Posts tagged videography

A movie without sound is a photo…

When making movies with the recent (or not so recent considering the 5D Mark II is 1.5 years old by now) HD capable DSLRs, audio is almost always the weakest link. I’ve got some good footage with horrible audio and in controlled environments, my Rode Stereo Video Mic gives good sound. I’ve taken it off camera and boom mounted it for some cases but the camera isn’t always the best recording medium at times. I’ve been looking at Zoom’s H4n but it’s a bit beyond my budget at the moment. Come July however, Zoom will release something for the budget movie makers like myself. The Zoom H1. Same XY mic arrangement, smaller form factor and most notably, the USD99 price tag. It only has a single input and output jack but that’s good enough for myself.

  • Stereo X/Y mic configuration captures perfect stereo images
  • Same frequency and SPL handling as popular Zoom H2
  • Records Broadcast WAV (BWF) at 96kHz/48kHz/44.1kHz at 16-bit or 24-bit
  • Records MP3 from 48 to 320kbps for maximum recording time
  • Hi-Speed USB 2.0 port
  • Built-in reference speaker
  • Includes 2GB microSD card and one AA battery
  • One AA size battery allows 10 hours operation
  • Accommodates up to 32GB microSDHC memory cards
  • Track marker function
  • Low cut filter
  • Built-in tripod mount
  • 1/8″ external mic input
  • Stereo 1/8″ line output
  • Auto record level

Christmas Wish list

Hey, one can wish right? There’s a lot of stuff I need for the house like a new refrigerator or oven or even some new furniture but I think I’ll be quite happy if someone would just drop a 1 meter long GlideTrack into my Christmas stocking!

Video Workshop at Integricity Visuals

“What? He’s doing video also now?”

That’s what my brother-in-law said when he found out I was attending a video workshop. Funny but that’s where I was on a Sunday morning. In fact, the workshop ran on till past 7pm! We had a blast.

Why would a stills photographer attend a video workshop? Well, my DSLR has been called a VDSLR but I like what Vincent Laforet calls it, a HDDSLR — a SLR that shoots HD video. It’s also a world apart when working with stills and video. It’s not easy but it’s something that requires a different kind of planning, approach and all that stuff.

While I’m not sure if I’ll be producing a lot of movies, I do believe that no learning is wasted and that if you only stop learning when you die. So, even from the stills photography side of things, movie-making does give you a few ideas and a cinematic approach is not a bad thing to add to your array of styles or ideas.

It was fun to see how things are done in the movies and learn some interesting camera tricks as well. There was basically an overload of information and I think it would be best done as a 2-day workshop as the video project takes time to work out, and do. Also, movie-making isn’t a solo endeavor so teaming up is a good approach but time is a biggest factor here. That said, the entire workshop taught me a lot of things, not to mention that if you want a cinema look, try not to use the zoom! That’s pretty easy… zooming on a HDDSLR is not the easiest thing to do.

Sorry bout the some of the photos below… I was using my iPhone as the class pace was fast and loaded, making it difficult to reach for the HDDSLR and take notes at the same time! The only thing I wish there was more off would be more examples and sample videos but this is an intro workshop so can’t go into such depth. Time to save up for my Redrock Micro video DSLR rig and the Intermediate Video workshop 🙂

A fun thing would be to have a Collision Conference or Re:Frame right here in Malaysia.

Kee Sitt and Grace demonstrating a 180 degree flip… a no, no in video.

Gear envy!

Editing our little Nescafe ad we made…

By the way, I’ll post our end result once I get the final copy from Karan.