Waiting 2B Scene

Category: Media

  • Concept Video: Moments (Haraldsson)

    Continuing my series of resource links, today I want to share a fun concept clip that was commissioned by the Icelandic telecommunications company Síminn a couple of years ago.

    If you have done any manner of research into equipment for video and film shoots, then you will know that there is an abundance of recommendations: you need to get this camera, or that type of lens, or this kind of bundled kit. And, of course, each one of those recommendation is the must have. Here is a little something that I have learnt: they are only a recommendation. In fact, unless you have specifically given the unique and particular needs of your shoot and have asked for specific assistance, it will not be an equipment gospel that you need to stick with (I know, I can hear the collective gasp of every blogging videographer from here… relax everyone, I’m not preaching heresy – just let me make my point before you stone me).

    What we need to do is to take those recommendations, and then assess whether the suggestions offered meets the needs of our shoot. It is all about knowing which tools will actually best suit the job you are working on. That is the basis for today’s post (collective sigh of relief from videographer blogosphere).

    So lets come back to the video: created by Harald Haraldsson, this concept clip (and I am including the BTS for your pleasure too) was shot entirely on a Samsung Galaxy S3. You read that correctly. And S3. While there is an incredible array of (technically, and visually) better recommendations for a professional video shoot – the tool that happened to be necessary for this particular job ended up being the comparatively simple smartphone.

    It is easy to get overwhelmed with the latest and greatest options. So take some time to consider what your shooting needs will be, and then go about finding out what equipment will best help your realise that visual dream. Sure, it might be something really nice like an Arri or a Red. But you know what – all it may take is a humble smartphone (or a DSLR, or a GoPro, or a BMDPCC) to actually get the job done.

  • In Memoriam: Kudos to a Great Composer

    This is just a quick post, as I’m a bit behind the eight ball. But like so many others already out there, I would like to pay homage to one of the greats. RIP James Horner: your sounds helped to shape a generation of Hollywood films. And in many ways, they also played out as an indelible scoring to much of my life. You will be missed.

  • Concept Video: CMYK x Greyscale x RGB (Guadalupe)

    Today I want to share a clip that is neither a resource nor informative as such. Rather, as a fellow Adobe CC user, this post is sharing something that I simply found to be quite an interesting concept piece. This is the most recent work released by New York native Ernesto Guadalupe (a digital video junkie whose portfolio of clients has included the likes of Nautica, Ralph Lauren, and Fox Sports). I think that you will like the complexity and direction that Guadalupe takes CMYK x Greyscale x RGB in.

  • Video Montage: Cinema in Cinema (Paredes)

    Continuing my series of resource links, today I want to share a fun little video montage by Spanish videographer Eusebio Poveda Paredes – namely his homage to cinema in cinema.

    Featuring an amazing 139 clips from 93 different films – there is not a whole lot to add to the joy of simply diving in – so please do, and enjoy this fun little labour of love.

  • How To: Blend Mode Colour Correction in Premiere Pro (Lynda)

    Continuing my series of resource links, today I want to share a great little Adobe Premiere Pro tutorial by the ever resource-driven team at Lynda.

    If you make videos, then you ought to know that good videos have been treated in order to make the colour consistent. Just think – how many Hollywood blockbusters would you have avoided if the production companies hadn’t entrusted a colour-grading specialist to overlay the ubiquitous (and film critic nightmare) “orange and teal” colour system? More than a few I would wager!

    Case in Point…

    Despite Hollywood’s apparent reluctance to stray too far afield of their orange and teal ideal over the last 20 years or so (though to be fair, there have been other stereotyped colour visuals employed – for example, stark, or bleached white scenes depicting the future… warm orange scenes depicting the inside of a medieval inn… blues and/or greens employed to depict science fiction… you get the picture) – we shouldn’t throw the proverbial baby out with the bathwater. Colour grading ought to be an indispensable element of the video-maker’s production schedule. But what if you don’t have the budget to hire a colour grader? What if, like me, you are more an indie-shooter that quite often produces the work from top-to-tail in a guerilla fashion? Are we to be left at the mercy of the raw footage? In short, no… there are tips and tricks that we can employ to help us smooth out our work too. And this video is one such tip.

    Adobe’s Premiere Pro can afford us with a unique – and visually-pleasing – result by employing some basic blending and adjustment layer functions. And as noted by the No Film School post on this same clip, author “Ashley Kennedy recently shared some extremely helpful tips for using blend modes to correct exposure and contrast issues, as well as some tips for using blend modes to create color casts.”

    Is it perfect? No. It may not even be ideal. But when you are on your own, or are in a seriously bad way with your footage – then this might be just the kind of trick that can help you to salvage something out of the situation. I hope you enjoy.

  • Video Essay: That’s Just Too Much Johnson Welles!

    Continuing my series of resource links, today I want to share a short video essay that interestingly brings to light the more humble beginnings of Orson Welles.

    74-years after crafting a picture that tells a simple, subtle story that works brilliantly in capturing our attention from the first frame onwards, Orson Welles still inspires. And for many cinephiles, the greatness of Citizen Kane is inextricably linked to the fact that the masterpiece was Welles’ debut work. Even so, whether it was his first or thirteenth film – there ought to be no disagreement that it stands as one of the most arresting films ever produced.

    Having said that, Welles did in fact have pre-Kane films.  The relatively recent 2014 surfacing of his 1938 work Too Much Johnson is an excellent case in point. Though somewhat rudimentary – we can see elements of the master technician practising his craft at least 3-years before Kane’s release. The work also does a lot to dispel the occasional assertion that Welles was a cinematic naif unschooled in the basic grammar of film. Oh, there is so much that may be discussed about this… but rather than bore you with my own verbage, let me rather introduce you to this little video essay by Kevin B. Lee on the whole matter.

    https://vimeo.com/103837463

    Note:  allow me to add this – I find it absolutely fascinating that the surviving film elements of Too Much Johnson somehow ended up in an Italian warehouse before being acquired by the USA’s National Film Preservation Foundation! It is almost as fascinating as the man himself!

  • How To: The Five Pillars of Exposure

    Continuing my series of resource links, today I want to share an excellent little tutorial on how to get the most out of exposure. Seriously. You have no idea how much I want you to see this video. This is one of those kind of clips… the potentially life altering ones!

    Okay, that was a bit OTT. Still – I love this clip.

    The team at Realm Pictures have taken what is often a long-winded subject (exposure and lighting), and they have cleverly condensed it into a nice neat package of just over 6 minutes. Whether you are just starting – or you just need a reference guide reminder on how to best use exposure in your videography – then this gem is definitely what you will want to come back to. Please enjoy responsibly. 🙂

  • Demo: Lily Camera Drone

    Continuing my series of resource links, today I want to share two different clips: the first is the promo video for a new drone camera that is getting set to hit the market soon (pre-order sales are already available) – the Lily. The second is little bit of a hands-on (as it were) demo of the machine.

    The tech specs on this little piece of kit are certainly interesting enough to warrant a further look. Even though the chances are that the first gen of Lily won’t be as great as it could potentially be (when are they ever?), there are always going to be subsequent releases with updated mods (amiright?). In fact I can already imagine version 2 will incorporate an object awareness sensor that is currently MIA from version 1. So, with its intuitive hands-off approach to shooting, I still think that it would still be fun to have one of these to play around with.

    Anyway, that is enough from me. Here is the hands on demo from the team at Resource Magazine for you to check out.

  • Video Essay: Rear Window (Michael McLennan)

    Continuing my series of resource links, today I want to share a short clip that was pieced together by one of my friends, Michael McLennan. Michael also happens to be a long-time cinephile who has worked as producer, director of photography, editor, sound designer, music editor, and has also taught across a variety of film disciplines at the Sydney Film School. Recently picked up by the Indiewire team, today’s clip is a simple video essay that demonstrates Hitchcock’s amazing capacity for structural story-telling. In this instance, we find the story engaging with the audience through a carefully constructed repetition of symmetry.

    I personally find that such examples really ought to reinforce the idea that while amateurs point and shoot and think something along the lines of, “I hope this will look good!” – professionals plan and plan and plan, thinking more along the lines of, “How do I want this to look?” If we want to up our game and get our work seen – then we can all continue to learn tricks from the masters of cinema like this. I hope you enjoy.

  • Video: Redneck Avengers

    Okay everyone today I want to continue with my Avengers theme – albeit with a fun little video. While the first series of videos were average YouTube fare – it was their late-2013 Game of Thrones clip that definitely propelled the team at Bad Lip Reading onto the viral video scene. Since then they have continued to bring out fun clips of various sorts.

    On Sunday, the team did it again with a fresh lip reading take on the Avengers! And in much the same way that I appreciate Weird Al Yankovic for his creative capacity to parody countless musical acts, I appreciate the hard work that goes into making this kind of video. So I hope you will enjoy the fun, stupidity, and bad lip reading antics with me!