UPDATED w/ First Video "Getting into Videography | Workflow, Equipment, and Length

Re: Getting into Videography | Workflow, Equipment, and length

Tabor Warren Photography said:

Tinky said:

The biggest thing as I said, is that video is contiguous, not selected moments where everything worked. No disrespect to photographers (who have great AF and LR) intended. Nope. None at all.

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None taken.

I have respect for videographers and great respect for great videographers. I was watching a video this afternoon and the garter toss was only in focus during ~30% of the clip. Realistically though, if I was photographing the same scene and only got a third of my shots in focus, I would edit the 33% and disregard the others. Videographers, to an extent, do not have that luxury.

Now it's on to manual focus practice. Suddenly I wish the screens on the 5D3 were significantly bigger...

Cheers!
-Tabor

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I let things drift in and out of focus, but it's usually in a predicatable way. With video you might find that you use smaller apertures, wider angles, and zone focusing more frequently. Something being out of focus at the start or end of a shot isn't always the end of the world. So long as the shot motiviation is at the focus bite point.

It's not rocket science or I couldn't do it, but working in both disciplines, I think video is harder. In some ways.

Re: Getting into Videography | Workflow, Equipment, and length

Tabor Warren Photography said:

Hey everyone!

So here is my very first video. I am now heavily investing in audio recording equipment and stabilization. I learned a ton from my first experience, and would value your feedback.

Thank you again for being the amazing people you are, and I hope you enjoy the show!

http://photosbytabor.com/brodys-birthday-video-tulsa-cinematographers/

Cheers!
-Tabor

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Hm.....I got audio, but saw no video....

Re: Getting into Videography | Workflow, Equipment, and length

Tabor Warren Photography said:

cayenne said:

Tabor Warren Photography said:

Hey everyone!

So here is my very first video. I am now heavily investing in audio recording equipment and stabilization. I learned a ton from my first experience, and would value your feedback.

Thank you again for being the amazing people you are, and I hope you enjoy the show!

http://photosbytabor.com/brodys-birthday-video-tulsa-cinematographers/

Cheers!
-Tabor

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Hm.....I got audio, but saw no video....

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That's odd! I wonder I just checked on my side and it all seems to be working fine. I wonder if anyone else has had that problem.

Here is the Vimeo direct link; https://vimeo.com/127223798

Thank you very much for letting me know! I'll see if there is anything I can tweak.

Cheers!
-Tabor

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I can view just fine with the Vimeo link. Just had to make sure the tissue box was nearby. Great narration and great story. In the end, the story is the most important aspect of a video and you nailed it. The rest of the production will improve as you get more experience recording and editing video.

Very cute! Very good effort!!

Only a few nit picky things....white balance looked off on some shots, and scene matching was off due to this, was a bit jarring in transitions.

Also, maybe cut some sequences a bit tighter in edit...some pans went a bit too long and were past what was interesting in the shot, so just a little tighter editing.

Lastly...perhaps just a bit of image stabilization in post would have helped a few of the shots that were bouncing around a bit much....

But the story conveyed was great....and I enjoyed watching it. Especially considering this is a very early effort, it looks fantastic. Keep up the good work.

Oh..one other thing I might suggest, and I've had to learn this myself since I'm a one man one camera band too....look ahead to do some cheats, perhaps stage with adults or some of the other kids after singing happy Bday to the start of the show...to film people singing the happy birthday son...and that way you could simulate a multi-camera shot by cutting back and forth a couple times to the birthday boy, and to the guests singing to him....

After awhile you start figuring out lots of cheats to do to make it look like a multi-camera shoot...

Anyway, again, great effort...keep on shooting and posting!! Anxious to see your next productions!!


cayenne

Tabor Warren Photography said:

Hi Cayenne,

Thank you very much for the 'good effort' compliment and your input!

I knew going in that white balance was going to be tricky. I am so used to shooting RAW and fixing WB in post that I failed to realize just how off the camera can be. I've downloaded Ray Roman's videos on Creative Live and he mentioned adjusting WB using the K scale for every scene. I think I'll try my hand at that, but if there is another way, I would be all ears.

I wish I could tighten a little more, but in the end, I just didn't have enough shots. I have a wedding coming up in a little over a week which is more my forte. I shoot ~50 weddings a year so I'm hoping to be more in my element in terms of the quantity and quality of the shots I attain. Also, the wedding is the first free gig I've ever offered. They are an amazing couple and we have two photographers shooting the wedding so I'll be the tag along video guy.

I very much like your idea of using 'cheats'. We are fortunate in having enough gear to keep everyone busy so for the upcoming wedding my wife and our third photographer will each have a 5D3, myself and an assistant videographer (with more experience on the video front than me), will also have a 5D3, and we'll keep a 5D2 handy but stationary for reactions, aisle, etc.

I also just dropped about $2,100 at B&H getting more video gear, (man this video stuff is expensive). I think that I should be good to go from here, but also am humbled enough to know that I'm about to enter a whole new learning curve with this upcoming wedding. The gear I got was;

Davis & Sanford 75mm PRO VISTA VIDEO TRIPD w/FM18 HEAD
Hosa Technology Y-CABLE/ PHONE/M to 2/RCA/M - 3.3'
Hosa Technology PRO MIC CABLE REAN XLR3/F TO M CBL 5'
Hosa Technology Y-CABLE/ XLR/F to 2/XLR/M - 18"
Hosa Technology REAN 1/4"TRS PHN/M to XLR3/M CBL - 5'
Hosa Technology ADAPTER- XLR/F to XLR/F (GENDER CHANG)
Sennheiser EW112P G3 LAV SYS (A)
Zoom H4N HANDY MOBILE 4-TRACK USB RECORDER
Olympus WS-822 DIGITAL VOICE RECORDER-GNMTL
Tram TR-50+ MIC f/SENN EW (BLK)
Dedolight DLH4 LIGHT HEAD w/DT24-1 150w/120v PAC
Switronix 220w DMMBL VARI CLR ON CAMR LHT/REMOTE

If there is anything else you can think of, please feel free to let me know. I have a good, but not great, monopod and am thinking I should be set, but know I'll find what I'm missing soon enough.

Anyway, apologies for the long post, and I look forward to showing you, (and all the kind folks who also read this thread), the upcoming wedding.

Thank you again!
-Tabor

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LOL...yeah, and you thought regular photography was a trip down the rabbits hole. The video bug is even WORSE.


One thing I'd suggest and will really help you on WB. Get yourself one (or a few) of these:

http://www.amazon.com/ExpoDisc-EXPOD2-82-Professional-Balance-Filter/dp/B00O4CWC4C

The expo disc will really help you when out and about. You stand in the position of where you subjects are, looking back where you will be taking the picture...and snap a pic with the expo disc over the lens. You likely need to turn AF off (which it should be for video anyway).....and get a good exposure shot of the expo disk.

Then you go into your camera and set the custom WB to be that shot, and voila....correct WB.

I live by this thing and should really help you when filming in various lighting conditions during the day on that wedding.

Keep up the good work. The nice thing about coming into video from photo is, that you already understand composition, so you've ahead of the game over someone just coming in cold to start doing video.

Good luck and looking forward to seeing the wedding stuff!!


By the way, what is your workflow for post? What are you using for editing and coloring your video? Are you shooting the video flat for later correction/grading, or are you using one of the built in styles of the canon?

Thanks,

cayenne

Tabor Warren Photography said:

I was using one of the Canon presets, but will be shooting the wedding fairly flat and editing in post. I know it will likely take more of my time, but I think I'll be able to really make the video my own. Plus, I'm sure I'll edit faster as time goes on, so I might as well go ahead and start here.

Thank you very much for the advice/insight on the expo disc! It looks wonderful, and I'm glad to hear that it actually does work like it is supposed to! WB, focus, and stabilization are all a must so anything to help with those is a must-have for me.

Thank you again for your help! First wedding in T minus 2 days!
-Tabor

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Well, good luck, I"m sure you'll do great. Looking forward to seeing the videos from the wedding when you get them done.

C

Sorry, late to the conversation (as I'm new to the forums).

I went through the threads so that I might offer some additional suggestion that may not have been mentioned already.

If you're using DSLRs for your video shoots, invest in a shoulder mount system with a follow focus wheel. You'll be doing a lot of run and gunning in wedding situations or if you're hired to do a marketing piece that has a documentary-like element to it. Trust me: it's VERY challenging keeping your subject focused while dealing with the shoulder mount WITHOUT the follow focus wheel. And you also need that to manually focus on your surroundings (because the AF function for most lenses while shooting in video mode isn't intuitive, quiet or fast enough when it comes to focus). Prices vary depending on the quality of the rig but there are decent kits that include the mount, follow focus wheel and barn doors for less than $500.

Also: an optical viewer or loupe you can attach to the LCD display on your camera. It's very challenging to focus/keep subjects in frame while doing a run and gun style shoot without some way of seeing how it looks in the frame. It also makes it easier to focus on your subject more accurately while in manual mode (you should always shoot video in manual mode). You can also invest in an external monitor which you can attach to your cam and is easier to view. However, the optical viewer can be the less expensive option.

Finally: external recorder. Some were mentioned but I'd recommend either the Zoom H4n or Zoom H6. Canon DSLRS are notorious for lacking in that ability to internally record audio. Expecially when they're isn't a precise way to adjust audio levels. So any mic whether it be a shotgun or lav should be connected to that recorder instead of directly into the cam. Of course that means you will have to sync your audio track to your footage in post but it's actually very easy. Invest in Pluraleyes as its the best application for that kind of thing. It automatically synch audio AND matches additional footage form multiple cams shot from different angles at the same time.

Oh, one more thing... educate yourself on how shutter speed relates to frame rate. It's important. General rule of thumb, shutter speed should always be twice that of the frame rate. Long, scientific explanation as to why but I will say that should your shutter speed be more than twice the frame rate, the visual will look sped up and have an almost "jittery" look to it (which can be a cool effect, by the way. That's why all the footage featuring those rage infected victims in 28 DAYS LATER look sped up and "spastic"). If it is less than double, then your footage will look blurry.

In other words if you shoot in 24 FPS, then the shutter should be 1/48 (unfortunately, most DSLRs do not have a 1/48 option. But you can set it to 1/50 which is close enough).

3G-SDI Over Fiber

Hi,
I'm looking for a way to distribute 3G-SDI Over Fiber about 30km with production tv's now and including Canon Cameras
I found QuestTel 3G-SDI gear which appears to do that. Anyone with any experience of this or similar equipment? Would it work with SDI as source?
How else would you go about this task? Any suggestions/recommendations much appreciated.

Cheers,
Otto