GH-1 Action Test: Quick and Dirty

[andrzejkra]

Long time coming, worth the wait. I am very impressed.

 

[Kholi]

I saw this last week, I believe, and said to myself what a piece of crap! Just kidding dude. I think this is one of my favorite pieces so far with the GH1. When I first saw it I said to myself, see, the 1080p is very good and you mix it with the 720p for movement and you have a pretty good piece. Very well executed action sequence. Kudos to you and your actors and crew. Excellent.

I agree with the others on the thread, you're being a bit too hard on yourself. Yeah, it's not perfect, but given that you shot it in an evening it's still pretty dang cool. It really shows smart use of the GH1 can really get around the mud issues while still retaining a 'film like' feel to it. Of course, I put my vote in for the vimeo version as well. Nice work!

This was worth the wait!
Kholi was the primary evangelist for the GH-1 in this forum months ago when I first found it.
As one of the first owners, he was incredibly patient, informative and accommodating to the requests of others. This could not have been easy to keep up with for him. I am very grateful for it.

Thank you Kholi, for your over 11,232 posts, and for your inspiring work samples!
Cheers !
Steve

Kholi. The video is great.

Thanks guys. 11.25K posts aye? I think I need a break. LoL

Mud can certainly be avoided, and in most cases you probably won't notice it anyway.

this was with your Japanese Gh1 correct?

Yeah, this was the .JP GH-1.

Hey, cool short, Kholi!

Do you remember what any of the settings were like film mode, ISO, etc? I know that's a tall order, but I'm curious.

I'm pretty sure it was Nostalgic and bounced between 320 and 640 ISO. My Nostalgic setting was dialed down nearly all the way aside from Contrast, which was slightly up.

Bloody well done!

I'll join the choir that sings you are too hard on yourself. If I understand correctly this was just you and the two actors/acrobats? Not even one camera assistant? Of course it helps to have two such talented and trained guys in front of the lens but don't dismiss the good job you did here - you got eyes for movement and blocking. A couple of inserts more to smooth the flow of the edit and this combat sequence would work in any of the current actioneers in cinemas now. You show this camera's usability and versatility very convincingly - I can't even imagine to try pull off a action shot like this alone with a 35mm film camera - or 16mm for that matter - or a RED. So let me repeat:

Bloody well done!

Nah. It would've been good to have a camera assistant of course! But still no excuse. I've slapped my hands enough now I suppose and have learned from it. Thanks dude!

Kholi,

I haven't got much of a singing voice, but I'll join the choir... Awesome work!

Regards,

Dan.

Long time coming, worth the wait. I am very impressed.

Thanks dudes. I'll pass it along to the actioneers.

Will get the Vimeo version up asap. Shooting some VFX tests right now but will get to it.

 

[Alpha Beta Omega]

Excellent stuff. I forgot it was GH1 material and just followed the action. That's says it all.

 

[Nick_K]

Dude, you are your own worst critic. That was awesome.

I stumbled upon this site a few months ago while researching an upgrade (from an old MiniDV that has seen better days). It was Kholi's original thread and his extremely informative posts that convinced me (and I suspect many others that have stuck around since) to pick up a GH1. Now back to lurking and learning...

 

[yabyum]

There's a lot of great stuff in there to build off of. It's not perfect but there are some nice moments! Thanks for posting, I got a bit inspired now.

 

[Dalton Boettcher]

I could keep going on, but the gyst of it is I wasn't prepared like I should have been and ought to have ate my damned Wheaties.

If that's the case, I really wanna see some of your well-prepared work after a breakfast of champions. :grin:

Thanks for putting this up. Oh and let us know when the Heineken thing is up and viewable someplace if you could. I really wanna see that. Thanks Kholi!

 

[Contact_Therapy]

Love it, Kholi! Great stuff all around.

 

[Shauntron]

Kholi I've seen way worse first efforts for action like this, but it's good that you're on your own case about the issues. If anything you're further demonstrating the GH1 as a potent cinematic tool. Just keep going!

If you can find the time, go get as much practice as you can. You should talk to Kerry about meeting up again wherever the guys train, and crank out a lot of test fights under low-stress conditions to figure out what works for you.

And remember to study the classics!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H__8LyR6yhs&fmt=18

 

[Lammy]

Very good work dude, especially as you took on alot of responsility behind the camera end!

The only criticism I'd say, and it's not really a criticism but more of a cinematic preference, is that I'd like to have seen longer takes from a wider and deeper depth of field. But that's just my opinion.

I noticed you said you sold your GH1, may I ask why that was?

 

[Kholi]

Dan

I'm actually in line with your preference as well. The only issue here was that I didn't have a wider, faster lens. The 17mm shot in the video's where the gun slide-by shows up. I'd say if I had something like a 20/1.8 (cough sigma) I would've used that much more often than any other lens.

I sold my GH-1 to get a US body... bad idea judging by how Panasonic rolled these things out. I'm sorely tempted to get a .JP Body Only kit at this point.

 

[Kholi]

Kholi I've seen way worse first efforts for action like this, but it's good that you're on your own case about the issues. If anything you're further demonstrating the GH1 as a potent cinematic tool. Just keep going!

If you can find the time, go get as much practice as you can. You should talk to Kerry about meeting up again wherever the guys train, and crank out a lot of test fights under low-stress conditions to figure out what works for you.

And remember to study the classics!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H__8LyR6yhs&fmt=18

LOL Far Worse does not justify my shortcomings. =P

For me, it's not so much practice but time. Naturally, I'm getting practice quite often but time and money are the most limiting factors. I've got a style I've been cultivating (with help from Kerry) and it's gradually coming out. If anything, I need to just get more money and some helping hands and a great location.

In the end, I don't want to shoot this stuff solo, so practicing solo isn't ideal. I need to get some time in with a crew of three or four behind me to adjust lights, setup dollies, etc etc so that I can make each shot count as opposed to scrambling to do all of these things on my lonesome and never really beginning to find a polish.

 

[Lammy]

Dan

I'm actually in line with your preference as well. The only issue here was that I didn't have a wider, faster lens. The 17mm shot in the video's where the gun slide-by shows up. I'd say if I had something like a 20/1.8 (cough sigma) I would've used that much more often than any other lens.

I sold my GH-1 to get a US body... bad idea judging by how Panasonic rolled these things out. I'm sorely tempted to get a .JP Body Only kit at this point.

Ah, so it's the limitation of the GH-1's low light and the lack of lighting that was limiting you from having a deeper dof. I'm shooting a action feature film later next year and this was the reason why I didn't want the GH-1. At the moment leaning towards the RedOne and the Canon 5Dii.

That said, I'd love to see you and the guys do longer takes without any cuts, like in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and those 70s/80s martial arts and gun flicks. It certainly brings out the action IMO without the artifice of the jarring cut.

Excellent work there, keep them coming!!

 

[slinks]

Slinks. What were we gonna work on? I'm slow.

Jing De is insanely fast man. Like, I had to get him to slow down because he's like a bullet. I also love his serious presence. With a little more "camera" action training he's a shoe in for some awesome roles. Have you seen how high he can jump!?!?!

Morgan Benoit, Gun, was actually in the Jet Li vs Jackie Chan movie FORBIDDEN KINGDOM as the Bully. He can take his falls quite well and is very acrobatic. I'm really looking forward to using him more.

You know Kerry Wong then aye? The beast himself!

haha its alright it was a brief online discussion and I think it was the Zelda project. I used to be part of a band that performed at AX and I was talking about maybe us meeting up there or something.

oh nice forbidden kingdom huh. I'm going to have to watch that again to check him out. Jackie's and Jet's fight scene in that was ridiculous.

I've only met Kerry Once before and I dont know if he would remember but I know a couple that have relations to ZG. Ilram and Chris Bowers, all of those guys are crazy nuts!

I'm actually hooked up with an up and coming stunt group called EMC monkeys who know and respect Jing De.

well, thanks again for makin this vid esp since bebop is one of my favs.

 

[J Davis]

Some how I missed this so only now am finally got around to seeing it.
Sure semi autos can hold that many shots but the only thing that jumped out at me was the lack of shells lying around on the ground by the end. I like my shells frank miller style.
Its pretty slick, Kholi.
You are dvxuser's very own homegrown John Woo.

 

[Nathyn]

Thanks bro. This is what I wanted to see. I primarily shoot action. I wanted to see how this camera would hold up to it. No strobe, solid image. I'm seeing good low light. I'm generally sold.

-Nate