View Full Version : 2009 Pebble Beach Car Show


Chuck Spaulding
November 29th, 2009, 01:42 AM
This requires a little explanation. This is the first video I've ever posted online, it was shot with a 7D but not in video mode. I had a very limited amount of time and only one memory card and since I had never tried to use the 7D for video I shot all stills then added motion later to create this montage.

A good friend had a couple of cars entered in the 2009 Pebble Beach Car Show. So I put together this montage, kind of a "Day in the life" hoping to capture the essence of the show.

Having never attended before I didn't know what to expect so I just brought my digital SLR (Canon 7D) This was shot in about four hours, so I didn't get as much as I would have liked (too many stops for food and alcohol).

Anyway for anyone who likes cars I hope you enjoy this.

09 Pebble Beach Car Show on Vimeo

Chuck Spaulding
December 2nd, 2009, 12:46 PM
Somebody on this forum must like cars???

I do this primarily for myself [by myself] so the only feedback I get, other than from the owners of the cars, is from forums like this.

Since the 7D has come out I've decided to try and produce something much better with this and a couple of other collections. For me I'm just combining my [now] hobby, photography/videography with their hobby, collecting cars. Its a lot of fun and I get to drive some incredible cars to boot.

The only thing I can think to do to get more of a response is add naked women...

Jon Fairhurst
December 2nd, 2009, 01:09 PM
I like cars. (And the editing.) :)

I would guess that you're not getting more responses because it's photo, rather than video, centric.

I shot video on the 5D2 at the Portland Historic Races this summer. One thing for sure, you can shoot more photos per hour than you can shoot video clips!

FWIW, I shot the track with an 85/1.8 and 200/2.8 on a tripod, but I covered the paddock with a 28/1.8 on a shoulder rig. I need to get around to writing music for it so I can post it...

Chuck Spaulding
December 2nd, 2009, 01:42 PM
Thanks Jon.

I'd really like to see what you have. I'm not a cinematographer, I'm an editor, but I have access to a couple of amazing car collections and I'd like to do something really special. I produced this video with all stills to show the owners of these collections that there are a lot of ways to produce something. Much of the four hours I had to shoot there was spent talking to the owners, so when I gave them this video they were amazed at how much of the event I covered.

So before I squander the access to these collections I'm trying to figure out how I can take any production about these cars to the next level with the 7D. I shot quite a bit of footage with an EX3 and steadycam, it looked great but it lacked something. It looked like something you'd see on Chasing Classic Cars or any broadcast show. I'm hoping that adding the 7D to the mix I can get some more artsy shots. But I think the real roadblock is not what the 7D can do but what I can do with it.

Fortunately I'm not under too much of a time constraint, but by the same token I don't want to waste any of their time while I'm trying to figure this out.

Figuring it out sure is a lot of fun though.

Jim Culp
December 2nd, 2009, 02:06 PM
I like the shots and the graphics- wish the images were larger though.

Chuck Spaulding
December 2nd, 2009, 02:13 PM
Larger in what way? This is actually a 1080P project scaled down to 720P for Vimeo. The pictures themselves are 5180x3156.

Actually, after thinking about it you may have meant in the monitors of the graphics, I thought about that but decided I wanted more space knowing that I was going to get into the full frame images quickly.

An interesting bit of trivia (or not) when the graphic swings around to reveal the video wall there is a different car in each monitor and all of those cars are owned by one person. Unfortunately it goes by so quickly that unless you knew about it you probably wouldn't notice it. That too is intentional. I originally had it slower so you could see but changed it at the owners request [you could actually make out license plates etc..]

Paul Frederick
December 6th, 2009, 04:13 PM
Nicely done! Did you do all the moves on the stills in FCP? Or what NLE? Also I find setting keyframes for moves on stills pretty laborious....do you use a special plug in?

There's never very many responses in here towards videos posted....don't take it personal, it's just the way it is.....


....but naked women might help!! :)

Chuck Spaulding
December 6th, 2009, 05:29 PM
Thanks Paul.

After taking all the pictures and choosing the music, I off-line edited the stills in FCP. This step was to simply sort out all the pictures and try to get a feel for the pacing/timing.

I did the open and all the Pan & Scan in After Effects. Once you get the hang of it you can key frame the camera moves fairly quickly. Rendered out completed ProRes sequences that I imported into FCP and tightened the edits up to the music. I had to re-do about 20% of the camera moves for timing or I decided I wanted to reveal something differently.

I do simple push ins in FCP but I would never attempt something like this in FCP. I know and like After Effects but I'm sure you could do something similar in Motion.