"Columbus" by Fast Planet, music video with Driftwood Sedna AQ1 and Voigtlander 25mm

jmw

jmw

Active member
"Columbus" by Fast Planet, music video with Driftwood Sedna AQ1 and Voigtlander 25mm

Hi guys,
I just wanted to share a music video I just completed. We used a couple of GH2s with Driftwood Sedna AQ1 applied (the "A" version) and shot mainly with the Voigtlander Nokton 25mm. There is also a healthy amount of Olympus 9-18mm on a Glidecam HD-1000, as well as the GoPro HD Hero 2 for all of the underwater material. I utilized the new dive housing for increased sharpness. I hope you like it.

 
Loved it. Great shooting, editing, and I like the aggressive color grading. About the only thing I didn't like was the older kid's attitude. :)
 
That was pretty cool, great idea! I liked the color grading myself as well. A little bit of grit and grain and it would look like old 70's 8mm or something. The pool swirls of darkness added to it too.
 
Thanks Kevin, I was debating a grain overlay for quite some time. Ultimately decided against it as I wanted to maintain bright unobstructed color for the most part, and I didn't find a balance that I liked. It definitely would have contributed a nice nostalgic feel if I could have set it correctly.
 
Well done. At first I though this is a kid's party video with some music background. But then the story unfolds. Can you talk a little about how you set up the story line? Interesting idea.
 
Thanks stoneinapond. I had mentioned to the band awhile back that I wanted to shoot something underwater. I felt like their music could play well with the kind of dreamy feel that underwater footage and slow motion provides. So the actual story really grew out of an idea that one of the band members had. The basis was to have a bully at a pool, and he terrorizes kids. A doll is thrown into the water, then a monster is spawned who sets things straight. So the doll, the bully, the monster, and the pool were kind of the central elements that were built upon. We were initially thinking about a public pool, where a bully would be more likely to be found. However, we didn't want to have a limited amount of time at some public pool and worry about permission, legalities, etc. (we also had a budget of a few hundred bucks). So setting it at a birthday party in a private setting was better for logistical reasons and most importantly, it made perfect sense for the overall plot (the girl receiving the doll as a gift). Then it becomes kind of an assumption that the bully is actually at the party against his will, and is just looking to spread his misery to others. So all of these pieces kind of evolved for awhile until we felt like it was a strong concept.

When it came time to shoot, all of the kids who were birthday attendees were told that it was a real birthday party, and they'd have cake and get to go swimming. Most of them were under 5, so it would have been difficult to direct them specifically anyway. So we just let them go at it naturally, and captured it on a couple of GH2s. Then we shot the narrative pieces to fit in with what we had shot "doc" style. To be honest I was bit worried while we were shooting that it wasn't going to have enough narrative structure. And I still think it is a bit too indefinite at times, but I'm pretty satisfied. I feel like the narrative parts are just frequent enough to anchor the rest of the material.
 
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Yeah, this was awesome. Loved the color grading, editing, under water stuff. A very well executed concept!
 
jmw said:
Hi guys,
I just wanted to share a music video I just completed. We used a couple of GH2s with Driftwood Sedna AQ1 applied (the "A" version) and shot mainly with the Voigtlander Nokton 25mm. There is also a healthy amount of Olympus 9-18mm on a Glidecam HD-1000, as well as the GoPro HD Hero 2 for all of the underwater material.
Click to expand...

I'm a little confused. You had 2 GH2s - if you were shooting simultaneously on both, did you have 2 25mm Voigtlanders? Or was the 25mm on one GH2 and another lens on the other GH2?

Congratulations on a good concept and nice footage!
 
Thanks guys! @OldCorpse, yeah I didn't explain that very well. Two GH2s with two Voigtlander 25mm lenses. We wanted to be as efficient as possible so we could get those kids out of there. But yes for some of the shoot I kept one camera on my Glidecam with the wide Olympus lens, then just grabbed the other camera with the 25mm really quickly when I needed to switch. I was lucky to have access to another GH2 and 25mm lens for this particular project, and it definitely saved a good amount of time.
 
jmw said:
...I had mentioned to the band awhile back that I wanted to shoot something underwater. I felt like their music could play well with the kind of dreamy feel that underwater footage and slow motion provides...
Click to expand...

Thanks for the detailed explanation. Give kids cake and a pool and you're all set. :thumbsup: Very clever and a great lesson in how to use minimal resources.

But about the underwater shots. I'm assuming you didn't have tanks and weights. So how did the camera op breathe and stay under?
 
Actually I did have weights, however crude they may have been. I should have taken a photo of the setup as I was quite proud of how it worked out. I had the GoPro in the dive housing and attached the suction cup accessory. I went to a thrift store and found a 10 pound dumbbell. There are a ton of weights at thrift stores, people give up on workouts so easily! Specifically though, I found one that had a wide metal space at the end, I think they were Reebok brand. Anyway, it had just enough space for the suction cup. So once attached, I had a really nice bit of weight keep me under the water and fairly stable. And as a bonus, I had a comfortable rubber grip from the dumbbell.

As for breathing, I can hold my breath for a good while, so it wasn't bad. We just did one action at a time and kept the shot setups pretty basic. Also, all of the GoPro material was 720p 60fps so that allowed me to extend the material I was capturing underwater by going slow-mo for all of it.
 
Oh, and for a few of the monster shots, I just had the GoPro mounted to a monopod that I stuck in the water. I walked along the edge of the pool and led him while he swam. For another one, he just held the camera in front of him with one arm and paddled with the other.
 
No problem at all. I learn so many helpful tips on here, CheesyCam, Vimeo, and others that I would feel like a jerk if I didn't explain anything.
 
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