Snowfall in Houston

ajamils

ajamils

Well-known member
Shot this video last week of the snowfall in Houston (a very rare occurrence)


Shot @ 108024p. Removed pulldown and did some color correction in CS4 but it seems like I made it worse than it originally way :( (still learning this stuff).


(Since I'm using a free version...here is HD version of the video)
 
There is not much to comment. Some random shots without any story to tell. Snowfall such as is not that much interesting. Please, try to make a better use of your camera if not by an interesting story then make sure the shots are at least good technically. Seems that you have to learn the camera and filming a lot. If you start filming, then take this advise: no panning, no zooming, no handfilming.

Good luck.
 
The footage wasn't bad. I thought it was a good idea - snow fall in Huston.

Two thoughts came to mind:

One, don't move the camera. Keep it stationary. Frame your shot like a photograph, then let
the action happen within it. Then pick another location, again frame it like a photograph and let the
action happen. You then cut or dissolve between the images. I'd rather see your neighborhood in
10 interestingly framed shots then one long pan. You can tell a story that way.

If you check out the best work by Philip Bloom and others who use DSLRs, this is a very effective
technique. They come from a photography background, so even though their shooting video, they
treat it like stills. Check out this link to his coverage of Skywalker ranch.

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=193504&highlight=skywalker

There is some movement, but the majority has the camera locked off and he plays with DOF.

Second. I would have driven around and filmed those Huston landmarks that people can recognize.
You neighborhood could be anywhere in North America. If the point of your video is "snowfall in
Huston" it should be obvious.

I thought the exposure and color balance was fine. Of course it goes without saying that if you
do need to pan (which I would avoid) always use a tripod. Nothing says amateur like poor handheld.

Hope this is helpful.

Peter
 
Last edited:
One more thought. I realize that you might not have had time to drive around Huston. So you do
have to shoot only in your neighborhood, look for those things that identify that you're in Huston.

1. Car license plate (one medium shot of the car with snow falling, one closeup of the plate)
2. Local newspaper (you could have in on the doorstep with snow on it).
3. Local news on TV (shoot through a window and play with DOF to see the snowflakes falling)

Peter
 
Don't know what it looked like originally, but thought it looked fine color-wise.

In addition to some of the things that have already been pointed out, the main thing I'd suggest is to avoid any settings where your exposure changes during the shot. It's an immediate tip-off to an inexperienced shooter.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm still learning and this is my first ever experience in using VDSLR or any DSLR for that matter. I'll keep the suggestions in mind, when I try to film my next video.

tflak said:
Don't know what it looked like originally, but thought it looked fine color-wise.

In addition to some of the things that have already been pointed out, the main thing I'd suggest is to avoid any settings where your exposure changes during the shot. It's an immediate tip-off to an inexperienced shooter.
Click to expand...

What settings do you recommend to for that ? I'm using Creative movie mode in shutter priority with shutter speed set to 1/60 and smooth film setting.
 
Others may disagree, but my advice is to use Manual mode within CMM and forget about shutter priority. Keep your shutter speed locked at 1/60 (or 1/125 if you know you'll be doing slo-mo) and control exposure with your aperture setting and ISO. Ballpark your exposure using the histogram.

That's a pretty simple explanation. There are lots of threads discussing the details. I think you'll find the above advice appears a lot.
 
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