Jump to content

Leaderboard

Popular Content

Showing content with the highest reputation on 10/04/2014 in all areas

  1. There's not much less impressive than bragging about what editing system is used to cut a motion picture. It's editing, for goodness sake. Where you splice the cuts matter, not the razor that does it.
    2 points
  2. For starters, doing weddings well is not an easy task for sure. You're supposed to run and gun with cinematic end results, whilst not being in the way and distract the ceremony. Weddings are very effective yet somewhat 'ungrateful' chances to learn. So whatever criticism you get here, keep on doing weddings, if that's your thing. Your possible shortcomings is nothing that some more practise and further editing wouldn't fix. With that said, the Natalie & Jack wedding, as well as the Angelo christening suffered from same kind of little niggles. They looked a bit inconsistent, and both were a bit too long, at least for the kind of edits they were. I won't comment lens choices, grading, lighting or exposure here, I'll just concentrate on the videos themselves and how they work. A considerable part of the footage looked like it was shot by "uncle Bob" with his camcorder, whilst some other bits looked much better. There seemed to be a bit too much camera movement for the sake of movement, especially when it was handheld movement. That was a bit distracting. Some of the cuts didn't work too well together or with the music. You could have used more medium and closeup shots, too, and some of the ones you had suffered from shaky movement. I know it's sometimes hard to get the good looking bits without becoming a distraction yourself, but especially after the actual ceremony, you could have gone closer to the action, pre-plan some clips, even direct the talents and shoot with less camera movement. There were some pretty nice clips, too, for sure, and some of the existing footage could be improved by simply editing them a bit more. Which leads to the length of the video and the use of sound. Both videos were a bit too long for a "music video." You could have cut out some action and made some clips shorter, used only a part of the whole song, and been more careful in syncing the action with the chosen music. I think you could (should) have used the audio from the venues, mixed them together with the music, and edited the whole thing a bit tighter. Both in length and tempo. If the video was intended only to be a music video to begin with, it still could have been a bit shorter and tighter. Jody & Sarah's is perhaps a bit better than those two mentioned. It, too, could have had more sound from the actual event, and if this was the short version, I wonder how long the long version was, and did it have any audio from the venue. This being the short version, you could shorten it even more, leave some of the clips out completely, as well as a half, or even two thirds of the music used. Actual voices from the clips would have been nice. It may be a matter of taste, but if you insist on using b/w clips in an otherwise colour film, use the b/w clips either in the beginning or in the end only, as fading in or out clips, underneath the credits, for example. Not in the middle of the video. It would make the flow of the story more coherent. This YouTube video also had quite a long a black tail after your end credits. Again, by removing that little blooper will make the video look better and more professional. Same goes for Amy & Rich's, which is probably the best among those videos. Or it could be, if only it didn't have that cheesy 8mm film preset, which ruins the whole thing, an otherwise decent wedding day story. Some of the clips could be a bit shorter, too, or some of them could be simply left out. You could also experiment with out of order editing while at it. Well, it could work in stories like this, more so than some fake film preset. Hearing more of the actual voices and ambient sounds would have been nice here, too. There are way too many wedding "music videos" in YouTube already, and often with soundtracks ripped off copyrighted CD's, too. Even if your music was proper royalty free stuff, you wouldn't want your wedding film to look like those YouTube clips, would you. I know I'm hardly qualified to give criticism as a wedding shooter, I've only done a few myself, and have chosen not to pursue weddings as a career. But as a general member of the audience my four (gear-related) tips for you (with a disclaimer in the end) would be as follows; 1. Unless you haven't already, buy a proper monopod and a tripod asap, and use them. Even though the GH2/GH4 is deceivingly small and light, and the Lumix lenses come with OIS, don't let that fool you into thinking that you'll get away with hand holding the camera throughout the event. You won't. You simply need a proper tripod and a monopod. When doing venues like weddings, a proper monopod can also work as an improvised slider for certain detail shots. In the future wedding videos, go closer to the action, anticipate the movements and use variable angles. Don't move so much, let alone handhold the camera unless absolutely necessary. Shoot plenty of short clips from varying distances, and move between them. Shoot to edit, and then add drama and action by cutting the short clips into a coherent story. 2. Unless you haven't already, buy an external recorder and a couple of microphones, and use them. Good audio is very important in making a quality product. Don't underestimate it by simply slapping on a music track. Your audience will love the sounds from the event. A simple music soundtrack without voices and ambient sounds tend to be more boring. 3. Use more time in editing, and be snappier when you edit. It's not uncommon to use a day for the shooting, and three to five days or even a week for editing. As mentioned by many, the handheld movement in those videos was a bit distracting, and you can get rid of that not only by using a tripod, but also by editing. One of the trickiest part of the basics may be editing different clips of medium, close and wide shots together so that they work together as well as possible, and the end result flows well. You could even re-edit those videos already in YouTube by cutting off the bits with the most annoying handheld movement, and by cutting them shorter in general. Watch the videos with your friends. If they start chatting during the video, you'll know it's too long and you're losing the attention of your audience. (I learned that the hard way, too) When doing your next videos, go closer, shoot long, relatively stable shots, and then in the editing stage cut out all the wiggly & wobbly bits, leaving only the rock solid bits intact. Oh and partially for the same reason, always record a separate audio track (primary audio) with an external recorder. Don't rely on the in-camera audio alone, even if you've got a decent mic attached to the camera. Using the audio tracks is another handy way to hide dodgy footage. Try doing carefully placed L and J edits with the soundtracks, and the audience may not even notice the shortcomings in your video clips. It's trickier if you use music only. 4. Carry on doing weddings, you don't suck, and you'll get better quickly with more experience. Disclaimer: I have no idea if you knew all this basic stuff already, but I wrote it as if you didn't. Just in case you or someone else finds this useful. This turned out to be an awfully long post, but by watching your videos, thinking about these things and writing them down I'm also learning myself. I'd like to think I'm always learning. Hopefully this was helpful to someone out there. In case someone finds this just a boring waste of bandwith, I'm sure they've skipped it, anyway. Have a nice weekend.
    1 point
  3. Thank You Panasonic! i have been a Canon user for so many years, Not Any More! i'm totaly diappointed with the lack of respect for their customers opinions and needs! they become so arrogant and ignor their loyal customers. I got my GH4 along with many lenses months ago and it's just great, please continue your excellent job. Love You Panasonic. .
    1 point
  4. Cosimo murgolo

    FM lens discount

    My gold one arrived today, I am ready to put the black condom on :D
    1 point
  5. richg101

    FM lens discount

    All the mugs who jumped on the bandwagon a year or less before the bubble burst about 6 months ago have already sold up or are selling the lens they thought would turn their stuff 'cinematic' without them having to put any effort in and this has brought prices down drastically. I keep having to force myself to not grab one of the umpteen kowa 8z's or similar I see popping up for less than half what they were going for a year ago.. It's a true anamorphic nutters paradise on ebay at the moment what with all the bandwagoners giving up due to it being too much effort. Flooded market and prices more realistic now. What is awesome is that a lot more kowas will show up since users will migrate to a gold or red anamorphic to use on the fm unit and only the experimenters will be willing to make the kowa and similar lenses with non 71mm diameters work.
    1 point
  6. Cosimo murgolo

    FM lens discount

    The discount promise is still available from anamorphic shop, I am still waiting a little bit longer to gather more people, then I will pass the list to them and see what comes out. I will keep you update, thanks for asking.
    1 point
  7. Formatt make a great diffusion filter - same quality as Tiffen but cheaper Formatt Super Mist 1/4 is a nice filter less harsh than Tiffen Promist 1/4 I only ever use these filters when shooting close ups for girls/actresses faces or it can end up looking like 1970's Penthouse porn if you are not carefull!! beware!! haha!
    1 point
  8. I was gobsmacked at the quality of the fishing video with the D810, very talented stuff - but show the latest Nikons are very capable. I'm still shooting most my work on the GH3, and being very patient in upgrading to another model - clients are still happy and paying :) Still prefer the A7S from what I've seen. Nice colours on that Nikon though, would like to try it out! Vimeo videos are never enough for a buying decision :D
    1 point
  9. Dear Andrew, is the D750 video quality better than the D810? or is at least the same? i have a D800 and and i use it mainly to film weddings now it's time for an upgrade and i'm hesitating between the D810 and the D750 the flip screen and the price of the d750 are very appealing, but i'm ready to pay more for a D810 if the movie quality is much better what do you recommend? Thank you Best, Nad
    1 point
  10. herakel

    Lenses

    I got my Samyang 35mm T1.5 today, so i did a test.
    1 point
×
×
  • Create New...