DVX at an Amusement Park

[Rich Lee]

There is a little amusement park/fair thingy that comes around where i live this time of year. Im probably going to do a little film festival intro movie using it or one like it. so i decided to go and shoot some test footage there tonight, to see what i can get out of the dvx in that kind of enviroment. I ended up cutting it to music, then i ended up doing a little s-curve adjustment, now i kinda like it on its own.

anyway, thought i would share it.

peace!

http://www.rich-lee.com/Amusement.htm

[donbarzini]

Thanks Rich,

Interesting departure from the music video. The shots are great, sort of gives me an eerie feeling even though it's an amuesment park. DVX holds up well there.

[MrBeaker]

Great footage Rich ;D

Like the cuts of the footage and the music goes good with it.

[hienben]

Nice One Rich!

Great short! I like the shot of the kid throwing the ball. You got great quality footage with limited lighting. I am interested to know what settings you used as I plan to shoot in Chinatown at night in a few days time.

[Rich Lee]

thanks guys.

hienben- i will look and see what settings the cam was at tonight. I can tell i shot pretty much wide open.

The kid throwing the ball is cool, i love how when he turns to us, and smiles, he's got the classic missing front teeth smile. funny.

donbarzini- yeah, it is kinda eerie at times, i think its cause some of the angles are a little surveillance like at times. and also cause we never see alot of the peoples faces, mostly silhouettes and stuff.

[disjecta]

Wow Rich,

That was awesome. Very surreal, reminded me of a David Lynch dream sequence. :D

Nice exposures too...was this 24p?

[Rich Lee]

thanks disjecta. yeah, 24pa. i almost always shoot that way now. i love it. yeah, i keep thinking now, there must be a way to use this as part of a short film somehow, like the opening of one or something. i dunno, i cant wait to shoot the film fesival intro movie there, its should be really sweet. its has a similer story line as in the movie BIG when the young tom hanks kid is trying to get on a ride, but he is too short for it and get stoped by the ride guy. It should be fun.

[BigWilly1231]

did you have permission to shoot or did you just go and shoot.....Also tripod handheld a little of both what did you use

[Moe]

Very NICE! SPOOOOKY :o I like the choice of music, and I have to also say very well exposed. Can't wait to see the Short Film :)

[Rich Lee]

BigWilly1231- no permission, just went and shot, its was all handheld. no one seemed to care about me shooting there. im sure if i was with a gang of other people with lights they would have said something. but the dvx isnt very intimidating, almost looks like some of the cameras people at the park had. i wonder if i would have gotten stoped if i had an xl1/2....

[gualbert]

Psychodelikus!!! I liked it a lot!!!

Do you remember your settings besides the 24PA?

[Carrington Benz]

Nice Rich - liked that alot - to me the shot of the smiley catterpillar ride was eerie - went very well with the music felt like it was gonna get freakier like a seq out of willy wonka.
The spinning lights had a nice close encounters vibe - those colors worked very well.

I have just finished a title movie intro for an upcoming film fest too - I cheated a little & used footage from my raver video with a little twist - I'll post it up when I get a chance but nice one on the fairground :)

[monte]

Reminded me of taxi driver, but maybe thats just because it was at night and some of the graininess and colors...

TAXI DRIVER

[J.R. Hudson]

That was very nice. Reminded me of some urban film and these were insert shots for some reason. Nice comps, coloring...

I would have preferred a more mellow Jazz myself. :D

[Rich Lee]

cool thanks guys.

Gualbert- Gamma=cine-like-v, Knee=auto, matrix=cine-like, v detail freq=thick. there u go....


Carrington- yeah the catterpillar ride has something wierd/errie to it, the angle, the light, the kids....im trying to think what it reminds me of now, like some sort of pre apocalyptic thing, like in T2 just before the bomb hits the playground....or 12 monkeys or something. tho whole thing is kinda creepy.

I have to post a little bit of what a friend on mine said about it when i sent it to her....i love this take on it...

"that caterpillar ride is a riot! and that shot of the dad silhouette
waving to the ferris wheel. the guy gives the kid a dollar and he gives it to the man. the kid gets a balloon! like that. it's really narrative. all of our innocent, naive, dull, protected little childhoods ...and eventually, we all get raped by the guy from the DEA or beat up by some crack head or shot by accident cause some mo is freaking out about his girlfriend and his pitiful job at the post office...you know, contrast. shared history. what might of been. what can never be ..."

monte-cooool, taxi driver....i love the look of that film. you mean like the shots of him crusing around looking at the prostitutes?

John Hudson- yeah, like maybe inserts for a movie like Lost Boys? i guess with a film like that it helps that a bunch of the film takes place in or around a fair. what kinda of mellow jazz? just curious.

[J.R. Hudson]

I am not the 'Jazz' masta but listen from time to time.

http://www.kifm.com/home/index.cfm

[speedbump]

What impressed me was the sharpness you got from the low light conditions.

I especially loved the sequence with the kid who got a few dollars and turned with the front teeth missing; pretty much encapsulated what most of us have experienced at carnivals!

Eye candy, for sure.

[PC]

Opening shots are really amazing. It really inspired me to do a project which I have been thinking about for more than two years. I will dedicate it to U when I complete that for giving me the final push.
(I still have not seen the whole thing. :'(.Same INTERNET CONNECTION PROBLEM) I will be trying to see it again tomorrow.

[Rich Lee]

Yeah, im not a huge jazz fan, i dig mingus though.

speedbump- that kid was great. its cool just to go and find these little moments, know what i mean?

PC- Glad i insipired you! definitly post some stuff when its ready to go! have fun man!


peace

[HansK]

Very nice footage. That is what I call a great clip of eye candy. All the colors, movement, missing info (visually), work to keep me interested.

Very cool.

[DarkOne]

Hey Rich,

The colored flickering bulbs close up was the best, along with the blurred out red light spinning on a ride.

Real Cool....

[jigmic]

I waiting for Darkman to come out and tell me to"take the fucking bear). I dug it.

[jigmic]

Also, what settings did you use in your camera?

[Guest]

Rich,

Whoa! I'm currently saving my hard earned dinero for a dvx100a, and I was debating between that and the XL2, but your footage just sold me hard on the Panny! Seriously, your humble little footage is the most amazing thing I've seen done with this camera, and it's all done with available light! Awe-inspiring. I'm seriously having to pick my mouth up from the floor when I think of what this camera can do. Way to go!

This is what my friends and I would call an air hump moment.

I'm a screenwriter in my spare time, and I wrote an indie movie with an amusement park scene which this reminded me of. I was trying to sell the script to a director, but after seeing what you did just off the cuff, I realized I've gotta' get a Panny and direct the show myself. Absolutely unbelievable.

Anymore footage? Pass it on! Also, any filming tips would be greatly appreciated. Can't Wait!

- Sam

[Rich Lee]

sampotter- cool man. glad i could help out. the dvx is pretty damn sweet. dont know what film tips i have to offer on that one, i kinda just shoot what i think looks nice. i'll see if i can think of any. anyway, when you get the cam and start shooting, post some stuff here. good luck with your film and your writing/directing!

peace

[Guest]

Rich,

Just checked out your website. I didn't realize you directed "Precursor"! I'm on Triggerstreet too, and I have a script that was in the top 10 and Hall of fame before they did away with it. I loved that movie! I have a few questions for you on it (Precursor), if you don't mind...

First of all, what editing program did you use?

How did you accomplish that cool time-lapse cloud effect, especially when the wind blowing on the canopy above the trailer was moving in real time?

What did you do to create the atomic wave that sweeps across the plain?

Again, any tips you have would be great.

- Sam

[Rich Lee]

that be me. glad you liked it. congrats onthe top ten for your script. to bad they did away with that stuff! >:(

i use premiere. i did the sky thing by shooting a timelapse of a sky, then comping that over the shots in the desert. i also slowed down the shots in the desert a bit so that they were even more different then the fast moving sky.

the wave thing was a mixture of cg stuff that i did in 3d, as well as some stock footage bits. its kinda cheesy. it could be done way better by someone else. its fine for what it is though, it get the point across. id love to have someone with some serious 3d partivcle skills redo it.

there is a long thread about it on dvinfo if you want to read some more about it. you might be able to pull out some usfull info there...

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=22981

peace!

[robbyracer]

Very cool shots! I'm new to the DVX and these forums in general. I really enjoyed watching your piece and I kept thinking "what's next, what's next."
I agree with disjecta it does have a wierd David Lynch feel to it.
Cheers

[triseven]

Great footage Rich. Why 24Pa? Seems like it looks a little better than the standard 24P mode. Is this technically true?

[Guest]

Hey Rich awsome shots, they also sold me on the Panny. Just curious, what is the name of the band that plays along? Thanks

[Rich Lee]

thanks guys.

triseven- i dont know if 24pa is any better then 24p. i shoot 24pa all the time, just a personal preference realy. i dont have any technical reasons why i do.

Chocho- sweet! you will be happy. the artists is Amon Tobin. I think all of his music is seriously bitchin!

[Control_Lab]

Rich ! - I love it !
That 'circular-saw' start to the music is perfect for that opening shot. - Whole edit has the most atmospheric 'shady' feel to it - best match of sound and vision I've seen on this site yet. Where can I see more of your stuff ? Keep up the good work !! Paul. ( ' must get some Amon Tobin too - do you have album name ? tnx!)

[Mike_Donis]

24Pa is better than 24P - when viewing on a progressive monitor. Rather than seeing 60i video, with a 3:2 pulldown, which has THEN been converted to a progressive format for streaming, we're seeing the original 24P frames, playing natively. on a TV, there isn't much difference, but definitely on a computer monitor there is, for sure.
It's like going to a movie theatre - there's honestly nothing exactly like it!


Rich,
That was really good. I loved the feel it had, as others have said, eerie, and yet also playful. The stuff looked great, and I can't wait to see some more of your stuff!

[jigmic]

Your stuff rocks. I liked the drug video.

[Rich Lee]

Control_Lab- thanks man. that edit came together real fast. i like that kinda stuff, just go shoot somethig, and then edit it to some music. its a fun way to experiment. when i first got a dvcam i went a shot a bunch of stuff in and around la. then cut it to some really creepy electronica music, and gave it a harsh green tint. the whole thing felt very toxic..especialy with the la smog. wish i had that thing still, got lost in a hd failure

Mike_Donis- sweet. glad your diggin it. i should have a music video ready to upload in a few weeks. i'll post it when its ready.

jigmic-thanks dude, the drug thing was a cool little experiment. messing with blur and speedramps. im really happy with the look of it. i would like to do something more with that visual style at some point.

[jigmic]

That should be an anti-drug add for tv. It makes me not want to do drugs.