Greetings from Mediterranean... or please share vacation clips

[stv]

@anonim Good points. I've seriously been considering purchasing a Zhiyun Crane Plus (was actually going to buy one tomorrow) but have had the same reservations that you've just pointed out; they're clumsy and cumbersome to use. Having to take the camera on and off constantly when travelling would no doubt make shooting a lot less enjoyable. I think I'll have to reconsider my options.

Hi @tellure, thanks for the feedback. I agree, some of the train shots are definitely too long. I was trying to match the shots with the music and wasn't able to figure out a way to switch shots without it looking out of place. I probably need to experiment more with different edits. As for the light leaks, they were all added in post.

Hi @mercer, really appreciate the encouraging words. Makes me want to get off my slack-ass and shoot some more!

I used two overlays; one was film reel footage with dust/scratches and the other was an adjustment layer to add noise and a vignette. Nearly all the clips were shot with the 14-42mm kit lens. I think two of the night shots were taken with the Panasonic 25mm F1.7.

Thanks for the camera suggestions. The Olympus IBIS sure does look attractive. How did you find the image quality of the E-M5ii and how do you think it rates against the 1080 quality of the G7? I don't mind shooting in 1080 but I haven't been all that thrilled with 1080 on the G7.

[anonim]

37 minutes ago, stv said:

How did you find the image quality of the E-M5ii and how do you think it rates against the 1080 quality of the G7?

John Brawley also provide raw futage from filming this clip at - https://johnbrawley.digitalpigeon.com/shr/TYcn0FdnEeaOtAbtG5M1VQ/TLo-KG-9wyM-lkfk5geF_Q

Just keep in mind that he used some pretty precious MF lenses...

[kye]

@anonim thanks for the video - it's very nice!

@sgreszcz I think there are degrees of low light performance.  I have found that you need ISO 6400 to record anything with normal indoor lighting (unless you have heaps of lights on) which means anything after sunset, so birthday parties, dinners, etc.  However, cameras these days like GH5 have relatively good ISO performance, but things like my Canon 700D get significant noise in even the highlights at 6400, so things are relative!

@tellure pace is an interesting thing.

The way I think about pace is from a few perspectives.
1) we often perceive pace according to our mood - if we are in a fast paced mindset then something slow and delicate (like @anonim's video) will seem too slow, but later on when we're in a slower mood it might seem fine.
2) I think the way we experience each shot is over four stages: "what is this", then "look at all the interesting stuff in here", then just enjoying the feeling of the shot / music, then "bored now!!".  Obviously the art of editing a shot is to cut before we get to the "bored now!" part.
3) The length of a video, or each section, or each sequence, is kind of like the above, and this is where the storytelling aspect comes in.  The trap of editing your own footage is to be too precious and include too much.  I shoot and edit home videos and my sister (who worked in the film industry for 20 years) would always tell me to cut things out, and she was always right.  The test for me is to get a narrative for each shot / sequence / section / film.  In @anonim's video there were things like "the buildings are old", the shot with the note might be something like "these places have meaning for people" and the shots of pulling focus between the buildings and plants and buildings and the view is to kind of paint the picture that the buildings are overgrown, or that it's a rich and fertile area, or that the buildings are on the side of a hill facing the ocean, etc.  The challenge is to understand what it is that you're trying to say, and then to say it with as few shots as possible, whilst not going too fast for the overall pace and music choices you have made.

One piece of advice I thought was wonderful was that your video should feel "a bit too fast" but not a lot.  So keep cutting until it's just feeling too fast and then stop.

In terms of pace, I thought that @anonim's video had roughly the right shot lengths as it suited the music, but perhaps some shots could have been cut as they had the same story elements as other shots.  However the Gone Fishing video of the little girl that @sgreszcz posted seemed way too long in parts - especially the shot of the girl walking which was way too long and was then followed by another shot that didn't offer anything new either!  Yes, children are much more interesting to those who know them and love them, but there are limits and I think this might have pushed those even for relatives!

@tellure I liked your video quite a bit.  Beautiful place.

@stv Your video was really quite wonderful.  I think the filters you applied were actually contributing to the overall vibe of the film, and because they were aligned with the music and cutting style and subject matter I think it worked really well, despite them being really heavily applied.  I am also not a fan of micro-jitters and camera shake, but I found your footage to not have too much of them, and the ones that were there suited the filters etc you applied.

On 7/24/2018 at 12:11 AM, Phil A said:

As we're discussing travel videos, I'm curious about your feelings about duration. I think that the "parties involved" tend to go towards too much length due to having an emotional connection while an un-involved viewer might be better served with a short clip of only 1 or maybe maximum 2 minutes? Maybe split a longer clip up into multiple shorter ones with a specific theme?

Obviously if it is to be posted via Social Media, attention span of most viewers is more like 10 to 30 seconds.

As I've mentioned before I think duration is a matter of cutting until the content moves fast enough.

Much is written about the short attention spans of Social Media people, but look at Casey Neistat whose YT channel has almost 10M subscribers, 2.3B views, and whose top ten videos include five videos longer than 8.5 minutes.  IIRC his total watch time averaged something like >5minutes per video, and his most popular age group is something like 10-12 year olds (happy to be corrected here - the stats aren't visible anymore).  And then look at how many people watched 10 seasons of Friends, 5 of Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones is still going strong, etc.

The answer is content.  Keep the pace up and you can almost go for as long as you like.  My kids watch YT for hours, and will watch meme mashup videos that go for 30+ minutes, even without moving or even taking toilet breaks, and we talk about how people spend so much time on social media that it's is "addictive".  People have huge amounts of attention - if they're not spending it on your content then it's the fault of the content, not the viewer!

9 hours ago, stv said:

Having to take the camera on and off constantly when travelling would no doubt make shooting a lot less enjoyable. I think I'll have to reconsider my options.

I've seen people setup gimbals with a quick-release plate that is balanced nicely (normally for the middle position on a zoom lens if that's what they're using) and then taking the camera on and off can be done very quickly.

Shown at this point of this video (the rest of this video is really useful too):

 

[anonim]

@kye I'd say - nice effort and analysis, and even nicer clear, honest and openminded enthusiasm in involving in topic, sharing views, opinions, suggestions, helping each other.... Thanks for contribution.

[sgreszcz]

On 7/22/2018 at 7:12 PM, stv said:

Hi @anonim, thanks for your kind feedback! I'm really glad you liked it. Overall, I think the vintage look worked out ok in this case. I'd like to go back to Japan later this year and hopefully get some clean footage like yours (beautiful place and shots by the way). Do you find the IBIS in the GH5 good enough for getting smooth footage? I'm wondering if it's worth upgrading from the G7 or getting a gimbal instead.

Hey @stv - I really liked the video.  Much more creative and artsy than anything I can produce.  Gave me a good feeling of what you saw and never having been to Japan myself, everything felt modern/familiar but very different and alien.

I agree with everything that @mercer says about IBIS in Panasonic and Olympus cameras.  The Panasonic is pretty good now, and the Olympus is outstanding.  I switched to Panasonic from Olympus a few years ago when the GX80 came out with IBIS as I wanted the better video quality for a project that I was shooting.  I just got the GH5 with 12-60/f2.8-4 with OIS as I was looking for a single-camera solution with a better EVF.  I'm pretty sure the G85 would be good enough for what I do, but I got a great deal on a used GH5 in the US.  I shot a carnival event with just that and the dual-IS worked great.  I also just travelled with my GX80 (first gen Panasonic IBIS) and could get away with walking / moving carefully with my wide Laowa 7mm/f2.  I also shot a lot with the same camera and 45-175PZ with OIS.  The footage was quite stable (shake wise) even using 1080p 2x ETC mode (350mm) - no jitters but hard to keep frame from "swaying".  I'm quite happy with the shots that I got.  Now I just need to find time to edit and share.

Like @anonim I have a Crane (M) that I tried with my GX80.  It does great for adding stable motion, but it is not my style.  I prefer a much more minimal setup as there is too much messing about and things to carry.  (I mostly do event stuff or shoot family stuff when I have time on holidays).  I'm just a video enthusiast (with another day job) that does small docs or events, so take what I say with a grain of salt.