Life Along the Mekong

Re: Life Along the Mekong

ok, seriously, this looks amazing. some of the images coming out of the dvx latly are killer. i'd really like to see your film when its finished. i love the shots with the boats and in the village. so beautiful...well done. nice track too.
 
Re: Life Along the Mekong

Very nice...a few blown out highlights, but I'm shocked at the apparently lattitude you got out of the dvx. Everything seemed exposed just right; I'm impressed.

Did you use a glidecam and some sort of boat-mount? The smoothly moving camera makes the images far more dynamic but is never distracting. In terms of exposure and in terms of 24p-compatible motion, that was expertly shot.
 
Re: Life Along the Mekong

just brilliant!

what were your settings? 24pa?
 
Re: Life Along the Mekong

That was beautiful. I felt like I just took a trip. A great choice of music as well. Sigh....

[quote author=monte link=board=Clips;num=1091504802;start=0#3 date=08/02/04 at 21:54:51]Where is that? Vietnam? Cambodia?[/quote]

The Mekong Delta is the bottom half of Vietnam's two rice baskets, the other being the Red River Delta in the North . This vast delta is formed by the deposition of the multiple tentacles and tributaries of the mighty Mekong River which has its origin in the Tibetan highland plateau 2,800 miles away. From its source, the river makes its way through China, Myanmar (Burma), Laos, Cambodia and South Vietnam before flowing out into the South China Sea. The Mekong's Vietnamese name, Cuu Long, means Nine Dragons for the nine mouths that terminate the flow of this great river as it is absorbed by the sea. :D
 
Re: Life Along the Mekong

glad you all like the sample... much more to come!

policar - i didn't use any glidecam/steadicam or mount, just all in the OIS.

monte - john knows his deltas

peter - i shot this stuff about two years ago, and my memory sucks, but i think i basically had it on F5 but i changed all the numerical settings to "0".  skin detail was off, gamma was set to cinelike, 24p standard, vertical detail = thin, color matrix was usually set to norm.  i did use quite a few filters here and there... gradated NDs, 1/4 or 1/8 black promist, polarizers and 80B.  never had more than two filters on at a time including the protective UV filter.

john - you're always taking a trip.

rich - no affiliation to cc+cc, but i'm guilty of having listened to c&c music factory back in the day, but not a lot... i didn't buy their CD or anything like that... you know... just whenever it was on the radio.
 
Re: Life Along the Mekong

"I was going to the worst place in the world, and I didn't even know it yet. Weeks away and hundreds of miles up a river that snaked through the war like a main circuit cable plugged straight into Kurtz. It was no accident that I got to be the caretaker of Colonel Walter E. Kurtz's memory, any more than being back in Saigon was an accident. There is no way to tell his story without telling my own. And if his story is really a confession, then so is mine."
- Apocalypse Now
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Oh, by the way, excellent footage. I loved it!!!
 
Re: Life Along the Mekong

Beautiful montage. Great sound track. It helped move the piece along very nicely. Excellent discipline of camera movement. Great eye for framing and compositing. Please advise of final cut.

Tony
 
Re: Life Along the Mekong

That was great. Some of the scenic shots would look amazing in a letterbox.
 
Re: Life Along the Mekong

[quote author=Gabe link=board=Clips;num=1091504802;start=0#13 date=08/05/04 at 07:13:45]That was great. Some of the scenic shots would look amazing in a letterbox.[/quote]

I agree. The 4:3 aspect ratio sort of brings these stunning images down a level subconsciously. If there's anyway you could letterbox and recrop the images on the verticle, I think it would give these images the majestic format they deserve.

I really like the pacing. You were patient enough to let the shots "live" as long as they needed to. But you weren't blinded by your attachement so much that scenes went on too long.

It was beautiful. Makes me want to go there.
 
Re: Life Along the Mekong

:) Nice project you did. I agree with the other postings that the audio and video seem to flow well. Great sample of quality and how well the DVX 24p standard shoots. Thanks for some of the info on camera settings earlier too!
 
Re: Life Along the Mekong

In this particular case, I have to say I prefer the 4:3.  There's so much depth in some of the shots that gets cut out when you crop this piece.
 
Re: Life Along the Mekong

Nice work Len. I actually remember seeing some of these stills and footage over a year and half ago. It was part of what convinced me to buy my DVX. Beautiful shots and compositions. You could definitely sell your B-roll to Discovery or some other channel. Great stuff.

Oh yeah, I prefer the 4x3 version better.
 
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