Nutcracker Ballet at DVinfo.net

Jeff Nelson · December 4th, 2007, 12:32 PM

Shot my kids' Nutcracker on Saturday with my A1. Did a 5-minute promo for the ballet company's website, see:

http://www.mostlymagic.tv/nutcracker.mov

Farid Bouchakour · December 4th, 2007, 12:59 PM

Only one word WONDERFUL

cheers

Ben Waller · December 4th, 2007, 07:36 PM

what program did you use to pan all over the place and zoom in? and the cuts too? thanks!

looks great!

Bill Busby · December 4th, 2007, 08:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ben Waller

what program did you use to pan all over the place and zoom in? and the cuts too? thanks!

looks great!

To my eyes the swish pan effect looks identical to what I do in Avid. On V1 Push transition for given frames, ex: 15 frames with acceleration applied, ending at cut. V2 add edits for the given push transition & add either keyframed motion blur or keyframed directional blur.

Nice stuff Jeff. Was this at the Alex Theatre? My daughter has a friend who performed there on Saturday.

Bill

ooops! I just saw the end. NOT the Alex :)

Steven Dempsey · December 4th, 2007, 09:09 PM

Jeff, I'm usually not a big fan of those kinds of transitions but you made it work wonderfully with the music to the point where I wasn't even aware of it as a transition. It definitely appeared more like a camera move. Nice job.

Overall shot very well, nicely exposed and a good variety of FOVs.

My only complaint is that at a certain point I lost interest because it did feel like you were giving too much away and that the point would have been much more effective done in a timeframe of about 2 minutes or so.

Now maybe you had to produce a piece for that specific length and, if so, I completely understand.

Either way, good work. I always appreciate someone who really listens to music and incorporates it as an additional player in the visual action.

Jeff Nelson · December 4th, 2007, 10:51 PM

Thanks guys. Answers:

Ben wrote:
>what program did you use to pan all over the place and zoom in? and the cuts too? thanks!

Edited in Final Cut Pro, made optical zooms (on some shots) to give some camera movement/interest. Some of the pans were real. Just used some plugins I have for the transitions...just got a bunch of new ones, having some fun with a few.

Bill wrote:
>To my eyes the swish pan effect looks identical to what I do in Avid. On V1 Push transition for given frames, ex: 15 frames with acceleration applied, ending at cut. V2 add edits for the given push transition & add either keyframed motion blur or keyframed directional blur.

The swish pan is a transition plugin called (of all things) "swish pan" and it's made by Pie Town.

Steven wrote:
>My only complaint is that at a certain point I lost interest because it did feel like you were giving too much away and that the point would have been much more effective done in a timeframe of about 2 minutes or so.

That's a good point, and I have to agree. I shot the show because the grandparents couldn't make it, so this was for personal use, and then I cut a little piece for my daughters to show to their friends, which would include every kid/routine in the full show, which is sort of why it was 5 minutes. Then the school saw the thing and asked if I could add a card at the end and put it on their site. But for a purely promo piece, 1 or 2 minutes would have been the best length, I think you're right.

Thanks for the comments, guys. When I saw this show I was really impressed that they had put in a lot of $ in sets, costumes and lighting. I wasn't really expecting this for a ballet school show for kids, but the kids really felt they were part of something special.

Philip McFarland · December 25th, 2007, 04:49 PM

We had just seen our sister perform in the Nutcracker and then the next day saw your video. We just LOVED it. The editing is superb. Getting the clips to synchronize with the music was amazing. We showed my sister and the rest of the family your video on Christmas day and everybody was in awe. The performances were wonderful. Great job and thanks for sharing it.

Shawn Levin · January 1st, 2008, 01:23 PM

Jeff, that was Truly Inspiring !

The production looked VERY well lit.... in 'Well', I mean professionally !

What PRESET did you use ?
Any other manual settings/controls would also be appreciated.
Where was your gain set ? how was the noise in your final product.

Great Job!!

Thanks Shawn

December 4th, 2007, 12:32 PM	#1
Jeff Nelson Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 194	Nutcracker Ballet Shot my kids' Nutcracker on Saturday with my A1. Did a 5-minute promo for the ballet company's website, see: http://www.mostlymagic.tv/nutcracker.mov

December 4th, 2007, 09:09 PM	#5
Steven Dempsey Disjecta Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Seattle, Washington Posts: 937	Jeff, I'm usually not a big fan of those kinds of transitions but you made it work wonderfully with the music to the point where I wasn't even aware of it as a transition. It definitely appeared more like a camera move. Nice job. Overall shot very well, nicely exposed and a good variety of FOVs. My only complaint is that at a certain point I lost interest because it did feel like you were giving too much away and that the point would have been much more effective done in a timeframe of about 2 minutes or so. Now maybe you had to produce a piece for that specific length and, if so, I completely understand. Either way, good work. I always appreciate someone who really listens to music and incorporates it as an additional player in the visual action. __________________ Try my Digital Therapy: http://www.pinelakefilms.com/digital_therapy.html Films on ExposureRoom: http://exposureroom.com/members/disjecta.aspx/videos/

December 25th, 2007, 04:49 PM	#7
Philip McFarland Tourist Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Manorville, NY USA Posts: 1	Great Video Editing! We had just seen our sister perform in the Nutcracker and then the next day saw your video. We just LOVED it. The editing is superb. Getting the clips to synchronize with the music was amazing. We showed my sister and the rest of the family your video on Christmas day and everybody was in awe. The performances were wonderful. Great job and thanks for sharing it.

December 4th, 2007, 12:59 PM	#2
Farid Bouchakour Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Germany Posts: 25	Only one word WONDERFUL cheers

December 4th, 2007, 07:36 PM	#3
Ben Waller New Boot Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 12	what program did you use to pan all over the place and zoom in? and the cuts too? thanks! looks great!

December 4th, 2007, 10:51 PM	#6
Jeff Nelson Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 194	Thanks guys. Answers: Ben wrote: >what program did you use to pan all over the place and zoom in? and the cuts too? thanks! Edited in Final Cut Pro, made optical zooms (on some shots) to give some camera movement/interest. Some of the pans were real. Just used some plugins I have for the transitions...just got a bunch of new ones, having some fun with a few. Bill wrote: >To my eyes the swish pan effect looks identical to what I do in Avid. On V1 Push transition for given frames, ex: 15 frames with acceleration applied, ending at cut. V2 add edits for the given push transition & add either keyframed motion blur or keyframed directional blur. The swish pan is a transition plugin called (of all things) "swish pan" and it's made by Pie Town. Steven wrote: >My only complaint is that at a certain point I lost interest because it did feel like you were giving too much away and that the point would have been much more effective done in a timeframe of about 2 minutes or so. That's a good point, and I have to agree. I shot the show because the grandparents couldn't make it, so this was for personal use, and then I cut a little piece for my daughters to show to their friends, which would include every kid/routine in the full show, which is sort of why it was 5 minutes. Then the school saw the thing and asked if I could add a card at the end and put it on their site. But for a purely promo piece, 1 or 2 minutes would have been the best length, I think you're right. Thanks for the comments, guys. When I saw this show I was really impressed that they had put in a lot of $ in sets, costumes and lighting. I wasn't really expecting this for a ballet school show for kids, but the kids really felt they were part of something special.

January 1st, 2008, 01:23 PM	#8
Shawn Levin Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: CAPE TOWN - SOUTH AFRICA Posts: 58	Jeff, that was Truly Inspiring ! The production looked VERY well lit.... in 'Well', I mean professionally ! What PRESET did you use ? Any other manual settings/controls would also be appreciated. Where was your gain set ? how was the noise in your final product. Great Job!! Thanks Shawn