, Jonzo said:

What do you shoot on, Tim? I'm guessing a 5D or a GH4?

Several years ago I had to update just about all of our equipment. Everything from computers to cameras. While I was looking into the potential risks of financing all of this our friendly bank manager assigned me an 'advisor'. I thought 'this numpty is going to be about as much use as a chocolate fireguard'. After the initial meeting with our advisor I didn't hear from the 'prat' for two weeks. 'That's the last I'll ever hear from that burk!' I thought. How wrong could I have possibly been? On all counts.

I received a detailed and comprehensive report from him along with three appointments he had made for me to visit 'Blackmagic', 'Nikon' and Atomos. I detailed the work we were doing to these companies and the work we could possibly be doing in the future. Quite quickly we had a package put together for us that came in a round a tenth of the budget I had originally been looking at.

First to go were the piles of junk from Apple...consigned to the trash where they belonged and replaced with custom PC's. Cameras next, two Blackmagic Design Cinema Cameras with F Mounts. In addition to this we obtained three Nikon D3200's later upgraded to D3300's and although they have cropped sensors they work out just fine for stills, texture and storyboarding tasks.

Just as with digital stills you shoot RAW and don't touch JPEG, in film we needed uncompressed footage so we bypassed the cameras and invested in three Atomos field recorder/monitors allowing us to record uncompressed footage at 4K.

For personal use I'm shooting with the Nikon D3300 with three prime lenses and recording to the Atomos Shogun. Microphones are K&F Concept shotgun mic, my old trusty Zoom and my even older superb quality Shure Studio mic. Old habits die hard and I decided to not shoot at 4K. I just don't like it. Instead I've gone for HD at 24fps with a shutter speed of 1/50. Lighting comes from a couple of old softboxes I picked up at a carboot for a fiver each.

 

[BroadScot]

You lost me Tim, after, several years ago ! 

Iain

[grendel]

If you saw the size of the cameras we used to film Broad Ambition at sea with the Navy, you would be amazed, I used the latest generation flip video camera HD with stabilisation, in a package no bigger than a mobile phone. 2 hours capacity - 8Gb. I picked it up on ebay for £15 as spares or repairs, and just needed to reset it to get it working, brand new they retailed at over £200.

[Timbo]

On 29/08/2016 at 9:48 AM, BroadScot said:

You lost me Tim, after, several years ago ! 

Iain

Whit ah wis saying iain wis that ah think 4k video looks crap. Efter peepin' guid auld fashioned picter-hoose fur sae lang oor brains dinnae accept whit we ur seeing. Sae we slow doon th' picture 'n' tak' fewer wee picters pal minute 'n' we slow doon howfur quick we open th' cover oan th' wee nook oan th' front o' th' camera. This mak's th' picture a wee bit blurred bit oor een see smooth picters instead o' th' video no nice ye git wi' 4k.  

 

[BroadScot]

34 minutes ago, Timbo said:

Whit ah wis saying iain wis that ah think 4k video looks crap. Efter peepin' guid auld fashioned picter-hoose fur sae lang oor brains dinnae accept whit we ur seeing. Sae we slow doon th' picture 'n' tak' fewer wee picters pal minute 'n' we slow doon howfur quick we open th' cover oan th' wee nook oan th' front o' th' camera. This mak's th' picture a wee bit blurred bit oor een see smooth picters instead o' th' video no nice ye git wi' 4k.  

 

Cud ye no a typed like that in the furst place !  I unnerstawn noo !

Iain

[JanetAnne]

It's like being in an episode of Taggert...    

[Timbo]

52 minutes ago, JanetAnne said:

It's like being in an episode of Taggert...    

Thir's bin a murder! Sae haud yer wheesht while we dram cratur, git blootert, blether doon tae wummin polis 'n' then solve it afore th' audience get's sae depressed thay skelp th' boattle tae 'n' we a' git blootert 'n' ah will hae tae explain masell tae Jean 'n' ye ken howfur she gets crabbit!

[Timbo]

Here's the video set up I'm currently using, D3300, 50mm prime and the monitor/recorder is hiding out in the shed door. No mic's set up as shooting noisy machinery yesterday.

Quite interesting day as I got one of the lads who does the shooting for us to come and 'explain' what I was doing wrong. A case of shutting my aperture while he told me how to operate the camera aperture! He also explained some of the functions on the monitor such as exposure and focus checking which helped improve the quality of my footage drastically.Still not fantastic but I now have some shots I can cobble together in Vegas.

[JanetAnne]

1 hour ago, Timbo said:

Still not fantastic but I now have some shots I can cobble together in Vegas.

Is that not a long way to have to go just to edit a film?

[Timbo]

3 hours ago, JanetAnne said:

Is that not a long way to have to go just to edit a film?

Now I could tell you the answer, but 'what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas'...until you click 'render' anyway!

And having clicked 'render' I have a kind of montage...just need to organise a storyline, script and shot list now, but I'm happier than I was!

 

[riyadhcrew]

Very therapeutic to watch Tim. Loved it too. 

[BroadScot]

Barry Bucknell, eat yer heart out! Timbo rules the wood ! Agrees with the above remarks 100%

[ranworthbreeze]

2 hours ago, BroadScot said:

Barry Bucknell, eat yer heart out! Timbo rules the wood ! Agrees with the above remarks 100%

Now that's a name I have not heard of for a long time. 

Well done Tim, keep up the good work.

Regards

Alan

[BroadScot]

1 minute ago, ranworthbreeze said:

Now that's a name I have not heard of for a long time. 

Well done Tim, keep up the good work.

Regards

Alan

Aye Alan,

Back to the glorious Black n White telly days ! 

Iain

[BroadAmbition]

Cracking introduction video, where's the rest of it?

Griff

[Timbo]

I'm still shooting while I work on the cabin sides Griff...apart from which Mia Wasikowska keeps moaning about having to share accommodation with the beagles. I say "Mia....No! There is no room in my bed. I'm having to share with Amy Adams, Scarlett Johansson and Gwyneth Paltrow as it is!".

[FairTmiddlin]

So in your fantasy you have Scarlett and Gwyneth, who hate the sight of each other in your bed . And Amy as referee?

Or are you filming a female Iron man 2?

[LondonRascal]

I’d like to say how well that video had come out – my only gripe? What I refer to as ‘Apple advert music’ the upbeat, bouncy style that I just expect will end with a slogan saying something like ‘The new iPhone. More Everythinged.'

I just would not have the patience to do the cuts and position the camera each time and so on, so hats off to you. Lovely depth, clarity and colour – I would like to achieve the same but doing the informal Blog style and having to hold a camera a lot of the time small is better as is being lightweight.

If you keep this up your soon have a following – so get prepared. There are lots of people out in ‘You Tube Land’ especially over the pond who crave boat videos of restoration and general tinkering.  I have seen a Danish guy go from a few hundred views to his first videos to many thousands – and me included wait for his next instalment wondering what will happen next in his galley re-fit and where will he place the new Reflex Diesel stove – captivating stuff to the boat Nerd.  

[Timbo]

11 hours ago, LondonRascal said:

I’d like to say how well that video had come out – my only gripe? What I refer to as ‘Apple advert music’ the upbeat, bouncy style that I just expect will end with a slogan saying something like ‘The new iPhone. More Everythinged.'

Thanks Robin, high praise indeed coming from the master. But you mean you're not a fan of the Pacific North West Hipster Folk Rock Scene Robin? One of my favourite bits of the Captain's Blog is the one with the singing to camera. Fear not, I purchased the rights for some more suitable music, performed by the Royal Philharmonic no less, a while back. I thought it would better suit the history and archaeology sections I have lined up.

Once I got back to basics as JM suggested and reached for the notebook and sketch pad, I'm a big notebook and journal fan, and created a storyboard the shots were easier to set up. I did think of an easier solution to camera positioning for close up work today. I'm having an extra roofed area added to the shed to accommodate the table saw outside for working in the winter. A large wooden boom similar to an anglepoise lamp arm would be ideal fastened to a beam so it can be swung into almost any position.

Editing, I suppose, is my forte. I do have a dedicated machine, keyboard, mouse and graphics tablet for the job. Unfortunately while the redesign of my living space is going on I'm working on the living room floor on my old laptop. What I am finding difficult is trimming clips. As an animator we plan every shot to the last second. There's no trimming involved, so I am having 'a bit of a mare', manipulating everything from the lappy's mousepad. Incentive to get my study finished and those boxes with my computers in opened up!

I'm trying to shoot and edit quite a bit in advance so I have some leeway on posting to Youtube regularly, so I'm going to have to sort some storage out pretty soon. Hopefully folks will enjoy watching as much as I enjoy pratting about with boats, woodwork and cameras.

[Timbo]

Just spat my dinner over the dog!