Pilot for Kulintang Group

[redcap]

Here is a pilot I put together based on some footage I shot for an non-profit organization (FANHS.) I'm looking to find funding for it. Its 19 minutes, and 20 megs, and its encoded with Quicktime H.246 (You may want the latest version of quicktime to view it properly). I posted some stills of it a few months back and some people showed some interest for more footage, so here you go.

The venue where I shot the concert footage had some pretty bad lighting and kept turning on/off the lights during the performances. Talk about a nightmare in post. I also had a lot of trouble with the audio... any suggestions for fixing it would be greatly appreciated.. right now I want to show this around and get a grant written for funding - when I'll go in and obtain brand new footage and more interviews .. and develop it into more of a documentary - this stuff is just concert stuff and an interview with the group leader, interesting none-the-less.

If you're into gammalon/world music, you'll really like this.

http://www.redcapmedia.com/movies/tv_program_main.mov

PS. Compression is pretty high to keep file sizes down. And I'll be taking this file down fairly soon to avoid having my bandwidth raped.

 

[Sanchez]

wassup Redcap,

I'm a member of FANHS in Hampton Roads -- for those who don't know --- "Filipino American National Historical Society" --

Great to hear that you're working on a doc about Kulintang music. Good luck with your efforts, I'll spread the word to the Fil Am community in VA Beach.

I produced a doc for FANHS-HR last year and was picked up by the PBS affiliate in Norfolk (whom I work for btw).

Check out www.filamtelevision.com to see some FilAm events in our area.

 

[redcap]

Its sort of in the works.. I've been working with the FANHS president, Thelma Bucholdt, but its sort of on "pause" right now... so to speak. Its great to hear about other filipino communitys in the nation. Finding a national outlet to back the project is a major priority on the road for funding. But the synoposis of the documentary will cover topics of culutural identity and how its rapidly being overturned by spanish and american influence in the philipines. I.E. - Kulintang music is not widely accepted in the philipines, and somewhat not very well known and has a somewhat negative image after 9/11 and the "War on Terror."

 

[HybridCreations]

First off, I applaud your contribution to your cause. Seems like a story that definitely needs to be told.

I don't mean to come off as cruel, but I couldn't get past 2 minutes into the piece. Just got too boring and I was getting dizzy from the camera zooming and wobbling around.

The interview was nice enough. The shot itself was a little busy and I think your subject kind've got lost. I guess you wanted to include all those cool musical instruments. The window looks great, almost like you ND'd it.

One suggestion I'd make is about the audio going from the title screens to the interview. I'd fade it out and under the beginning of the interview. Seemed a little too abrupt.

Next, for the concert footage, there's a lot of pointless zooming and camera movement. There's no reason for the zooms and they make it look really amateurish. Sometimes shooting live performances can be difficult, especially when you're using the "live" sound. One thing you have to do is separate your pictures from your music. When you plan to use an entire "live" song, just hit record once on your camera (like you did). That way you will have the entire song recorded, but now you have to think visually. Without stopping the recording, you can move around and get different shots (Wides, mediums, close-up faces, isolate each performer, show stick hitting gong, crowd shots, etc.) This will necessitate having to "sync" up some shots in post but its not that hard. Make sure you get plenty of cover shots, like the crowd, extreme wide shots, etc. as you can drop them in to the edit to "cover" the times when you were moving or changing shots. Also, when you shoot this way, frame a shot and stick with it for at least 4-7 seconds. Don't touch the zoom, try not to jerk the camera etc. Most times, you only want to use the zoom to adjust to a different shot (from wide to close-up and vice-versa).

I'll let someone else give you suggestions as to the audio as I'm no expert. I hope you take my criticism as constructive. Good luck getting that grant and on your future endeavors.
-Ryan