Archive for March, 2010
Set up, Sell out, and wear a Sari! *try not to get run over in the process!
I arrived in Delhi last sunday, so I’ve been here over a week. I sold out – corporate style- and set up ready to work. On my first day in the “office”, (where I’ll be filming for the company), I was informed that I would be flying to Mumbai the next day, and Chennai the day after that, and back to Delhi that night – they wanted coverage of diverse offices!
Luckily I wasn’t dragging around a z1 kit – just my nifty little 5D camera bag.
At the airport, I had some small issues getting through with everything as hand luggage – everyone has their own stories about sneaking gear in through security – tripods are especially suss. I was also lucky due to the fact I had three bags, when you’re only allowed one! I just said they all fit into my KEEN backpack – was risky, but it passed.
By my 3rd flight back to delhi, I simply tipped my backpack upside down and poured everything into the boxes for the Xray scan. That worked – no questions asked!
I recommend to other travelling film-makers to always bring your expensive gear onboard as hand luggage – which means your going to be lugging around
some pretty heavy bags, but it’s
not worth the risk. You can never have enough foam, bubble wrap and drysacks – to bring a’plenty. If you’re really on a shoestring, clothes, plastic bags and gaffer tape do the job fine!
Some more advice for fellow filming travellers is to buy a the same backpack I have – IF your not going into rainy climates. Ok, I know, it’s stupid – the bag doesn’t exactly close. But hear me out; having a bag which is designed (I guess?) for bike riders – the only access to the bag is via the top – through a cord string and metal latch. The curve of the bag makes it almost impossible for anyone to steal your gear – without taking you with it! I feel totally safe carrying my laptop, mic and other expensive gear on my back – but only with this pack. (Sucks if it rains though!)
Plus, KEEN is an awesome brand ~ their stuff just lasts. Mine, like most keen bags, is reinforced with a rubber underneath, so it never wears out.
SO – The shoots went well – but it was super fast. I would fly in – get driven from the airport to the first location/office – shoot everything I needed, have a bite to eat, then drive to the next office before flying out again. Not an easy task. But luckily enough, with spare batteries, and two 16 gig cards, there was no hassle waiting for ingesting or charging.
Now – normally I shoot on Manual – but with such a strict timeline, and literally running from office to office, I found using AV (Aperture Priority) really useful.
Basically, this mode allows me to change the f/number I’m shooting at. So if I run outside to get a nice wide shot of the office building, and need everything in focus and sharp, I bump up the f/stop to something like 8 – 10. (Depending on how wide, and how much image I need in focus) Then, when I run back inside, and need a dirty close up of an employer, I drop it back down to f/4. *For more detail on Aperture and Camera Shooting techniques – keep tuned. I’ll put up some “how to” videos and blogs for everyone starting out
The camera then takes care of everything else like Shutter Speed – but be aware – I highly recommend using Manual Controls, especially shootin
g Video as shutter can be quite an issue. But if your strapped for time, constantly changing locations, or doing some foreign correspondent style freelancing in a war zone – then yeah, sometimes automatic controls can be helpful.
Later down the track, I will also be going into the famous “rolling shutter” issue with the Canon 7 and 5D – a very misunderstood issue concerning all potential Canon 5D owners, and rightfully so. But I will explain why this shouldn’t hold back your decision to convert to DSLR videography ~ because it’s worth it.
I wont go into massive detail about the corporate video – basically that’s my ticket to film my documentary in Nepal! So I’ll try keep the focus on that. But just quickly – the editing went well, and fast thanks to the new plug in for final cut! (See earlier post).
I managed to cut a 3minute, 1 minutes and 20 second piece – ended up using one and a half / two cards 16G cards a day, so sorting through it was pretty tough – I started the converting on friday, then again on monday. Finished the assembly on Monday night and had it all cut together by tuesday to present.
Now it’s Wednsday – and I’m copying everything onto a Hard-drive for the company. BUT CHECK OUT THIS BEAST!!!!! >>>>
LaCie D2 Big Disk Extreme 500G vs LaCie Rugged 500G – which one would you choose? OH! And DID i mention that weighs more than my laptop?? A little behind India!! C’mon! You’ve gotta catch up!! I haven’t seen a 500G hard-drive that big in years…
Anyway. Enough whinging.
SO just one last thing in regards to corporate videos – I’ve attached a template for anyone looking to get into corporate work . This is basically a good starting point for anyone wanting to approach a company – but not sure what to ask them. The trick is – they often wont know what they want until they see it, so providing them with this type of questionnaire can be very helpful to you both. Check it out: template-project-outline
I recommend to everyone to work together with at least a crew of 4 even for small projects. And get a proper assistant editor or wrangler to make sure all footage is captured/ingested and logged correctly. I had to skip that process for now – which is highly annoying – because it means I’ll have to go back to the footage to name everything. But in 2 days to produce 4 clips, when I only had 3 days to shoot travelling over 3 940 kilometres…!!! I’m pretty happy.
Anyway! I’m packing my bags for NEPAL! So DEFINITELY keep your eyes out for this blog – because now it’s going to start getting iiinnnterreestting…..
Cheers,
~
j
Khumbh Mela ~ Haridwar 2010
My WEEKEND at the Khumbu Mela ~
More to come in a backtrack blog ~ but here’s a sneak peak::
Khumbh Mela 2010 ~ India from Jacqui Hocking on Vimeo.
Introducing EOS Movie Plugin-E1 for Final Cut Pro
THE GATEWAY TO INDIA
~
and so my journey begins….
~
And what a way to start!! Already knee deep in postproduction from a side project/corporate video here in India! I’ve flown from Delhi to Mumbai to Chennai and back to delhi in 3 days – to get supreme coverage of different offices – but what does that mean? I have a HEAP of footage – and need a snazzy workflow to get through it all! and FAST!
Well, the firmware update is fantastic – no more waiting around converting framerates. BUT we still have the hassle of getting it into ProRes – right?
Let me introduce you to the EOS Movie Plugin-E1 for Final Cut Pro – a fantastic way to quickly and effectively bring your footage straight from your card into Final Cut using the Log and Tranfer option. <shift apple 8>
Firstly – downlad the update from here; for free!
Once installed – it’s simple to use. Connect your card reader, and open your log and transfer window. Now, in the settings…
Now you will see Final Cut reading your CF card;
WICKED!
Now you have the options to set the in/out points for each clip, rename etc. and get your self organised! The best thing is, the process once you’ve added the selection to queue is SO much faster than compressor!!! I got an entire 16G card done in the same time it took compressor to do a batch of 12!
It’s pretty cool stuff, very exciting for all you 5D converts out there… but also compatible with the 7 and 1D.
For more detailed specs, check out the website:
http://www.usa.canon.com/dlc/controller?act=GetArticleAct&articleID=3249
Happy editing!
footage coming soon….
EOS Canon 5d Mark II – Resolution Test
I’ve just arrive in New Delhi – and I couldn’t wait to get a few test shots of my new baby. I was amazing surprised – if not utterly stunned – by it’s capability.
Firstly, have a look at this (pretty poor) shot I took off the balcony of my guest house:
Now, lets have a closer look – like – 100% closer…
I was pretty impressed. Firstly – this is a moving image. The woman was walking exceptionally fast. But seriously – check out the clarity of this pic! I definately made the right choice here with the 5D – until the Scarlet is released; i’d say this fine piece of equipment is unrivalled in regards to it’s (relatively cheap, around AU$3k) price.
But keep posted – I’ll be putting on updates as I go, including all the 5d’s setbacks and limitations… but so far, so frikn awesomely good.
And so we start again…
Hello! And firstly – sorry for everyone who was following my last blog – so much has been happening over the last few months, I’ve deceided to start fresh and take down all those older posts. This blog will be more focuses on production aspects – equipment demos, editing blogs and the distribution process.
To fill you in briefly – since leaving school – I have been travelling with the TOPtoTOP Global Climate Expedition, filming their travels. We sailed in the Sydney Hobart Race in 2008, then went on up the east coast to Darwin – Indonesia – Borneo where we got some amazing footage of the beautiful endangered orangutans – and ending in Singapore. Now, after a few months of intensive editing work on some great projects here in Melbourne – I’m off to join them again! And where else to begin but the highest mountain on earth??
Yup – tomorrow I leave melbourne kitted out with a new camera to India and Nepal – for corporate work and to continue the exciting documentary on the TOPtoTOP Global Climate Expedition. Follow the weekly expedition reports at www.toptotop.org!
Its seems a long time since I first worked on a professional, but small budget trailer back in 2007, when I was still in my final year of high school! It was the first of many exciting projects – but significant to me, as the starting point of what I will hope to be a long and inspiring career.
Having started so young- I have the advantage of not being afraid of new technology. Which is why on this trip I will be using the Canon 5D with the new firmware update which only came out this week! Luckily I was also just in time for the UPDATE of the UPDATE – 2.0.3 was found to have an error in the C mode function ~ but I’ve updated mine just in the nick of time before I leave to 2.0.4!
I will be posting more updates about how the 5D system goes – trekking with camera gear – and editing on the go in hotel rooms and mountain ledges! It’s all very exciting stuff, so stay tuned.
The plan is to spend a week in New Delhi working on a corporate, then I will be flying to Nepal – where I will join the TOPtoTOP team on a 3 week trek to Everest Base Camp! Wish me luck!!
Thats all for now, I have some serious packing to do. But hopefully you will enjoy reading this blog, and I will have plenty of useful information for like-minded film-makers out there wanting to follow similar expeditions or projects. Especially regarding the new 5D!
(Don’t worry – down the track I’ll also post a full equiptment list – with recommendations and warnings after the trip about how it went!)
Cheers everyone, it’s going to be an exciting journey ahead…
~
j