Category Archives: Resources

February 13, 2012 · 7:04 am

DSLR Rigs

I’m so excited! I just purchased a new DSLR rig. I find rigs pretty indispensable these days for shooting video – I usually only have a couple of hours per shoot for my web videos and have to grab a lot of great shots in a very short time. DSLR rigs allow me to cram into tight spaces, get different angles, and  they are smooth! Holding the DSLR alone is not even an option seeing as they are so light – it’s like The Blair Witch Project in terms of shakiness.  One problem. DSLR rigs are pricey. Zacuto rigs are superb, and I’ve thoroughly annoyed the Glazers Camera store crew with the number of times I’ve “demo-ed” it (check out their new “Scorpion” Rig HERE. Ditto for Red Rock brand rigs  – gorgeous, dependable, but damn expensive! My friend down the street who happens to be a fellow video producer turned me on to Ebay’s infamous Gini-2011. This guy is from Korea and sells DSLR rigs for half the price of the competition here. You bid on a rig, and if you’re lucky and no one else bids on it, you get a rig ridiculously cheap. I was lucky. I got a  very basic rig for $199 plus $55 shipping!! I’ve tried them out and they are the real deal: solid, dependable, and you can add on multiple accessories (follow focus, clamps, body arms, etc) Downside: it won’t be here for approx. a month. One more challenge: I did NOT order the counter weight. I know this is an indispensable part of the DSLR rig, but I’m too cheap to shell out $117 plus a large shipping charge for a weight – there’s gotta be another way to add weight to the back of a rig.  I found a few DYI options – one of the best involves a scuba belt weight, which is made of  lead and very easy to drill a hole through to attach to the back of a rig. The description and video tutorial is found on cheesycam.com .

Here’s a picture of me using the Gini-2011 rig to shoot a web workout video – if you’re in the market to buy a new rig and hunting around it’s worth it to check out his ebay store .

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February 9, 2012 · 2:13 am

Video Editing Plug-ins

I’ve always been a fan of plug-ins to sweeten up my video editing. Plug-ins are affordable,  easy to download, install instantly in your editing-based platform (Final Cut, After Effects, Motion), and take a LOT of work off your hands. I recently purchased two plug-ins from FX Factory. They have a ton of transitions, effects, and wipes to boost your video production quality. A number of their effects are free, but you need to shell out a few bucks for their really good ones. I purchased Supawipe, a cool transition effect that takes any object you want and wipes it over the screen to transition to the next shot. I also purchased Luca Light Leaks, a video generator that produces high quality light leaks you can overlay onto existing video, or use as a transition between shots. My all time favorite plug-in though, is still Magic Bullet’s Mojo. For $50, you can take your ho hum everyday video footage and turn it into that great vimeo-esque look where subjects become warm, and backgrounds become cool – check out the link above or download the trial to see for yourself – I use it all the time. Just don’t let Mojo substitute as a color corrector – it’s still simply a cool video effect filter. Color correct first, then let your mojo take over – yes, I admit, the name hooked me. Here’s a video I just produced where I used the light leaks and Mojo.

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June 14, 2011 · 7:15 am

7D Cinema-Style

On Saturday night I attended the Glazers Camera’s PhotoFest event “An Evening with Alex Buono“. Alex is a veteran SNL shooter from their film unit, and produces their digital shorts and mock-commercials. Remember how “Lazy Sunday” was yanked off YouTube until the bigwigs at SNL discovered that it boosted their ratings by like, a million-fold, then it was put back on and it consequently launched the digital short revolution? yeah, Alex is mostly responsible for that.(you can watch Lazy Sunday here if you haven’t seen it a bakers’ dozen times).

I got the opportunity to chat with Alex before his talk and learned that he grew up in Portland, moved to LA to go to USC film school, and would like to put a cleaver in Fred Armisen’s head (OK, that last one’s not true). Alex was super down-to-earth, funny, and full of practical advice and information for shooting with Canon DSLRs. He shot the opening SNL sequence entirely with 5D’s, in multiple NYC locations, and no lights (at night people). One particular amazing shot of the top of a cab zipping through the streets was simply a 5D suction-cupped to the roof, nothing more. He shoots the digital shorts and commercials with 7D’s instead of 5D’s simply due to the HD monitor output that the 5D sorely lacks. He gave some great tips for cinematic style shooting with the 7D that I thought I’d pass along.

- Shoot in 24 FPS – obviously, that’s the film standard and even though you might think “why bother? it’s all spit back out in 30 Fps anyway”, it does give a more cinematic look to the video.

- Double your shutter speed to match your frame rate. So, for 24 fps, shoot at 1/50th shutter speed, and the subject’s movement will be a represent more true action -  of course you would adjust this for slow or fast shutter effects.

- You can go into the “User Define” setting in Picture Style to choose Neutral Style, and Sharpness: 1, Contrast:-4, Saturation: -2, Color Tone: 0.

- These settings are to ensure greater control when your color correcting in post-  even a little color correcting adds polish and consistency that’s worth the effort. (you can also download the new technicolor cinestyle for greater color correcting flexibility).

-  ISO settings: work in multiples of 160 (320, 640, etc). Alex recommended not shooting over 800 ISO, but then proceeded to admit he breaks this rule all the time b/c the camera is so damn forgiving in low light.

- Use a video splitter like the Black Magic HDMI-SDI to hook up a monitor (an HDMI splitter will totally work too but Alex likes SDI better).

There’s other stuff I learned about making amazing timelapse videos with everyday equipment and scouting locations using cheap apps, but I’m not giving away the farm here people! I can’t wait to run outside tomorrow and play with these new settings and compare before/after new settings videos!

 

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June 7, 2011 · 5:17 am

Glazers Photofest 2011

I discovered Glazers Camera shortly after I moved to Seattle – they sell everything a DSLR filmmaker needs (or can order it) and yes…they are pricier than B&H Photo, but for a non gear-head like myself, their personal service and expert info can’t be beat. The staff let me test out their new Redrock and  Zacuto DSLR kits, I purchased my new PhotoFlex light kit based on their recommendations….and they have a vast rental department! How sweet is it that you can test a lens for a test drive before purchasing it? or simply rent specific equipment for a specific shoot (I didn’t have this luxury in Kanas). Through Twitter I learned that June 11-12 they’re taking it all out to the street for their annual Photofest 2011! Vendors, seminars, and speakers will all be on hand for demonstrations and free seminars (online registration is required). I’ve registered for Saturday’s Canon DSLR Video Primer and that evening’s HDSLR CINEMA 101 withSNL’s Celebrated DP Alex Buonoh (he shoots the SNL Digital Shorts that are pure genius)! I’m excited there’s so much focus on DSLR’s these days and have no qualms about proclaiming I still have lots to learn! More info about PHOTOFEST 2011 can be found at http://WWW.GLAZERSCAMERA.COM/PHOTOFEST.

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