Amused to Death with the 7D

ChuckS

ChuckS

Veteran
This is the first test where I actually went out to shoot a test. Earlier I posted kind of a point and shoot day at Big Bear.

For these sorts of tests most people seem to be shooting in beautiful natural settings, I on the other hand spent a couple of afternoons at the local airport. I figured if I could make this look good I would have accomplished something.

This was shot with several different picture profiles and the stock 17-85MM Kit lens. Unfortunately I don't have any ND filters, I was able to use a polarizer which helped but I would have liked to get several more stops for a shallower DOF.

If you like planes, hopefully you'll like this.

http://vimeo.com/8372960

The last two time I tried posting a Vimeo clip on this forum all I get id the "white Vimeo" logo spinning, the video never actually appears. Am I doing something wrong. Anyway, just click on the link. Thanks

I thought I would mention that the first plane in this video used to belong to Cary Grant. What a waste, its just rotting away.
 
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Very nice footage. What a great location to spend the day in.

Two quick questions: What were you using for your dolly shots, an indislider or equivalent?
Also, was the first shot a zoom or a push? It looked like you might have digitally zoomed
in post on a a number of shots 01.24, 4.06, etc.

Thanks again for sharing.

Peter

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Ok. One more question. At 5:04 you start to jib up. Silly question, are you using a jib or
perhaps a slider/tripod combination?

Thanks again.
 
I tried a couple of things: I did quite a few handheld shots using the Shape shoulder support after which I attached it to the tripod which extended the camera about eight inches in front of the tripods pivot point which had a nice effect. I also kept the counter balance weight on the support which made for very smooth tilts.

I also attached the indiSLIDER onto the tripod, it took a little practice to get it smooth. Also panning and tilting while sliding had some interesting results - not all of them usable...

And yes I used a really inexpensive 12' jib with a Monfronto Fluid Head. Again, after some practice I was able to make it work pretty well with the 7D. I did not try mounting the indiSLIDER on the jib. :laugh:

The first shot was accomplished with the indiSLIDER mounted on the tripod, however I lowered the front about 10 degrees, leveled the camera mount on the slider and simply pushed the camera on the slider downhill. This was at 35MM, I tried a couple of times at 5o and 85MM but I couldn't do it smoothly enough.

1:24 was the slider the next shot was done digitally, zoomed out from a 30% push-in. I tried to do as many actual camera movements as possible, it was kind of the point of the exercise.

At 5:04 this is a straight jib shot, fully extended. The props are huge so this plane sits about 10 feet in the air. On thelast shot of this plane I had the jib on top of container and I still couldn't get to the top, the tail must be almost 20 feet.

I'm amazed at how well Michael Fletcher and Philip Bloom ad motion to their shots. Its hard to do but really fun to try.

Thanks for watching.
 
Thanks.

I got a Glidecam for Christmas now I'll have to go and shoot some more if I can ever balance the stupid thing...
 
youtube got a great tutorial for setting up a glidecam with hdslrs ofcourse it works with traditional hd cams .

Dont you just hate it when someone uses the word tradtional ?
 
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