Techniques of filming

[Kammy]

this thread is aimed at the guys who make movies:o

im purchasing my camera either this week or next *so stoked*. and want to find out what software you guys use, wether it be on pc or mac. ive got a mac so ill be starting with imovie not unless someone can suggest something better.
when your film what do you look for, is it the angles where the camera is when the rider goes past, is the perspective of the area with the rider through it??

do you guys have the camera hand held or do you use tripods??
thanks
riley

[Mr Pants]

this thread is aimed at the guys who make movies:o


Meh, I just make telly but eh.

Stay on the Mac's fella, the only box worth bothering with, start with iMovie then move up to Final Cut express.

With shooting, first up study your favourite vids and figure out what looks good, then try and replicate it. Trial and error will teach you eventually or go and do a course.

Handheld vs tripod: Both, they're good for different reasons but generally use handheld only when close to the action as you'll be more mobile and tripod when you want to use a long lens and minimise camera shake.

They make it look easy in the vids but the reality is that they will shoot one section or stunt 10 times to get the rider and camera perfect, so boss your rider about and get them to push it up the hill one more time X 10.

Pants.

[Tailus]

lighting, lighting, lighting, lighting, lighting, lighting.

That is all.

Lighting.

Buy a redhat kit.

And a big generator.

[MikeT]

i handle of somesort will deffinetly come in handy on getting a good angle. What camera you getting???

[thevish]

go crazy, there are no rules in film making... be as Creative as your ability will allow... Good choice on Imove.. perfect for starting out, i personally use Adobe premier pro, but it does'nt really matter.. different PRograms have feature that others may not have..
one thing though.. learn your editing program and learn it well.. the more you know it.. the more you Are editing things in your head while your shooting..
Lighting: the best a biggest light of all..is the sun, so use it when you shoot.

i think it's just awsome that more people out there are Getting into Shooting Mtb... the sport has yet to full bloom.. and Video's are only just Starting out
IMO.
good luck Mate, looking forward to Seeing your Stuff.
vish

[I-AM-TEH-FASTEST-11]

OK, sorry but I would almost say lighting is irrelevant, as you're filming outside you are getting natural light, and you don't have much choice about location. So make the best of the light you have, don't film into the sun, unless you mean to, and learn how to control your ISO in bad/wierd lighting (cloudy days, changing geography of focal point)

next IMPORTANT IMPORATANT!!!
0.7 wide angle lens
you don't have the luxury of being able to egt the perfect postion most of the time, generally you're within an inch of the rider at some points, so the wide angle lens gives you the most of your shot.

BATTERY BATTER BATTERY long life battries and spares

without spare batteries it's almost not worth leaving your house, YOU WILL run out of battery on a decent shoot and that SUCKS

ok, next is don't use zoom. If you're panning or miles away, whatever, but the less zoom you use the better, this is only really relevant when the object is staying the same distance away.. in that case... just get closer.

Fisheye lens, shit... burn them all.... they are unproffesional and somethin leftover from early 90s skating videos that should have died like a plauge victim.

Overuse of low angles, when you start you think getting low is really cool, but suddenly you're video becomes a documentary on the bottom of someones bike... IT IS cool no doubt, but don't get hung up on them

which brings me toooooo Dont get hung up on one shot, if you waste 2 hours and half your film and battery on one shot, you will probably waste youre shoot, do it once or twice and move on.... even if just slightly
you may think you've filmed heap sbut you get home and realise that y have 300 000 000 000 shots of the same thing.

learn to use tripods, monopods, the viewfinder and the lcd.. if you can use all of these to full effect you will know what to use and when and pull it off.

be creative..... come up with the wierdest, stupidest idea's and try them out.....try anything... be different.

film everything, constantly film (as much as batteries will allow)

don't always focus the rider in the centre of the shot....
use you're depth of field to your advantage...

As for editing... I use sony vegas. (awesome program)
I dont reccomend adobe premiere
I do recomend final cut (mac)
I do reccomend avid (best shit out there)

I prefer PC, i think mac's are shit
I studied audio engineering and learnt on both (pro-tools, cubase and so on) and came to the conclusion that PC is far superior.. this is only a personal opinion... final cut is an awesome progam and one of the best out there.

i dunno what else to say, take care of your camera, never record of your footage (buy new tapes, save allllllllllllllllllll footage you film, seriously dont make the mistakes i did THIS IS IMPORTANT GOD DAMMIT)
ummmm maybe, if youre filming a decent poject, make a journal...I'm planning on doing this, I think it could really help... you know...in editing and on later shoots...

oh yeh, buy some UV len's and other lens for colour control (all that shit)

ok hope all that helped...

[Kammy]

thanks for the tips guys. ill will try and put them to good use, when my first video comes out.

the camera im getting is at the bottom of the range in the way of dv cameras but we all have to start somewhere. its a sony DRCHC21.

cheers all

[Smokey McPot]

i better be in ur movie reilly lol!! :P

[Mr Pants]

Buy a redhat kit.


Wow! You can get Linux lights too eh? Redhead perhaps...

During day shoots get a mate to fling a reflector board around, just make sure not to blind your rider. From sick shot to sickening thud in 0.002 seconds.

Pants.