Where is all the narrative footage?

K

Kholi

Section Moderator
I'm looking for some and I think I've found like... what... three? Four examples?

The rest of the footage online falls into "test" categories. Random people, food, animals and some decently shot landscape. That's okay, but seeing this footage is what put me off from the MKii in the first place. Not to mention 30P on top of that and no Manual Controls until now.

Of all the amazing footage I keep reading about, I've only seen a literal handful of clips that really show what this thing is capable of. Elton's stuff, great example, the shooter Ryoni and his model-- incredible footage, so to the point that the 30P only made it BETTER. That's ME saying that.

Matthew Bennet showed a great narrative example, there's also a well lit dinner scene. Odd to me, but well lit.

I can see that there aren't manual controls yet, but there are manual color profiles and manual white balance. Just about EVERY single clip from current users shows pretty bad/off color balance. Skin Tones are looking much too yellow or pink and pasty, or just plain wrong.

The camera's been out sine late last year. What's the deal? Am I looking in the wrong place?

Don't take this as an attack on the Canon because mines is coming in tomorrow. I shelled out money for it just like I said I would if it got manual controls.

Just want to see where all the awesome is coming from if there's like 10 - 15 good clips out of 1000+ on vimeo in a six month release period.

Ryoni's video -- http://www.vimeo.com/2605789

If there were more properly balanced, well shot, NATURAL looking examples like this I don't think anyone would have an issue stating the MKii's case for image win. This looks outright amazing to me. No Hyper shallow or misaimed out of focus clutches, awesome composition and incredible looking skin tones. And it's resolute as hell even for a compressed file.

I can't stop watching it.
 
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Kholi said:
I'm looking for some and I think I've found like... what... three? Four examples?

The rest of the footage online falls into "test" categories. Random people, food, animals and some decently shot landscape. That's okay, but seeing this footage is what put me off from the MKii in the first place. Not to mention 30P on top of that and no Manual Controls until now.

Of all the amazing footage I keep reading about, I've only seen a literal handful of clips that really show what this thing is capable of. Elton's stuff, great example, the shooter Ryoni and his model-- incredible footage, so to the point that the 30P only made it BETTER. That's ME saying that.

Matthew Bennet showed a great narrative example, there's also a well lit dinner scene. Odd to me, but well lit.

I can see that there aren't manual controls yet, but there are manual color profiles and manual white balance. Just about EVERY single clip from current users shows pretty bad/off color balance. Skin Tones are looking much too yellow or pink and pasty, or just plain wrong.

The camera's been out sine late last year. What's the deal? Am I looking in the wrong place?

Don't take this as an attack on the Canon because mines is coming in tomorrow. I shelled out money for it just like I said I would if it got manual controls.

Just want to see where all the awesome is coming from if there's like 10 - 15 good clips out of 1000+ on vimeo in a six month release period.

Ryoni's video -- http://www.vimeo.com/2605789

If there were more properly balanced, well shot, NATURAL looking examples like this I don't think anyone would have an issue stating the MKii's case for image win. This looks outright amazing to me. No Hyper shallow or misaimed out of focus clutches, awesome composition and incredible looking skin tones. And it's resolute as hell even for a compressed file.

I can't stop watching it.
Click to expand...

I download that like 5 months ago. Man that's old footage. I projected that on a 13ft screen and it is some of the best I have ever seen from a digital camera any where near this price. Excluding Red and SI cameras. Also consider that's just the 720. The 1080 would be even more sweet; just like the girl....


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.
 
Uhh.. I think its the girl that's mesmerizing - it didn't blow my socks off.

Dramatic narrative filmmaking requires control over lighting and exposure like no other craft. So I'm sure with the advent of the manual control firmware, there will be a pioneer set of filmmakers that use this for full length feature work. Namely, people like you Kholi. Probably would be good publicity too - you know the articles in Filmmaker magazine about someone making a feature with a Canon DSLR of all things.

I personally wouldnt attempt a feature with it myself, too many things still missing like variable fps and HD-SDI, and all those other negatives we know about. But for narrative shorts, trailers and music videos, I'm sure it can rock.
 
Here a series of commercials with 'soccer' star Iker Casillas. They are short, but it is narrative nevertheless. All shot with the 5D. Sorry about youtube's poor quality, couldn't find them on Vimeo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mILg6VIDqzA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6u8pIyWfBcg&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-5xjOH7EC8&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xK0Dj-y_2J8&feature=related

If you speak/read any Spanish, here's an article about the production with comments from the DOP:

http://www.cameraman.es/noticia.asp?ref=1222
 
Ha ha. Good Catch Dracalat. I really enjoyed those spots.
Good handheld work and liked the wide angle lenses. Nice filmic look, even on youtube :thumbup:

Nice rig too! Guess the wides were with the 24mm.

I didnt know Quentin Tarantino acted in Spanish commercials ;).
 
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I think, perhaps, a lot of it has to do with the fact that the initial user base is a photography one so it really is just a bunch of "video test" compositions. Also look at the proportion of wedding videos on vimeo for this specific cam; I don't think any other camera even comes close; further recognition of a proportionally large photography base.
As time goes on, and I know you allready know this, the filmmaker base is going to overwhelmingly converge on this new paradigm of video DSLRs. And conversely the video DLRs are going to better serve the requirements of filmmakers.
I am in such a state of bliss at the potential of this market! The 5DmkII and GH1 are 2 great tools that have very different and unique strenghts that are going to be found collectively in the next gen vDSLRs. To me they are both very inticing first offerings.

EDIT: Almost forgot one of the biggest driving forces in visual technology, PORN is going to look amazing in the cumming months!
 
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EDIT: Almost forgot one of the biggest driving forces in visual technology, PORN is going to look amazing in the cumming months![/QUOTE]

Hahahaha! I imagine there will be a lot of flesh coming in-and-out-in-and-out-in-and-out of focus.

dadoboy, Quentin is a man of many talents...By the way, those adverts prove that professional work can be done with the 5D with the current firmware. You need to fiddle a bit with the camera, but you can work around it. In fact, in this production their biggest headache (besides the narrow dof for the focus puller) was actually in post production, converting from 30p to 25p. It's time-consuming and can lead to motion problems and other issues. I so wish Canon hadn't forgotten about its PAL customers...
 
People are not seeing the tautology (self contradiction)

If you are making drama/advertising/serious corporate , closing a street and paying 5+ people then you are spending big bucks

Bucks of the nature that renting a RED is a really small % of the day cost

The 5d works lovely in that 5 person situation - but why use it when there is something better

Now cut the crew down to one and a Red camera rental can be a significant portion of the day rate of the shoot

Trouble is shooting the 5d alone is super demanding with focus and stability issues, creating a good argument for keeping it simple with an EX1 at the cost of look

So there you go, there is no situation where the 5 is the right tool - apart from moving still lives

Whats on the net - moving still lives

I can see places like india/south america/SA where the man cost day of a unit is so much lower the D will be a hit

I can also see serious productions using it for 'interesting angles' - like someone reaching into a fridge, microwave or glove box

S
 
morgan, are you saying the 5D needs 5 people to operate it? It doesn't look that big on the pictures...And the Red only needs 1 person? No focus puller?!! Wow, that's new!!

No offense, but often, reading your comments I feel like you are one big tautology yourself. I really can't see what you are trying to say. The 5D is a wonderful tool for working in controlled environments, provided you treat it like a real camera and work with a focus puller (call it short films, commercials, pop promos...and even dramas once the new firmware is out). However, it is not a very good camera for fly-on-the-wall style documentaries (but still, I'm sure there will people who will have a go and probably achieve great results).
 
Controlled multi person environments are expensive - red territory

It seems you need a puller, sound boom and camera op at minimum with the 5d irrelevant of its physical size - to be 'serious' in production values

and as you say its not very good for fly on the wall

No tautology in this thinking

Of course Im taking an extreme viewpoint, there are a thousand uses, cheap(er) corporate and cool indy where the cam may be the 'sweet point' tool I think my sheep brings an interesting look to ultra cheap corporate http://www.vimeo.com/4824319

S
 
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Kholi said:
If there were more properly balanced, well shot, NATURAL looking examples like this I don't think anyone would have an issue stating the MKii's case for image win. This looks outright amazing to me. No Hyper shallow or misaimed out of focus clutches, awesome composition and incredible looking skin tones. And it's resolute as hell even for a compressed file.

I can't stop watching it.
Click to expand...

sounds like a flipflop to me
 
My intention wasn't to turn this into a political/moral/whatever debate.

I like the DOF. I know he used a 50mm f/1.2 & 85mm f/1.2. I think he may have also used the 24-70mm f/2.8. All natural lighting.

He did a great job with follow focus on some of those shots. (Edit: I think he's using a RedRock rig).

Overall, I think the colors look good, too.
 
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I think we will see a lot more narrative stuff if (when ) this camera gets 24frame. The 30 frame stuff just looks odd and cheap even when its production value is high because we are so ingrained to the 30 fps video look from years gone by.

I disagree though... there are gads of great nature and travel clips out there that are not just tests. I guess you just have to like traveling to get something out of those.
 
That footage looked great! Although it would have been great to see some dialogue in there. I know its a music video of some sort, so that's why there isn't any, but like the original topic for this thread, I still haven't seen any heavy dialogue footage coming from the Mark II.

This may be a bit off topic, but could anyone let me in on how people are rigging these things for Follow Focus?
Meaning, are they attaching an external monitor to the Mark II for the puller to use, or are all these videos made with just some very professional focus pullers measuring before hand and hitting their marks?

Thanks!
 
dadoboy said:
Uhh.. I think its the girl that's mesmerizing - it didn't blow my socks off.

Dramatic narrative filmmaking requires control over lighting and exposure like no other craft. So I'm sure with the advent of the manual control firmware, there will be a pioneer set of filmmakers that use this for full length feature work. Namely, people like you Kholi. Probably would be good publicity too - you know the articles in Filmmaker magazine about someone making a feature with a Canon DSLR of all things.

I personally wouldnt attempt a feature with it myself, too many things still missing like variable fps and HD-SDI, and all those other negatives we know about. But for narrative shorts, trailers and music videos, I'm sure it can rock.
Click to expand...


Yeah I think it's this AND the price of the body with no glass or shooting media. That makes a lot of sense.

Hmmm.
 
Morgan, it's true that on most feature films with healthy budgets, the camera package is a small % of the total budget. In which case the choice to shoot film or with a fully kitted RED package vs a prosumer camera is not a matter of debate.

But there has been plenty of ultra low budget movies, some of them very successful, that have shot on the dvx100, hvx200 and other DV cameras. Its just a matter of time before we start seeing the 5D in that niche - its advantage being the shallow DOF and interesting image characteristics.

I'm pretty conservative on my camera choices for features - too much is at stake and the speed and demands of shooting two and three week features requires a very reliable no hassle gear and workflow. But there's gunslingers out there who will do it as they want the image qualities and yet have to eek out every drop from their budgets.
 
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