GH2 Zero Budget Music Video Shot with ultra cheap Ebay bought Lenses

I've posted all the music videos I've made for unsigned band Ball Of Mayhem here, so here is the latest one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6J-84BPamfY&feature=my_liked_videos&list=LLbHOXXv4EtdOFX64KpLptqg

Again there was no budget at all, except the £12 it took to buy the blowtorch! And again no crew was used.

I shot this using the GH2 with the original CBrandin 66mb patch, which I have never deviated from.

Lenses were all bought from ebay, and are: canon FD 50mm 1.8, Sigma FD 24mm 2.8, and a cheap wide angle adapter that is unbranded. All lenses cost in the region of £20-£25.

Everything was shot handheld, except for one tilt down using a tripod, and the shot near the end where I used a dslr flycam. I don't have any fast wides, so I used the 24mm lens with screw on wide adapter on some small rails on the Flycam. This was very heavy, and a ***** to operate, so I think a fast wide from Panasonic is necessary to get this type of shot unless you have the cash for a better stabiliser with vest/arm.

All footage with the masked character was shot at 80% speed with variable movie mode. I experienced my first write speed error shooting the extreme close-ups of the mask, using a fujifilm 16gb class 10 card. The rest of my cards are cheap Transcend 16gb class 10s and I have never had a problem with them.

All filters and grading are presets in Magic Bullet, some shots have a little vignetting added, but nothing major.

All band footage was done in one take per setup at the performance location as we were only permitted a small amount of time to get things done. The footage of the masked character was filmed in a small garage that was dressed with some simple dust sheets, and shot in a couple of hours. No lighting was used except for one work light we used at the performance space. The garage had one bare bulb and the illumination from the projector.

Hope everyone enjoys the vid, and would be happy to answer any questions about it!
 
Wow, great post, firstly for a nice detailed explanation of the kit you used plus the conditions and budget you filmed within. I’ve only had a brief look at the video (will watch it all later) but my initial impression on that are very good too.

I would add, there are fast wides available for m4/3, for example the SLR Magic 12mm f1.6.

I’ve just done a music video in a wardrobe, using a hacked GH2 and a couple of LED lights and the 12mm. I’ve just to get one last shot, literally 5 seconds long to finish it.
 
I'm aware of other fast wides, but I find them cost prohibitive. As all my vids are zero-budget I can't really spend a few hundred for just one lens when I don't own any lights or a decent tripod yet.

I've used the GH2 for all my personal projects as I find the quality and flexibility awesome for the price.

Here are a few other vids I shot in the same conditions for the same band: -

This one was shot in a couple of hours, and was really tough due to the threat of rain. I had a photographer with me for this one, he had a Sony NEX camcorde, the footage wasn't quite as good and didnt grade too well but the footage makes up about 1% of the whole vid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cp0_pnReeGI&feature=plcp

This one I had the assistance of a second camera operator using an HVX5000. Footage is indistinguishable from the GH2. No budget, all natural light, one zoom lens on the HVX, and i used the Canon 50mm lens again on this with a Kenco wide angle adapter:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Em1DRDIhHIo&feature=context-cha

Some live band footage, unhacked GH2, no external mic, 50mm Canon 1.8 and cheap screw on ND's:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jX6mOYVJwFI&feature=plcp

More live footage, no external Mic, cbrandin 66mb hack, same 50mm lens:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lRwalGRyUM&feature=plcp

Mix of footage, all GH2, that I put together for the band's newest single:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tz7KJiM0UME&feature=plcp
 
I'm aware of other fast wides, but I find them cost prohibitive.
With that in mind I'd have been tempted to try out one of the m4/3 compatibile CCTV lenses, I realise they're optically no where near as good as proper camera glass but at least worth experimenting with.
 
Yeah, I do have one of those, but there are some weird picture quality issues with it I find. I think it may be to do with using the ex tele mode to eliminate the vignetting.
 
Well done David! Loved the concept and the edit.
The tune seemed out of sync on the band shots for me (but I've noticed that on YouTube before).
 
Many thanks! The concept was an idea of the band this time.

You wouldnt believe how many times ive uploaded it due to sync warnings from youtube. It was shot using 24p, and I think youtube doesnt handle it too well. Looks way better on the exported file though.
 
Was the audio track 44.1KHz or 48KHz? I used to get people complaining about out-of-sync audio all the time when I was uploading at 44.1KHz, and just changing the output audio track to 48KHz took care of those complaints.
 
If using Adobe After Effects (might be true of Premiere too) I also set the keyframe in the H264 encoder options to match the frame rate, i.e. set it to 24 as I've had sync problems in the past with YouTube and that also sorted it.
 
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yeah i do that, i do think it must be the audio sample rate though!

Yeah, I've fixed complaints of synced audio solely by changing the KHz rate on the encode. It's just problematic that every streaming video service specific 44.1KHz in their specs.
 
I'm not going to re-upload the vid as I'll lose the momentum for the band, but I will definitely use this info next time, so glad I posted!
 
I'm not going to re-upload the vid as I'll lose the momentum for the band, but I will definitely use this info next time, so glad I posted!
I wish YouTube would have even a paid service where videos could be replaced without losing views etc.

I tend to upload as unlisted and let a select few people give feedback first then make changes before going live now.
 
Yeah, I've fixed complaints of synced audio solely by changing the KHz rate on the encode. It's just problematic that every streaming video service specific 44.1KHz in their specs.

I've had problems on Vimeo with this, my audio is fine in my edit, but after uploading to vimeo it looks a little off. I wonder if this is the fix for that... Good info.
 
Please get out of this trap you are in.....

You have showed your talent and have done multiple projects. It's time to get paid for your Videography,Directing,Editing work. if you keep giving this for free you are only hurting yourself + the industry many people work in. Also even charging some money is better than none but the truth is to expand and start working with other bands. The second you stop doing this bands projects for free they will look at you as the "Evil" which also means they were just a stepping stone anyway.

Get out of the trap you are in and get paid for your art, so sad to see so many people never get out of this.....
With that said, good project!
 
Well, in a sense you are right, but my reasons for doing these videos are for me to exercise my skills in a way.

In my current job I don't get to do that. I am a broadcast cameraman, but its for sports related stuff requiring no creativity.

I didnt get into this to film thousands of greyhound races ad nauseum, so after a period of inactivity I needed to make sure I had some irons in the fire.

I approached the band who are a local, unsigned band, after I saw them support the band 'Anvil' in Newcastle, England. I needed some showreel material, and offered to do them a video for free.

So I had access to free cast for a project I would also benefit from by getting a directing credit, this became the 'Obliteration Imminent' video. I continued a friendship with the band and again offered to do videos, from which I get the opportunity to hone my skills and test out new kit or software and also generate a showreel.

But yes, you are right about getting out there and getting paid work, I am doing these videos to generate that opportunity, and to have some calling card material to get the paid gig.
 
Looking at the unhacked footage I also posted, you can see the purplish tinge the cheap ND filters I used added. I use a cheap Fotga fader ND now that was featured on cheesycam.
 
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