Shooting music video...advice?

L

lazysnowdog

Member
Hey all...

I'm shooting a music video for a friend of mine this weekend on the HVX200a. It's basically going to just be the old 80's style where they play on the stage to the song...no extra "acting" added at this point. As far as my "settings," i'm pretty sure i'm happy with most of them to this point, although i'm planning on adjusting of course when i get to the site.

I've shot a feature film on the DVX before, but this is my first time with the HVX (actually trying to get my feet wet before we film another feature this spring).

I guess for the music vid, my question is with auto vs manual focus. I'm going to be really going at this, hand held, run n gun...do i keep it at autofocus? if i keep it manual, how much room do you actually have "play" in on the focus...in other words, if i have my focus set at say 3.5 feet, will it look ok from say 3-5 feet? I'm just curious as to what you all recommend. As a side note, i'm probably going to have a good 3-4 hours of footage for a 3.5 minute song.

If you like rock, it's from a local PA guy named Mofryky and the song is "She's my ex." Pretty catchy...and on itunes.

Cheers and thanks in advance for any advice.
--J
 
I can't remember the last time I used autofocus for anything. I never really understood why it was even included on professional cameras. Since working with the original DVX which had no autofocus in 24p, I've learned to do everything manual.
 
cool man. Really liked your work on the video, too, btw. Not my style of music (and i hate autotune), but your work was AWESOME, and inspirational on a couple of items for my next feature. I'll post the vid up after i'm done, but it'll look NOTHING like that. ;)
 
manual all the way. however, if you aren't used to manual, or not sure if you can pull it off efficiently... i'd just give it a try, and if it's slowing you down, etc... just flip over to auto. however learning how to operate manual is something ever DP should learn, especially with affordable 35mm depth of field cameras that will be flooding the market in the next few years.
 
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