Clearview Fishing: A GH1 Short

[Abstract Photog]

Clearview Fishing: A GH1 Short
http://vimeo.com/5391750

First footage shot and edited with the new GH1.
Actually the first time Iv touched a video cam or NLE in over a year :beer:

Anyway...
This was shot with the kit lens and a Canon FD 50mm 1.8.
All of the entering, exiting, and inside garage scenes were shot with the Canon. Inside at f1.8 with a follow focus.

Outside scenes shot with the kit lens and a .6 ND filter.
All shots were "hand held" with my custom rig (see below), aside from the 3 static shots in the beginning + the boat tilt (on a 501 head).

Everything was shot in full manual mode, at 720/60p at 1/60, then dropped into a 24p timeline. This was my first time working with the AVCHD workflow, and I definitely have room to improve. The quality of this video on here is horribly compressed. However, rendered out as HDV and played on my TV or Comp it looks better. Im pretty sure its from poor pull down removal. Ill be doing some more practice shoots like this one to improve before I move to anything serious with the GH1.

Edited with FCP 6.0.6 on a 2.16 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Macbook with 4GB RAM (which ran flawlessly with barely any rendering at all).

All feedback welcome, especially regarding workflow!

Screen Grabs:
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j308/ndhernan/SG2.jpg

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j308/ndhernan/SG4.jpg

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j308/ndhernan/SG1.jpg


http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j308/ndhernan/SG3.jpg

Rig Shots:
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j308/ndhernan/P1000237.jpg

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j308/ndhernan/IMG_7722.jpg

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j308/ndhernan/IMG_7726.jpg

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j308/ndhernan/IMG_7720.jpg

[Ben_B]

Nice stuff! I also have a 2.16ghz Macbook...although with 2gb of ram, it handled my AVCHD workflow (log and transfer to ProRes) fine with the test footage I downloaded. Nice vid!

[PappasArts]

Very cool! What are the parts to your rig?

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

GREAT FOOTAGE! I know this was stuff in your backyard so to speak but so much better than back yard footage.

Great Colors.
No mud, and you did have a bit of fast panning.
24p drag and drop looked pretty smooth with the gliding boat, etc.

[Abstract Photog]

Nice stuff! I also have a 2.16ghz Macbook...although with 2gb of ram, it handled my AVCHD workflow (log and transfer to ProRes) fine with the test footage I downloaded. Nice vid!
thanks dude. yea the macbook holds its own here.
i was surprised actually. i upped my memory to 4GB recently and it made a nice
difference. 4GB is a bit overkill for the macbook though as it can only make use
of about 3.5. I have a G5 Power Mac too, but I havnt done any AVCHD on it yet.


Very cool! What are the parts to your rig?
thank you!

the rig...
my rail mount is a custom modified Cine Rail System. basically, the stock set up is
far too big and heavy for the GH1. So i took it apart, laid out the parts how I wanted
them...discarding of about 50% of the original...and had the pieces helicoiled together.

the rails are from the Cine System. they're advertised as carbon fiber, but they're
actually fiberglass. i got lucky and picked up the the redrock extension arm and top
handle off ebay for cheap. them i bought a single redrock handle for this setup here:
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j308/ndhernan/IMG_7713.jpg

the follow focus is a D-Focus. Good enough for my purposes and functions well.
I have a bunch of different configurations I use, but those 2 are the main ones.


GREAT FOOTAGE! I know this was stuff in your backyard so to speak but so much better than back yard footage.

Great Colors.
No mud, and you did have a bit of fast panning.
24p drag and drop looked pretty smooth with the gliding boat, etc.

thanks man

60p worked well for this. all the reading and footage browsing before
the camera showed up payed off! this little things pretty impressive

im still making my way through your action short thread lol
i was away from the site for a bit and now iv got a bunch of catching up to do.
looks impressive to say the least!

[Ben_B]

How's the D|Focus? I was thinking of getting the indifocus 20 since it comes with all the stuff you need and is only $50 more.

[Kholi]

POW!!!

This footage rocks! Loving the low contrast look with VERY even saturation. Sick man.

[Ben_B]

Pow!!!

Actually Kholi I now see what you've been talking about re: low contrast being an amazingly good thing.

[Kholi]

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j308/ndhernan/SG2.jpg

Check the exposure beneath his jaw. It's still got contrast but the entire image is exposed in an awesome way, nothing looks crushed, it all looks natural and the seperation between his neck, jaw and chin is clearly defined without pushing the blacks overboard. Has that "film gamma", to give it in video terms, look to it.

I love low contrast cinematography, but of course it's not perfect for every situation. Again, awesome works!

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

I would say this is fairly high contrast, especially in the colors, it's just that nothing is crushed, there's so much more contrast to be had without crushing the blacks a la, HVX, DVX, HPX, etc.

[Ben_B]

Yeah low contrast is pretty cool....actually I just finished working on a neo noir that my friend shot and everything was high contrast (low key) obviously so I'm pretty sick of it despite it being awesome...actually we took advantage of low dynamic range and high contrast by doing things like hiding things. For example we shot in a bar that had a huge empty restaruant behind it, but we made it just show up pitch black on the camera, with some little lights back there that were in the restuaruant, but looked closer on camera, like it was a small, dingy bar. It also made a window that looked into another part of the place look like a window onto a street...worked out nicely..who says the HVX-200 is bad low light. IN DEFENSE OF HVX crushing blacks, it makes shooting a film noir freaking awesome...you have either positive space or negative space, you don't get much in between...very nice for noir. (in my opinion.)

Ok off topic.

Anyway great work, glad to see some footage behind the rig that I've been seeing pictures of here and there!

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

I can't believe I didn't ask this on Vimeo or here - what were your camera settings please?

[Kholi]

I could agree if you're talking about how the background contrasts the foreground. The prime detail (flesh) looks low more on the side of low contrast to me. Even if you isolated the subject and "crushed blacks" it doesn't look like it'd be fairly contrasty.

I consider this high contrast:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3022/2923036363_ce53b9a48a_o.jpg

But I couldn't say, personally, because the blacks are crushed. They actually don't look crushed to me, just looks like low key (considering most of the image's hues are on the -- left? -- side of the b/w scale.)

PS. My monitor is not calibrated.

[J Davis]

Great work ! Nice story, beautiful images well edited.
Must have taken a bit of work to do that.

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

I can't believe I didn't ask this on Vimeo or here - what were your camera settings please?
*cough* *cough*

[Abstract Photog]

How's the D|Focus? I was thinking of getting the indifocus 20 since it comes with all the stuff you need and is only $50 more.
im happy with it. its a bit tempermental when setting up if your not used to
it. its small and light which is what I wanted. theres a few package options,
and i went with the complete, which included 4 lens gears. $150 shipped


POW!!!

This footage rocks! Loving the low contrast look with VERY even saturation. Sick man.
thanks bro. your thrift store footage sealed the deal for me on the GH1 btw.
lower contrast is what i was going for, nothing extreme but just enough to
give it a more filmic look. the Canon FDs are perfect in this respect. saturation
took a bit of playing with to even out in FCP between the kit lens and the FDs.


I would say this is fairly high contrast, especially in the colors, it's just that nothing is crushed, there's so much more contrast to be had without crushing the blacks a la, HVX, DVX, HPX, etc.
there are a few scenes that I think the contrast was a bit too high in.
ie: once my bro hits the grass on the way down to the boat (both cuts),
and the first shot of him rowing out. i did what i could for them in post,
but bringing up the mids past a few points and you start to see artifacts.

but otherwise, i see the contrast more from Kohli's point of view.
i like high contrast in my photography, so my view of lower contrast
mostly comes from comparisons to my stills.



Yeah low contrast is pretty cool....actually I just finished working on a neo noir that my friend shot and everything was high contrast (low key) obviously so I'm pretty sick of it despite it being awesome...actually we took advantage of low dynamic range and high contrast by doing things like hiding things. For example we shot in a bar that had a huge empty restaruant behind it, but we made it just show up pitch black on the camera, with some little lights back there that were in the restuaruant, but looked closer on camera, like it was a small, dingy bar. It also made a window that looked into another part of the place look like a window onto a street...worked out nicely..who says the HVX-200 is bad low light. IN DEFENSE OF HVX crushing blacks, it makes shooting a film noir freaking awesome...you have either positive space or negative space, you don't get much in between...very nice for noir. (in my opinion.)

Ok off topic.

Anyway great work, glad to see some footage behind the rig that I've been seeing pictures of here and there!
sounds cool. send me a link when youv got some footage up!


I can't believe I didn't ask this on Vimeo or here - what were your camera settings please?
(just edited to add a few things)

720/60p
Full Manual Exposure
Shutter 1/60

Inside garage shots: f1.8

ISO:
Inside garage between 320 & 800
Outside between 100 & 320

Film Mode w/FD lens:
+1 contrast
+1 saturation
0 sharpness
-2 NR

Film Mode w/Kit lens:
0 contrast
0 saturation
0 sharpness
-2 NR

due to its limitations when it comes to color grading, id like to do as much as
possible in camera. next time i shoot with both the FD's and Kit, ill be knocking
down the in camera contrast and saturation one more point on the kit lens.


Great work ! Nice story, beautiful images well edited.
Must have taken a bit of work to do that.
thanks! this was all shot on the same day in about 2 hours.
cutting & color grading probably came out to around 6 hours total.
thats not counting me trying to figure out the log, transfer, and pulldown stuff

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

...

720/60p

Film Mode w/FD lens:
+1 contrast
+1 saturation
0 sharpness
-2 NR

Film Mode w/Kit lens:
0 contrast
0 saturation
0 sharpness
-2 NR
...

Thanks.
Which "Film Mode" or scene setting Standard? Smooth?
Thanks.

[Abstract Photog]

Thanks.
Which "Film Mode" or scene setting Standard? Smooth?
Thanks.
oh forgot to mention...they were the My Film modes that you set yourself

[AdrianF]

Great shots, especially those in the garage and the close ups when he's fishing at the lake edge. Fun to watch. Thanks for posting your settings

[Kholi]

Hey abstract

the my film settings are all based on existing curves. Either he nostalgic or whatever. You can see which one yours is based on by looking at the menu with all three showing.

[gmoe]

excellent job, nicely done. Canon FD's all the way with the GH1!!

Look forward to more!

[Abstract Photog]

random still for you FD lovers...
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3601/3679018813_986588e9cf.jpg
My girlfriend Lindsay through a Canon 28mm @ f2.8
these lenses give such a nice, organic feel to video and still photography.
i actually have yet to shoot any stills with the kit lens lol

i shot a little piece in BW the other night. just some practice focus pulling and working
a little more hand held. everything was shot with my 2 FD lenses. should have a chance
to edit it together next week.


Hey abstract

the my film settings are all based on existing curves. Either he nostalgic or whatever. You can see which one yours is based on by looking at the menu with all three showing.

ahhhh ok...i didnt know that. i just assumed that those 2 were neutral settings
that you tweaked yourself. i should prob hit up the manual sometime...iv been
able to figure out everything without it so far. the menus and controls on this
thing are so intuitive and easy its awesome. Q.Menu is a life saver too

[yia]

hi, guys

I am looking for an adapter for canon fd lenses.... can you guys give me a hand on which one and which brand.....thankyou

[Peter J. DeCrescenzo]

Clearview Fishing: A GH1 Short
http://vimeo.com/5391750
...

Nice job, Nick! Thanks for posting this (lots of helpful "info" within the imagery).

[Joe Shaw]

I used the Jinfinance adapter. Seems to be well made and is working out for me.

[Abstract Photog]

thanks for the comments.
btw...iv got a linear and circular polarizer on the way to create a Variable ND.
will report back with my results as soon as I get em in and have a chance to shoot something

[vanawesome]

When you drop the 60p to a 23.98 timeline in fcp does it simply just use 24 of the 60 frames? or do you have to speed it up so that it appears to be playing in real time?

[Abstract Photog]

When you drop the 60p to a 23.98 timeline in fcp does it simply just use 24 of the 60 frames? or do you have to speed it up so that it appears to be playing in real time?

It all depends on what shutter speed you shot with.
I used 1/60, which when converted to 24p plays in regular motion.

If you shot at a higher shutter speed, than the video will looked slowed down.
For instant slow mo, shoot at 1/160 and drop into a 24p timeline.