PSA contest spot (HVX w/ Brevis)

Hans Moleman

Hans Moleman

Carbonite Member
Here's a 120 second (as per the rules) spot i made for a local 'safe driving' PSA contest.

shot on HVX in 1080 24pa, also with a whole brevis setup.

Initially was going to be a series of interviews, but one guy we sat down with had such a grim tale that we ended up going with just him.

CLICK HERE

questions? comments? (i know the aspect's off on the web version)
 
Hi Hans,

I watched your piece. It's a very moving and sad story.

Here are my comments:

The good:
1. The sound was good.
2. The content was good.

The bad:
The footage looked terrible in my opinion. Why you chose to shoot against a blown out sky (losing subtle detail around your subject's head) is beyond me. I also don't understand why none of your footage is in focus. The overall look of it is more like SD or even Super 8. The colors look muddy also. Was all of this intentional? Not sure why you would use an HD camera with a good 35mm adapter and not take the care needed to make it look its best.

I'll reserve my judgement until I hear what your intentions were.

Sorry to be harsh but that's how I'm seeing this.

D.
 
Have to agree. Focus was off throughout. And the colors were flat as if they were shot on a consumer level camera.

One possible reason may be the compression but it does not look that great.
 
yea its deffinetly out of focus. the desaturated look can be cool, but this really does just look flat. I think desaturated/overcast fits the mood but you can still keep it from being so flat. you can tone an image warm or cold a bit with out bring up saturation really...thats a good way, and also i would have deffinetly shot it some where else if u didnt have access to hmi ors somewhat large lights I would have done it inside and light it maybe with a window in the bg of an overcast day and gel the windows tungeston or close to it and then light tungsten...just a thought. I think its some what effective, its nothing diffrent, a series would be better and more effective for sure. one guy makes it seem like "ok it happens to one in a million people" a series makes it feel like it happens to alot of people and makes people feel its a larger problem.
 
I think the location is good, but as mentioned before - the out of focus thing - is really a problem. But i like the doc style - i think shooting this outside is more moving than doing the same in a studio or inside a house. Maybe it was a good decision to concentrate on one person because of the 120 seconds limitation.
 
realizing that i'm a bum for not rechecking the focus when we pushed in about halfway through the interview, i'm glad you called me on it.

the (flat) color scheme was done for two reasons: 1) on the "artistic" level it better expressed the feel i wanted, and better represented minnesota in January. Our state is devoid of color. 2) because it was about - 3 degrees that day, and before his mouth froze up too much to speak clearly, the talent's face got nice and 'frostbite' red. initially the footage looked like he was either really embarassed or just went to the beach for too long, so I brought the colors down for a more bleach-bypassy look.

thanks for the replies so quick :)
 
Hey Hans, I use a Brevis too, and I am new to it all.

If you are having trouble with focus, what I do, stop down my Nikon lens, say F11 or F16 and point the camera into a light source or brightly lit area. With the Brevis motor turned off, tweak your HVX focus (not the Nikon or other 35mm lens you use), so that the grain on the Diffuser (Ground Glass) is in sharp focus, this looks like lots of speckles when stopped down, and to get it really sharp, press the HVX Focus Assist, you can really perfect the focus on the diffuser.

Then, open the 35mm aperture to correct aperture, focus on the subject, again use Focus Assist to check it is sharp, especially if you have a locked down shot and stationary talent.

Another thing, if you are shooting super bright outdoors, like snow or a even sunny day, and your Nikon over expose at say F8 or F11 (said to be about the approximate lowest stop before grain issues can become detectable in some cases) use some ND's on the Nikon, not the ND's on the HVX, because too much light on the Brevis diffuser is the same as overexposing a shot, and adding the HVX's ND would be just like trying to fix an overexposed shot in post, lowering the levels, but the information that should be there is gone.

I hope this helps, without sounding like a know all, as I have so much to learn myself. That said, very touching piece, great sound and content.
 
thought it was worth resurrecting this thread momentarily to mention this (in retrospect) poorly made video took 1st place in state competition, third place in regional. Came away with about $500 total prize money, and an article in the paper about it. just think how great it'd've been if it were in focus!
 
Congratulations on placing and the prize money. People in the business will always be more critical than the audience and that can be a good thing. But the important thing is to just go out and shoot.
 
ditto on the comments, but had you not said anytihng about the blown out background, it wouldnt have noticed. Honestly wasnt that big a deal to me. Maybe a bounce board could have helped ya out a tad ?

Great subject matter, but the guy almost sounds like hes immitating a canadian accent :)
 
Very. Since we shot the thing, I got to know the guy (Joe) pretty well. see him from time to time. Got the meet the father once at a dinner. There's no exaggeration in this video, my friend.
 
Story is great but, back to the tech for a sec. The issue with the blown out background is that you are negating the effect of the Brevis, without OOF background elements, you might was well be shooting with the stock lens. IMHO, this piece was probably the wrong choice for a 35mm adapter. Congrats on the reception though...



ash =o)
 
IMO i think there's a certain aesthetic that comes with an adapter that can add subtly to shots, not necessarily having everything to do with a totally OOF background. this aesthetic is more evident with heavier GG elements like the CF3 I have now (which wouldve also handled the sky nicer). its this sort of richness. Then again, itd help if it were in effing focus.
 
Hans you should check out the promist filters, they can help in situations where you dont need the depth but need that aesthetic...



ash =o)
 
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