GH2 GH2 - Hillsdale Farmers' Market doc-style shoot

Peter J. DeCrescenzo

Peter J. DeCrescenzo

Veteran
Note: As of 5/2/11 8PM PST the video shown here is a new version of the edit with new cutaway/b-roll shots added. See this post for details:
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthrea...-style-shoot&p=2326485&viewfull=1#post2326485

Andy Wheeler and I recently completed a video about Portland, Oregon's little Hillsdale neighborhood Farmers' Market for the even little-er Hillsdale News.

The video can be viewed on Vimeo (& a less-compressed version is available for download, too):
http://vimeo.com/23054086


More info about our farmers' market here:http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs037/1101705356072/archive/1105343730838.html#LETTER.BLOCK14
http://www.hillsdalefarmersmarket.com/
http://hillsdalemainstreet.org/events/may-day-event/

Additional production notes:

- I added more cutaways/b-roll shots to the edit after I 1st posted it ... including more DIY slider (Zaza/Igus) shots of fruits & vegetables.

- I used an old Nikon 55mm f1.2 lens at ~f2.0 with a LCW Fader ND for the exterior interviews & slider shots -- but I now realize the resulting video can be too soft at those aperture settings with that lens. I added some sharpening in post to most of the interview clips. This lens should really be used at f2.8 or higher aperture values for general use. However, its f1.2 setting can be a life-saver when there's not much light available.

- I used the Lumix 14-140mm kit zoom for most of the hand-held b-roll shots.

- Gotta love the GH2's 8-bit compression banding artifacts at 1:42 during the interview shot in the office with Eamon Molloy. It was shot using a Lumix 20mm pancake lens @ f1.7 - f2.0 -- that lens is sharp even wide open! However, the GH2 rendered the unevenly-lit white wall behind him with hideous gradient banding artifacts. I should have known better, and next time will compose my shots accordingly. Live & learn.

- Audio: Sennheiser ME66 mic (in Rycote furry windscreen) & E100 wireless system, recorded in-camera via plug adapters.

- Camera settings: GH2 in full manual mode, settings: AVCHD 1080p24 "24H", 1/50-sec. shutter, ISO 160, Cinema film mode -1, -1, -1, -1, i.Dynamic & i.Resolution both OFF, manual WB.

- Transcoded to ProRes LT and edited in FCP 7.

Comments welcome.
 
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Peter, this looks and sounds great. Important subject too. Farms used to be passed down from generations, but I don't know if that happens so much now?
 
Thank you, Adrian. As mentioned in my video, the farmers' market is doing its part to encourage people to become new farmers. Here's hoping it's successful.

I'll be doing more shooting at the farmers' market this Sunday. A relatively large crowd is expected due to various special events, including gourmet chef cooking demonstrations, Toyota USA showing their new family of 2012 Prius hybrid vehicles, and Hillsdale Main Street events planned at adjacent neighborhood businesses. Looks like the weather will cooperate, too. More info here:
http://www.hillsdalefarmersmarket.com/
http://hillsdalemainstreet.org/

Meanwhile, today the wife has woken us up early to watch "the" royal wedding on TV. All I could think of while watching it is, "I wonder how many broadcast HD cameras are being used to cover the entire event?" :-)
 
My wife had "the" wedding on all day too, lol. I actually thought the coverage was pretty faultless from Westminster Abbey, which is pretty amazing for such a large live event.
 
That is a great little gem that you posted here. Going around to the markets in Portland and talking to the local farmers is one of my favorite things to do. Its nice to also know they are not getting produced 2k miles away.

The GH2 is a nice little workhorse for clips like this. I want to buy one but I need to wait until I have enough cash. Until then I have my T2i which is also another great little work horse.

Thanks for posting!
 
Amir Assasnik said:
That is a great little gem that you posted here. Going around to the markets in Portland and talking to the local farmers is one of my favorite things to do. Its nice to also know they are not getting produced 2k miles away.

The GH2 is a nice little workhorse for clips like this. I want to buy one but I need to wait until I have enough cash. Until then I have my T2i which is also another great little work horse. Thanks for posting!
Click to expand...

Hi Amir: Thanks! Maybe I'll see you at the Farmers' Market in Hillsdale tomorrow (Sunday)? I'll be there all day shooting video & stills with my GH2. (My cellphone # is on my website if you want to say hello.)

Whatever cam you've got, just get out there & shoot. That's the most important thing by far. Cheers.
 
Peter J. DeCrescenzo said:
- Gotta love the GH2's 8-bit compression banding artifacts at 1:42 during the interview shot in the office with Eamon Molloy. It was shot using a Lumix 20mm pancake lens @ f1.7 - f2.0 -- that lens is sharp even wide open! However, the GH2 rendered the unevenly-lit white wall behind him with hideous gradient banding artifacts. I should have known better, and next time will compose my shots accordingly. Live & learn.
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As ugly as banding can be I thought it added a little character to that shot.

Nice piece you got here. The sound was also great. How in the world were you able to get that ...flat-like look overall (meaning nice latitude)? Overcast day?
 
Ian-T said:
... How in the world were you able to get that ...flat-like look overall (meaning nice latitude)? Overcast day?
Click to expand...

Thanks, Ian. Yes, most of the day we shot the exterior interviews it was overcast. The day I shot many of the b-roll cutaways it was partly sunny.

I'm pretty happy with the GH2's sound recording capability, too. Of course, it's lack of a headphone jack is semi-scary, but the on-screen VU meters and not having to sync in post almost make up for it. Almost. ;-)

Concerning the gradient banding artifacts, see also Jason Jenkins comments in this parallel thread over on the "COW":
http://forums.creativecow.net/thread/280/5900#5900
 
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Peter J. DeCrescenzo said:
Hi Amir: Thanks! Maybe I'll see you at the Farmers' Market in Hillsdale tomorrow (Sunday)? I'll be there all day shooting video & stills with my GH2. (My cellphone # is on my website if you want to say hello.)

Whatever cam you've got, just get out there & shoot. That's the most important thing by far. Cheers.
Click to expand...

The bummer is I work every weekend (healthcare/hospital work) so I always miss the markets that are on the weekend though I just started to ask for one weekend off a month which in case I will definitely see you there I bet!

How do you like the GH2? I think I might pick one up with the 14-140 glass since it covers a whole range I would use.
 
Excellent Peter! What was used to connect the ME66 and E100 Lav? I'm looking at a similar setup but instead maybe going with a Video Mic Pro.

Also, why not use a juicedlink for headphone monitoring?
 
boo said:
Excellent Peter! What was used to connect the ME66 and E100 Lav? I'm looking at a similar setup but instead maybe going with a Video Mic Pro. Also, why not use a juicedlink for headphone monitoring?
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Thanks, boo.

I used a several-year-old Sennheiser E100 series plug-on transmitter attached to my ME66 mic. The receiver connects directly to the GH2 via a 3.5mm-to-2.5mm plug adapter. Works fine ... until it breaks, which it inevitably will. ;-)

As we've discussed here before, a Juicelink (or a SoundDevices MixPre -- I have one of those) when used with a GH2 only allows monitoring what the mic is doing, not what the camera is recording. Thankfully, at least the GH2 has on-screen audio level meters while recording ... as far as that goes.

Cheers.
 
FYI: I uploaded a new version of my edit including additional cut-away/b-roll clips I shot yesterday (Sunday), including jam, honey, kale, parsnips, potatoes & a crowd scene. The link is the same as before; see the 1st post in this thread.

All the new clips were shot using a Lumix 14-140mm zoom lens set at 25mm ("50mm equiv."), f4.7, with exposure controlled with a LCW Fader ND Mk 2 filter.

I made a few GH2 setting changes compared to the original footage: I used the Smooth film mode (instead of Cinema) adjusted to -1, -1, 0, -1 (instead of -1, -1, -1, -1). WB: Daylight preset adjusted 1 click toward magenta & 2 clicks toward yellow.

I also re-adjusted the color-correction of all the footage a bit.

As before, the 720p24 version I uploaded to Vimeo was rendered out of FCP @ 5,000 kbits/sec. The 1080p24 version was rendered @ 8,000 kbits/sec.
 
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Concerning the ugly gradients in shadow area on back wall, I tried out Jason Jenkins settings of Vibrant Mode,Everything at 0, i.Dynamic set to high,
and my footage as far as gradients go are 100x better. I usually shoot in Smooth Mode,-2 all, i.dynamic off. Maybe someone can do a more thorough test and see if they come to the same conclusion.

Thanks
 
How did you handle the MKE66/E100 combo? Did you have someone use a boompole or was it on camera?
I alos though the gradients on the wall of the indoor interview were kinda cool and added some character to the shoot.
Overall great work man!
 
Boncrek said:
How did you handle the MKE66/E100 combo? Did you have someone use a boompole or was it on camera?
I alos though the gradients on the wall of the indoor interview were kinda cool and added some character to the shoot. Overall great work man!
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Thanks for your kind words.

The director, Andy Wheeler, hand-held the mic while he conducted the interviews. The ME66 was mounted in a Rycote pistol-grip shock-mount, usually held at below waist level pointing up slightly, about 2-4 feet from the subject. The mic was in a Rycote furry windscreen. Since all the exterior interviews were shot using a 55mm lens, the camera was about 8-15 feet away from the subjects being interviewed. The interior interview was shot using a 20mm lens, with the mic mounted on the camera, about 3-4 feet from the subject.
 
Hey, this is a really great job, nice pace, nice music...really nice and artfully done. What was your exact sound setup? Did you use the audio from the camera mic-in in the final after routing through the ME66 and the wireless system. It appears you did, and i am astounded by the audio. I keep routing my sound through and into my h4n, but maybe I should rout from there back into the camera? It is such a pita to keep syncing audio when you take a LOT of shots.

Thanks!
Ian
 
IanB said:
Hey, this is a really great job, nice pace, nice music...really nice and artfully done. What was your exact sound setup? Did you use the audio from the camera mic-in in the final after routing through the ME66 and the wireless system. It appears you did, and i am astounded by the audio. I keep routing my sound through and into my h4n, but maybe I should rout from there back into the camera? It is such a pita to keep syncing audio when you take a LOT of shots. Thanks! Ian
Click to expand...

Glad you liked the video, Ian.

For most of this video the Sennheiser ME66 mic had a Sennheiser plug-on wireless transmiter attached.

The Sennheiser wireless receiver's output cable was connected to my GH2's mic input via an inexpensive Hosa GMP-467 3.5mm-to-2.5mm plug adapter, like this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Hosa-GPM-467-...1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1306126872&sr=1-1

There are cables available to adapt the live output signal from an external audio recorder for connection to a DSLR's mic input, but I haven't used this approach myself. For example, Sescom sells a variety of special cable adapters for use with DSLRs:
http://audio-video-supply.markertek...=cat1:cables&isort=score&method=and&view=grid

One last note: In this video I didn't use the GH2's built-in mic at all. All the sound was recorded via the ME66 mic connected to my GH2 either via the wireless system + the Hosa adapter plug, or directly via a Shure inline -25db attenuator and a XLR-to-3.5mm adapter cable + the Hosa adapter plug.
 
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