http://www.bibble.karatmedia.com/GrandMan/zorger_perception.mov

Hey I just watched it, very nice camera work especially on the dollys. Two questions:

1. how did you do the slo-mo so well and so smoothly?

2. where in DC did you film all this? did you run into a lot of cops asking questions?

good work

I just did the slow motion in Premier pro. All of that was filmed mostely in NW, Northern VA, Bethesda, MD and Philly, And cops don't ask questions they give you a very large fine and throw you in jail.

Nice work - but why would the cops fine you or throw you in jail?

I have not seen it yet Pat but since 9/11/01 there are certain places Law Enforcement gets itchy when they see people rolling tape. The areas Greg mentioned are high target areas.

damn..i live in MD/bethesda

nice quote barry

Oh No...Sorry YHL. I hope I didn't let the cat out of the bag.



:P

hahah...its so true...that quote, i love it

I can imagine filming in public might attract the attention of the police (although quite why they would think that terrorists would be out filming potential targets with camcorders is beyond me) but I assume that there isn't actually a law against it yet. That wouldn't be entirely consistent with the US Constitution would it?

Or is the Patriot Act more far-reaching than I had realised?

Well if you watched the clip you would see that its 90% skateboarding, and skateboarding is ILLEGAL pretty much everywhere. So you will get the cops called on you all the time. BACK TO THE POINT OF ME POSTING THIS THREAD, did you guys like the motion graphics?

3D graphics were alright...

The 3d was OK, but didn't do much for me. I'd like to say I really enjoyed your photography. I don't go for skate videos, but your work was good enough that it kept me watching. Nice stuff.

Only suggestion is to watch your shadow in the frame during movement. It's disctracting. A minor point though overall.

Greg,
I watched a bit. Some of your camera handling was good. The low shots following a skate board stood out as well-done and held my interest. But overall the content just didn't hold me to the end...just kids on skate boards in the city.

The issues with urban skateboarding are not really those of terrorism; they're trespass and vandalism. Stunts, such as some you portray in your movie, cost civil and private property owners hundreds of millions each year. Very expensive stonework and masonry gets destroyed by these boarders. Ditto metal railings and damn near everything else that appears to be an attractive new venue for boarders.

I've no delusions that my remarks will in any way mitigate childrens' behavior. It's just a sad commentary on contemporary parenting that a prevailing view held by young people seems to be that anything in public is free for any use by any one. But one day, if you're lucky, you may find yourself with $20,000-$100,000 of decorative stone work on your property. I assure you you'll be just delighted to discover that skate boarders have claimed it as theirs, as you write another big check to repair it.

Wow, 1st I would like to say nice work Greg. I have been skating for over 12 years and have been very involved in the seen here in Vancouver BC just about as long.
There are 2 things I can recommend
1) Try (if possible) to use the same type of cameras. This gives the production a more professional look.
2) Use a fisheye lens that fits!! Vinyetting (I think that is how it is spelt) looks so bad. Watch the DC, Forum, Osiris videos they all use wide angel lenses and they look just as good.


I hate to do this but I have to make a point to Ken Tanaka

Ken as I am aware you are a "warden" and a "moderator" on this board I do not wish to offend you. Also so as I do not know you personally I will try not to make judgments as to your personality. That being said, your comments are very dishearten to me "mitigate children’s' behavior" why is it that as soon as some one picks up a skateboard it is considered a "toy" or that they are partaking in childish thing. I am 25 years old, I hold a respectable job debugging software for a large company, I have done talks on computer security and social behaviors of hackers and hacker culture and I skateboard to work every day. Yet I am still hassled by people, Tony Hawk Bam Margera are multi multi millionaires and still people call it a childish sport. Yet if I where to pick up a baseball bat or a foot ball this is accepted. Your comment about "trespass and vandalism" is in part correct but misses the larger picture. In or near the city of Fairf as in many city across the US and in Canada there are skateboard park popping up all over the place but in smaller city this these option are not there and so what would you like to see the "children" do. I know from personal experience that if it was not for Skateboarding I would have been in allot more trouble as a child skateboarding gave me focus and personal pride knowing that if I work hard at something and keep trying I will learn it and will perfect it. "It's just a sad commentary on contemporary parenting that a prevailing view held by young people seems to be that anything in public is free for any use by any one" well if it is public then it is free that is what public property means for the people so your comments are a little of side (a least in MY opinion) I have to say that skateboarders have to respect everyone’s right to these land makes and public places but salding "children" with fines criminal recorders and possibly a night or to in jail is not appropriate these people are the future of your respective countries and we should show them the respect and encouragement that they deserver

PS

I have friend that own home and builds with very nice marble and garnet ledges and they are more then happy to fork out few hundreds or thousand dollars to clean them every year and they are even happier to give the money to the city to build a skate park

Sorry for the forum high jacking
Support your Local skateboarder
Michael Moore

Michael,
Indeed, let's not hijack this thread on a discussion on skateboarding. I'll not rebut.

I do, however, want to clarify my point. All sports are fundamentally "childrens' games". Baseball, football, basketball, hockey, lacrosse, et.al. The matter I take issue with is not that young (or even not-so-young) people skateboard for exercise and entertainment. Frankly, I think that's terrific. It sure beats sitting in front of the television or video games. What I take issue with is property damage that generally ensues when an inappropriate venue is used for the activity. That is my sole objection.

That there are few "appropriate venues" for skateboarding/extreme roller blading/extreme bicycling in the northern latitudes of the U.S. is regrettable. Perhaps as participants move ahead in the business world they'll be able to fund development of more indoor facilities suitable for colder and wetter climates.

Just earlier today I read a thread on DVInfo.net regarding another message board where a person who asked a simple question was ridiculed mercilessly:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=28567

I think we'd all agree with the most recent post in the thread, "Kinda makes me feel good about our more civilized forums."

Regardless which side of the grey line between personal freedoms and personal responsibility, or public use and destruction of public property each of us stands on, we are all probably better off to leave that stuff for other message boards. Let's leave that part alone here.

Now that that's off my chest...Greg, tell us the truth...there was no dolly, was there?...the "dolly shots" were from a skateboard, weren't they?!?!

;-)

Anyway, although it simply felt like a collection of cool shots without plot (which is ok if that's what it was meant to be!), I did enjoy the camera work and effects within individual shots ... especially the "dolly" work! The 3D scenes near the beginning were nice, but the transition into the actual skateboarding stuff was very rough and abrupt.

Yeah I have a special skateboard for filming. It has very big wheels so it gives it a smooth ride with very few bumps. As for my lens, I have the panny dvx100 and the fisheye has some vignetting. On a TV 98% of it is gone, its only in the lower left corner and you can hardly see it. It by far the best camera to film skateboarding with now. As for the story line, that clip was for an interview i had on another website. It was just suppose to be all of my BEST work i have filmed from the past 3 years.

I also put this piece up to see if you guys thinks i could get a job doing AE work for some company. I'm pretty young and just working this stuff at my house. This piece isn't done yet though, i was rushed by the guy who is hosting it on his site..

Greg, what are you using (riding?) to follow the action? I would like to see a "how-to" video some day.

Sean McHenry

Greg - here's my thoughts on your skate video - First on format and structure: I think what keeps nonskaters or just fans of the sport interested and what has made me enjoy watching them over the years when friends show them to me is getting a little insight into these guys' life. I don't mean make a documentary out of it but giving just a bit of behind the scenes, like somebody telling some fu**ed up story or just anything funny or about them really brings you into the character and makes you "connected" in some way other than tricks alone. It's tough to give these videos a sense of tying all together which is why in all the ones I've seen, each persons segment usually starts with a sound bite or them doing something and then just goes into their tricks with occassional other funny or behind the scenes things mixed in there as well. I used to be heavy into skiing and snowboarding and some of those videos are a riot because you see how funny these guys are and it just makes it that much more fun because you connect a personality with the extreme tricks you see them do.

Your camera work was great but noting as another user did, your distracting shadows in some of the shots and the fisheye problems (did you buy this fish eye or is it the DIY from the DVX forum?). I personally have the DIY fish eye for my dvx and love it.

Finally regarding your CG work, I just want to be honest. I think it looked horrible and took away from the production value of the whole video. I don't mean this as a shot or being too critical, I just wanna give you my .02 as a casual web viewer and someone who's trying to get their own production company off the ground. I think there was just a lack of texture and the image looked flat, as if these shapes had been stuck together to form rectangles that were supposed to be buildings. The movement through this scene felt very artificial and akward. The clincher was the stop sign where the word STOP wasn't centered or fit correctly onto the sign. There's no reason you can't be producing some top notch stuff but I think you'll need a lot of work to be hitting at a level to compete with other CGers in your area and make money. One of my best friends is in CG work with 3DsMAX and MAYA. He's 24, is honestly a gifted artist and genius with these programs and after attending a top CG grad-school in our area where he ranked number 1 and his CG short became the crowning work for the campus, he went almost 2 years before finding a decent paying job. He now works at his dream job of character design for a game company but his work was incredible. Anyways, nuff said.

Well, I enjoyed your video and I don't mean to make it sound like I didn't. These were just my thoughts about it's strengths and weaknesses. On another note, I love the fairfax area. My GF grew up in Herndon and also is my partner with our production company at http://www.DefiningFilms.com . Best of luck to you.